If staying in a condo/house/villa/ or place with kitchen

[proud_canadian]

What do you do about condiments? It is a waste to buy containers of condiments like peanut butter, jam, ketchup, etc., when you can't really bring them home with you if flying home. Do you bring some sort of individual packets or buy them somwhere or just do without?

 

[softballmom3]

I'm going to honestly tell you that I just buy small containers of condiments when I get there and consider it an expense OR I bring them from home. I saw where you're flying so that probably wouldn't help you any. I could probably bring packets, say from restaurants, but I'd be worried about them busting open unless I put them in a zip-loc baggie. We do limit what we're going to use so that I'm not out buying a bottle of ketchup, mustard and may, etc...... usually you can get the store brand pretty cheap.

 

[castanhope]

The really nice owners go to Sam's Club and buy a giant stash of individual packs of mayo, mustard, ketchup, salt, pepper, etc. and leave them for their guests. You might want to check with the owner before packing just to see if they happen to have those things available to you.

 

[momofsamandeden]

We just start asking for packets whenever we get fast food and then put them in zip loc bags when we fly there. Never had a packet burst before knock on wood. I do keep them in my carry on so maybe it helps with the stable cabin pressure. We even bring honey packets and then I bake biscuits in the morning and bring them to our attraction. http://www.amazon.com/s/?ie=UTF8&ke...=aps&hvadid=4515254889&ref=pd_sl_75ydvboli8_b

 

[TrustedTraveler]

The really nice owners go to Sam's Club and buy a giant stash of individual packs of mayo, mustard, ketchup, salt, pepper, etc. and leave them for their guests. You might want to check with the owner before packing just to see if they happen to have those things available to you.

What a really nice idea! That's customer service.

 

[BellyBaby]

The SuperTarget on 192 stocks the cutest little sizes of condiments. We got relish, ketchup, and mustard for about $1 each.

We've been to 3 houses total in the area: 2 houses had no condiments, just s&p, and one had condiments in the fridge that was like communal ketchup, spices, cooking oil...I just used it because to me it's the same thing as the ketchup in a restuarant.

 

[sjanus]

There's a neat website, I think it is www.minimus.com, that have small sizes of all kinds of things you can order, great to put in your suitcase so don't have to buy large quantities when staying in short-term rentals. When we were recently in Hawaii, we had a couple of condos, and we bought smallest sizes we could find, used what we needed, threw the rest out. We also for instance both like mustard on sandwiches, so we just bought mustard instead of several choices, since we were only in each condo several days.

You will find with most short-term rental properties you will have salt, pepper, spices people leave, somewhat of a collection. The small packages of condiments is a good idea, as better than leaving guests open bottles of ketchup, mustard etc. It freaks me out when I see these in a rental property, especially if they look decades old, lol, with crusty ketchup and mustard around the cap, gross. Some issues of hygiene here!

Walgreens, I think, may sell smaller sizes of things and Walmart has a section of travel items, but I think Health and Beauty supplies.

It is also a good idea to put some storage bags in your suitcase, without the cardboard cover, always useful for foods, etc., left overs. I also throw in some trash bags, although some owners will leave lots, others few...no consistency. So I pack them just in case I need them. They're always useful for dirty laundry, too. Dishwasher tabs is another easy thing to pack so you don't have to buy a whole lot of them. These are just some of the things I always throw in my suitcase when I'm renting a condo. Sometimes they are already there and I don't need them, but saves us from buying them there if we do.

Sandy

 

[BellyBaby]

Also pack a few fabric softener sheets (Bounce, etc) in a ziploc baggie, instead of buying a whole box if you have laundry at the condo!

 

[dyna]

When we shop for food for our stay I think about condiments needed some things we just do not have because of needing to many condiments, we drive an even then there a limit as to how many condiments I want to haul or can haul (if on harley the most I can haul is maybe dryer sheets an baggie of soap powder that I don't plan on eating )

DH an I knows we can use a bottle of syrup during our stay as he enjoys waffles every morning with sausage an eggs, we know some things we pay for for the enjoyment of having it for our stay even tho we might not quite finish it...say a pound of butter we buy the cheapest whipped butter because we like butter on our waffles knowing we might only use half still cheaper an better than eating out every meal....but you can not do that with every condiment either.

If you don't know how much of something you going to need start watching weeks before vacation how much cereal ate a day or week at your house if you plan on eating cereal. Works iwth most any food....on vacations it is always easier to go back to store for more food than try to return food you over bought on. MANY over buys on food has no way to take it home an the food ends up wasted..

We only cook breakfast in our unit, we usually heat up leftovers from resturants every 3rd day either dinner or supper way back at the store tho when shopping for breakfast I bought couple bags of veggies....when we eat our leftovers I always cook us a veggie...towards the end of week if I see I over bought on 2 bags of veggies I eat veggie with my breakfast....veggies good filler to fill us up an good for us too

 

[Beckypooh1972]

We usually end up with packets of salt, pepper and ketchup leftover after a visit to a fast food drive thru on our trip. We take them back to the room/condo after our meal. We usually purchase a small mayo from a grocery store. I have taken small portions of non-perishable food with us lots of times in our checked luggage without issue.