Self Catering in Iceland – All You Need to Know

Iceland offers many great restaurants, but if you want to keep your trip budget in check, you’ll need to prepare most of your meals yourself. What are the kitchens we can use in Iceland and what you need to keep in mind when preparing for this type of trip – we want to cover all this in this guide.

Self-catering and grocery shopping in Iceland

Eating out in Iceland is quite expensive. Even in cheaper restaurants, the prices of main courses usually settle somewhere in the neighborhood of $25. In more expensive restaurants, a 6-course dinner menu starts at $125 per person. It’s worthwhile to try the local specialties, but with such price levels, some tourists – from all over the world – need to rely on their own cooking skills. For more on local specialties, unique dishes that are really worth trying, and where to do it and for how much, check out this article: What to eat in Iceland – interesting dishes and prices in restaurants

If you cook for yourself, you will also do the shopping yourself. From this side, pay attention not only to the fact that not all supermarket chains are equally cheap, but also to the fact that outside Reykjavik such cheap big grocery stores are not very many at all. So you need to plan your shopping well, especially if you rent a small car for 4 or 5 people and simply can’t fit a week’s worth of provisions into it.

Grocery shopping is also more expensive than in many other countries, but not all products are so expensive that, for example, it pays to bring them with you from home. We write about how much food costs in Icelandic stores, which supermarkets are the cheapest and what you can bring with you to Iceland in this article: Shopping in Iceland: food prices and grocery store opening hours

Cooking in hostels in Iceland

If you’re staying in hostels, you’ll have access to a pretty well-equipped kitchen and dining area. Usually you will also find small quantities of various products left behind, by other tourists. Usually it is, for example, salt, some pasta and/or rice, sometimes jam, coffee, tea, etc. Also, you’ll use the refrigerator without a problem, although you’ll probably keep most of your food in your car, since you rarely sleep twice in one place, and the nights are cool practically all year round.

Between hostels you’ll probably travel by car, so buying and carrying heavier items – cans, jars, etc – won’t be a problem either. This is certainly a very convenient solution and – for Iceland – quite inexpensive.

In those private guesthouses where guests are provided with a shared kitchen, the situation is the same.

In a hostel kitchen you have to fit in (or pass) with other guests, but you cook practically like at home. For your use you have a comfortable kitchen, all pans, kettles, dishes, cutlery, shelves, cloths, etc… Things usually have to be washed up after yourself, but there is always hot water, so this is also not a problem.

In the afternoon and evening, individual groups or people often cook at different times, so there is little problem with ‘passing’ each other in the kitchen. It can be more difficult in the mornings, but we have never encountered any serious problems due to an excess of people in the kitchen.

Cooking in mountain hostels in Iceland

Things are a little different if you want to sleep and cook in mountain refuges. These are very diverse facilities and it’s best to see each one carefully before booking or…. be prepared for anything.

Some hostels (e.g. Kerlingarfjoll) provide campers with a well-equipped, brick and heated kitchen with a dining area. In others (e.g. Nyidalur), the kitchen is made available to tourists, but is small and less well-equipped. Unfortunately, it’s also often the case that inside the hostel building you can only eat dishes bought from the hostel restaurant (Hveravellir, Laugarfell), and if you want to cook something of your own, you have to do it outside (sic!), with your own equipment.

Finally, the smallest shelters (like Fimmvorduhals) are basically small and very simple mountain shelters. They don’t have a separate kitchen or dining room at all, and being there, you have to use common sense. If the weather is nice, cook outside. If it’s ugly, get along with the other guests on how you’ll solve it….

Only in the largest hostels can you leave your garbage. In the others – garbage you take with you. Hot water and some place to wash up is probably in each of them, but often outside. Well, and washing up liquid or cloth you must have your own. So have that in mind as well.

