AIBU to ask, what helped you give up takeaway?

[EndlessUserName]

We have one every week without fail. I'd like to get to once a fortnight but we can never manage it! Money isn't a super issue, but I think it would be healthier to go less often. If you've done it, how did you manage to have less takeaway / none anymore?

@unchienandalusia if willpower was easy it wouldn’t be called willpower!

I’m a really good cook and so is my partner, I just prefer takeaways to normal food. I’ve mastered a few fakeaways but it’s just not the same!

What do you like about the takeaway OP? Is the actual food/particular dish or not having to cook it yourself?

DH is doing Slimming World and we haven't had a takeaway for months - we've got a rota of meals now that we have on a Saturday instead of a takeaway, and occasionally we'll double one of them so all we have to do is put it in the oven to heat (Saturday, apart from a cooked breakfast, used to be my no-cook day).

On the odd day when I CBA cooking, I keep some stuff in the freezer that we can just throw in the oven because then, I miss the option of the fish and chip shop!

A friend of mine is a chef. She says extra butter, extra sugar, extra cream and extra salt make most things taste better. That’s what’s going in your take aways OP!

Have food for lazy cooking in the house. There's dozens of recipe books, hundreds of mumsnet threads and probably millions of websites on 'quick meals'. Just make sure you've got two or three reliable easy meals' ingredients in the house at all times, so when you're going "ughh gonna just get a takeaway" you can instead go "ughhh well it's only ten minutes work to put together a roast veg and things bake" chop chop oven wait done.

Move to rural France

OH is in the UK at the moment and will be getting an indian take away tonight. I have forbidden him from talking about it.

You are, just put the card away and plan something else to eat or make together? Money for takeaways is a luxury. And we have some great ones plus restaurants delivering their own to finish of at home.

Have a few easy meals in the freezer that you can just shove in the oven when you're short on time or energy.

We have treat teas that are just nicer. Fakeaway lamb kebabs or baked camembert not exactly healthy but quick easy and delicious. Also lots of fresh salad with kebab (almost nicer without the pitta) and lots of crudités and grapes with the backed camembert. So feels worthy.

I’ve just joined up to simply cook. I’m actually surprised it’s lovely

Moving to a rural place with the nearest takeaway over ten miles away. Then when deciding to go to the effort of driving there and back with it, it just wasn't very nice and I was disappointed, so now don't bother.

DM likes a takeaway so used to get one with her thinking it'll be different, but no, I've come to the decision they're just not that nice really and I hate being disappointed by food.

Depends why you get the takeaway

If it's laziness then you need to plan something that's low effort or make something the day before that can be reheated

If it's fancying comfort food then find alternatives. Ready meal curries are surprisingly good once you've found a good one and there's a lot of sites with fakeaway recipes that are healthier and cheaper,

I’ve had about three in my adult life and they weren’t very nice.

How about buying posh ready meals once a week as a compromise? I guess they would be cheaper and possibly healthier.

No money

By living so far from a takeaway that you’d need to reheat the food by the time you get it home.

I think we've had one takeaway in the 25 years we've lived here... it wasn't very good.

Apart from home cooking, we'd get M&S Chinese and Indian meals - nicer and generally less greasy than takeaways imo. Served with plain noodles or rice, and veg - much cheaper and good.

We've not had any of that since lockdown, doing fine with homemade. DH does fantastic teriyaki steak, I do stir fry veg to go with it - much better than takeaway. Homemade curry is fine too, with some frozen pakoras or samosas.

There aren't many takeaways near us and we have to drive to them because we are rural. They either don't deliver or it's not worth the effort trying to explain how to find us.

Also, I suffer from IBS and takeaways generally don't suit me.

I have learned how to make a very quick thai curry at home and a jalfrezi. I can make both of them so that they don't aggravate the IBS.

I can also make chinese stir frys at home.

I suppose it depends on your reason for liking them. I don't get why people do often have them. You don't get the ambience of the restaurant and by the time you've collected the takeaway you could have cooked a meal.

Watch supersize vs super skinny

Main reasons are -
we live very near a delicious Indian takeaway.
It feels like a treat not to have to cook / prep anything at all. Also a treat as our kids are little so we get it once their in bed.
It's a habit.

Or can you make it a bit more healthy? We get one once a week, but get to the nicely full point rather than completely stuffed. We share between two - a rice, main course curry and a starter with a couple of chapattis.

Vegetarianism helped us - fewer options

My DH started making his own onion bhajis and peshwari naans and we found a great source of frozen samosas. Having these little extras in the freezer elevates a homemade curry to the point where we don't really fancy a takeaway.

With the kid thing I mean - usually we sit and eat meals as a family. So the takeaway is nice as it's just me and DP

I didnt find them as appealing once I gave up meat

@catgirl1976

COVID-19 - haven’t had one since March as not convinced it’s safe

Same. I don't get how people can cross the street to avoid walking past someone but will eat a meal that strangers have just prepared with their hands.