Matt Tracy, 45, a shoe distributor in Portland, Maine, loves to cook. On a recent multigenerational trip to Tuscany, he and other family members cooked seven nights out of 10 in a rented villa, preparing dishes like wild boar ragu for 10 people, including his children, ages 6 and 9.
“We save an enormous amount of money while cooking,” he said. “We love going out to dinner, but with two kids and other guests it’s expensive.”
Whether it’s catering to allergies or other dietary needs, ensuring family harmony or sticking to a budget, vacation cooking is increasingly popular with travelers choosing short-term rental accommodations.
according to Travel trend report 2023 From the Vrbo vacation rental platform, ‘foodies’ are in high demand. Sixty-five percent of users surveyed said equipment such as a grill, air fryer, and premium coffee machine were more important than destination. Almost half cooked to reduce costs.
On Airbnb, the “kitchen” is the third most searched for rental amenities after swimming pools and Wi-Fi. The rental platform made it easier to find accommodations with Chef’s Kitchens when it introduced various accommodation categories in May 2022.
“The kitchen tends to be the heart and soul of vacation homes,” writes Josh Viner, director of regional operations for the vacation home rental platform. Vacasa, in an email. In the kitchen, he notes, “guests gather not only to eat a delicious home-cooked meal, but also to socialize and relax.”
rest and explore
Travelers who cook do so for many reasons: as a way to explore a place when shopping locally for ingredients; Saving Money; family comfort and more.
said Rob Stern, a travel agent in Raleigh, NC, who runs RobPlansYourTrip.comspecifying “families on a tight budget or those with picky eater”.
For others, meal prep brings them closer to their destination.
“When I’m trying out a place, one of my favorite things to do is visit a grocery store,” said Tanya Churchmusch, 53, who runs a public relations firm in New York City.
Preparing her own food also allows her to maintain a healthy diet. Even on trips of less than three days, she takes a mini espresso maker, steel-cut oats, and buys fruit locally for at least one meal, which, she estimates, saves $15 to $30 per couple compared to eating out.
According to Ashley Butler, author of The Cookbook.Small kitchen cook“who spent years living out of a camper van in her homeland of Australia and North America, nurturing local markets” allows you to absorb the culinary culture while supporting local farmers and makers. “
For frequent travelers, staying somewhere with a kitchen is less lonely.
He’s on the road 300 days a year, Gary Durant, 49, a sports agent from Toronto, said in an interview with Level Hotels and Furnished Suites The location is in Los Angeles.
In the kitchen, he prepares simple dishes like eggs and pasta and entertains customers with delivery meals that he can properly heat and serve. “A kitchen with amenities feels like home away from home,” he said.
Renting a place with a fancy kitchen doesn’t have to cost more. While Chicago Airbnbs’ “Chefs Kitchens” category has recently had plenty of luxury rentals going for $1,200 and up, there’s also been a good selection under $200.
Control food costs
For gourmets, going to places famous for their food makes cooking not only exciting but cheaper and simpler.
“In Italy, you really start with high-quality ingredients, which makes cooking Italian food a lot easier because you don’t have to do a lot to the ingredients,” said Jeff Michaud, 46, a Philadelphia-based chef of Runs. osteria restaurant. He also runs the travel company with his wife, Claudia day across Gaiawhich takes small groups to Italy for cooking classes and visits to cheese makers, truffle hunters, and pasta masters.
On average, he estimates he spends about a half to a third of what he would on similar ingredients at home, noting that a loaf of bread often costs less than a dollar. “In Italy, food is still very affordable,” he said.
When she travels to Europe, Diane Morgan, 68, a food writer and cooking instructor based in Portland, Oregon, searches rental listings for appliances like a grill to keep cleanup to a minimum.
Three residencies in the southern French town of Sablet gave her the opportunity to patronize local markets and bakeries, and “It was really simple to eat,” she said, describing fresh salads for her lunches. “I wasn’t trying to bake cakes but was just able to make use of local produce, especially cheese.”
