Holiday meal plan

How to plan your meals when you are on holiday? Do you even need a holiday meal plan?

We are going self-catered – a nice week in beautiful Norfolk, leaving my daughter and the lodger to take care of Shoestring Cottage and the cats. It’s difficult to properly plan meals as we will eat out sometimes and haven’t planned our activities each day.  We will also be joined in the week by my parents and one of my daughters. So the holiday meal plan is more a series of ideas….

However, because meal planning is such a great way to save time and money, I can’t let it go altogether. Here is what I have in mind for our holiday meal plan.

Our holiday meal plan

Breakfasts

We do know that we will need breakfast each day. So we shall pack milk, cereal, bread, butter, jam and honey. When we get there we will buy eggs too.

Packed lunches

Our cottage is only a couple of hours up the road so we won’t pack a picnic for the journey. However, we will take a flask and some snacks. I have bought a load of cereal bars and crisps from Aldi, plus some rolls. As I eat mainly gluten free these days but only like one brand of GF rolls (Genius) I shall be stocking up on these at Asda. They aren’t always easy to find! Cheese and ham will also be in the cool box, plus some pickle.

Basic dinner ingredients

We always take some basics so that we can have a meal without needing to hit the shops immediately. I will pack pasta, rice, some sauces, tinned tomatoes, salt, tuna, pepper and some herbs. Sausages and veggie sausages will be packed in the coolbox too for tea when we arrive, with some new potatoes and broccoli.  I also picked up a pack of soft tortillas in Aldi, so will do something with those one night.

We will do small shops as we go along, so that we don’t buy more than we need. I certainly don’t intend to be cooking complicated meals every night, but we enjoy buying local specialities when we are away. I can see Cromer crab on the menu!

Do you bother with a holiday meal plan when you are self-catering? What have you got on your plan for next week? If you need some inspiration, check out my Favourite Frugal Recipes.

This week I am linking up with Katy Kicker and the Organised Life Project. If you want more ideas on meal planning and saving money, take a look at their blogs. For more of my tips on meal planning, try this post.