We may as well get used to the idea that we’re going to be spending an awful lot of time on home turf this year. From 12 April we’re allowed staycations, or self-catering holidays, which can of course be lovely. But they do need a bit of forward planning. I spent a weekend in a lovely house in Norfolk where the only food in the place was bread, butter, teabags and instant coffee. (Memo to providers – a nice cake and some jam or honey is a good way to start.) And there was no shop in walking distance; only an honesty box outside a neighbour’s for eggs.
If you’re staying somewhere with local shops and markets, support them. It’s sinking low not to spend your money locally; you should aim to bolster the micro-GDP. But there are places so remote that they evade even the most basic of shops or you may be arriving at the wrong time to catch the opening hours. To start your holiday on the right foot, what you need is a Staycation Hamper, a box of food staples or treats which will feed you handsomely during your stay, or provide treats to top up the basics or simply save you cooking – that’s always good for the cook on holiday. The following are providers of good things which will cheer and sustain you when you’re away from home. I’m delighted to say that the Staycation Hamper is now a Thing. (Check the contents before ordering, and the delivery charges.) And lots of farm shops will deliver locally. The Discover Delicious website, which combines several independent producers in Wales, make it easy to support small businesses.
Just one note of caution. Deliveries to an unfamiliar address can be a nightmare and you don’t want your courier circling fruitlessly around a house with no one at home; give an exact address where you’re staying with postcode and instructions about how to get in or where to leave things safely. Plus your mobile phone. Or take your hamper with you. Trust me; this will save endless vexation.
Paxton and Whitfield, The Chelsea Hamper, £100
My favourite cheesemongers, and for cheese-lovers, this is a box of delights. There’s the deeply savoury Cheddar Pounder, cave aged, in a muslin cloth, Baron Bigod, which is gorgeous, and a creamy, unpasteurised Cote Hill Blue. Then there’s biscuits, an excellent little fig and almond slice for sweetness and richness with it (a bit like their fruit cake for cheese), caramelised onion chutney and very useful cheese knife. Plus a bottle of good red wine, and a bar of the best chocolate I’ve had in ages – Bare Bones from Glasgow (worth checking out). Yum. paxtonandwhitfield.co.uk
Fortnum and Mason, Foodhall Hamper, £125
I maintain that there is no situation in life that cannot be improved by a Fortnum’s hamper. The empire builders who took them everywhere knew what they were doing. This one is a cracker: there’s a nice ham with orange and spices, smoked salmon with dill sauce; biscuits in a fabulous tin, olives and pickles, cheddar cheese and biscuits and a decent bottle of Beaujolais. And in that classy wicker hamper, the whole is somehow greater than the sum of the parts. Because of the fresh bits of it, you need to check it’s delivered in your area. fortnumandmason.com
The Ultimate Staycation Package, Forman and Field, £149
This is the oldest smokehouse in London – run, I should say, by my old friend Lance Forman – and has expanded beyond its excellent core product, smoked salmon, to offer very good hampers and prepared meals. This box is full of good things, including sole gougons with capers, plus the firm’s signature latkes, some bagels, cake, chicken sausages, good white and rose wine, cheese and biscuits and savoury things to graze on. Formanandfield.com
Dukeshill, Holiday Welcome Box, £95
This is a very good holiday box if you don’t have shops locally; there’s teabags, ground coffee, chipolatas and bacon, a small baked ham, cheddar, butter and jam, mackerel fillets and a lemon and almond cake, with a sparkling rosé. What more could you want? The company also has popular Afternoon Tea Hampers, which has everything you need barring sliced bread. dukeshillham.co.uk
Ramsay of Carluke, Breakfast Pack, £25
There are rashers, and there are Ramsay of Carluke rashers. If you are worried about starving to death on staycation, fear not: with this for breakfast, you will be set up for the day. It comes with two packs each of the following: back bacon, (excellent) black pudding slices, Lorne sausages (flat sausage slices, very good for sandwiches) and haggis, breakfast sausages and potato farls. All I need say about the sausage is that my son ate six, at one sitting. There’s also a Pancake Breakfast pack (£15) which, as well as pancake mix, maple syrup and streaky rashers, has black pudding and link sausages. As I say, you won’t starve. Ramsayofcarluke.co.uk
The Fish Society Pie, £8.90 430g
The Fish Society specialises in frozen fish and for easy dinners on a staycation, I’d be inclined to get in some of its frozen fish pies, with halibut, prawns and smoked haddock. Easy peasy and hard to beat, although not technically a hamper. thefishsociety.co.uk
Farmison Family Staycation Box, £59.50, serves four
If you don’t have a butcher where you’re staying, fear not, Farmison does a comprehensive box of meats for staycationers, which includes streaky bacon, breakfast sausage, spatchcock chicken, flat iron steaks, corned beef, burgers and pie. There’s a smaller version for £37.50. It’s very good meat, and doesn’t need much in the way of cooking. You can add to it some of the company’s other ready dishes – steak and kidney pudding anyone? farmison.com
The Wolseley Spring Hamper, £145
You can take the girl out of the Wolseley – that chic Piccadilly eatery – but the Wolseley can find its way to the girl, courtesy of this covetable hamper, which would be lovely if you’re celebrating a birthday or an anniversary while you’re on holiday. It’s Pommery Champagne with benefits…shortbread, half a dozen truffles, breakfast tea, apricot jam and hot chocolate. And a scented candle. Extravagant but fab. thewolseley.com
Daylesford Organics, Breakfast Hamper, £80
If sausages and rashers aren’t your thing, there’s always this box of good things from Daylesford, suppliers to Downing Street. It includes smoked salmon, Cotswold eggs, Oxford honey, best strawberry jam, sourdough, granola and a bottle of prosecco, plus tea, coffee and orange juice They also do a simple Dairy Box for £10, with milk, eggs, butter and yoghurt. But you might also want to take on board the company’s useful ready meals in pouches, including broths and chowders and meatballs, all in handy pouches from £4.99 to £8.99 for meat meals. They serve two, or one if you’re really greedy. Oh, they also do ready-mixed cocktails – try the Yuzu margarita – for £12; enough for two. Daylesford.com, delivery £6.95 Tuesday to Friday and £10.95, at weekends.
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