I’m currently working away 2 nights a week and normally end up on my own.
And because I’m lazy and unsociable (and like to sit and eat while watching TV in my pants) I can’t be bothered with going out for a proper meal.
So I normally nip to a supermarket and get a combination that ends up something like a selection of the following; salad bowl, cooked meats, cheese, bread roll, yoghurt, fruit and a few bottles of beer.

However, after a few months of this it’s getting a bit repetitive.
So, any suggestions of decent(ish) meals I can create within the cooking confines of a Travelodge hotel room?
I wouldn’t mind something warm now summer is a distance memory – I even opted for a pot noodle last night in an attempt of something different.
Facilities available extend to a kettle, some plastic cutlery and a mug! 😕

Asda, home section, microwave for £30.
Hide it under a big bag.

It is possible to heat warm up ready meals by filling the sink with water from the kettle. It takes a while though!

Currently sat on my own awaiting a pizza cause I can never come up with anything interesting for the in room stuff.

+1 buy a little microwave for twenty quid, stick it in a holdall during the day.

slightly different to you guys but i always keep a supply of supernoodles , spork and a stainless mug in my bag for food emergencies .

IE last week in turkmenistan i was presented with a microwaved frozen pizza on a plate sitting in the water from defrosting …….at the hotel restaurant.

Back to the room and deploy the noodles.

Couscous salad with feta

One of these for £12 and a wee pot. Packs away neatly into its own plastic case.

And because I’m lazy and unsociable (and like to sit and eat while watching TV in my pants)

Your pants have a TV? Whatever next.

i foresee a fire alarm in johnners future.

TV in my pants

I was going to post that on the ‘tech innovation’ thread but apparently it’s already a thing 🙂
Most restaurants would parcel up a meal to go or you could just phone out for take-away? Any kind of heating device in the room risks triggering the smoke alarms (stayed in a Travelodge-type place once where there was a note in the room asking people not to heat up food for this reason)

Deliveroo?

Probably half the deliveroo orders we do are delivered to hotels. Why have a pot noodle when you can have fillet steak in your pants?

Pasta boiled in the kettle FTW – I’ve seen quite a few people attempt it over the years!

Do they have an iron in the cupboard? That’s basically a grill right there, so you should be able to do a steak in a few minutes. If you can keep the kettle on with a heavy book, you should be able to boil up some new potatoes easily enough.

Add salad and butter: WIN!

slightly different to you guys but i always keep a supply of supernoodles , spork and a stainless mug in my bag for food emergencies .

This normally takes care of the hot part of the “cheapskate Travelodge dinner” for me – although nicer options are available! (Kabuto instant noodles currently on offer in Waitrose!)

Small microwave not a terrible idea though, I wonder who makes the smallest/lightest?!

Is that a pork sword fillet?

Small induction hob from Ikea?

you could do a whole roast dinner with this!

http://www.viking-direct.co.uk/catalog/catalogSku.do?id=6840900&cm_mmc=Google-_-pla_gen_google-shopping_eating-and-drinking-_-eating-and-drinking-_-6840900&s2m_channel=544&_%24ja=tsid:34770%7Ccid:242833577%7Cagid:16600084097%7Ctid:pla-91736971577%7Ccrid:55356843857%7Cnw:g%7Crnd:4230742815893286335%7Cdvc:c%7Cadp:1o4&gclid=CLebnPn1idACFaQV0wodhN0Jww

Hide a slow cooker in the wardrobe?

portable battery powered microwave, launching in the US in 2017 apparently!

have fillet steak in your pants?

Your pants have fillet steak in them? I’m jealous.

It’s all about dat meat in yo pants.

Exactly how much time and effort are you prepared to invest in this? 🙂
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/comedy/features/move-over-nigella-george-egg-cooks-and-cracks-jokes-a6751956.html

He worked out how to poach eggs and sea bass in the kettle, sizzle pancakes on the upturned iron and puff up Naan breads in the trouser press. “Once,” he says proudly. “I made moules marinière in a kettle in the Leicester Grand.”

rugbydick – Member

Showoff

I’ve been through this a few years ago as I commuted and spent 4 nights a week in a B&B.

