Self Catering Meal Ideas

[holdthebus]

We are going skiing in France this weekend. I am just planning our meals as we are self catering...just looking for inspiration really. What do you cook for your family after skiing for the day?

I got a message today about a service called Huskie that does deliveries of food, including some stuff from Cook. Genius but limited to certain resorts- La Plagne was one . Each year I contemplate taking slow cooker then get over myself! I do sometimes make sandwiches for lunch but apart from pasta and sauce on arrival I don't cook despite being in S/c accommodation

There are lots of delivery services in resorts now. Would you consider that?

Otherwise I've heard of people taking frozen food from home (pre cooked, supermarket ready meals, Cook meals etc) in a cool bag in a roof box out with them.

We eat pasta with pesto and an extra tin of tomatoes about 4 nights! The kids don't care and I'm happy too. I might buy cucumber and toms and a French stick and cheese, but that's it. My Sis used to take a vat of chilli in the back of the car and serve with pasta or rice. ... nothing gourmet!

A really easy and delicious one is pasta, with a sauce made from condensed mushroom soup, tuna, and a tin of sweet corn. Put in oven and top with salted crisps mixed with grated cheese. Serve with salad if you have it. Carbs, protein and one of your five a day!
It has the added bonus of being a delicious cheat meal

We going in a couple of weeks, driving, so will take a lot of food with us. I make some meals in advance and take them from the freezer just before we leave and stick them in a cool box; they're usually still pretty frozen on arrival. This year we're on a tight budget & I'm taking:

Chilli (from freezer) - have with French bread & salad
Spag Bol (from freezer)
Fajitas, which are always good for a laugh
Tagliatelle Carbonara
Chicken curry

We'll probably eat out one evening and maybe get a takeaway rotisserie chicken with potatoes from the supermarket for the final night. We always do a shop at the bottom of the mountain (Chambery this year) for fresh stuff, wine & beer. Bear in mind your apartment may not have a proper oven - a lot of them have just a microwave/combi-oven - so, unless you can be sure there's one, stove top meals are probably best.

I don't ski but on a self catering holiday a great stand by us good old corned bee hash. Tined corned beef and spuds, an onion topped with a runny egg. Hard to beat (or mess up) and bar the eggs will last for ages. It's a bit heavy for flying but fine if driving. Have a great trip !

Self catering generally means no utensils and poor oven so assuming you are stuck with the hob.... (and if you remember take some dried herbs, some vegetable stock cubes and a small amount of plain flour)
Eggs are a bit of a staple - omelette in baguette like the Corsicans serve. Serve with tomato and green salad.
Fry some chicken and mushrooms and use tinned tomatoes or mushroom soup as a sauce to serve with pasta or rice.

Spaghetti carbonara - pancetta easily available up the mountain.

Mushroom bourguignon using Tesco recipe (yes really) with rice. It is dead easy and makes use of shallots and mushrooms which are generally fairly easy to source and cheap. Or make a mushroom risotto.
If you are lucky the apartment might have a raclette - buy some ham, small potatoes to boil in their skins and cheese to melt.
Local bakery for quiche or other savoury to reheat served with potatoes.

Generally veg is easy but if not tinned or frozen alway available.

Also, if you're going to France you can usually rent a raclette or fondue from the supermarket. I find that the apartments are usually well-equipped but the knives are rubbish. I always take a couple of sharp ones with us so it's easier to prepare stuff.

Take sharp knives, spices, sachets of ketchup / mustard, packets of sauce, stock cubes, dishwasher tablets, wash up liquid, cleaning cloths

Cheese on crackers as a canape
Simple main course eg pasta, fajitas, stir fry
Cakes, biscuits for pudding
Chocolate as a treat

We have 3 courses, to make it seem special, but all very simple