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No one likes being stuck at home, feeling like you’re missing out on everything and everyone. Maybe you’re busy working. Maybe you’re saving money. Maybe you really hate hanging out with people. Whichever, you can easily replicate the feeling of going on a lovely tropical holiday at home without breaking the bank. 

Holiday food 

People often stress about making food unfamiliar to them, but it’s really all in the details. Make sure you fry your spices when you make a curry, soak your chickpeas instead of buying them tinned (more authentic, and cheaper!), add more garlic than you think is really necessary. These are all the secret tricks to making your food taste like you bought it from somewhere, rather than making it yourself. 

There are plenty of free cook-along-with-me recipes on YouTube, too! So gather all the ingredients (I promise you’ll have all the ingredients you need for a curry already in your kitchen), slap on some Madhur Jaffrey, and pretend you’re at an expensive cooking course somewhere in the depths of the Hindu Kush. 

Holiday drinks 

It’s said that the smell triggers our most powerful memories. So revisit the holidays every time you lift your cup up to your mouth, letting the smell of Hawai’i, or Bali, or Verbier wash over you from right in your living room. 

Tropical smells are very easy to replicate with just a bit of coconut oil. Adding coconut oil to smoothies very quickly boosts the fat content, adding to your daily macros, as well as making you smell as though you’ve just stepped off of the plane onto Big Island. Using coconut milk or cream from a tin is another great way to add that tropical feeling to any warm drinks you might be having, to put a little beachy twist on your hot chocolate or coffee. 

Is there anything more evocative of winter than a cup of hot chocolate? When we were kids, my parents would refuse to buy any form of drinking chocolate as my sister would whiz through the stuff, and she very quickly worked out a secret (and frugal!) alternative. If you melt one teaspoon of Nutella in a glass of warm milk over the stove, you will very quickly have yourself a delicious mug of hot chocolate. You can do this in the microwave, too, in a pinch. To make it extra wintery, why not add a dash of cinnamon, nutmeg or peppermint? 

Holiday fun 

The best thing about being on vacay is not having to do anything at all. Do you miss the cold winters? Then put a log burning fire YouTube video on the background, curl up with a good book, and pretend that you’re back home for Christmas. Or do you wish you were in Maui? Then lie back on your bed with a wave soundscape YouTube video, taking sips of your pina colada and refuse to answer any calls.