Preparing Meals for Family on Road (in kitchens!)

Pick up a roasted chicken (or beef or pork roast- precooked) at a grocery store.
One night slice some and serve with a salad from market fresh veggies or some quickly steamed or sautéed veggies and maybe rice or potatoes and bread. Another night add some of the meat to an easy pasta sauce and cook the pasta. Serve with a salad and bread. A really good fresh bread from the market adds a nice touch. Fruit and cheese from the market for dessert- or pick up something from a local bakery. Or use some of the meat in tacos, chili, omelets or make chicken salad or sandwiches..... you get the idea. One roasted chicken could serve 4 or 5 for 2 meals if it is a good size. If it's small, go ahead and buy 2 or 3 and enough veggies and fruit and bread, etc. for at least 2 days to save shopping time. Don't bring granola bars and fruit leather for the picky eater. Buy things there- or tell them to eat what you have cooked or go hungry (they WILL eat). You should be able to get food on the table for 5 for much less than $100 a night.

Hello there, One thing we found in the few vacation rentals we stayed at in England and France is while there are pots and pans, there was no spices or oils to cook with. So we picked up some little travel spice containers at REI and brought it with us. This allowed us to have a familiar palette to work with in the kitchen. I also brought my own coffee, I was seeing too much instant coffee over there and it was a lot cheaper to bring my own. As far as what to eat, I suggest hitting your local library and check out the Scandanavian cookbooks and get some ideas.

Whatever you decide for your meals I would definitely make it a family affair so you are not slaving away in the kitchen. The children can help in all the preparation as well as the purchasing of food. You don't say their ages, but perhaps they could help plan the menu, do some of the shopping, etc. You might be able to introduce them to some new foods as it is more fun when you buy it at the market, then take it home and fix it. Actually, I would try to pick at least one new thing for them to incorporate into your meals each day...

Laura, When we've had a kitchen we tend to do cereal/toast/yogurt for breakfast as the various family members get themselves going, big lunch when we're out and about and then "cooked breakfast" for dinner, scrambled eggs or something like that. Quick and easy. You could even make breakfast burritos if you bring the tortillas. :-) Another easy dinner is to pick up local fruit, cheese and crackers while you're out and have that for dinner. Mmmm, now I'm thinking about Danish blue and gouda!

Hello Laura, We always rent an apartment when going to Europe - gives us more space, is less costly AND we can of course "eat in" for some of our meals! On our last trip to France (with 3 other couples) I cooked dinner most nights (with lots of sous chefs!). The previous suggestions are great ones!! Like the US, many European grocery stores and street markets have pre prepared foods like roast chickens, salads, fish, beef, pork, etc. so don't hesitate to pick those up for a quick and delicious dinner. These days the only things I bring from home for cooking are a couple of small containers of seasonings ( herbs de provence and lemon pepper are our favorites) and a supply of ziploc bags. Everything else you can buy while you are there!! Meals I've made include a quick style bolognese (ground beef, pork and veal with canned tomatoes, onions, carrots and red wine) roasted chickens with potatoes, carrots and onions and shallots, and a roasted leg of lamb. You can also saute chicken breasts and make an easy pan sauce - serve with pasta, potatoes and a veg or salad - buy whatever looks good in the market!If cooking off the top of your head isnt' your thing, bring some easy recipes with you to make on the road - unless the ingredients are truly unique you can find pretty much the same things in Europe as you can here.

Hi Laura, Everyone's meal preparation advice is great so I can't add to it. I do agree with Toni that a picky eater should not get special food and that a hungry child will eat. Having a picky eater on such a special trip that costs good money is very inconvenient and unfair to you, the cook. After all, it's your vacation too. Perhaps he or she might like new foods, new flavors if he or she tries. This experience might help your child outgrow this restriction. I mean no offense. I've been a tired cook myself, several times while chaperoning school field trips. Have a wonderful trip!

