Alternatives to takeaway?

[losenotloose]

We get a takeaway about once a week. They are expensive, unhealthy and often disappointing. What can we do instead? I'd like something that feels like a treat with minimum effort as I cook from scratch every other night of the week! Any ideas most welcome

@StarDanced

We like Spice Tailor curry kits. We do a couple (one curry and one daal) with rice and a naan bread. It feels like a takeaway but is much cheaper and only takes 20mins. Feels like a proper treat on a Friday night.

I love these but find they stink out my house for days. Open plan though so not helpful!

We used to have a cook off of sorts. 1 Saturday night I would cook something we had never had and the next week my OH would take his turn.
It was good fun and we both really enjoyed the researching for new and unusual recipes, obviously trying to outdo one another. It made it more of an occasion than just cooking the usual week night dinners. And you get to experiment, a few of my favourites were Parmesan crusted cod, Thai green curry, pan fried scallops on lemongrass "skewers" & my fave pancetta wrapped scallops from a Jamie Oliver recipe.

Seconding 'Thing' on toast.

We like beans and egg. 5 minutes to make I guess.

I used Lockdown 2 (or was it 3) to learn how to make a proper curry and break my dependence on M&S, so now I batch cook once a month and just do boiled rice on the night, which just takes ten minutes.

I usually go for a nice ready meal from M&S or Waitrose over a takeaway. Or get something on Deliveroo that is more like proper restaurant food rather than standard takeaway.

One of the hairy biker books has a lot of fake aways in it. Can't remember which one but sure you could find some re pies on line.
Most currys pretty easy to make too.

Have a couple of the Cook frozen meals in the freezer.

Supermarket fresh fish counters often have a service where they will seal your fish in a bag with butter and herbs, and then all you have to do is bung it on a tray in the oven for 20mins (or however long for that fish). You could have it with nice crusty bread to mop up the sauce. Then so you need to think about it prepare is some veg.

Also supermarket takeaways are a fraction the price of ' real' takeaways.

We have Fish Finger Friday here. Grilled fish fingers, buttered bread for sandwiches, tomato sauce, chilled cider to wash down with. Sometimes instead of the bread I make my own fat chips from potatoes and parsnips, and pop the FF into the oven alongside! Tasty treat and we love it.

Do any pubs near you do takeaway roast dinners? I don’t generally like takeaways but these feel like a treat.

We tend to either do homemade curries or pizza. We have a bread maker, so it's really simple to use it to make either fresh pizza dough, or fresh dough for naan bread. It's really delicious.

"cook" if not already mentioned...

And the Thai box from m and s is in think especially nice for the price..

I usually go along with the theme week in Lidl when I do a stock up.

They have plenty of minimal prep options suitable for freezing. Italian and Spanish week are my favorites.

I think it depends what makes the takeaway a treat. Is it no washing up, just binning everything? Is it that it’s all cooked for you? Is it no shopping/thinking? Is it you eat it in front of a movie?

Here it's Aldi specially selected pizzas as a treat for kids.
For me it's steak and salad.

They all love fish finger sarnies here too.

Charlie Bighams are lovely esp the fish pie. I don’t usually shop in Waitrose but I was in there late afternoon the other Saturday and there were lots reduced as use by that date. So that’s our new thing on a Saturday now.

We like having ‘nice bits’ - usually from Waitrose. Bread, cheese, olives, prawns, salmon, artichokes, dips, ready made salads.

Meal deal (curry) from M & S or Waitrose is my 'treat' ... when there's an offer on you can get two mains & two sides for £10 ... cook your own rice and that makes a really nice meal. Better quality than our local curry restaurant and less than half the price.

We rarely get takeaway mostly because of the cost and quality. Plus eating too much. Before Covid we treated ourselves often (once a week) to lunch at one Vancouver's many good Asian places and delivery or takeaway just can't compete.

We are opening up here and can sit inside restaurants now but I for one am not totally comfortable doing that yet. But I must admit to craving a nice roti canai.

We almost decided to order in Malaysian tonight but then settled on a rotisserie chicken from the supermarket with corn on the cob and some new potatoes. Really easy.

It's not a Mumsnet chicken but DH and I get at least two meals from it. A Costco one is even bigger.

And rotisserie chicken carcasses are great for making stock.

@Ragwort

Meal deal (curry) from M & S or Waitrose is my 'treat' ... when there's an offer on you can get two mains & two sides for £10 ... cook your own rice and that makes a really nice meal. Better quality than our local curry restaurant and less than half the price.

We do that and usually get the naan and something like onion bhajis or samosas as the sides.

If you CBA cooking your own rice, both Waitrose and M&S do a really nice pouch of microwaveable pilau rice for about 70p.

We rarely get takeaway mostly because of the cost and quality. Plus eating too much

I solve the 'eating too much' problem by saving half for lunch the next day. I won't sleep if I'm over full of curry and I'll enjoy it a lot more as another meal when I'm not beyond stuffed.

M&S stir fry deal for £6 . We you choose your own combination . We love prawns and the sweet chilli sauce and we have prawn toast as an extra on the side . It takes minutiae to cook and tastes as good as , if not better than a takeaway .

Homemade pizza. I’ve got a stand mixer so no kneeding. I love pizza and although it’s not quite the same as a wood fired oven I love it.

Or just cooking our own curry or Chinese. Curries take hours but are easy. Chinese is much quicker, we had teriyaki salmon and noodles tonight. Only took 15 minutes including making the sauce.

We do:

A nice pizza from the supermarket, there are lots we genuinely prefer to Domino's for a fraction of the price.

Baked camembert with crusty bread and onion chutney.

Gnocchi which takes minutes to cook (I boil it with peas in the same pan) mixed with some creamy blue cheese and a bit of the starchy water to make a sauce.

Quick nachos. Tortilla chips, put on melted cheese and microwave. At the same time fry some chopped up chorizo. Top the cheesy nachos with salsa, sour cream, jalapenos and the chorizo. Maybe some spring onions or fresh coriander. Takes 5 mins to make.

Sainsbury's do some nice prawn and chilli fresh ravioli. I just do a garlic butter sauce with that which again takes minutes.

If I really can't be bothered we have something like chicken kiev, chips and beans or similar oven food.