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?

Growing up in the early 90s, takeaways were definitely fairly commonplace, but we didn't have them often as my mum preferred her own cooking. Likewise eating out. A handful of times a year we might have had a takeaway pizza/fish and chips/Indian.

Parents would still never consider a takeaway.

1970s/1980s childhood and eating out was a treat for birthdays etc. A takeaway (fish and chips) was something you might have as a treat on holiday.

My parents still have this attitude and I have to say, so do I. DH and I will occasionally get fish and chips on a day trip but we don't ever have takeaways at home, and eating out is an 'occasion' thing for us.

We never ate out/ got takeaways when I was a child - the only time I ever remember eating out was if we were at my Nan's and went to Lincoln for a day out and would have lunch at the cafe/ restaurant on the bridge - steak and kidney pie/ pudding (which I would pick the kidney out of) followed by treacle sponge and custard.

It wasn't because they didn't enjoy food - my Mum is a really good cook and would get into various different cuisines (I remember when we got our first wok and the Ken Hom book, and she went through a curry phase as well) - I think it was a financial thing.

They still never get takeaways - but are a fan of the upmarket ready meal these days. I don't think they ever eat out unless they are on holiday or taking us out for a meal when they visit.

Post-war generation were raised to be thrifty, and meals out were seen as an occasional treat. A sensible approach, IMHO. It's expensive to eat out, and takeaways tend to be unhealthy

I don't think it's generational at all - I'm the same age and I reckon my DPs eat out 5 nights a week. It's very rare for them to eat at home unless one of them is out and the other one is home alone. They probably get takeaway one night a week too. I think my mum feels like she spent so much of her life cooking when we were kids that she can't be bothered now (plus they like nice food and live on central London)

Yes I think I was about 16 before I had my first takeaway, bought with tips from my pt job. Other than chips if we went to the seaside (once in a blue moon), we didn’t have takeaways at all growing up. Eating out never happened other than maybe being brought to a cafe for a cream cake but again that was very rare.

I suppose there were fewer options back then (80s/90s) plus we were a larger family and my parents didn’t have a high income so it wouldn’t have been affordable for us all to go out for dinner.

My parents are in their 70s now and much more comfortable financially. They’ll eat lunch out sometimes but they generally go cheap and cheerful. My dad doesn’t like to go anywhere even slightly “fancy”, I think because he considers the cost more than the experience and doesn’t really value that. My mother nowadays eats out fairly regularly with friends or us. She still sees it as a luxury but then I suppose I do too, it’s just that I’m fine indulging in that luxury quite often .

Maybe a generation and a class thing? I grew up in the 70s and 80s and my MC parents almost never got takeaway food. We'd have a Chinese once-in-a-blue moon when we pestered for it - but only because my DM couldn't make it herself. She always prided herself on making everything from scratch and when we ate out she'd say 'I could make this better myself'. Nothing's changed, other than they sometimes go to 'nice' restaurants now when they're on holiday.

Fish and chips was Friday night dinner (it was cheap then!).
eating out or take away was birthdays only.
now they rarely eat out, occasional cake and coffee out very odd pub meal.
takeaway Chinese occasionally but only collected. Never delivered

My parents always went to restaurants and got occasional takeaways so they still do.

MIL and FIL have never ordered a takeaway in their lives and couldn't think of anything worse.
They hate restaurants as well and will only go if they absolutely have to (important birthdays, family gatherings)

I grew up in the 70s too and takeaways just weren't a thing, and we couldn't afford to eat out, except maybe on holidays. By the 80s we were getting occasional takeaways though, chippy or chinese. In later years my mum loved going out to cafes and restaurants (in her 90s now and mostly housebound). She didn't like anywhere too pricey though, and she often took biscuits into cafes to save money!

My parents would do a takeaway for an event like a birthday, end of exams etc. We didn't go out to restaurants unless invited by others (maybe once a year). It wasn't a money issue, they weren't big socialisers so they didn't enjoy eating out and the atmosphere of a restaurant. Very odd, not sure why. They now occasionally get fish and chips- maybe 6 times a year.

