To ask if you view food such as takeaways as a waste of money

[Blameitonme7000]

I personally don’t but I know many do

Yes, I feel too guilty to order them!

The cost is the main thing, plus I'm the only adult and DC are fussy so I don't like having so many leftovers.

And because normally when I make something at home it's cheaper and healthier anyway - the urge is just because I'm hungry.

But I do sometimes wish I could just relax and order one lol. I used to when I was in a relationship, more, because it was more justifiable with two people.

We have one weekly.

Sometimes they can be expensive but sometimes not.

We can get a curry with rice and chips for about £14.

It's not a waste of money if you enjoy it.

We have only a chippy nearby for takeaway, but we have it maybe once every 6 weeks. It's so nice getting a hot meal that you can't cook yourself at home, and that nobody needs to dedicate a chunk of their day to. We had fish and chips yesterday lunchtime in the garden - it was less than £30 for 5 of us, and it felt like great value.

I'd agree that its a waste of money when times are tight. Maybe it depends where you are but fish and chips is nearly ten quid. Lovely Nepalese place but 15 quid for a main/rice/side.

I can cook a nice meal for us all for 10-15 quid. However I don't mind if we're out and about. Fond memories of fish and chips at the beach at the end of a long day.

We probably get a takeaway once a fortnight. Before Covid, we barely ever had a takeaway because we’d eat out twice a week or so instead. Takeaways here are much cheaper than eating out so I don’t really mind the cost, we tend to limit them because the majority of takeaways around here are unhealthy and not my first choice. I prefer my own cooking and cook from scratch most nights, but sometimes just can’t be bothered. I’m happy to pay for the convenience.

I’m surprised by how much some people have said they order. If we get a Chinese, we get two mains and two portions of rice. If we get a curry, we get two mains, a naan and one rice. A takeaway usually costs us £20-25 for two. I’m a big eater (I’d easily inhale a whole medium Domino’s) so no Mumsnet competitive under-eating here. I don’t really want to eat takeaway leftovers the following day. We don’t order drinks as we have them in the house already.

Yes I do think takeaways are a waste of money and unhealthy , bad for you etc it's just my own personal preference not to buy them for my family or feed them to my dc. It would make me feel like a bad mother. I certainly don't lecture those that do.

@BlackeyedSusan

middle ground. fine for treats, not for regular. but we were short of money and I can't get past feeling uneasy about spending on stuff that is not a necessity.

same here.

I certainly don't lecture those that do.

I don't mind spending the money but I'd rather eat out. Its not easy to get delivery here and DD can't have gluten so that rules out lots of things. We get fish and chips from time to time but I tend not to enjoy takeaways as much as I think I might. Also the packaging often feels very wasteful. I can cook perfectly well and don't mind doing it but I am looking forward to being able to go out for dinner again, for the experience of it as much as the food.

No, it's a nice treat and we can afford it.

I do because I can make better at home cheaper, and I know my kitchen and hands are clean.
If I’m desperate not to cook I just buy a ready meal, but I’m not a fan of those either.

It depends on the takeaway and how often you have it.
We used to live by a really good Indian restaurant and had a takeaway most weekends. We enjoyed it but then when it came to moving house we realised we would have a much better deposit if we knocked the takeaways on the head. We saved about £75 a month!

We now live near another restaurant that is more expensive and has only started doing takeaway because of lockdown. We want to support them and their food is amazing so we have had takeaways for birthdays and our anniversary. It has cost about £45-50 each time but has been a lovely treat and we would normally have eaten out on those occasions so it didn't feel like a waste of money at all. In fact it was probably cheaper than going out.

However, we also got takeaway from Dominoes recently and it was luke warm and we all still felt hungry afterwards. The dcs said they preferred making pizzas themselves (something else we've been doing in lockdown!) so yes, that seed like a massive waste of money.

No, but I am on a (mostly) American budgeting page and sometimes I'm astonished at what people's eating out budget is - way higher than groceries in a lot of cases! Ours is opposite - groceries is huge and eating out is 10-20% of that.

Take away at least once a month, usually twice, viewed as a treat. Kids get a lot more excited about a takeaway on a weekend than a home cooked meal. I'm a good cook btw but you can't beat a Chinese from a Chinese and an Indian from an Indian

During original lockdown we tried the local restaurants but the food just doesn't travel and I can make all of it better myself, so do consider that a waste of money

There was a local business advertising here "premium" ready meals - for the price of a takeaway! It made me wonder what is the point?

In terms of treat/laziness it didn't fit in (for me). I would rather have something hot delivered.

I don't but I do view them as a waste of calories / not worth the food hangover, they make me feel so awful

@SisterAgatha

LostInABlizzard - I don’t think you are greedy, I think your chow mein and cashew dish are both over priced. What I noticed last night is that our curry house had different prices on deliveroo compared to just eat. Quite drastically different too!

That is because Deliveroo charge the restaurant 30% of the food cost.

And when you consider VAT as well, that is 50% before the actual cost of the raw ingredients and other costs (wages, rent etc).

Yes, I do see it as a waste of money. But then again, if saves me from having to work out what we’re eating and then having to actually cook it, for one night every now and then, it’s worth it.

The last one we had (Chinese) was two mains and two portions of rice, and cost £16.50. I could feed us for 3-4 days on home made food for that.

Whatever gets you through the day. We have a takeaway about once a week. We also probably buy sandwiches out etc. about once a week. Takeaways obviously don't go hand in hand with saving money though.

I don't think they are a waste of money. We get it every Sat evening and to me it's a "cheat meal" as I eat healthy 98% of the time. It's like a reward. Lovely food and no cooking.

I should.....but i don't. I have them on nights when im too busy/tired to cook and don't want to go out. I see it as paying for convenience. Tastes better than what i would make fromva curry paste or jar. But im a bit of a shit cook probs

We have a takeaway once a week but honestly it’s usually because I’m knackered, there are no nice takeaways that deliver round here so we end up with the same old shit every time out of desperation.

If we have a takeaway for all of us including the kids we’re talking between £60-£100 depending on what we get, so it’s not cheap either!

Not unless it's several times a week. It's a treat and saves you cooking. We do it once a fortnight and enjoy it. Kids are always asking when is it take away day.

@Babyroobs

I think it's worth it not to have to cook on a friday night. I hate having to think of meals for fussy teens all week, so I look forward to fridays when I don't have to. We don't spend much on drinking or smoking or anything else so it's a weekly treat we all look forward to after working all week. If we had a sudden drop in income then yes it would need to stop but we can afford it for now.

I'm the same. My bf always treats us on a Friday (we don't live together so it's his way of contributing I think). I love takeaway Friday!

Waste of money. And round here, not very nice either. Only benefit is not having to cook so we get one occasionally