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?

Value is entirely subjective. We find it value for money because that is what we want to do with our money and our time.

I like cooking, but if I fancy, say, Lebanese mezze, it would take me hours and lots of ingredients to make tabbouleh, hummus, baba ghanoush, salad oliveira, stuffed vine leaves, garlic prawns, fresh flat bread in a bread oven (which I don't have), grilled minced lamb, grilled chicken, grilled veg. Which I might do sometimes, with notice, but without the special bread oven.

But I can order all that from somewhere that specialises in cooking large amounts of each of those dishes for lots of people to enjoy, and have it on my table in 30 minutes. That's not a waste of money to me.

We have a chinese/indian/kebab takeaway meal once every few weeks and we could afford them more regularly but just prefer to cook things at home, takeaways are considered a "treat" for us really.

The only takeaway local to me that I don't buy from because it gets very pricey is Dominos, even with the deals and vouchers I still struggle to spend that much on a pizza I could make myself at home for a fraction of the price even if it might not be exactly the same. I can afford it but I'm not well-off by any means so I feel guilty spending that much on one takeaway. Meals like indian and chinese are things I would have more difficulty in cooking myself, I've tried to replicate them in the past but they never taste the same so I'll happily treat myself now and again.

Terrible advice 🙄

It's not only about whether you can afford a takeaway. It's: Can you afford it and still save enough money for your future/pension?

Yes, otherwise I wouldn’t have said I can afford it. It goes without saying that savings and pensions come before non essentials.

It's when people started mentioning Klarna that I wondered whether some people might be spending their last pounds of income on Takeaways.

I agree that if you’re having to Klarna a takeaway then you probably can’t afford a takeaway.

I like the chippy! Mains and chips for 5 of us for £23 recently.

We never have takeaways. We could easily afford to, but one of the reasons that we could afford to is that we don’t waste money on £30 or £40 takeaways when you can buy a great curry meal in a bag from any supermarket for less than £10 and keep it in the freezer for whenever you want it. Takeaways are a luxury, not something everyone should be entitled to.

That’s shocking, I can’t believe anyone would be so stupid as to borrow for a takeaway

@CherryCokeFanatic not a hope in hell would use this to get a takeaway. If you have to use this as a way to feed people there is something seriously wrong

Last year we were having one takeaway a week, usually for three of us as the youngest isn't keen so we just do her a kids meal. It would be £25-£35 mostly. Since about Oct we can't afford it, it's very rare now. When we do now it's McDonald's on the app so that I can get free items with my points. Usually about £16 for 3 of us. Food budget is £100pw for 4

I think a lot of people see it as a right rather than an occasional treat.
In general, I think people are more entitled nowadays, and that includes having things like takeaways.
I think it's shocking that you can pay using Klarna, and I agree that if you're doing that, you most likely can't afford it.

I don’t know anyone who sees a takeaway as a ‘right’.

I don't at all.

We don't smoke, go on foreign holidays, or have many "luxuries" at all.

21 years ago when I first moved in with my husband we would get a takeaway and a bottle of wine on a Saturday night (every week)

We don't drink now so dropped the bottle of wine about 10 years ago but the takeaways for us are now very rare due to cost .

I don't think people are more entitled now at all. If having a takeaway makes you entitled then we are in a pretty sad situation 🤔

I don't think people are more entitled now at all. If having a takeaway makes you entitled then we are in a pretty sad situation 🤔

^^ agreed it's not a race to the bottom

People aren’t entitled for wanting a treat every now and then. What we are entitled to us to demand better governance.

Working hard used to earn us enough for an occasional treat. But now, due to the current administration damaging the UK economy, too many of us are working just to survive.

Cook it at home. Tastes much better
Easy recipes online, you can cut many extra ingredients and simplify it

God I spend loads on Deliveroo, it makes me cringe, but eat toast every other day. I hate cooking though, work long hours and find it a real chore. If I had children they would have rickets.

Yes, but sometimes you just want a takeaway! 😁

And the award for the biggest case of “missing the point of the thread” goes to…

I'm now fantasizing about having a deep fryer and all the fish and chips, tempura veg and prawns, deep fried bananas (to serve with ice cream and chocolate sauce) and deep fried Mars bars I would make. 😛😛😛😛

(Which is why I've never allowed myself to buy one and reserve the above for occasional treats)

Always one. Off you pop to polish your halo, you’ve won the takeaway thread bingo.

Iyou are cutting ingredients it is not the same dish, you are cooking something similar but that's that. So it does not taste better. It's a different dish.

No halo polishing should be encouraged here😁

What an insightful comment, 6 weeks after the last comment on the thread. Not one single person in the whole of the thread before you mentioned ‘cooking at home instead’!