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?

It’s outrageous, pre Covid our usual order from the local Indian place was £25-£30 depending if we got extra sides - the same thing now is about £45!! We used to get it 2-3 times a month and now we haven’t had it since NYE. I looked at the menu last week because I fancied it and a portion of boiled rice was £3.50!!

£30 is a bargain for 4 people! We usually get Chinese kebab or pizza for 2 of us each week and that’s usually 30. Indian usually costs us about 40

We can afford it but very rarely get takeaways as it just doesn't seem worth the money. We end up paying at least 60 pounds for a family of four. I would rather get a ready meal from somewhere like Marks and Spencers or Cook if we really don’t want to cook. Cheaper and often tastes better.

Value is subjective, not objective.

It shouldn't be perplexing to you that some people find some things better/worse value than you do.

I like the taste of fish and chips from the chip shop. I am sure I could replicate it at home (eventually), but it would be expensive, involving heating up vats of hot oil and take quite a bit of time, space and cleaning, all for the sake of one meal a week.

Getting it from the local chippy is good value to me.

We do Domino’s collection deal when mini-me fancies take out … or McDs and it’s not too pricey. 1 large pizza (feeds us both with leftovers for the dog) is less than £10. We don’t get deliveries though (too rural) so all take out gets eaten in the car… tends to mean I’d rather eat out properly or cook!

I can afford school shoes and take out food in case anyone was worried!

Rice you can cook yourself. Supermarket naans are excellent. Make up a dish of cucumber raita with a tub of yogurt. Just buy the main dishes, that you couldn’t easily make yourself. The cost goes down a lot.

To save money when I buy an Indian takeaway is to cook the rice myself and I get the Naan bread rom the supermarket and heat it up.

But they don’t want to save money? Not everyone does.

Haha, I’m the opposite - if I cook a curry for myself (from scratch) I ALWAYS buy a nice naan from the takeaway.

I don't think takeaways are value for money, but we don't have it for value! We have it for convenience and choice.

I cook decent meals all week, we really do enjoy good food so each night I spend 30/60 mins cooking after work which is fine, I enjoy it. So one night a week of no cooking, no pots to wash, and a cuisine that I can't cook at home (DH and DD hate spice so I usually order something spicy!) is a treat for me. We eat it whilst watching trash on Netflix and it makes us happy :)

I don't think takeaways are value for money, but we don't have it for value! We have it for convenience and choice
Same here.
We also like that some local restaurants do take away so we can have a nice meal at home without having to arrange for babysitters.

Wow that's cheap it's £11.00 per head around here😏

Me too. DH makes a really good curry but we usually pick up a couple of naans from our local Indian restaurant to go with it as they’re far nicer than ones we can make ourselves!

And I don’t like supermarket naan at all!

We have all been fed this evening here but the 16 year old decided to go to his pals and they just ordered one malaysian chicken with boiled rice and a portion of two spring rolls between them for collection and it was 15euro between them. We are in Dublin.

Supermarket naan is a no go here too. I only order indian for the naan bread especially the keema naan or garlic one. Shop bought is in no way comparable.

I don’t think anyone is saying they are good value for money, just like a restaurant meal isn’t good value for money or a glass of wine in rhe pub, or even a trip to the cinema. Christ even a pot of yoghurt you can make cheaper at home, or a loaf of bread. All of them you can do cheaper at home yourself, so arguably isn’t good value for money .

people buy takeaways for other reasons. Convenience, someone cooking a meal for you, limited clear up after. All these things make it worth it. If it was about value for money we would all be batch cooking with lentils, always making our own or buying cheap fakeaway versions down Asda.

Shop bought is in no way comparable.

^ agreed peshwari naan for me

The portions are massive.

Mumsnet massive portions. 😅

The Handmade Naan Company ones are excellent. I've seen them in some supermarkets and you can get big packs in Costco. We keep them in the freezer and reheat in the air fryer:

https://handmadenaan.co.uk/

We often get a take away, my teenage sons chip in, so we split it 3 ways, otherwise it would work out too expensive.

Yes, we have a gousto meal subscription, it averages £10 per meal foe two which is jn o way good value for money. But I continue with it because I'm paying for the convenience of having the meals planned out, exact ingredients etc and learning to cook new ways.

Its not always about vfm

Supermarket naans are pretty horrible compared to our local Indian as are their poppadoms. I like to cook and sometimes make my own or my own chapatis if we are having curry, which are also loads nicer than the supermarket ones but still not as good as those from the Indian.

Our local Indian is a restaurant that does takeaway and has won awards. We also have a fab posh kebab place, a decent Lebanese, a Vietnamese, a Mexican that does awesome burritos and a place that do lovely cheese/cured meat platters with fresh bread. Value is so subjective. To make many of the things we order from takeaway fresh would cost us an hour ish in prep/cooking and take longer to tidy up and wash pots and pans than sorting out after a takeaway. I value having the time some nights to do something that isn’t cooking and clearing up afterwards more than the money.

It is extortionate these days! It had been creeping up for a while but food, heating and staff costs have escalated recently now so it's now barely affordable.

It's like eating out or going to the pub for a beer. Ridiculously priced, but if you can afford it then please do, else all the businesses will go bust. But for so many it's just not doable now.

We are fortunate to be OK ish financially, although we are always careful. We don't eat takeaways much but do get a Chinese when DH, MIL and the DCs get their hair cut every 6 weeks or so. We get a set meal for two from our local and an extra dish such as chow mein, and that easily feeds five of us. It has three main dishes, two rice, prawn crackers, chicken balls and sweet and sour sauce, plus the extra. OK, MIL and I don't eat huge amounts but the teenage DCs and DH do! Total cost still less than £30. Worth shopping around!

(Hungry now......)