Take away cost

I agree that seems very expensive. I just priced that up at my favourite Chinese takeaway and it came to £34.

They've probably only recently put the prices up and haven't had the menus reprinted yet. They should still find a way to display prices. Even just written out on a chalkboard

Takeaways are definitely more expensive. Yours does sound like the expensive end of normal, but nothing too unusual.

Chow mein is so easy to make, but yes the key is MSG. That's what turns it from a stir fry into a Chinese take away dish. Likewise I always put some in egg fried rice when I cook it. Tesco's do a great Chinese curry roux. Comes as a block in a tub and tastes just like take away.

I now have substitutes for most take aways as the prices are ridiculous. I had fish and chips a few weeks ago and the fish was £12 😲Won't be buying that again in a hurry. It's a shame as I don't want to see all these places shut down and I realise they are battling high costs. But so am I!

It used to always be cheaper in my local Chinese takeaway. I think most of the more meat mains are still more expensive especially lamb and king prawn dishes.
We tend to order it instead of rice. It's not something we'd order and just have on its own personally.

I agree. If you were to make that from scratch at home it would be still be pricey with the way food prices have gone up. The profit with the overheads will be minimal.

No, chow mein is a main, mixed meat, noodles and veg. It's always been priced the same as the other mains.

Just about every Chinese takeaway follows a similar price structure.

£X for chicken chop suey/beef and black bean sauce etc. Sometimes comes with free boiled rice or chips and about a quid extra for egg fried rice instead.
£X for chow mein
£X plus a couple of quid for the above but king prawn or duck version.

Anyone ordering beef or chicken chow mein and lemon chicken is ordering two mains.

Not really. It's noodles with bean sprouts onions and a sprinkle of meat. Op didn't order rice so I'd imagine it's the carby side dish to their lemon chicken.

CrazyHamsterLady · Today 07:52

You didn’t have to buy it 🤷‍♀️

Well, duh!

I think you've missed the point of this post.

YABU

20% of that will go to HMRC as VAT.
Power and utility costs have increased massively - there's no price cap for small businesses, some have been hit with rises of several hundred percent!
Minimum wage has gone up.
Food prices have gone up massively, as has cooking oil.
Overheads have gone up massively, such as waste disposal.

I think roughly £10 per person for a takeaway is about the minimum you could expect to pay considering the increases in virtually all the costs involved.

Chow mein is a main

Where's the 4 mains?? The lemon chicken are the mains. The chow mein is mainly noodles so a soaker upper type dish like rice is.

I'm from quite an affluent area in the south and I'm shocked at some of these chow mein prices people are putting. My local Chinese which is the best around for miles is £6.70 for a beef chow mein and £6.70 for a lemon chicken.
Pre covid a chow mein was a £5.80 so it's only gone up 90p. And you get free bbq ribs if you order over £50, free smoked chicken if over £40 and free starters (seaweed, samosas, spring rolls) over £25 and always free prawn crackers.
Makes me appreciate them even more now!

I think that is really good for 4 mains

Top tip: never buy anything without knowing the price first.

That does seem expensive. I always feel let down by take aways anyway. You don’t get the restaurant experience and most often it’s nicer to just cook your own food. They’re always a bit greasy and rubbish imo.

What's easy about Chinese? I only buy it as its the one thing I can't make the same at home.

I agree it’s not the same; but that’s because home cooking does not contain a shed load of MSG, sugar and oil. SIL is Chinese, and learnt to cook from his mother. He told me how much sugar, oil, etc there is in a takeaway main, and it was astonishing!

However, there is a website Recipe Tin Eats. I find her Asian recipes relatively simple, and taste very good! The chicken with cashew nuts is lovely:

https://www.recipetineats.com/category/collections/asian-takeout/

We used to get a takeaway most weekends but we don’t anymore. The portions have got smaller and the prices have increased. Even my local chip shop charges almost £16 for fish and chips now and the portion is small. I haven’t missed it thankfully.

That would be the price for the cheap one in our area. The more expensive just as rubbish one would be closer to £70 for all of that. We r in London.

I think that's about right for the amount of food you ordered tbh.

That's four meat main dishes, noodles with more meat, a side dish plus crackers - £47 sounds pretty bang on to me.

DH and I order two mains, plain rice or noodles and chips, and that comes to £19. Prawn crackers are free.

Your post seems to say that you bought in-person at the takeaway.

Legally they must display a menu with prices so that consumers can see them before they decide to buy - the same goes for restaurants. It's why most restaurants display a menu outside - it's not just to entice customers.

I think you were subject to sharp practice, even if prices are going up. Have a word with local Trading Standards.

I would expect £8/£8.50 for mains and a fiver for the spring rolls.

Our takeaway consumption has plummeted too.