Hi Yummy!
Can't help with Costa T but we stayed in Playa Blanca last Easter & are returning this year to SC accomodation.
We ate out every evening but I liked the convenience of making our own breakfast & lunch ( unless we were away for the day) & it does save quite a bit especially with the euro rates so poor at the moment.
Supermarkets are just what you'd expect anywhere and we found them to be very well stocked.
I'm sure you'll have a great holiday. Lanzarote is a fantastic island with lots to see & do.
(definitley recommend car hire as the road network is really good & not busy.)

... and if your baggage allowance allows it, you could always take some tea bags, sugar and coffee away with you, plus a couple of sachets of soup etc ........ or even some packet noodles (take up less space than pot noodles for the munchies!). But might I suggest that you don't forget a sharp knife (HOLD baggage!!) a corkscrew, can opener and sink plug!

Thanks Toastedmallow -thankyou very much for your reply, i will look into hiring a car for the week :). We definetly will want to make our own breakfast, and maybe make light lunches for during the day if we're lounging around the pool.
I think we may eat out for breakfast if i have a hangover , although i am not planning on getting drunk every night, as i have my 6 year old to control.

Alsacienne - i did think of packing things like tea bags, coffee, and a packet of cereal, just to tide us over until we found a decent supermarket over there, but i didnt think of taking noodles and soup ( my son loves noodles, so these will come in handy for a little snack).
I also didnt think of packing a sharp knife, corkscrew and bottle opener, so thanks for that .

Thanks again for both of your replies, they have really helped.

Nicola

we were self catering last christmas in costa teguise and we only ate out on the evenings 4 of us went me hubby son and sons girlfreind,when we saw the prices in the supermarkets we were so pleased we took loads with us,this may seem tight to others but we really was on a budget and after all we all ate and drank out every night,we took with us cheese bacon ham wrapped in foil with icepacks stayed lovily and cold,tbags coffee crisps chocolate the chocolate is so expensive over there the cadburys that is but thats the only chocolate we eat.cup a soups noodles sweets loads of stuff. we used to buy the crispy fresh bread in the morning then whilst breakfast was cooking i would do a packed lunch up for dinner time and keep it in the fridge job done this year there is only the two of us going and we are all inclusive have a fab time yummy

Unless you rough it or really do SC I would say SC works out as expensive or more expensive than other options.

Until around ten years ago SC was something we did - or we might stay in a hotel if it took our fancy. We then went on a winter break SC and my wife took note of what we had spent. Since then we go in a hotel and get looked after. Costs far less and we can still eat out if we find a place we would particularly like to try.

fwh

After years of going half board in Ibiza, we tried SC in apartments in 2007/8. I calculated that we spent £300 EACH extra in 2008 (2 of us for two weeks) and that was only eating out in the evenings! Needless to say, it was back to half board this year. Having said that, the hotel we go to has excellent food. I've decided that at my age (late fifties!) I like the comfort of being in a hotel, bed made, bathroom cleaned etc, plus the social side of chatting to other people that you don't always get when SC. Already booked for next year!

I think the only way that SC can be cheaper is if you do all the catering yourselves. Quite often here in Germany Travel companies offer holidays in Apartment Hotels, some may include breakfast but no other meals. We have had a few of these holidays in the Canaries. The apartments are cleaned every day, beds made and towels changed. There is usually an option for HB which often costs around 12-16pounds per day. That is around 200 pounds per week for two. So it depends what you want from a holiday. If the money is a problem then by preparing meals yourself I think most couples could eat within that amount. But if you don't want the bother then you are going to find it hard to eat out on that amount.
It doesn't bother me or OH to prepare the occasional meal when on holiday, we don't really like large hotels or eating at buffets, we like to eat local food which is not often available in tourist hotels so we choose to eat out on a few evenings and eat in on the others.

Judith has made a good point that there are different ways of self catering. We booked private apartments off the internet (and very good they were), and booked our own flights etc. We enjoyed it but found ourselves more or less going to our 3 favourite restaurants, one of which is German, every night. The food was great but not particularly Spanish, and with the large saving we make going half board we can afford to eat out if we want to. Although hotel food is mainly buffet, if the quality and choice is good, you can enjoy it as much as eating out, and its nice to have a walk afterwards to your favourite bar to round the evening off!

After years of staying in a 4* hotel, with 4* prices, we decided to go back to self catering this September (09) because I wasn't getting value for money on the amount I ate in the hotels, I also got totally fed up of the regimentation of the meal times, and my OH dragging me down for breakfast before 8-30 am before the "rush" came.

We saved an absolute fortune and brought back hundreds of pounds by shopping where the locals shop and buying brands that were not imported British brands, and just for the two of us, it was dead easy to rustle up something decent to eat....we had a cooked breakfast every morning, a sandwich during the afternoon and a cooked meal at night....with fruit and "nibbles" in between.
I think if you go s/c and go out for all the meals, you might as well go into a hotel because the money you will have spent at the end of your holiday, will amount to the same.

Oh, and if we'd had a car, it would have been even easier to do one big shop at Mercadona and stock the fridge/freezer up in the apartment.
Here's what I had to say about s/c in Spain(Costa del Sol) I also think it depends on the facilities there are in the apartment, if there had just been two hob rings and no microwave, I may be telling a different tale.
http://www.holidaytruths.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=139286&start=0

Sanji

We usually self cater when we go to Playa Blanca. Normally breakfast in the villa or sometimes walk into town for coffee and croissants. We either make lunch and have an evening meal out or vica versa. I love the restaurants and like to support the local restauranters when I can. We were there in September and didn't find prices that bad. The quality of the food in the supermarkets is generally very good.

We went SC in Lanzarote last summer and did what you are thinking. We ate out in the evenings and had a couple of drinks but not too late as we have two young children. We had breakfast at the dinner and sometimes lunch in, other times out. It is more expensive in Lazarote than in Turkey but the bigger supermarkets were pretty well stocked and reasonably priced, although again more expensive than in Turkey.

Have a good time

thanks for all your input. I am actually looking forward to going self catering again, as i would hate to have to eat at the same place every day.

That's it exactly, Yummy!
Even tho' it's cheaper to do half or full board options I want to eat out at different restaurants every evening and experience the local atmosphere. I don't want to be stuck in a characterless hotel dining room with hotel food.
I think with SC you get the best of both worlds: a bit of economising for breakfast & lunch and then the pleasure of choosing your restaurant for the evening.
I appreciate that not everyone can afford to do this but it doesn't have to be that expensive. A pizza & carafe of local plonk out in a local eaterie is a one of my faves Have a great time!

How much does everyone spend on food/drink each per week self catering? Gran Canaria this summer I managed to spend around £350 including supermarket breakfast/lunch and meal, drinks + clubbing every night.

we are between £350-£400 each per week.i would never go away,with less than £100 per day,between us.
tracy

We are going self catering for only the second time , normally stay half board. My question is do we provide our own toilet rolls . We got caught short once or twice in Turkey where they were not replaced unless you bought your own . haven't got a problem with buying them would just like to know

Certainly in Turkey, it seems to be the accepted custom to provide the first toilet roll in self catering accommodation - after that, you have to buy your own!

I have never had to buy a toilet roll in an apaprtment in Turkey, they are normally very good at replacing them before they run out and if ever we do run short I just phone reception and someone will come running up with one