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?

We tend to end up having a takeaway if we have been busy and then get home and cant be bothered to cook.

So I now batch cook and freeze stuff which can be easily cooked from frozen or quickly defrosted and cooked (or even buy frozen ready meals - still cheaper and healthier than a takeaway). Alternatively have ingredients for quick and easy dinners always available on hand - e.g. Tuna pasta bake or carbonara can be made almost entirely with storecupbord ingredients.

We haven't had one... probably not this year.

Tend to have them around my DHs or my birthdays (DCs too little to care about something like a takeaway). Missed DHs as it was in lockdown, and mine is end of September.

Tend to avoid them for a mix of economic and taste reasons. I really enjoy cooking, and can knock up something just as nice, or nicer, than a takeaway, for a fraction of the cost.

I think what I mean is - it sounds like you've already decided on the method, rather than focusing on the goal. If your goal is to be more healthy, then reducing the amount you have takeaway is one method, but it's not the only method, and it sounds like it's something that would benefit yes but would also come at quite a cost of a tradition which is important to your relationship and your mental health. When your kids are little, both of these things are quite precious because they can be easily strained. So I would weigh the cost/benefit analysis of reducing.

Do you really think that a once a week takeaway is having a poor effect on your health? Or do you feel guilty about it as more of a "shouldn't do it this often" kind of thing? Because if it's the latter, I'd hang that guilt and carry on with it!

I understand that sometimes it is great not to have to cook. But there are far cheaper/healthier/ easier option.
Not many takeaways are good anyway.

If we don't want to cook then we may have some baked cheese/salad/crusty bread or smoked fish, olives, sun dried tomatoes, ready prepared salad, a greek salad , chorizo or ham, ready cooked prawns etc. served with wine.
Just a few items - just open the packs and put stuff on a table or plate. Much cheaper and usually nicer than a takeaway, and it feels like a treat for us.

@stopfundinghate

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

Maybe set aside a day of the week where you eat as a couple rather than as a family, if its actually the time together that you enjoy rather than the food. Make something like casserole or slow cooker meal so you can dish the kids up a portion and then have yours after they're in bed.

@CaptainPovey

The disappointment

We always expected it to be fab

Great curry (not chinese as it all tastes the same)

Excellent kebabs from turkish restaurant

But it all changed and no idea why

The only takeaway we have now is a dirty doner kebab as there are no expectations - and that is once in a blue moon

This too. Our local indian seem to have gone really downhill recently- it all tastes really bland. I don't know how you can make a bland curry! I don't mean it should be spicy hot but it should have a flavour of the different spices involved, not just oil.

We used to have a weekly takeaway curry. Then as the kids got older the cost started going up and up and now we only have it once a month because it comes to about £80.

I totally get the addictiveness though. Once I’ve got the idea of one my head then it’s pretty much a done deal.

Hello Fresh and Gousto have scratched my itch lately though, and are much cheaper overall than a weekly takeaway curry. Just a bit more effort.

We have a Dirty Colonel once a month. Same date every month.

Other than that, we meal plan, with a few backup freezer pizzas etc in case we really can't be arsed to cook for whatever reason.

Then as the kids got older the cost started going up and up and now we only have it once a month because it comes to about £80.

Same here- we are 5 adults, cost of a curry takeaway is usually around £60- not something I want to do every week.

Look up the nutritional information on takeaway food.
Ignorance is a great mask to hide behind but sometimes seeing the numbers and comparing to other things is enough to make you think before picking up the phone.

We have the bog standard Chinese, Indian and fish and chip shop round out way, all not great.

They were always a bit over rated tbh.

If there was Thai or Korean or a good Turkish or Polish, then we’d probably have them more often

I’m with those who say they rarely buy a takeaway and think ‘that was fantastic’. Quite often I end up with sore stomach (chinese) unquenchable thirst (McDonald’s/KFC) or indigestion (chippy). So it’s easier just to make something at home.

We tend do as PPs said, treat ourselves to stuff

Well get a sushi platter from Sushi Daily, or buy three good steaks from the butchery and have them.

Costs less, and is better

I started planning all of our meals for the week before the weekly shop. I always plan a couple of quick easy ones for the days when I can't be bothered, and it makes it much easier to stop us from ordering a takeaway.
To be honest though, cooking is the only me time I get, so now that DD is a toddler who cannot be left alone 2 minutes without causing chaos, it's a welcome break

DH not having a job and me being unable to work over lockdown - takeaways are SO expensive and really unhealthy. And most of the time they're not even that good.

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

The virus won't survive on hot food. You can put it in the microwave for a minute to be sure.

I’ve never stopped! Nom nom nom.

@Newnamenewopenme

I need the answer to this, once it’s in my head that I fancy a takeaway I can’t get rid of the thought. Then when I’ve had one I crave another the next night and I’m hooked again. They’re addictive! Especially when you were brought up on them so it seems the norm!

If you work it out please let me know, I'm the same

If you only have one per week do you actually need to give up? You say you want to give up for health reasons but moderation is the key and once a week is fine.

Thank you all for your replies, I've read them all! Yes lots of you are right, it's not the worst thing in the world I guess! And we do share main meals etc so it's not too much food. Sometimes I think I'm trying to become the perfect person!

I've ordered a simply cook box to try. I'll try going 8 days this week and see how we do. That's a great idea. The olives and bits things sounds great too so may well try that, I really hate ready meals so it's hard to be tempted to switch to those, and as we share our takeaway anyway I don't think it would be any 'healthier'. Maybe I'll do an update and let you know how we get on!

Covid! The thought of a random person cooking it, then a random person bringing it over has put me off!

Pandemic plus a large family all home due to said pandemic.

Anything x7 is very expensive.

Lentil dhal, anyone?

Pandemic plus a large family all home due to said pandemic.

Anything x7 is very expensive.

Lentil dhal, anyone?

We only really have a Turkish one , we almost always have chicken shish and rice and salad and bread. It tastes lovely and not fatty. It is expensive though about seven pounds each so £35 for us all. We just treat ourselves on a Friday to break up the monotony of having to think of meals every day of the week.

Savings jar.
Everytime we want a takeaway we consider whether we really want it, or whether we want to put the money towards something else instead?

It sounds utterly naff, but instead of an ice cream out or a takeaway or a meal out, we put the money away and over the course of the year paid for some tickets on holiday, a completely frivolous thing that we might have said we couldnt afford otherwise. It was a great event we went to and I'm sure i was a stone lighter than i wouldve been otherwise.