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 just remembered the ultimate treat was the trip to Bromley to buy school shoes. They had a McDonald's with ceiling fans!

Yes to eating out but no to takeaways. Getting a takeaway is nothing like eating out. I do not understand why people like them. I like my food hot not warm. I would much prefer an up market ready meal. The only time I would get a take away is if my children and grandchildren came round at short notice.

Mum definitely does have takeaways. She has remarried and 2nd husband likes them.
She does eat out but that often involves grumbling about the cost / time taken / and anything wrong with the offerings, so not necessarily an enjoyable experience.

Never grew up having takeaways. Maybe fish and chips at the beach once a year on holiday and the odd meal out on a rare special occasion. Money was tight for my parents when I was growing up... but even now when they are well off, they dont have takeaways, although they do eat out a LOT more.

We will have a takeaway perhaps once every 6 weeks and it's usually because we've been doing something during the day and I've not been organised enough to prepare food for tea. Or if we're running late back from somewhere. We could afford weekly takeaways if we chose to have them.

I don't feel anyone misses out by not having a frequent takeaway tbh.

When we were kids a chippy was an occasional treat and meals out for special occasions. My mum does go out for more meals these days. She was widowed in her 50's so joined the U3A so goes out a lot with them. My dad was a bit tight so she might not if he was still alive 😂

I’m in my 60s and rarely have a takeaway as they are invariably disappointing. We do eat out a fair bit. I’m not sure if it’s generational thing, more of a mind-set and budget thing. In the 1960s my parents used to take me to a Chinese restaurant. My grandparents thought this was totally outlandish and borderline dangerous for a child’s digestive system.

@fluffiphlox 😂

I'm probably your parents age and don't really like eating out, I don't particularly like takeaways either. You have been able to get Indian Chinese takeaway for years though so it's not really a new thing, I don't consider them a luxury.

In the 80s and 90s my parents had a decent disposable income (a lot more than we do now in similar jobs), but didn't spend much on eating out or takeaways. My grandad used to treat us to fish and chips once a week for the few years he lived with us and we had the very occasional Indian takeaway, probably more as older teenagers. We did eat out when away on holiday or sometimes on day trips. There was an exception of a few months where we moved to a new place and lived in a hotel and ate out every night or in the hotel restaurant! We probably eat out or get a takeaway now every couple of months and it was similar for my parents. They both came from low income families though who never did, and it wasn't part of their lifestyle.

There wasn't the variety of takeaway food when I was growing up, where I lived. Fish and chips and one Chinese takeaway within reasonable distance. I imagine it was different if you lived in a city or a particularly multi-cultural area. If you wanted, say, Indian food, you'd have to go for a sit-down meal.

My parents still live in the same town but nowadays it would be hard to find a type of cuisine not represented in the takeaway offering.

As a child, never. Dad hated eating in public, and there was no point in takeaways as they didn’t like different food, and ‘normal’ food could be cooked at home. I didn’t experience any alternative cuisines until I went away to uni.

When mum was alive, in the fifteen or so years before her death, they would have the odd coffee and cake at a garden centre or after doing the supermarket shop.

Dad now doesn’t eat out unless I take him, and he is still incredibly cautious as he hates being seen eating.

We eat out a couple of times a month; and will order in if we fancy it.

I'm 60 and we rarely have a takeaway, usually fish and chips on holiday and a Chinese twice a year. We eat out rarely too, again mostly pub meals on holiday, occasional Toby Inn. Parents are the same, though they probably eat fish and chips more regularly. Sister only eats out for work or with us. When I was growing up there wasn't the money for it and we never really got the habit.

Child of the 60's here. We never ever had a meal out in a restaurant or a cafe. Once I went to wimpy with a friend and her mum because her mum worked and had luncheon vouchers. It was very exciting. Occasionally we got fish and chips from a van but it was a massive treat. There weren't any other takeaways. In my late teens I had chips and curry sauce bought for me by a boyfriend from a Chinese takeaway and it was downhill all the way from then. I embraced takeaways, and started eating in restaurants. And got fat.

When I was a teen we usually had takeaway once a week but I never get it. Last time was a pizza about 15 years ago I think. Just seems a disappointing waste of money to me but my 80 year old mum still orders in every now and again.

I grew up in the 70s and 80s and my parents were well off, father was the director of a very large company, although he had grown up in poverty so was always very frugal and much more a saver than a spender.

Take-aways were considered to be common! Probably, once a month we'd go to a really nice fish and chip shop in a nearby town and have a sit down lunch there, plaice and chips followed by the tallest knickerbocker glory, so tall I'd have to stand up to reach into the dessert glass with the long spoon.

Otherwise, we ate out a handful of times each year on holiday.

My mum, in her 80s now, stayed with us for an extended period recently and we ordered a takeaway one evening. It was the first takeaway she'd ever had. I could sense the disapproval!

She can never understand why I meet friends at a coffee shop. She'll always say I should invite them to her house and she'll make us coffee (Nescafé instant) as no point wasting money.

Indeed CountryParson, my mum's the same with respect to having coffees out. Doesn't understand why you would do that.

We visited a coastal town near her recently and DH and I bought takeaway coffees to have while watching the sea. She didn't want one and did the cats bum face to indicate much disapproval.

Growing up in the 1960s, takeaway places were very rare even in a city suburb, just a chippy! Few pubs did food either apart from maybe a sandwich or a pie. My parents could not afford to buy fish and chips and we always took a picnic when we went out - ah, the memories of mum trying to cut a loaf of bread for jam sandwiches sat on a beach in the rain!

However, once we kids grew up and my dad got promoted at work, my parents enjoyed eating out with friends and probably ate out five or six times a month.

I live on my own so never get a takeaway unless I have friends staying but I eat out at lunchtime or evenings two to three times a week. It’s a big part of my social life.

We didn’t have takeaways growing up because they were a luxury we couldn’t afford, same as holidays.

Looking back, I probably had the most takeaways in my twenties for the convenience.

I rarely buy takeaways or eat out nowadays because I’m often disappointed in the quality of the food. I can cook stuff so much better at home. The main time we buy them or eat out is when we’re away from home on holiday and it’s back to them being about convenience.

I will buy a coffee and cake out when meeting friends in the daytime and I do enjoy this.

80s/90s kid. Never ate out, unless in a supermarket cafe on an occasional shopping trip.
Rarely had takeaway and if so, chippy tea.

As an adult, eating out became the norm, but it's just too expensive now the kids are older. £100 for a meal out is a big chunk of money to spend in a week. It feels like I'm going back to my frugal childhood, which is fucking depressing.

We do get the occasional takeaway, but I don't really like chippies anymore cos the chips are never soggy.

As a child, never. Dad hated eating in public

Not eating in the street was drummed into us. I still don’t do it.

My mum ran a pub,chipshop and a sweet shop. So it was ploughman's for lunch. Sweets and junk for breakfast and chips for dinner. I now can't stand takeaway or eating out.

My parents ate out occasionally, but rarely had takeaways.

We don't eat out much or have takeaways often, just have coffee and cake if we're out and about. We could afford to, but it seems such a waste of money to me. A few meals out=a weekend away, and I'd much rather do that a few more times a year.

My GPs travelled widely especially GF. They would never consider a takeaway but did eat at restaurants on their travels. My DPs ditto. It was either cook in or a restaurant. I'm a bit the same - apart from fish and chips.

We rarely had either when I was a child. I have made up for it since.

My late parents had fish and chips on Saturday lunch time most weeks but My Mum cooked from scratch every single day unless she was really ill. Always meat and 2 veg and home made desert most days too. She was a sahm but loved cooking and baking.