Sampling local foods in your rental kitchen doesn’t always require culinary skills.
“My insider’s hot French tip for travelers with kitchens: frozen food,” Gayle Cake, 62, a writer from California who recently moved to France, wrote in an email. Frozen food chain recommended Picard As a time and money saver (four servings of salmon tartare cost €11.70, or about $12.85). It’s also a taste of how the locals cheat with classics like duck confit and quiche Lorraine. “Picard is a little comet secret to everyone.”
Packing salt, keys and toothpicks
Limiting the size of a rental kitchen can be a roadblock for chefs, leading to unique packing lists.
Mr. Tracy, the wild boar chef, travels with a Better Than Bouillon roast chicken base, toothpicks for cooking finger food, a chef’s knife and a paring knife, both wrapped in a towel and stowed in checked baggage.
In the summers of 2020 and 2021, Mrs. Churchmusch and her wife moved to Iceland to work remotely. “That’s when we started taking things like knives and the little plane,” she said. “Nobody has a grater in their apartment.”
On her recent trip to Philadelphia, Tara Crowley, 37, a chef based in South Lake Tahoe, Calif., chose the extended-stay hotel. AKA University City Because its open kitchen allowed her to connect with friends and family while cooking.
“I always travel with a wine corkscrew and I bring Irish flaky salt with me,” Ms Crawley wrote in an email. “Salt elevates any dish.”
Los Angeles-based architect Eva Sobieski tried to make it easier for renters to move around the kitchen in her four-bedroom. vacation home In coastal Manzanita, Ore. , which you rent at Vrbo. Open shelves allow guests to see where their plates and cups are. A large tabletop center island allows others to gather around the cooker. Induction hob is efficient and easy to clean.
“For me, the kitchen is the heart of the home,” Mrs. Sobieski said.
RVs and vans challenge chefs with limited work and storage space. Ms. Butler of The Vanlife Cookbook has embraced size restrictions, which she says has encouraged her to “be creative and more thoughtful too” with her recipes, which include fried pizza and steamed buns.
Reducing food waste
When Covid restrictions limited her travel, Ms. Morgan managed a truck trip in remote Southeast Oregon by pre-planning meals like mutton curry and pre-washing greens.
“We didn’t have any food waste on that trip,” she said.
Home or away, food waste is the pitfall in cooking. The United States Department of Agriculture estimates that 31 percent of the food produced annually is national lost At the retail and consumer level.
This number may be higher among travelers. In preliminary results, a Phase 1 study conducted by the Environmental Protection Agency in Telluride, Colorado, during peak summer and winter periods found that 70 percent of waste was recoverable, meaning it could have been recycled or composted.
“Sometimes I go into an apartment and the amount of food left is unbelievable,” said Bob Garner, who rents for a short term. Holiday homes in Italy And launched last year Enviro rental, a website for real estate hosts to learn how to operate more sustainably. “I could live on it for a week.”
Mr. Garner advises guests to shop for half of their stay. He said, “Buy less, don’t overshop on the first day and you’ll save money and not worry about food waste.”
While reducing waste is an individual responsibility, the new organization sostonica It certifies short-term rentals based on sustainable practices, including waste reduction among its criteria. Requirements call for at least four recycling bins – glass, paper, plastic and organic – and a supply of reusable shopping bags. Sustonica aims to screen 70,000 drugs by the end of the year.
Earlier this year, Diane Daniel, a short-term rental hostess in Indian Rocks Beach, Florida, founded the nonprofit Vacation donations To help visitors and other property managers find ways to donate food and items such as books and beach toys.
In addition to buying less, Ms. Daniel recommends that travelers ask short-term rental hosts if they have a system for donating food and other items.
“In my wildest dream,” she said, “keeping things out of the bin will be part of what you expect and demand in your rents.”
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