Now I make a point of going out to eat most days and ordering in a couple of times a week.

This is an interesting thread. By the mid 80’s there were a lot more options to eat out and I went to quite a few whilst in the sixth firm with friends, using my Saturday job money. Still traditional English food was predominant, although Italian and burger chains were creeping in. I didn’t try Chinese or Indian until I moved to a much more cosmopolitan city.

We eat out occasionally but never get takeaways. My dcs might get a domino's if at a friend's.

Probably a generation thing, the cost and dependant on where you live(d).

When I was growing up probably up until my mid teens, I only occasionally went out for a pub meal or sit down fish and chips and that was with my grandparents.

The takeaways we had in the rural village I grew up in were fish and chips and a Chinese, and the village didn’t get an Indian and pizza takeaway place until I was mid teens.

I cant remember having a curry until my late teens (18 or so) it was pizza we generally got as a takeaway, which I’d get with my friends. I can only remember my mum getting fish and chip or Chinese as a takeaway, as a child.

I do get takeaways and eat out a lot now, due to convenience and there being more options.

My dm would never use the internet or apps to order food as she's not kept up with technology in that way.

We never even used to order takeaway by phone when I lived at home, but she'd happily drive 10 mins to go buy fish and chips or Chinese.

But she does eat out once or twice a week socially, nowhere fancy even though she can afford it.

Oh and we use to consider KFC as an occasional treat, now I can buy it whenever I fancy it’s lost that special treat feel.

We grew up poor and never had takeaways or ate in restaurants (my first time at a restaurant with with a boyfriend’s family aged 16!).

Now I’m 43 and we’re comfortable financially so have a few takeaways a month and eat out when we fancy it, and I know it concerns my mum! She’s seen previous night’s pizza boxes and exclaimed “another takeaway?!” before… and asked “what for?” when told we went out for brunch on a random Saturday… I think she is still in that poverty mindset and sees it as unnecessary and wasteful.

(We mostly eat home cooked at home by the way! Kids are fit and healthy 😉)

That’s why cafes and pubs are packed out with oaps at lunchtime then. Cheap and cheerful lunches for our parents, never expensive evening meals or takeaways, according to the majority on this thread. My parents certainly fit this demographic.

My parents eat out a fair amount now but don't "get" takeaways, they see them as inferior and a waste of money except the occasional fish and chips.

My opinion only! I think takeaways are expensive and generally unhealthy. If you have the mindset that you can't be arsed to cook, so constantly get pizza you are necessarily going to be less healthy than a family who will always cook from scratch.

Born in 68, I don't even recall their being takeaways other than fish and chips. Posh dining (birthdays and possibly anniversary I.e wedding, not the day we met/first date) was a Berni Inn, unless you were in the golf club set and went to The Italian and made out you were besties with the owner.

My mum eats out at least once a month these days in her 80's but wouldn't order takeaway.

TBH I always find it a massive anti climax myself and would much prefer to go to the restaurant.

My df (not a pleasant man) took the view that he had a wife to cook his food so why would he waste money paying someone else to do it. Thankfully he is long gone or I might have been tempted to poison him.

The only time we 'ate out' as children was an occasional ice cream at the coast.

As soon as I was earning, I used to treat my dm to lunch out regularly. She loved the fact that she didn't have to do anything, although I always had to ask for a menu with no prices on , for her, or she'd worry. 😊

My parents are in their 70s. We had plenty of takeaways and eating out when I was a child in the 80s. It was very normal for us.

My parents still do now. But they wouldn't ever get food delivered! They would go and collect a takeaway though.

Now taxis, that's a different matter. They see taxis as a once in a blue moon luxury

I was a 90s child, I remember fast food on days out, like a Burger King in Meadowhall, and meals out for like pub grub food for birthdays. Rarely got take aways but if we did it would be pizza shop, although dad would always fetch chippy tea home every Friday!

Now they still only eat out on occasions and have a Chinese takeaway maybe once a month, whereas me and DH eat out at least once a week and usually get two takeaways a week on top of that too 🙈