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?

This thread is costing me a fortune. Whenever I read the updates it makes me hungry and I keep adding things to my on line shop I wouldn’t normally get.

I can’t believe no-one is mentioning food trucks. We rarely get takeaways from restaurants and there’s no food delivery options where I live.

We eat from food trucks at least once a week. Various cuisines, always healthy options and they don’t cost too much.

Food trucks are the way forward!

We also eat out a lot and go to the pub.

We can afford it and are helping to keep the economy going.

Most food trucks do not have access to adequate clean and hot water necessary to wash hands or rinse off vegetables, as required by most health codes or regulations.

We don’t have any food trucks near us so don’t know much about them, but how are they allowed to operate in this case? Food vendors are subject to strict hygiene requirements, so wouldn’t they be closed down?

But they trade perfectly legally so I'm not sure you are correct.

We have to pick carefully to spend under £40 for a Chinese for 6. It was every 6 weeks but it's getting harder to justify. We had one last week and it wasn't great from a new place we tried. Like everything else now it has to be allocated and saved for in a pot. Depressing

It was during lockdown. 6 adults. It was supposed to be a treat but ended up being a disappointment!

@WellPlaced It could be that people are using 'takeaway' as a catch all for all food that is bought freshly cooked and ready to eat, so takeaway from buildings, food trucks and deliveries.

We also mainly use food trucks as this is generally where the most interesting food comes from, especially as where we live, there's a rotating selection in the big shopping centre. About half a dozen new ones every few weeks in a food court environment so you can eat at the tables provided or takeaway.

I agree that to me 5 Guys was just burger and chips. My DCs and partners had all been saying it was great and the chips were amazing and huge portions. When we got it in and looked in the bag we were all so sad!😀

They lost 4 regular and 2 potential customers that day!

We can afford it. DCs are all adults so they can buy their own shoe zone trainers.

6 adults, not too bad then. I assumed, wrongly, it was maybe 2/3 adults + 2/3 children.

Ok well it sounds like you can’t afford takeaway. Many can’t. That’s a great price for what you got, curry is normally quite expensive so I never order it as a takeaway. You not being able to
afford it doesn’t make it expensive.

it makes it a total waste of money if you could make it yourself or buy bits from the supermarket for 75% less - but I understand some people find making a curry a huge and exhausting undertaking so are happy to pay a premium for someone to do it for them.

Not huge or exhausting. But sometimes I just don’t want to do it and would rather pay someone else to. Just like I don’t want to clean my own house so I pay a cleaner, and I don’t want to clean my own car so I take it to a car wash, and I don’t want to clean my own windows so I pay a window cleaner. Sometimes I even can’t be arsed to chop my own onions so I buy it ready chopped. All worth the expense, to me.

And this is the way that I eat curries! I buy them from the grocery.

Not really the same as paying a cleaner, taking the car to the car wash or chopped onions because those things are nowhere near as expensive. You are paying about 50 pounds to save half an hour of time.

Running a car is expensive though

Firstly, no good curry is cooked in half an hour.
Secondly, I genuinely don’t care. It’s worth it to me. I enjoy it. I have a very busy life with a severely disabled child, 2 other children, a job and other commitments. If I want to spend £50 to save half an hour (except it wouldn’t be half an hour, unless I was making a shit curry), then that’s up to me. I’m happy to spend my money on it. And it’s a good job people like me exist really, as otherwise takeaways would go out of business and lots of people would lose their jobs.

Honestly before I came on Mumsnet I had no idea people were so bothered about what other people spend their money on!

I'm not sure why you're being so defensive. No one is saying you can't spend your money on what you want. It’s just a conversation about whether it's worth it in terms of time saved. Obviously if the takeaway curry tastes really good and/or you are not good at cooking or you are a very high earner it might be worth it to you regardless of the cost.

Btw, I didn't mean it only takes half an hour for the curry to cook. I meant that it only takes half an hour in terms of workload.

I don’t think that’s why anyone buys a takeaway 😂😂😂 same reason as it’s not why anyone goes to a restaurant. Sometimes it’s nice to have someone do it for you

I do wonder if folks are being deliberately obtuse. I can’t fathom how you can get to adult hood and be so utterly confused like this as to why anyone would order a takeaway. That anyone would genuinely believe that the reason folks order an Indian takeaway is they find it a huge and exhausting task to cook their own. It’s bewildering.

And it’s a good job people like me exist really, as otherwise takeaways would go out of business and lots of people would lose their jobs.

New jobs would be created in businesses whose products and services ARE in demand.

I’m not defensive. I’m just explaining why spending £50 on a takeaway is worth it to me, because it’s a concept you don’t seem to be grasping.
I don’t do the cooking in my house by the way, it’s DH’s job. He makes an excellent curry, cooking is his passion. Sometimes he can’t be arsed though, so we get a takeaway.

Well it’s obvious that takeaway services are in demand, that’s why so many of them exist currently.

Well that's great then. But there's no point buying takeaways just to keep them afloat.