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

We really like Asda curries. Their tikka massalla is as good as any takeaway
Failing that steaks or those salmon packs that go in the microwave with stir fry and noodles

Cook. Good quality ready meals

Bingham like everyone's said.

Find better takeaways

Simply cook.

Lots of the recipes are takeaway favourites but taste much fresher. Crispy chilli beef & chicken korma are delicious

I get nice ready meals from Allplants and always have some in the freezer, along with a frozen pizza or two. No cooking involved, just heat it up. Take aways are about the no effort part of it for me so putting something in the oven or microwave does the trick.

Get a meal kit! The Dishpatch or Restaurant Kits UK - there have been quite a few threads on here over the last year recommending good meal kits.

Love these ideas.
We spend far to much on take out every week we have a dominos and eow we have a Chinese or kebab when ds is at his dad's and smallest dcs are in bed..

DH requested hot dogs! Apparently that's a treat. Or ravioli on toast! I don't like either but my favourite thing to have for tea if I don't fancy what they have is... Weetabix x3!

Our neighbour bunged a big tray of chicken wings covered in Nando’s peri peri or bbq sauce. With ivencips or rice. The kids love it and it’s ridiculously easy

We tend to make our own pizza dough and then just get loads of different toppings.

Or I use the Pinch of Nom books to make fakeaway style dishes. A particular favourite is to have a “Chinese” night and do their chicken chow mein and chilli beef and then buy the crispy duck kits, spring rolls and prawn crackers from the supermarket.

I also make mu shu pork which is quite easy and quick. Served with some little soft tortillas they do away with my craving for asian food quickly and easily.

You have to get some bits in first, such as hoisin sauce, soy sauce sauce and shaoshang rice wine but they last forever.

I also have dried wood ear mushrooms that look very weird but really add flavour.

We had curry from M&S tonight, it was expensive for what it was, the meat was horrid, probably similar calories to the take away. Once a week if you are healthy the rest of the week isn't the end of the world.

Depends on your takeaway options where you live. We're in central London and have a lot of healthier options, e.g. sushi, poke bowls, some 'gym' meals which is basically a protein & veg, salads, vegan - which is still expensive I guess, but at least not unhealthy.

Try Morrison's fresh (like hello fresh but cheaper) they have a few fakeaway type meal options

We do pizzas, everyone adds their own toppings.
BBQ chicken and bought salads.
Hot dogs.
Local bakery does some great pies, keep them in the freezer until needed, serve with chips and salad.
Best thing I did was teach DD’s how to cook, they now do 1 night a week each.

The OP wants to avoid takeaways due to cost as well as them being unhealthy.

Therefore high end meal kits that cost naice restaurant prices aren't the solution.

Dispatch for example costs £50 to £100 per couple.

I think the best solution is takeaway style food from supermarkets. Little or no cooking, cheaper than takeaways and still feels like a treat.

If you like nandos for example, you can just pour ready made sauce over chicken and bake or barbecue it.

Add nice oven chips with paprika sprinkled over, microwave flavoured rice, roast sweetcorn, bagged salad, whatever. Little effort and much cheaper than nandos itself.

Cook. Great food in the freezer, no effort at all.

We mainly get takeaways from restaurants since deliveroo and uber eats were introduced to our area. The quality is way better than from a standard take away so you could try that.

Or we will often get just some ready made food from m&s instead. I live the vegan/veggie range they do.

Or in the summer when we're less fussed on a hot meal deli bits and nice bread are probably my favourite.

Oh also itsu and yo sushi do supermarket food now. I like the itus gyoza and steamed boa buns. Way cheaper than the restaurant /take away.

We do:
Rotisserie chicken from Asda - have with potato salad, salad, pack of savoury rice or boiled potatoes and random veg.

Stir fry with any stray meat from the above chicken!

Ready cooked chicken tikka strips from Iceland with wraps/flatbread, salad and sauce.

Filled pasta and a jar of Napolina tomato & chilli sauce.

Asda pizza counter are good.

Mayflower curry sauce, micro egg fried rice and oven chips worth some onion and mushroom lobbed in is bloody lovely.

Failing that I LOVE a Feasterz microwave cheeseburger or 2

Fajitas are nice and quick (and delicious)
Pizza- the supermarket ones they make in store are really nice usually
Meal box like Gousto
Stir fry
Slow cooker curry (bit of effort, but once prepped can just leave it all day)
Some of the microwave meals from sainsburys in particular are quite nice, some aren't too salty etc either

Fajitas involve a lot of washing up (and dishing up), and are they that quick to make?

Pick up a tray of sushi? (l appreciate
that's takeaway...)

Fajitas also involve a lot of chopping, you're probably looking at a minimum of 2 chicken breasts, 2 peppers and 2 onions for a family, possibly more.

Not what you want to be doing when you're 'not cooking'. Opening a few packets, putting things on trays, maybe marinading pieces of meat, but not endless peeling and chopping.

losenotloose how old are your children? If they're 10+ they can definitely be trained to be in sole charge of pizza production on a home made pizza night once a fortnight, and by 12 or so can develop another speciality - my ds1 does schnitzel and home made chips, or pancakes or burgers, DD czn cook pretty much anything now but her speciality is quiche (she usually makes mini cheese and bacon quiches and a big more interesting one with mushrooms and tomatoes etc)

Here's another vote for the Asda curries, I've got a chicken vindaloo for dinner tonight. You can buy microwave rice, popadoms, lime pickle and mango chutney to go with them for a fraction of the price of a takeaway.

Asda also do a nice pizza dough in the fridge, just add tomato sauce and toppings.

What kind of takeaway do you normally have?

The ‘easy to cook’ meals from supermarkets like marinated chicken/meatballs etc. Waitrose do 3 for £10 and they’re really delicious, just pop them in the oven and serve with salad and crusty bread.