Page 2 | To order an Indian takeaway while babysitting?

IJustWantATakeaway · 2025-10-21T20:44:29+00:00

I’m babysitting for my SIL and brother next weekend. I love doing it and love seeing their kids, but it always leaves me in a bit of a pickle in terms of getting dinner. I try not to order out because I’m losing weight, but this weekend I just want to treat myself. I love Indian food but live at home and my dad cannot stand the smell of it. My mum thinks if I order it I’m being very rude and it’ll annoy them, but they always offer to pay for one so I don’t know if it’s a bit unreasonable?! How would you feel if your babysitter ordered Indian?

FourIsNewSix · 22/10/2025 19:03

Different things smell badly to different people.

If they would get an Indian takeaway/fish and chips/eggs/fermented stuff/other smelly things home themselves, it is fine to have it as well.

I would be mightily unimpressed if someone brought a hot dill sauce, because that smells really bad to me, and it would feel like a hostile takeover of my home.

mcmuffin22 · 22/10/2025 18:49

IJustWantATakeaway · 21/10/2025 21:53

My mum just thinks because it smells, it’s rude to do because I don’t know if they’re happy with their house smelling!

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Your mum is hypersensitive because your dad has banned it from the house. It does not mean that this is in any way normal 😆

MyLittleNest · 22/10/2025 18:46

Princessconsuelabananahammock9 · 22/10/2025 03:23

Beyond furious? I feel like people on this thread live in very white neighbourhoods.

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If the smell of certain foods makes me throw up and someone brought that into into my home without my consent when I wasn't there, why shouldn't I be furious? It's MY house!

BittyItty · 22/10/2025 17:04

chaptersandchatter · 21/10/2025 23:27

Indian here and this whole thread makes me feel uncomfortable. Just wanted some light Mumsnet browsing before bed - not casual racism about how the food of my culture ‘stinks’ and how family members refuse to have it in the house like it’s going to contaminate your house and linger until the end of time. Anyway back to doom scrolling! Enjoy the curry OP! Don’t forget to pack the air freshener 🙃

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This. Makes me feel so awkward and uncomfortable as a south Asian.

Hellovation · 22/10/2025 16:47

I totally missed this thread picking up traction- those who asked why RE a paid gig-

purely because I myself would be too awkwardly polite to want to dispose of takeaway boxes etc in their home (it’s always so greasy etc) and also I worry about undisclosed allergies. I might do if I’d known them reasonably well and cleared it first.

getting rid of takeaway rubbish in my own house is annoying enough lol

i think the idea of smells and the lady who said she’d be furious is nuts though. —and absolutely casually racist wtf—

ClaredeBear · 22/10/2025 15:14

LillyPJ · 21/10/2025 22:09

If I'd hired a babysitter and came home to a house smelling of curry, I wouldn't be pleased. Any other takeaway, I wouldn't mind as long as they'd cleared up afterwards.

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Yeah, same. I remember asking someone to put the wrappers etc in the outside bin And they looked at me as if I was mad. I just don’t like my house stinking of stale food.

C8H10N4O2 · 22/10/2025 15:09

HedwigEliza · 22/10/2025 14:06

It’s beautiful precisely because I have no need to mask the strong smell of food 🙂

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Do you live on porridge?

You never cook onions, meat, garlic, tomatoes, brassicas and you never bake? Taste is comprised to about 80% of smell.

I’d rather turn on the extractor fan when cooking than eat food which has no noticeable smell and consequently tastes of next to nothing.

As for “beautiful smell” - well that is in the nose of the beholder, food is not the only source of smell in a house. So if you avoid cooking food with any significant flavour, why is it "a lot of effort” to keep it “smelling nice”?

LillyPJ · 22/10/2025 14:46

rainbowunicorn · 22/10/2025 11:27

Your original post stated the following
"If I'd hired a babysitter and came home to a house smelling of curry, I wouldn't be pleased. Any other takeaway, I wouldn't mind as long as they'd cleared up afterwards."
So you literally stated that any other takeaway would be fine. Just not curry.

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You're right - sorry. I wasn't really thinking what other sorts of takeaway there were as I actually never have takeaways.

HedwigEliza · 22/10/2025 14:06

C8H10N4O2 · 22/10/2025 13:27

I’m curious about "I put a lot of effort into keeping the house smelling nice”.

How bad is your house that it takes a lot of effort to mask the smell?

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It’s beautiful precisely because I have no need to mask the strong smell of food 🙂

C8H10N4O2 · 22/10/2025 13:27

HedwigEliza · 22/10/2025 13:06

Good for you! You couldn’t have paid me enough to live there, so I’m glad it suited you.

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I’m curious about "I put a lot of effort into keeping the house smelling nice”.

How bad is your house that it takes a lot of effort to mask the smell?

HedwigEliza · 22/10/2025 13:06

FreeTheOakTree · 22/10/2025 10:20

You seem like lots of fun Eliza.

I once rented an apartment solely because of the wonderful Indian cooking smells coming from next door. Paid off too, I can now make a mean curry from scratch, courtesy of lovely neighbours.

