To wonder how people can afford a takeaway for a family?

[MaknCheeese]

We haven't had a takeaway for a while and I was thinking about ordering one for the family as a treat tonight. I decided not to once I worked out the price, I just couldn't justify paying 1/3 of my weekly groceries budget, £30 on a curry for 4.
When did you last have a takeaway?
How much did it cost and how many did it feed?

I think maybe you’ve come over a bit defensive so have went on the attack, in your op you say it was a “treat” but as you’ve only 90 pounds a week for food couldn’t justify it. You asked how folks afford it. You then moved to you’d rather put the money to a nice holiday and now you just don’t like takeaways and prefer going out for dinner.

plenty of folks are low income and can’t afford a takeaway op, plent of folks aren’t, clearly as there as so many takeaway and restaurants they have enough custom to keep them in business and pay the staff and rent etc so folks have the disposable income to afford it. You have less than some, and more than others. Which is the same for all of us.💐

Interesting post😀 the varying costs per area.
if the smug we batch cook our own take away style food brigade could just please read the op.

£30 for a curry for 4 sounds very cheap tbh! I always think Indian is one of the more expensive take aways.

Last week we had 2x curry, 1 rice, 1 naan and a sharing starter £36. That was for 2 of us although we did have leftovers for lunch the next day

Maybe sharing a main and padding out with rice or a cheaper area of the country,

we are south east, for an Indian for three of us generally we spend about 60 -70 pounds, although we do have loads left the next day. Chinese is about 40-50 and pizza/sides about 25.

Some people have more money that others, that's how

Ours is about £50 and we have one every week. It's well within our budget and it's a treat after a long week of work and school.

I think this is a bit of a strange thread. You found it overpriced and enjoy making your own or going to a restaurant... That's fine.

For us, we have a disabled child so can't eat out. We live in London so have amazing selection of restaurants that do delivery and things I couldn't / wouldn't have time to make myself as I'm a full time carer.

£30 is cheap! We got curry and sides for 5 of us the other day, it was about £76 and fish and chips at the beach was £58.
We're lucky enough to have a lot of disposable income for things like this.

@Ihatepainting
I budget £90 a week for groceries.
The takeway I considered last night would have come from our disposable income budget. I did a quick cost / benefit analysis and decided that it was not worth £30 to me as I would enjoy a home cooked meal more.

We have takeaway approx every two weeks. £35-60 depending on what we order. Order for 4-5 of us. Usually, we have enough for leftovers.

It comes out of the fun budget. I cook from scratch, make my own curries, Chinese etc so fully aware I can do it healthier/cheaper at home. I just cba sometimes.

During lockdown, it used to be once a week to help support local businesses, but we have cut down to save money and be healthier.

We eat out as a family about once every 3 weeks. Occasional snacks out as well.

I cannot imagine that the quality or quantity of the meat and vegetables is very high if it only costs £30 for a curry with sides for 4 people!

The issue with curries are that the thick sauces can disguise a lot of cheap/fatty cuts of meat.

Personally I'd rather spend more on good quality ingredients and have it less often.

Isn't that the point most dishes braised in a sauce?

Yes, curries are supposed to be made with cheap cuts of meat. That’s why it’s braised slowly. It would be pointless putting expensive cuts of meat into a curry.

We frequent local business for a takeaway. Chinese, Indian, Italian. I went to pizza hut once years ago for two pizzas £25 I was so shocked. Whereas at our local pizza place they're friendly, make up the pizzas in front of you ask if you want more of anything, stick it in the ovens. It's noisy, seemingly chaotic but the pizzas are outstanding. Otherwise I buy pizza base from ASDA and we create our own.

We both had awful colds the other week so picked up two special curries and one fried rice from our local Chinese. It hit the spot.

Sometimes the thought of cooking bleugh.

Mind you I had takeaway chips and gravy last night which were wonderful. 5.45 am the indigestion wasn't so great 😂

We have one every Saturday and sometimes one on a Thursday , I don't bother doing a cost benefit analysis before I order

That's the whole point of a curry though, isn't it? It's the same with stews and casseroles.

You use cheap(er) cuts of meat and cook them slowly with lots of spices, herbs and vegetables to add flavour.

I pay £8 for a curry/main meal with rice from our local takeaway which seems very reasonable to me 🤷‍♀️

Ours aren't like this at all - but everywhere we get an Indian / Bangladeshi takeaway from us actually a restaurant. The only thing that isn't so good is the naan bread so tend to avoid that as a takeaway . Normally around £25 plus delivery for two of us .

And lots of people, they'd rather spend the £30 and save themselves the faff of shopping and cooking.

I can and do cook, but it's a chore rather than something enjoyable so I'm happy to pay to outsource it, even if it comes out as being pricier.

It’s a running joke that my MIL once boiled herself some rice to go with a takeaway and didn’t time it properly so the food was here and we were waiting 15 minutes for her boiled rice 🤣

Same for ours. Our local Indian restaurant is fairly ‘upmarket’ (can’t think of the right word to use!) and has won lots of awards for its food. The takeaways are the same dishes made in the same kitchen, just delivered to your house. The dishes are very distinct in flavour and ingredients.

We have a takeaway about once a month, once a week if we are on leave and on any other special occasion. If Dh and I get a curry or Thai for 2 then it usually costs us about £30. When we get a Chinese for 5 (us and 3 teens) it’s about £60, same for pizza. Can be £75 if sh gf is round or we splurge on extras.

OP's takeaway was so cheap. I spend £30 when I'm alone, sometimes even £60 if I'm ordering dim sum.

It’s still hoose rice.

Indian takeaway for 4 adults £94. 2 weeks ago. Leftovers fed 2 adults for 2 main meals later in the week. We have a takeaway about every 6 weeks, used to be more frequent but have stopped for health and financial reasons. The prices round here have gone up £1 or £2 per dish recently.

I have spent £509 on just eat since 12/3. This doesn't include my oh's just eat or cash takeaways nor eating out.

Thanks for the thread you have given me a wake up call.

Exactly. Unless you are living pretty close to pay check to pay check (no judgement - we were very, very recently!) everything is a cost:benefit decision.

Sure, I could get public transport to work for £2.50; but it would take me two hours; and I can get a taxi for £7.

Sure, I could cook dinner for £2 per head, but then I’d need to be on my feet for another hour, I’d need to nip to Asda for some ingredients, and then I’d need to clean up. Or I can get a takeaway for £20.

Sure, I could make my own clothes, but I’d need to learn how to do it, and then spend time making them. So instead I buy them ready made.