How often do you eat takeaways?

Usually we get takeaway pizza on the last Friday of the month, as a payday treat. This month we actually had Mexican food delivered on Friday as well as last week’s pizza - I realised the chicken I was about to cook for fajitas looked a bit dodgy. (Delivery took so long I would have been better sending DP to the shop for more chicken and it wasn’t that great when it did eventually arrive!)

I’m home alone quite a lot as DP works about 40% of the time abroad. I struggle to cook for myself tbh - I really enjoy cooking and am a pretty decent cook, but I am lazy too. I tend to eat a lot of jacket potatoes (stuff like tuna, coleslaw, cheese) with a salad on the side, microwave/oven meals from M&S supplemented with veg, and also defrost stuff from the freezer like chilli, curries, soup that has been cooked previously.

Almost never. Maybe four times in a year, maximum, as a treat. I can't justify the cost.

I had a lodger who got a meal box. I think she got the two person one and ate the same thing twice, either leftovers the next day or cooked two days in a row and alternated the leftovers on the next couple of days.

I've never had enough disposable income to get takeaways often and used to just do similar but without a subscription. or put a portion in the freezer for another time.

It's easier if you WFH some days. Appreciate it can feel harder to go out to work, get home, then cook, because it can be quite late by the time you eat. I have an air fryer and do jacket potato on those days (I only go into the office when DC are at their dad's).

We have takeaways once every few months.

Defo learn to cook, OP. I'd recommend a multi cooker like a ninja or instant pot. It makes cooking anything so quick and easy. Pasta, rice, soups, stews in the pressure cooker. Meat in the grill or airfryer. Fish and veg in the steamer.

We have a takeaway once a month. Sometimes twice although I often order so we have some leftovers the following day. There is me and my 17 yo.

i work full time but tend to batch cook on a weekend when I am being organised. I am vegan and make lots of things from scratch. I might do a soup, a couple of sauces, a grain, pasta/chick pea salad and some tofu crumbles or chunks so that in the week lunches and dinners come together more easily.

When I cook on a night, I often make meal that come together easily. Curry, chilli, pasta, stir fry. These use only 2 pans and come together often in 30 mins ir less. I can make a pasta sauce for instance in the time it takes to boil a pan of water and cook the pasta.

i almost always make double so we eat it twice and the next time I just need to warm it up. personally if I were ordering a meal box for 1 and could afford it I would oirder 3 meals for 2 and have them all twice. I have used them on various introductory offers but don’t do this myself (double up) as they are quite pricey.

Also nothing wrong with cutting a few corners either. A decent ready meal or jar of sauce (just saute some veg to add it too) is much healthier than a takeaway. I can’t see anything wrong with treating yourself a couple of times a month to a takeaway either, especially if one is a carvery dinner (which can be a lot if work for one and is trickier with the multiple pans and timings).

Finally if you do cook, once you can make a curry or chilli you are happy with, make 4 portions, have it twice that week and freeze some to have the week after. Be your future friend.

Maybe once a month after pay day.

I also get a Hello Fresh box now and again as that makes meal prep easy.

Once a month. I have to be strict on that though as I agree it is tempting.

Do you have DC or is it just you?

If just you, you'd be better off spending the money on prepared salads from M&S with some chicken or fish.

If you have DC you could try cooking a couple of things at the weekend to have during the week and find some easy meals you all like alongside that - jacket potatoes, burritos using tinned beans etc.

We’re at our peak now of about once a week, I’ve just returned from maternity, work has been INTENSE and the kids have been ill (as have we) a lot. So once a week they have fish fingers and baked beans and we have either chippy tea or takeaway curry. I don’t feel guilty at all, it’ll stop at some point but right now I need the leeway and we eat well the rest of the time.

3 or 4 times a year.

Three Deliveroos so far this year, between £40 and £54 for three (expensive one was Greek and it was lush). Two chippy teas and I think DH and DD may have had Dominos while I wasn’t around.

It’s expensive, we have okay variety but a lot doesn’t travel all that well.

On recipe boxes OP the only one that seems to do proper one person boxes is Gousto. Mindful Chef claim to but you get half the protein and the same amounts of everything else as the two person box. Boxes are pricey but still usually cheaper than takeaway, healthier and more variety. With portioned up ingredients and easy instructions you might find you ‘accidentally’ learn to cook.

I think you could easily sort out a routine that was a recipe box, one takeaway, two ready meals and two really simple meals a week, and see where you go from there.

@Freyaaaa Ooh, I love m and s food, they do a lovely variety of vegan food, so tend to stock up for the freezer.
Cooks frozen food is good too.

currently eating fish cakes quite a lot - simple to shove in the oven and microwave vegetables. Feels extravagant to put the oven on for a single fishcake - but compared to the cost of a takeaway...
I get "too good to go" takeaways maybe once a month - but I'd rather go to a restaurant than spend £20 or so on a delivered takeaway.

Twice a month usually. It was a lot more, as it became so easy to order on the apps. But I really thought about what a waste of money it was, when I cook (even though I HATE cooking) better and healthier.
So we've cut it down now. Sometimes my son and DIL come round for Takeaway and movie night and we enjoy that.
We see takeaways as a treat now and not as regular food.

Once a week at the moment. Either fish and chips from the local chippy (not too expensive as we share the genuinely massive portions), Subway or fancy burgers and fries. Curries, chinese etc where we live are 💩. I don't like pizza or McDonald's or anything.

We should probably do it a bit less, but like the op, we're busy, stressed and both work FT.

Edit to say: it isn't purely a time thing. I don't want to fry fish in my house for example, and for a few reasons (don't have a frier, it would stink, I hate handling fish etc).

When you learn to cook, make the same thing over and over so it becomes muscle memory. The last thing you want to be doing when you're tired and hungry is learning a new recipe and measuring ingredients. X

Never. Batch cook weekends and freeze if you don’t have time to cook

I had them loads when I was your age - we used to get Christmas cards from the local takeaways 😂

I can't get away with that health wise or finances wise as middle aged woman with kids. It's all meal planning and cooking from scratch for me now with a once a month takeaway when we get paid. Sigh.

Me, never. It's pretty much impossible to safely get gluten free and vegetarian food delivered. And I live so close to town I may as well buy a nice ready meal and prepped veg.

The kids have fish n chips once a month.

I'm on my own and use meal subscriptions. The smallest package you can buy is for two people but I always try to have it for dinner then take it into work next day for lunch.

Never. Waste of money.

Maybe twice a year? I'm coeliac and lactose intolerant which cuts a lot out, and I love veg which all takeaways are short of. Hub used to eat them every week, now he has them if we go to ILs and they do me something I can eat on the side.

About 7 years ago I went through a period of eating takeaway every day as i was busy. It cost a fortune, made me ill and I was a size 24!

If you could get takeaways with decent veg then I may be persuaded!

Probably about twice a month - so expensive! Fish & chips is well over £20 for 2 now & that’s just normal portions, not large, and no sides. We never order Dominoes as their prices are ridiculous. I’ve noticed Indian & Chinese has gone up recently.

Once a week. Friday night is always take away night in our house

It definitely depends where you live. There are lots of amazing restaurants that deliver near me, I’m not at all limited to unhealthy, salty or generic. It’s very expensive though so we do limit it. Also I like cooking.

If you weren’t bothered by the cost though it would be totally possible to have a very healthy diet eating nothing but take away where I live.

2-3 times a year. Over-priced and disappointing is my verdict.