self catering in Courchevel - tips for cooking for 10!

A snowHead

Just booked our second ski holiday of the year - Woooop! Off to Courchevel 1550, staying at Les Brigues apartments.

All very last minute and an average price holiday so decided to do self catering for ease in the end. I personally have never done self catering for a ski holiday before and neither have I been in such a large group (we are staying in 2 apartments but having meals together). Any help on what works best for the evening meal in terms of food ideas (we will prob be cooking!) and whether taking in turns might be a good way to distribute the task? Or are there any cheap resteraunts/pub gems hidden away that are worth visiting on an evening or two?

cheers in advance!

A snowHead

Massive spag bol.

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

FiFi_Trixibell, can't daddy organise a Michelin starred chef?

You need to Login to know who's really who.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

FiFi_Trixibell, just thought you might be related to St. Bob.

But I agree with Mr Technique - anything that can be made in a vat!

You'll need to Register first of course.

FiFi_Trixibell, if your apartments are close to each other, I'd suggest doing a course each on one or two evenings (no need to have more than two!). We do that sometimes with French friends and it works very well - you need fewer dishes and decamping to a place where everything is cleared and ready to go is good. As an alternative, one apartment could prepare a pudding (a big fruit crumble, for example) and bring it with them.

Your problem might be that neither apartment is equipped with the sort of dishes and pans you'd need to cook for that number. Also, do you know what cooking equipment you'll have - not all apartments have proper ovens, or 4 burner hobs.

Should be fun, though. I think if I were contemplating that I'd pack some "extras" - including a really good sharp knife. Some big disposable foil baking trays might be useful - this sort of thing http://www.amazon.co.uk/Disposable-Roasting-32-5cm-26-5cm-KI4106/dp/B004EJHGBY/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=kitchen&qid=1295992678&sr=1-1&tag=amz07b-21

Just chuck 'em after use.

I'd have a basic menu plan, too - so that items likely to be difficult to find locally, or uneconomical to buy for one meal, can be taken with you - made-up mixes of spices for a curry, for example.

One meal could be a couple of roast chickens (you can always buy these ready done though they can be pricey), a big tray - or two - of boulangere potatoes http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/5056/boulangre-potatoes or dauphinoise if you're feeling self indulgent, and a big salad.

Most French places will have a "traiteur" who will sell ready made dishes - a lot more expensive than making them from scratch but a LOT less expensive than going out to a restaurant, especially as you can then drink wine at supermarket prices.

Another suggestion is to have the "non-cook-of-the-day" apartment provide apres ski "tea" - bread and jam, biscuits, cakes, pancakes, whatever and lots of cups of tea and coffee, for everyone. Otherwise the cooking apartment will not only have to shift the lazy sweaty bodies out the way, but also do loads of washing up and clearing before being able to start on the evening meal.

What size are the apartments?

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

def take in turns - 2 people together are responsible for buying and cooking 1 evenings meal (eat out the other 2 nights...)
Go for 'one pot' meals that are easy to do in quantity - spag bol, curry, casserole, tuna pasta, chilli, risotto, etc. based on the skill of the chefs and what they can find in the supermarket!

After all it is free

40 tray-baked sausages and a flower vase full of beans in the microwave.

Make sure they've got two mahoosive pans. That is important. Then you can cook the following with remarkable ease:

Spag Bol
Chilli and Rice
Risotto
Chicken curry
Pasta Bake (or just pasta and sauce with some cheese chucked on top)

Then eat out on one or two nights.

Bear in mind that all of the above go nicely with handfuls of parmesan chucked over them. I know because I did it - a week with parmesan on every meal. Without exceptions it was an improvement, even the chicken curry.

We used to do this for groups of 25-30 and it really is simple, you need 2-3 people on shift each night for a group that size, only one of them needs to know what they are doing (the pot controller, checks what is going in when), 2 people can easily cook meals like this for 10 with very little skill.

Forget pudding, just buy a big bag of Mars bars and tell people to shut up and eat.

*Ski* the Net with snowHeads

We did self-catering in Chamonix against our better judgment when we won a holiday in an apartment. In fact, it worked very well and we went back again. Tips to make things easy are:

Pudding - just visit the local patisserie and buy some amazing cakes!

Don't bother with potatoes - pasta is much easier and can be dolled up in a moment by combing it with a small amount of good quality olive oil (with garlic briefly roasted in it if you like).

Starter - get some dried meat and salad from the supermarket (or cheeses, or anything else that looks interesting).

snowHeads are a friendly bunch.

The mahoosive pan thing is pretty important. It could even be worth taking two with you (one for the spag, one for the bol). We once took a pressure cooker to Austria. wink

snow reports

FiFi_Trixibell, take bags of herbs, salt, pepper, stock cubes etc so you dont have to spend a fortune in resort on stuff you willl only use a fraction of. I also took packets of stuff like Colemans Chicken Chasseur mix, chilli mix and beef stew so you only have to buy a few ingredients to make the recipe work. I dont use them at home but if you add a few big glugs of wine then its all pretty decent. pam w, speaks wise words!

FiFi_Trixibell, Shop down the hill.

You know it makes sense.

Its
COURCHEVEL
not Courcheval Evil or Very Mad

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

A snowHead

A snowHead

If you are driving and have space slow cookers are brilliant for group meals (need two for ten people though). Bung everything in the cooker in the morning, come back to a perfect Chilli/Casserole/Goulasch etc.

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

I suspect you'll struggle in Les Brigues for large scale cooking.

