limae

Looks like most of what you need has been covered, but I want to add my two cents, having been to Ireland eight times and also being budget minded.

While the large supermarkets are indeed usually not in the center of town, it's worth making a trip to one when you have the car. You (and your kids!) will be amazed at the selections of cookies, cakes, chocolates, etc. Rather than buying sandwiches, we usually buy sliced meats, cheese, butter and the really good fresh bread they have. Many will have salad bars, with various cold foods to take out. Bring an insulated carrier that folds flat, and keep it next to the window in your hotel room- mini fridge! We've found this keeps cheese, butter, etc, very well for a couple of days. Bring a serrated knife (in your checked bag!), for bread and cheese slicing. Reusable plates, or just paper towels, and zip lock bags. It shouldn't be any problem finding breakfast and lunch foods to eat in your room. And even in places where there is no large supermarket, the smaller shops usually have good bread, cheese, yogurt, etc. You will want to be subtle bringing this to your room, as some places frown on eating in the room, although as mentioned above, everyone is very nice, so no one is going to berate you. Just be considerate of crumbs, chocolate, etc, of course.

Also if you are into cooking, it's a lot of fun to just look around the large supermarkets in a foreign country to see the different foods available. We usually bring back goodies for souvenirs, and bring back tea/coffee that we can't get here for ourselves.

You will have a great time! I also look forward to a trip report!

TravelingNomads

I like the idea of using the window to keep things cool. I've just never heard of a hotel that didn't have ice machines. Even 1* ones. We'll have a car in Ireland (not in Edinburgh or London), so we'll just try to pick items that store well. Maybe muffins, oranges, gallon jug of water, and such. Is there a yelp app for ireland? I tried searching on the app today, but it appears to be US only.

Gagravarr

Why would you want to buy a single gallon bottle/container of water? Just get yourself a much smaller and more manageable bottle or two, then re-fill them from the tap! Free, likely tastes just as good (if not better), and is just as safe

About the only thing you'd buy in gallons is petrol, though that's less common in Ireland than the UK. Oh, and our gallons and your gallons aren't the same, so you might want to brush up on your units conversions!

Ldnn1

Who buys petrol in gallons here? It's all by the litre now. Don't want OP to think she's paying £1.15 per gallon!

LondonElite

Irish people don't sell water by the gallon. The most you're likely to get is 1.5 litres, which is about a third of a US gallon. But why not just drink the tap water. It's delicious and much less chlorinated than what you'll be used to.

LondonElite

In fairness, the UK is a real mishmash of imperial and metric!

stut

Especially with milk. A pint or a litre, it's up to you!

Ldnn1

True, but petrol is universally by the litre now.

In fact 'gallons' really isn't used for anything at all any more. Milk and beer comes in pints; everything else is litres/cl/ml. Of course for very large volumes the SI measurement remains 'Olympic swimming pools'.

LondonElite

I was brought up metric, but have you ever had this discussion with anyone over the age of 60 born north of St Albans? (Hint, they all voted out)

Ldnn1

I try not to talk to my grandma about anything other than what's for dinner.

TravelingNomads

Ughh... You guys are killing me. Are you truly saying that you don't drink filtered water...especially in a foreign country? Every fridge here comes with one and most people buy bottled water. Tap water tastes gross - metallic like and you guys don't have ice machines or fridges! I do own a lifestraw. Maybe I'll bring it along!

Alright - my next question. I love shepard's pie. I just had it for the first time with lamb which was weird but it still tasted good. If you had to recommend 3 evening IRISH meals what would they be? BTW if you haven't seen on the other thread my comma button decided to break today so my sentences may sound odder than normal.

Off limits - blood anything. I will not eat anything with blood - nor will anyone in my family. And no baked beans. I can't even understand that one.

Maybe an Irish Seafood dish? We love dungeness crabs...shrimp...salmon..orange roughy. Is there a native fish to Ireland that might not be in our grocery stores? We are only trying to skimp on breakfast/lunch - not dinner.

Any other things that we have to try while we're there? I don't want to go to Ireland to eat pizza and thai food. I can order that here. What does "Grandma" cook on special occasions that you absolutely love? Maybe even 1 desert that we can all split now and then after dinner.

UKtravelbear

The water is perfectly safe to drink straight from the tap.

Tap water often wins blind taste tests over fancy filtered and mineral water.

I drink tap water when I visit the USA (which would be a foreign country to me) and it tastes fine to me.

And yes we do have fridges.

NWIFlyer

Water in the UK (and Ireland) is perfectly safe to drink, in fact in many cases - in hard water areas - it's better for your heart than artificially filtered water, so yes we drink it. It doesn't taste metallic at all, although I understand you may be comparing it to the US. As you're discovering, lots of things are different in Europe!

Ireland has wonderful food. I would try Irish Stew and a steak - the latter being reared to amongst the highest standards in the world.

TravelingNomads

I was referring to in the hotel rooms.

DocWatson

Shepherd's Pie is always lamb. Cottage Pie is the same thing but with beef mince, at least where I grew up.

Best Irish meal I've had is Supermac's, but that's more to do with the Revenge of the Guinness at the time.