Cooking at campsites in Iceland

There are plenty of campsites in Iceland, and it’s easy to stay overnight (at least from May to September – when all of them are open). However, cooking at campsites has different requirements. Particularly important here is the distinction between campsites in the interiors (usually based on some kind of hostel) and outside the interiors. At campsites outside the interiors (especially those along Highway 1) some kind of canteen and kitchen you will almost always find (yes: not always, but almost always). Unfortunately, they will rarely be spacious, warm and well-equipped rooms.

Positive standouts here include the campground in Grundavik, Camping 66.12 North in Manarbakki in the far north, or the campsites in Fludir and Thorisstadir. They provide camping guests with sufficiently spacious, not badly equipped and protected from the cold and wind kitchen-canteens. On the other hand, the most common standard in Iceland (also on Road 1!) is a brick and equipped, but really small kitchen. You’ll be able to prepare everything in it fairly comfortably, but sometimes you’ll have to wait for the previous guests to finish cooking and free up space.

Unfortunately, at some campsites – including those outside the interiors – the standard is really low. For example, in Grundarfjordur there is no kitchen or canteen for guests at all. At Camping Myvatn there is only a rather flimsy shed with tables, but no kitchen for cooking, and at Lifsmotun campground, for example, there is a kitchen, but inside the wind is blowing and the temperature is basically the same as outside.

Cooking at campsites in the Iceland’s interior

Cooking at campsites in the interior also varies, although here the proportions are reversed, so to speak. These campsites most often do NOT provide any kitchen for guests, and the canteen offers a place to sit, but rarely really protects from the wind or cold. An example is probably the largest and most popular campsite in the interior – Landmannalaugar, where the common canteen is a large, but cold, airy, yet heavily crowded military-garden type tent.

At campsites that operate next to the hostel, you can sometimes use the hostel and cook something on your own stove inside the building. However, for example, campsites in Landmannahellir or Hveravellir do not provide campers with any facilities. On the other hand, Basar Hut, for example, provides campers with a special separate shelter, but the shelter itself cannot even be entered by people who do not stay there overnight. A complete, and very very positive exception, is the aforementioned Kerflingarfjoll campground, where, in a separate brick and heated building, campers have at their disposal not only a canteen, but also several large cooking burners and virtually all the necessary kitchen equipment, sinks, trash cans, hot water, etc.

Cooking in an RV in Iceland

Of course, among camping guests, those who came in an RV have it best. Especially in the larger ones – motorhomes – a comfortable kitchen and table are always at your disposal regardless of the temperature, wind or crowd outside. This is important, because this way you can also cook without any problems in the middle of the day, somewhere by a beautiful waterfall or a charming canyon… Just remember not to pour out dirty water or leftovers in forbidden places. Some campers – such as off-road, 4×4 ones – have a kitchen sink, but without a tank for so-called gray water. The water from the sink then lands directly on the grass or asphalt under the car – don’t do this outside the campground, and stay sensible at the campground as well….

If you are moving in a smaller camper – campervan, it will be more convenient to cook outside the car. If necessary, you can always do it inside as well. Given the strong wind and frequent low temperatures, you can cook inside the camper quite often….

Whether it’s a campervan or motorhome, a stove and some gas supply will definitely get you one along with the car. You can buy cartridges for small stoves at many markets and most gas stations (those with any store, of course), as well as at some campgrounds. On the other hand, you will replace an empty large cylinder for a full-size cooker only at larger gas stations.

Either way, driving an RV and being able to prepare a meal anytime and anywhere makes it perfectly easy to plan the entire trip and saves a lot of time.

Cooking on backpacking trips in Iceland

If you’re planning to cook at campgrounds because you’re trekking through Iceland on foot, you probably know how to prepare brilliantly for such a trip (Iceland is hardly a beginner’s terrain). Just keep in mind that most of the hostels in the Icelandic interiors don’t look much like the Polish ones. The possibility of shopping there will be severely limited (the exception is the not badly stocked Landmannalaugar). Similarly, restaurants – if there is one in a hostel at all, it is 99% really expensive – you are unlikely to find dishes for less than 80 PLN.