We stayed a few years back and it had a very basic kitchenette - a very small grill and a small two ring hob type thing. No oven if I recall. Was fine for two of us on the nights we stayed in as we just had gin, wine, cheeses, hams, bread, grilled a bruschetta etc, but for 10 you'll struggle unless you're in a bigger appartment. Ours was the 1 bed appartment - had 4 beds (1 twin bedroom, bunk bedroom in the hallway, and a pull out bad in the lounge area.

That said the reception area will loan you a raclette grill (and I think maybe a fondue) which might make things a bit easier, so if you borrowed a couple that would see you right for a couple of nights.

The creperie in 1550 (under the gondola station) isn't bad - theres normally a set lunch of a savoury and a sweet crepe + a small beer for 10-12 euros.

You need to Login to know who's really who.

I'm fairly sure we did a supermarket pizza too - maybe the microwave oven was a combi with an oven.

Bah - too long ago for me to remember.

Better to give the Residence a quick and ask them what your apartment will have. If you haven't got the number go to the pierre & vacances website as they run the residence.

Also if you are near the top of the top half of the building that is right next to the car park, meaning lugging stuff in and out is easier, and also the ski lockers in the top half of the building back out to a short 30m track that takes you straight up on to the Brigues red piste down to La Praz. Much less faff than getting to the bus into 1550, though it can be quite an icy piste first thing in the morning depending on conditions.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

easier to make in US/Can resorts, but Condiment soup.

3 sachets tomato sauce
1 sachet mustard
1 sachet tobasco
in a mug, top up with courtesy hot water
Stir vigourously for 2 mins.
add free salt/pepper to taste

grab handful of crackers and you've got a free lunch my friend.

You'll need to Register first of course.

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

Schuss in Boots, not sure he thought so. wink

After all it is free

*Ski* the Net with snowHeads

If you are staying in PV apartments, they will probably have a bakery delivery service too. You just order all your breakfast breads and pastries from the reception the night before and collect each morning. We would order lots of bread and eat it at breakfast with jam, make sandwiches for lunch (or hot dogs if we bothered to ski back to apartment) and then the left over bread was used in the evening - warm garlic bread, chilli butter bread, etc. An easy 'bulk' option to get more carbs in, especially if the pans are not large.

In the past, if I have stayed with a large group split over two apartments, one apartment was designated the 'cooking' apartment, so all the useful pots, pans and plates were brought over from the other apartment. The 'non cook' apartment was used for post ski nibbles, we just bought big packs of crisp, biscuits and cakes. We would share cooking in pairs, so everyone only had to cook once. We just cooked the standard spag bol, chill + rice, sausage and mash (but the mash was hard work!), curry, etc - very little cooking skill required. We never bothered with taking any ingredients or pans from home, and just bought a few of the bare essentials, black pepper, chilli, salt, oregano once in resort. Then we had two nights off from cooking, one of which is usually just take away pizzas and the other a nice meal out.

snowHeads are a friendly bunch.

Had the delivery service in Val Thorens, truly excellent. Makes me wish for fresh bread each morning at home!

snow reports

I've organised many skiing trips for up to 16 people, always self catering. Split the group into pairs (preferably pairs that will work well together - perhaps avoid husband & wife teams!) and let them choose what they are going to cook before you leave. Ensure no duplications and then it is up to them to sort it. Any special ingredients can be taken with you and if weight permits it could be pre-prepared and frozen so it stays cold on the journey. Those cooking must also be responsible for cleaning the pots etc and the kitchen generally - this discourages burning the food onto the bottom of the pans and making a dreadful mess. You'll have 2 kitchens so use them both. On one trip we were in 2 adjacent apartments and even moved the dining table and chairs so we all ate in one apartment and used the other as the living room. Add a bit of fun by asking each person to score the meal after eating and see who are 'chefs of the week' - they get to eat for free on the last night when you hit a restaurant. Oh, and BTW, make sure you book your restaurant on the day you arrive, or even better, before arriving.

I've always done it with lots of teenagers and found that they really entered into the spirit of the thing - it became as much a talking point as the skiing.

curry nights are always a hit, ideas of ingredients at:
http://www.veggiesnow.org/recipes/curry_night_221.html
(worth bringing your curry spices from the UK)

and Hagrid's pie is seriously yummy and inexpensive - especially if you use ordinary mashed potato instead of sweet potato:
http://www.veggiesnow.org/recipes/hagrids_pie__lentils_and_carrots_with_sweet_potato_topping_178.h
Very Happy

You know it makes sense.

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

If the apartments have dishwashers, take tablets for them.

A snowHead

I'd also take extra dishcloths and tea towels - you might only get one of each

Plan for big one pot dinners - you might need to take a big pan with you

A snowHead

If the resort has restaurants, use them.

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

ham baguette.....my usual fare.

You need to Login to know who's really who.

Shimmy Alcott, At this rate you'll have no room for your new skis wink

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

You will almost certainly have a casserole / stockpot of some sort, but it may not be big enough to cook for everyone. Be prepared to cook in 2 smaller ones.

You'll need to Register first of course.

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

FiFi_Trixibell, loads of people make that mistake, Boredsurfing must have got out of the wrong side of bed wink

ricfrench, Shocked

eating out it is then! Laughing

After all it is free

Took a while to remember I started this thread! won't start quoting replies for people as too many but thanks for all the tips and past experience ppm have passed knowledge on about.

if we could eat out all the time then we certainly would be but whilst were not being that stingy we are aware of where we are staying and don't wanna totally blow the budget. in any case we aren't cooking every night as inevitably I will end up doing a lot of it so I'm not leading team cooking every night of our hol!

The apartments have a bakery service every day so that's breakfast sorted! Haha Smile

*Ski* the Net with snowHeads

Help!!

self catering in Courchevel - tips for cooking for 10!

snowHeads Forum Index >>> The Piste