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Good for you! You couldn’t have paid me enough to live there, so I’m glad it suited you.

Ketzele · 22/10/2025 13:05

It's all a bit 1970s, isn't it? There was so much racism back then about 'curry smells', before we adopted chicken tikka masala as our national dish. So Im afraid I wonder if OP's mother is still carrying a bit of that.

Food does tend to smell, and we all have our preferences - I love Indian cooking but the smell of bacon makes me want to heave, which I know puts me in a very small minority. But I would put up with a lot of bacon smells to get free babysitting, and I expect these parents feel the same.

CornishTiger · 22/10/2025 12:11

pambeesleyhalpert · 22/10/2025 11:21

I want an Indian now!!

Me too. Definitely getting one on Saturday.

OptiMumm · 22/10/2025 11:48

AutumnCosy2025 · 22/10/2025 00:41

If you s raped left overs into my outside bin. You'd be following them!

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So brave! 🤣👍

Franpie · 22/10/2025 11:45

Aavalon57 · 22/10/2025 01:45

Person of Indian origin here. I was constantly told I stunk and my food stunk when growing up, by racists. I cook Indian food regularly, and there’s no way my house ‘stinks’ for two days. Haven’t you heard of filter hoods, windows and candles? What about the lingering smells of cooked flesh?

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No offence meant! I love cooking curries but I can definitely smell it in my house for a day or 2 after.

My main point was though that a takeaway, where you haven’t sweated down the spices, or slow cooked the meat for hours on your stove should not cause any lingering smells at all.

rainbowunicorn · 22/10/2025 11:27

LillyPJ · 22/10/2025 10:52

I wouldn't like my house to smell. If it smelt of kippers, stale fat or curry, I wouldn't like it. I just didn't want to write a long list of foods I don't want my house to smell. Is that clear enough? The OP asked about one sort of takeaway so that's what I responded to.

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Your original post stated the following
"If I'd hired a babysitter and came home to a house smelling of curry, I wouldn't be pleased. Any other takeaway, I wouldn't mind as long as they'd cleared up afterwards."
So you literally stated that any other takeaway would be fine. Just not curry.

pambeesleyhalpert · 22/10/2025 11:21

I want an Indian now!!

pambeesleyhalpert · 22/10/2025 11:20

My brothers coming to babysit for us this weekend and I don’t care what he orders I’m just so grateful he’s doing it!

ObtuseMoose · 22/10/2025 11:02

Bobiverse · 21/10/2025 22:06

Are you very young? Because this is not a thing adults worry about. At all. If they’re going round to their brothers to watch the kids, they’d just text their brother and say “alright if I order in a cheeky Indian?”

This is not something that would take up any time in anyone’s head.

Who the hell refers to food as cheeky? Are you very young or do you think that's how young uns talk these days?

childofthe607080s · 22/10/2025 10:53

Get the takeaway !

LillyPJ · 22/10/2025 10:52

rainbowunicorn · 22/10/2025 08:10

So would you be okay with your house smelling like, macdonalds, donner kebab, Chinese food, fish and chips, KFC, Thai, Mexican, or any other cuisine. Just not curry? What is it about curry that you find do offensive? A macdonalds stinks as does donner kebab. What's the difference

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I wouldn't like my house to smell. If it smelt of kippers, stale fat or curry, I wouldn't like it. I just didn't want to write a long list of foods I don't want my house to smell. Is that clear enough? The OP asked about one sort of takeaway so that's what I responded to.

Spirallingdownwards · 22/10/2025 10:42

It's not taking a liberty.

Your mum is the weird one in this situation and its her hang up.

Crack on and enjoy your Indian.

Original poster

IJustWantATakeaway · 22/10/2025 10:34

gannett · 22/10/2025 10:09

I don't think OP asking this makes her incompetent. I have never been a babysitter nor hired a babysitter so I clicked on the thread as I was curious as to the etiquette - had no idea!

Glad to discover it's generally considered fine, less glad to have to dodge sundry racism throughout the thread. Firstly curries smell delicious, secondly smells dissipate quickly. Open a bloody window.

Exactly. I’ve babysat a lot but I always take something with me or I would just skip dinner. As it goes my plans have changed so I think I’ll be taking a ready meal with me instead but I’m glad to know it would generally be deemed okay!

OP posts:

shampop · 22/10/2025 10:33

shhblackbag · 22/10/2025 10:21

Walking into someones house and it smells of 'Autumnul Notes' or 'Turquoise sea breeze' is nausiating. Get off your high horses, you think your house smells amazing, some of us think it is the scent equivelant of 'Live, Love, Laugh' stencilled onto the living room wall.

Absolutely this! 😅

🤣

304l · 22/10/2025 10:24

FreeTheOakTree · 22/10/2025 10:20

You seem like lots of fun Eliza.

I once rented an apartment solely because of the wonderful Indian cooking smells coming from next door. Paid off too, I can now make a mean curry from scratch, courtesy of lovely neighbours.

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Can you share some of the tips you learned please? 🙏 my curry making never quite hits