WHAT TO PACK FOR FRANCE

WHAT TO PACK?

Tipping in France

Generally at restaurants and cafes, service is included.  If you have a particularly good server, people do leave additional euros with the payment.

At Le Moulin Bregeon, the staff work hard for you to enjoy your stay.  For the ICE Cuisine Courses, $100 or 75 euros has been included in the budget for you to leave for Le Moulin Bregeon staff.  Please plan accordingly according to our schedule if you need to visit an ATM.   Or you can leave dollars if you've run out of euros.

Packing Guidelines

You need to be mobile and transfer quickly on the high speed TGV trains to travel to and from Saumur.

We strongly recommend that you pack as lightly as possible (especially on the trip over to France), and use only: a) a rolling bag (not enormous); and/or b) a back pack or bag with a carrying strap. You will also be grateful to have packed lightly if you are going into Paris after our course, because the majority of metro stations only have stairs.


Keep in mind it will probably be worse on the return trip, after you have gone shopping. On past courses, people have also been interested in culinary-related shopping and have acquired heavy wine and aperitif bottles, café bowls, sea salt and duck confit. Please note that you can only legally bring back a few bottles (wine, spirits) to the US (check with the government for current customs/duty information). Many of these items are heavy, breakable and contain fluids - and will need to go outside of your hand luggage.



Generally, it is a good idea to have your packing complete the night before we depart.

You may want to pack a light, extra bag (flat) that you can use for your return journey to help hold your purchases.



How to Hold Down Your Packing

There is limited opportunity for doing laundry – so it is helpful to bring some detergent for hand washing. Unless it is raining, we can throw the group's chef jackets/aprons in the washing machine one day and hang them to dry on the line one day while we are not in cooking classes. You will have to help hang them on the line (there is no dryer).



What to pack for Spring/Fall trips

LAYERS!

The walls of Le Moulin Bregeon are very thick; and retain the cold.  It is often colder in the mornings and late evenings than it will be at the height of the day. 

1 pair of kitchen suitable work shoes/clogs/sneakers, 1 pair of other comfortable shoes for walking

1-2 chef jackets - some sessions with chefs are more casual and you can choose to wear full uniform or just an apron; when we are working on site with a professional chef, the itinerary notes when to wear full uniform

Note, if you are a recreational cook and do not have a chef jacket it’s ok and you don’t have to buy one; just bring 2 aprons. Our course is a mixture of people who have graduated career training programs and recreational cooks. It can actually be helpful to the professional chefs to “know” who went through the professional programs. So an apron is fine if you don’t already have a chef jacket from your work.

2 pairs of pants/jeans (1 for working in the kitchens, 1 for outside activities)

1 apron (which can be reversed to extend use, and there are some at Le Moulin

Warm layer (raincoat, light jacket, sweater, polar fleece – the Le Moulin has thick walls and the temperature often drops at night; the dining room can also be cool unless the day was very warm).  Bring one even in the summer; maybe bring 2 in the spring and fall:

Assorted long/short sleeve T-shirts

Undergarments, sleepwear (remember, rooms are shared accommodations)

Toiletries (including shampoo). If it helps you, we can occasionally stop at a store to pick stuff up, but not every day...

1 small collapsible umbrella (note from Kathryn, going over 10 times, I've only used once!

1 notebook/pen

Optional:

Chef knife, pairing knife (in their knive guards) – must go in luggage, not in carry on. Le Moulin has knives which you can use, but they are not great -- and not like Wusthoff knives if that is what you are used to. Useful items include: chef knife, paring knife, offset spatulas, peeler, bench scraper, bowl scraper. On past courses, people who have brought their own tools for classes have been very happy with that decision.

If you want to bring your computer to Le Moulin, they have internet access. If everyone is on it at the same time, the speed drops but it is available and free.

Recommended:

camera (or just use camera on phone)

US-France adaptor for charging small American appliances – convertors can be purchased online at Amazon or at a store like Best Buy for approximately $15. Outlets in France have 2 round prongs. However – do not plan to use the adaptor with a US hair dryer – it blows up! All your other appliances should be fine, but use the Mill’s French hair dryers instead.

Small travel alarm clock (unless you can use your phone)

Additional items for summer trips:

1 bathing suit

1 pair of shorts

What You Don't Need, But People Have Asked

Linens, Towels