Insurance company moving us into a hotel but won't cover all meals...any hints/ tips on what/where to eat?!

[Haylstones]

Insurance company are moving us into a hotel for 2 weeks but are digging their heels re meals. The best I can get from them is that they'll consider an allowance over what we would normally spend on food but the ony hotel they could fit us into is an upmarket one with a poncey non child friendly restaurant that we wouldn't enjoy or afford.

We will be about 10 mins from home and could maybe pop back in to use the microwave etc a few times (may be no power/water at times so can't rely on it)

There is a supermarket next to dd's school so I can call in every day ifnecessary to buy fresh ingredients. Some friends have also invited us round some nights (thankfully).

Does anyone have some ideas on easy to prepare/store meals with minimal cooking? I don't want to be eating takeaways and chips for 2 weeks!

Dd is 4 , ds is 8 months (so can use jars [shudder]) but dh is milk intont, adding a nice complication into the mix

Any suggestions would be so much appreciated.

Can you borrow one of those plug in hob type things and then you could cook pasta, etc in the room?

Bump (and intont means intolerant )

Sorry stripy, x posted with you! I'm not sure they'll let us do that but I do have one in the garage so it might be doable.

get paper plates etc, ready cooked chicken is very good, use those microwave packets of rice, ready prepared salad, microwave potato from sainsburys are not bad, for reasons far too boring to go into, i managed to feed like this this for about 8 weeks, was a bit of a challenge but do-able.

after the first 3 weeks of eating out we were deperate for 'normal' food.

had no running water, did have a kettle and microwave though.

Does your supermarket do hot chicken/wings/pork belly straight off the spit.

Team it with crusty bread, pasta salad, done.

do you have a kettle in your room? will the hotel let you give them stuff to microwave? we have cooked pasta and jacket potatoes etc for guests staying for similar reasons before.

Would the hotel let you take your microwave in from home?

Sounds like a nightmare. Could they not look for a holiday flat for you instead? That is what we had when we went into temporary housing when we relocated. It was not dearer than a hotel and I was able to cook.

Thanks all. Cooked chicken is good idea, will have a scout round tmorrow and get some ideas. I'll ask about the microwave etc and am hoping they'll have a minibar.
We did ask for a self catering place but they didn't have any on their 'books' so hotel it is. We need 2 rooms because they don't do family rooms, meanih and I will have to share with a child each. It's therefore costing over £2k for 2 weeks so I can see why they don't want to provide meals!

My laptop keys are sticking today; I really must preview my posts!
meaning dh and I...

Can they not put you up in a furnished apartment? It'd be far more suitable.

I agree! I sent them links to places at a quarter of that price but they ignored it

That is crazy, you would get a lovely holiday apartment for that price. Would it be worth speaking to a higher up person? It will be much easier on you if you are all in one flat rather than two hotel rooms.

If you can get a microwave it'll give you many more options - there's lots you can do, besides the obvious ready meals - I used to try to make myself an interesting lunch at work, with a microwave and very basic facilities. Here are some suggestions ..

Hot quiche with veg, potatoes and/or salad (although some quiches don?t have microwave instructions, if it?s suitable to eat cold then you can microwave it).

Get ready made savoury pancakes (Sainsbury?s do these) and fill with anything which will heat OK in microwave (I used to do mushrooms / ricotta / fresh spinach / cheddar cheese etc. You could add ham for non-veg version). Make filling, roll pancake. Hungry people will want at least 2.

Baked potatoes (fill with what you like e.g. beans / cheese / coleslaw / ham pieces / Philadelphia etc)

Soup with grated cheese and crusty bread (or toast if possible?)

Lots of veg can be cooked in microwave.

Not sure if this is relevant to you, but I've noticed a few brands of vege-sausages available recently that can be microwaved. they might do them in super markets - but I've noticed them in health food stores. Serve with microwave mash (you can get nice microwave mash these days, in/near ready meals section in supermarket) and instant gravy.

Nice salads (goats cheese salad, mmm! )

I'm hungry now!

Hope that helps.

P.S. "Gu" chocolate pud in the microwave mmmmm!

Thanks for all of these ideas. Hopefully we'll managee a few of them! I can probably manage to get into our kitchen several times and even bung stuff in the oven before going back to the hotel so we should be ok. I'm hoping the hotel might take pity on us and do some light snacks.
Now i need to work out how to entertain an 8 month old in one room while his exciting big sis is at school...

can he sit up yet? if so big sheets of white paper and crayons.

if he can crawl anything with wheels that he can push along.

can he manage shape sorters or those ring stackers or blocks?

ds used to love rolling balls at this age aswell.

oh and take lots of walks out and about.