So, when hiking for a few days (e.g., on Laugavegur), freeze-dried food will work great (it’s best to bring it from Poland). It will be difficult to find freeze-dried food in Iceland, but in almost every market you will find, for example, Chinese soups for about 80 ISK (that’s PLN 2.50), or dishes that require only a short boil – for example, a serving of Italian ravioli with ham (250 g) is about 500 ISK (about PLN 15). Of course, dry pasta, rice, sauces in bags – all this is easily available.

Water on the trails is available practically only in the valleys, and these are deep and very steep. The fresh glacial relief is beautiful, but a bit non-functional. Therefore, carry a lot of bottles with you and fill them at each stream.

Freeze-dried foods – the perfect innovation

If we want to minimize both the cost of purchasing and transporting food for a slightly longer trip, freeze-dried food, increasingly popular among tourists, are an interesting solution.

Freeze-dried foods are food products that have undergone freeze-drying, or sublimation drying (they are first deep-frozen and then quickly heated in a vacuum, so that the ice crystals sublimate, i.e. turn immediately into water vapor). It is currently the most perfect method of preserving food – mushrooms, vegetables and fruits, meats, and even herbs and cheeses. Thanks to freeze-drying, food retains the physical, biological and chemical properties of natural raw materials and is free of preservatives. And, by the way, it takes up very little space in your suitcase and, put in your backpack, does not overload it like canned food. It is estimated that most retain no more than 6%-10% of their original weight. To prepare a wholesome and reasonably tasty meal, all you need to do is top up the contents of the package with water and heat. Comparisons to the instant noodle soups are very unfair to freeze-dried food, both in terms of quality, variety of flavors and nutritional values. Although the preparation of the dish itself looks similar, it is really a completely different world, and freeze-dried food is used not only on all professional high-mountain expeditions, but also by NASA in space…

The dried foods work well primarily as a relatively quick warm meal during the day, when you really need to reduce every pound in your backpack, and you won’t be at the store for several days. It’s not a bad idea to take freeze-dried food as an emergency meal in case something goes wrong and your march is delayed a couple of hours or a full day from your plan. When assumptions fail, we have overestimated the possibilities, the weather or the river does not allow us to go faster, or we have spent too much time in some particularly beautiful place, a supply of freeze-dried food protects us at least in terms of food. Freeze-dried food is a good, light and nonperishable idea for such a quick lunch or emergency dinner.

The best places to buy freeze-dried food are online and stationary stores that offer an assortment for travelers. Well, and it’s definitely worth doing it while you’re still in Poland, before you leave, because they’re hard to buy in Iceland. Lyofood brand meals are probably the tastiest. The largest portions are offered by Trek’n eat. And the best value for money in terms of quality and taste is probably Summit to Eat.

You can find a wide selection of dishes on Amazon, among others: LyoFood on Amazon

Barbecues in Iceland

Although the nights in Iceland are almost always cold and the wind almost never stops, especially in summer, the beautiful evenings are very long, so barbecues are quite popular at the campsites. Barbecue pitches are located at quite a few campsites and are usually provided to guests at no charge. You can then buy coal and firelighters at the camp store or from the campground staff, but of course it is cheaper to buy them at almost any market or gas station store.

If you’re renting a car or campervan to drive around Iceland, perhaps it’s worth renting a small, foldable, tourist barbecue along with it as well? Many car rental companies offer this option and the taste of a grilled steak or trout somewhere in the wild interiors is absolutely unforgettable.

If you are using your own barbecue, ask the campground staff if there are designated areas for this, and possibly make arrangements with your neighbors if they will not be disturbed.

Of course, meats for the barbecue – lamb, poultry, fish and vegetables – are available in a wide selection in virtually every market, both in already seasoned form and completely raw.

Carrying coal and firelighters with you, as well as raw meat, complicates the logistics somewhat. The grilling itself is also not the fastest, and forces you to sit outside regardless of the weather. But then, after a few days of eating instant noodles, hot dogs and dried foods, a lamb steak, fish or fresh-grilled zucchini is an attraction worth any sacrifice.