Marks & Spencer in Amsterdam sells prepared meals & frozen foods in addition to regular groceries. Albert Heijn Supermarket or an "Albert Heijn To Go" mini market is in just about every neighborhood. Albert Cuyp Street Market in the De Pijp is open from 9AM-5PM & is a great place to buy things you can prepare quick like meat (grilled steaks), seafood (bake, sauté or steam), chicken (they sell whole roasted chickens & BBQ'd chicken parts or kebabs) plus lots of vegetables & fruit. The Albert Cuyp Market has an entire booth devoted to selling granola, trail mix & other snacks for your picky eater so save your luggage space & buy it there. Amsterdam loves quick & easy foods - there are loads of sandwich shops, pancake stands, french fry stands (but your picky eater should be forewarned the Dutch mostly eat fries with mayo, peanut satay or curry sauce instead of ketchup), hot dog vendors, & American chains like Starbucks, McDonalds, KFC, Hard Rock Cafe & Pizza Hut. Now someone here will tell you just how "wrong" it is to patronize those chains, but why spend your vacation arguing with the picky eater about how he/she should just shut up & eat whatever the Rick Steves-endorsed local specialty is (raw herring with onions and a shot of jenever on the side? sure! what kid doesn't want to try that!) when you can just buy the kid a Happy Meal so he's not reduced to hysterics and eating "fruit leather" for 3 weeks? Amsterdam even has a great Mexican restaurant (Los Pilones) which has several locations including the Jordaan or Leidseplein areas. Dinners are about 15 Euro, but are sizable so younger kids could share something like the soft tacos which come 3 to a plate. Croissants and fresh fruit from Marks & Spencer for breakfast, BBQ chicken from the street market for lunch & a Mexican dinner (without booze) should still keep you close to your budget.

Thanks for all the great ideas everyone and please, do keep them coming--they are much appreciated! While I agree in principle with making the picky eater eat what we eat, and I do enforce that at home, it isn't something I push very hard on when on an expensive vacation. I did bring lots of snacky things on our last trip to London and Paris two years ago and, much to my combined relief/chagrin (since they took up valuable luggage space!) the vast majority were not consumed. She discovered the joy of chocolate croissants and, on one particular day, had one for breakfast, lunch, AND dinner. Obviously, I am not too picky on the food consumed on the trip! My oldest just "had" to have a Subway sandwich after trying (to his credit) and not enjoying a cheese crepe in Paris. Since he was willing to gamely try the local food, I was willing to let him eat the sandwich. Sometimes you just want the familiar :). I feel like I get in a cooking rut so am so happy to hear other ideas. I also wasn't sure how readily available prepared foods would be in Europe, so I am happy to see that it looks like I won't have to look very hard. I may practice some roast chicken and potatoes (how great would it be to buy prepared rosti! probably not very likely, but yum!).

Hi Laura, We just got back from a 3-week trip in Europe with a family of 5. We were in France, Italy, and Switzerland. We had kitchens all but 2 nights, which was, seriously, a life saver (i.e., budget saver :). We packed Clif bars, as my 9-year old can be a picky eater too. We discovered Nutella! I know, not very nutritious, but oh what a help. We would buy bread, cheese, lunch meat, Nutella, yogurt, and muesli and that's what we lived on until dinner. Lots of crepes and croissants too. For dinner, I felt the same way. I didn't want to do much cooking, but I knew we couldn't afford to eat out with that many people before we ran out of funds. We did a lot of pasta. Rice dishes were easy (sometimes with eggs). We were still able to eat out a few times (which made that really special, especially in France where the food is so wonderful!), and we were always on the lookout for gelato (but we were in Italy). Oh, and lots of Swiss chocolate :). Food was really expensive in Switzerland, but bread was always available (and delicious) and affordable as well as cheese and yogurt and Rosti. Maybe do pack the tortillas! I loved having the Clif bars. We ran out by mid-Italy, but it was well worth the weight to bring. Meat was really expensive, so we tended to do without except lunch meat. Hope that helps! Good luck. It sounds like a great trip. Becky

We are also a family of five with three children and have done extended trips to Europe five times - doing as much cooking as our lodging facilities allowed, and doing a lot of sandwichy variations for lunches. We keep close track of costs and over the course of some 140+ days in Europe we have averaged $52US/day for all of us - and that includes the occasional gelato, too. When cooking, we do pasta & sauce about once per week, and pizza of some sort once per week. Perhaps once per week we eat out at a cheap restaurant. The other meals generally have a simple meat along with a starch and a veggie and/or fruit - pretty basic stuff that's fairly easy to make, easy to find in the stores (though meat can be very expensive - you'll have to choose carefully to avoid breaking the bank), and reasonably priced. We DO NOT bring food from home except as snacks on the plane. We don't challenge the children with strange foods. We want them to feel comfortable with the experience just as I'm sure you do with yours. However, they eat what we eat when we eat it or they go hungry. Our children have never been presented with any other option.