If you grew up not having takeaways/meals out

[PrincessHoneysuckle]

Do your parents still see them as a luxury and not buy?
I'm 42 have dh and ds 9 and we generally get a meal delivery every week.
Money isn't an issue for my dp as they are comfortably retired.They will go and pick up fish and chips from time to time but no eating out in restaurants as a couple or chinese/indian/pizza etc.

Mil is the same

A generation thing or just different strokes for different folks?

I don't think it was a generation thing per se. More likely, it just wasn't the "norm" back then, and takeaways were really expensive for most!

We lived in a small town talking 60s 70s era and the only takeaway in our town then was the chippy so maybe once a month fish and chips was a treat, my mom was that generation that cooked at home and takeaways wernt on her radar, i tend to cook takeaway type food at home as they are getting expensive now with the odd meal out for things like birthdays

I was a child of the 80s - we had takeaways and ate out a lot ! More than I do now 😨

My parents see a takeaway other then the occasional chippy as a treat. They don't tend to go out for meals but will have a coffee and cake if at a national trust or something.
I thinknits what's available to growing up though they grew up where the only takeaway was a chippy!

I grew up in the 70’s. People we knew couldn’t afford it, and there weren’t many places around anyway. We had fish/chicken and chips from the chippy occasionally and I remember the odd Toby meal for real special occasions but that’s it. Oh and we might have a Wimpy if we were in town sometimes.

Parents in their early 80’s often eat out for lunch now (2/3 time a week) but they are quite cheap meals. There are some good deals around. They’d think it really wasteful to go to “expensive” restaurants that I wouldn’t think twice about going to. Having said that, I don’t think it worth it to go to the super expensive places that some of my peers seem to value. I’d rather spend my money on other things.

I think what my parents and I have in common is “value for money”. And most peoples values differ quite a bit.

yes the odd fish and chips here. A pub meal was a proper get dressed up in your “best” clothes occasion.

some of it was my parent’s generation were very “meat and two veg”. Curry, chinese etc would have been very unfamiliar. Even at home spag bol would be seen as “foreign”. We never even had pizza. Fruit and veg was seasonal and british too, i didn’t have Peppers, red onion, sweet potato, fruit like kiwi or mango either.

I went for my first Chinese takeaway and Indian meal at 18/19 when I went to uni. Pizza too I think.

I lived in a village which only had a chip shop but we never had a chip shop tea. As a teenager I sometimes had sausage or rissole and chips when hanging out with mates.

In the mid 80s a Chinese takeaway opened and my Dad would bring home curry, rice and pancake rolls on the very odd occasion.

We only ate out as older teenagers for birthdays and parents wedding anniversary but only twice a year as my sister, our Dad and myself and parents anniversary all occurred January and February and Mum's birthday September.

As an adult I hardly eat out much as I enjoy cooking and trying out new recipes at home but we do get chips from the chip shop a couple of times a month because they are lovely and good value.

We grew up in the sticks, now my parents live in the city and are always eating out!

I've converted my 70 something parents. They used to always take sandwiches from home on a day out but now organise days out around pubs or restaurants that they want to try.
However, they will never stop for a coffee and certainly not a takeaway one as that is too extravagant so the thermos goes wherever they go. If I ever suggest getting a coffee when we're out, though, my mum immediately rattles off her exact order.

I went for my first Chinese takeaway and Indian meal at 18/19 when I went to uni. Me too in 1987. I’d only ever had chip shop curry sauce (with raisins in) on my chips before that,

My parents are dead, so impossible to say. The ILs seldom bought takeaway food in or ate out, and never had Chinese or Indian food, ever. In their retirement they would have considered eating out in the evening a bit fancy, apart from dinner dance type affairs. But they enjoyed the occasional pensioner's pub lunch. MIL is in a home now, and FIL allows himself the odd fish and chips.

My parents are in their 70s. They will go out for dinner maybe once a year; lunch perhaps 3 or 4 times a year; takeaway never in a million years.

Dh and I would go out for dinner 3 or 4 times a year; lunch 5-10; takeaway 3 or 4 times a year. Most of our lunches out would be if we were travelling somewhere.

We didn’t have much of either growing up as parents had other spending priorities with the limited income they had.

My parents are now pretty comfortable and will regularly eat out now. They don’t get take aways much - personal preference I guess

Yes my mum sees takeaways as extremely lazy, she told me she would never order one. She gets judgemental if I say I had a take away. She rarely goes to restaurants and once walked out of a Chinese restaurant as the meals were “too expensive” (£6.20 a meal!) and when I took my kids to a restaurant for my birthday she told me I should have taken them to McDonald’s 🤣

Another child of the 70s here and agree with everything @Schnooze said. It's about value for money. I can produce something cheaper, healthier, and tastier in the time it would take to get a takeaway or delivery, so why bother? We do sometimes go to restaurants for special occasions or get togethers but it's not a regular occurrence. My parents are the same, although are more likely to have a lunch out with friends as well.