If you have a supermarket locally then you can obviously nail the cooked meat counter which will give you a good base to start with. Roast chicken, sausages, gammon joint, potato wedges etc. There are quite a few flavoured packets of couscous you can buy which make a good side dish, and they just require boiling water to be added.

It’s a bit wrong, but you can obviously also use instant mashed potato. I once created a sausage and mash dinner using just the kettle. Heat the frankfurters by pouring the water out and replacing with boiling water. Instant mashed potato and then bisto gravy. Not a huge amount of nutrients but can be quite a satisfying meal!

Maybe do what bikepackers do?

Freezer-Bag Cooking.

Cheers,

APF

Buy a good thermos food flask. Combined with a kettle you can cook lots of things in it. Takes a while right enough, but even small potatoes can be cooked in a thermos with added boiling water and time. Pasta, grains, legumes etc can be cooked this way.

“Look what we found” meals are boil in the bag. Soak them in boiling water from the kettle for 10 mins. You will need to do a couple of changes. Eat with couscous which only needs 5 min soaking in boiling water. Ainsley Harriott does some nice flavoured couscous.

How about Room Service ? Or is that a horribly old fashioned concept ? If I have to travel on my own for work I also eat in my room, but somebody always brings it for me….

How about Room Service ? Or is that a horribly old fashioned concept ?

Used to score Holiday Inn’s by their Burger, best to go out like Elvis

Eat with couscous which only needs 5 min soaking in boiling water. Ainsley Harriott does some nice flavoured couscous.

Nothing can stop it being couscous though

Couscous packet, tupperware container. Add some cooked chicken, prawns, chorizo, something like that

Or there’s some posh packets of grains nowadays – bulgar wheat, lentils, quinoa, etc… strictly they are microwave packs but can be boil in the bagged to heat them through.

DON’T try and do a tin of tomato soup in the kettle though. i did as a student and suffered tomato soup flavoured tea and coffee for a whole term. in hindsight I should have left it in the tin and heated the whole thing up.

How about Room Service ? Or is that a horribly old fashioned concept ? If I have to travel on my own for work I also eat in my room, but somebody always brings it for me….

I’ve yet to stay in a Travelodge that offers room service! Possibly some do though, or do you always travel with your butler?

I should have left it in the tin and heated the whole thing up.

AND OPENED IT WHILST HEATING

I’ve yet to stay in a Travelodge that offers room service!

and there is the flaw

you can also do filled ‘fresh’ pasta (ravioli, tortellini types) in a tupperware (other brands available) with a good sealing lid. Just fill up with boiling water and leave for about twice as long as the cooking instructions to allow for the drop in temperature (obv choose the ones that normally cook in 1-2 mins, choosing one that cooks in 10 and then expecting it to be done by leaving it in tepid water for 20 mins is just stupid)

Military ration packs heated up in the kettle (use the iron to hold down the switch and keep the kettle boiling for 5 mins). I used to find lots of unused rations in the local woods, but the squaddies seem to be a bit tidier these days 🙁

Ahh know the feeling stuck on the 43rd floor of a hotel in darkest China in a lightning storm eating some Hula Hoops I found in my bag, my work mates thinking I am living it up.

I once created a sausage and mash dinner using just the kettle

Heat the frankfurters by pouring the water out and replacing with boiling water. Instant mashed potato and then bisto gravy

Id argue that those two statements are not related in the slightest.

There is a line and you crossed it. a bit like when my mate made spam curry for his turn on cooking at the staff house.

There’s many folk on here who do this new fangled bike-packing thing. It used to be called cycle touring, but that’s not fashionable any more. They cook gourmet meals in a ditch, using stuff they have carried there in a variety of strange shaped bags, hung all over a bike (never use panniers, that’s just wrong). Imagine what you could create, in a nice warm room with a sturdy table and running water and a car boot full of ingredients and utensils.