Self-catering holiday - what kitchen equipment do you take?
Discussion
Not the sink, obvs!
We've sold our motorhome so are renting a cottage this year. UK so it's busy, restaurants are booked up but fortunately I like cooking.
But I hate crap/blunt knives (and may want a filleting knife) and small cafetieres... What other irritations have I forgotten about?
We've sold our motorhome so are renting a cottage this year. UK so it's busy, restaurants are booked up but fortunately I like cooking.
But I hate crap/blunt knives (and may want a filleting knife) and small cafetieres... What other irritations have I forgotten about?
I feel shame posting this, but on a grown up kids family holiday recently, I took a few knives, a cast iron frying pan, a cast iron casserole, a 40 litre jam pan for bolognese, a few microplanes, a big steel salad bowl, a handful of silicon spatulae, a box of herbs/spices/salts and my favourite tiny electric chopper/mixer. Everything got used, I was happy (and very well fed) and we didnt come back from holiday with duplicates of things I already owned that I had had to buy at an overpriced Cotswolds shop.
We've taken nothing and never found anything lacking, cafetieres and knife sharpeners have always been provided but I may start taking my recently acquired moka pot for that essential morning 'kick'.
On holiday, the last thing I want to do is spend every evening (or even one or two) slaving over a hot stove, despite there being just two of us!
Oh yes, just remembered; we take dishwasher tabs.
On holiday, the last thing I want to do is spend every evening (or even one or two) slaving over a hot stove, despite there being just two of us!
Oh yes, just remembered; we take dishwasher tabs.
I used to stay in timeshare apartments off the back of my FILs membership. It was reasonably premium, so we always had good quality equipment.
Assuming we are taking the car to a self catering place, I usually take
Hand Coffee Grinder,
Beans (and Tea bags)
V60 & Filters
Good Knife
Salt, Pepper, Oil.
Frying pan. (As above, you usually get utterly battered paper thin cheapo pans which carry no heat).
I also now do one-off orders of Gousto boxes delivered the day before the holiday - means you get a compact and chilled box of full main meals or lunches all ready to lob in the boot, and means you don't have to do a big food shop at usually inflated prices once you've arrived. Of course, we eat out, but having a toddler limits things at present.
Assuming we are taking the car to a self catering place, I usually take
Hand Coffee Grinder,
Beans (and Tea bags)
V60 & Filters
Good Knife
Salt, Pepper, Oil.
Frying pan. (As above, you usually get utterly battered paper thin cheapo pans which carry no heat).
I also now do one-off orders of Gousto boxes delivered the day before the holiday - means you get a compact and chilled box of full main meals or lunches all ready to lob in the boot, and means you don't have to do a big food shop at usually inflated prices once you've arrived. Of course, we eat out, but having a toddler limits things at present.
Depends where we're going...
We had a break in the Cotwolds earlier this year at a Habitat Escape property in the Cotswolds - it was fantastically well equipped & with really good quality stuff. Even the knives were sharp.
We also had a caravan stay down in cornwall where I would have almost struggled to cook a packet of super noodles so poorly equipped was the van.
We had a break in the Cotwolds earlier this year at a Habitat Escape property in the Cotswolds - it was fantastically well equipped & with really good quality stuff. Even the knives were sharp.
We also had a caravan stay down in cornwall where I would have almost struggled to cook a packet of super noodles so poorly equipped was the van.
Case of wine.
Bottle opener.
Knife.
Peeler.
Silicone spatula.
Grater.
Scales.
Small frying pan.
Small roasting tin.
Small cafetiere.
Cling film.
Kitchen roll.
Used to also take a couple of mugs & wine glasses but it's been so long since we got somewhere and these were not provided we don't bother any more. Yes we have been to places where there were no wine glasses. The horror
There's only two of us and most cottages have plenty of big stuff but for two it's usually way too big to be useful, if not useable.
Bottle opener.
Knife.
Peeler.
Silicone spatula.
Grater.
Scales.
Small frying pan.
Small roasting tin.
Small cafetiere.
Cling film.
Kitchen roll.
Used to also take a couple of mugs & wine glasses but it's been so long since we got somewhere and these were not provided we don't bother any more. Yes we have been to places where there were no wine glasses. The horror
There's only two of us and most cottages have plenty of big stuff but for two it's usually way too big to be useful, if not useable.
Tea towels, loads of tea towels, I use lots when cooking
Roasting tin
Kitchen scissors
Anything you can decant into small plastic containers or jars to save you from buying full quantities when you get there. Like: good olive oil, cooking oil of your choice, cooking salt, gravy powder (mock me) flour, tea, coffee.
Shampoo etc that we've collected from various hotels, oyster knife, wooden kebab sticks and my sacrificial knife for getting into crabs, rubbish bags.
The list could go on. It depends how much room you have in the car, limited in the Tuscan, so we tend to take what we'll use. If you're happy to buy what you need and leave it behind, fair enough. We do that when s-c. abroad.
Roasting tin
Kitchen scissors
Anything you can decant into small plastic containers or jars to save you from buying full quantities when you get there. Like: good olive oil, cooking oil of your choice, cooking salt, gravy powder (mock me) flour, tea, coffee.
Shampoo etc that we've collected from various hotels, oyster knife, wooden kebab sticks and my sacrificial knife for getting into crabs, rubbish bags.
The list could go on. It depends how much room you have in the car, limited in the Tuscan, so we tend to take what we'll use. If you're happy to buy what you need and leave it behind, fair enough. We do that when s-c. abroad.
jet_noise said:
Used to also take a couple of mugs & wine glasses but it's been so long since we got somewhere and these were not provided we don't bother any more. Yes we have been to places where there were no wine glasses. The horror
That reminded me of a log cabin with a grass roof I stayed at in the New Forest. No mugs so first shopping trip I had to buy one, mind you it always reminds me of that holiday.
Edited by Cotty on Thursday 5th August 18:55
PH User said:
I've never even considered taking anything like that
What do they say, a poor workman blames his tools....
I can kind of see where you are coming from, but if you don't have the tool you can't blame it.What do they say, a poor workman blames his tools....
I have an estate car and on rare camping trips ill happily load it up with stuff even if some of it does not get used.
I haven't done many self-catering holidays but if I did and realised regually that there is something I needed/wanted that was not provided, why not take it with me.
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