We didn't have takeaways much (maybe twice a year if that). It was too much of a hassle back then as the "local" chippy was 10 miles away and deliveries weren't a thing. It was the same right up until they died. Having said that though, one of the last takeaways they had was pizza delivered to their house. It was the first time they had ever had, as dad put it "pizza in a box". They loved it.

It was less popular as it was just less common. There were fewer restaurants and takeaways. I’m early fifties and recall in my early twenties going for dinner with my mate and her partner and we ended up in a local hotel L the type that served orange juice or prawn cocktail/ pate Melba toast as a starter.

there just wants the prevalence in most towns and villages of takeaways and restaurants as there is now. Generally it was all chippies

and that was 30 years ago. 40-50 was even less

I'm your parent's age and there were no takeaways in my childhood. We might have had fish and chips when on holidays at the beach but that's all. I ate my first hamburger when I was working, I was about 18.

Now , DH and I eat things like that very rarely. We go out for a meal about once in six months, for anniversaries and birthdays . We both like cooking and don't like to waste money buying food when we can make it ourselves . We did the same when the kids were young . I'm always amazed to see that they now have a takeaway about once a week !

Mine eat/ate out a lot more now because they have the money to so. I’m sure they would have eaten out a lot more in the 1960s if they had had the money to spare.

With takeaways, their habits haven’t changed much in over 60 years. Fish and chips once in a blue moon. Perhaps slightly more frequently now. Maybe three or four times a year. There wasn’t any other kind of takeaway available when I was growing up. Not where we lived, at least.

We never ate out as kids in the 70s & 80s. My parents could never have afforded it. And the only local takeaway was the chippy.

My Dad is in his late 70s now and rarely has takeaways; only the occasional chippy tea.

I ate out as a child and young adult in the 60s/70s. It was unusual. Loved the restaurant car on a train. However, we never had a takeaway (fish and chips or Chinese in those days).

If we eat out nowadays, it tends to be combined with the theatre/opera or with friends instead of cooking at home. We might occasionally have fish and chips. We occasionally have a family meal out for a birthday/other celebration - but the bill for six of us is always over £300 and I can do a triple rib of beef with all the trimmings and a fab pudding for about £120 (better meat and better wine). On holiday we tend to eat out 2/3 nights and 2/3 lunches per week.

I'd rather go out for a curry, pizza, Chinese than have a takeaway. I see no pleasure in having the smells at home, dishing up and washing up and dealing with the packaging.

So often we have had a nice meal for two that has come to £120 and left with the feeling that it was very nice, but could have been done at home for £40ish.

What I'm trying to say is that I don't mind spending £60ish for two on simple stuff and I don't mind spending a lot on exquisite Michelin starred fare, as a rare treat, that I couldn't reproduce at home. The bit in the middle I find overpriced and overhyped.

I am 41, we hardly ever ate out, occasionally we would have a take away if eating with friends (my dads friends), probably once a year at the most. Fish and chips was the only take away we had in our village.

My parents are no longer together, one of them eats out a lot, the other never eats out and rarely has a take away.

we have a take away maybe once a month, I eat out quite a bit with friends (not with dc).

We didn’t have takeaways or meals out ever growing up. My parents were not rich but were comfortable. However they just saved a lot, to the point that we went without some of the basics. It was like an obsession and still is from things I’ve heard. They’ll sit in a freezing house pretending they’re not hungry to save spending money. I don’t have any contact with them.

They always said they were saving for retirement, but they’re 70 ish now, retired and are meaner than ever with themselves. 🤷🏻‍♀️

MIL/FIL used to have takeaways or a meal out every couple of months when my partner was a child. Now they’re financially better off, they have a takeaway every Friday and are always out for lunch or dinner. They’re enjoying their retirement and their money, as they should.

My folks are in their 70s. They don't do takeaways (partly because they don't like Chinese, Indian etc). I recently learned my mother has never had a McDonald's.

They generally got out to lunch (country pubs, local restaurants) once a week, just for a change. They go out for ad hoc occasions (meeting friends, birthdays).

I grew up in the 70s. We never ever had a takeaway. It just wasn't on the radar. We ate out only on very special occasions. I'd never had curry, rice, pasta or pizza until I left home.

I don't really have takeaways as an adult now. Again, not really on my radar. Though I do have a much broader diet than I grew up on! DD really likes pizza so we had a delivery for the first time recently. I was shocked at how expensive it was. It will definitely only be done as a treat in the future.