Takeaways - cost

[sundaydayisnotmyfundayday]

How much is too much, in your opinion, for a takeaway for a family of 4?

For context we do not go out to eat aside from once in a blue moon and this is a 1 takeaway per week scenario.

I recently moved from a largish village, not far from two or three towns, to a fairly affluent city. The takeaway prices are much higher here.
Previously we would pay about £25 for two meat curries, one rice, one vegetable side dish and a nan bread. Poppadums were generally free. Fish and chips would be about £17 for two pieces of fish and a large portion of chips (sometimes just one medium portion)
Here it's about £35-40 for similar amounts of Indian food and £20-25 for fish and chips.
The quality of the Indian food is very good, as opposed to just standard from the village takeaway. Fish and chips is about the same in terms if quality. But both are quite a bit more expensive.

We have a pizza one near us, does a 21ins for £18. Feeds us all and breakfast.

Mum ordered from the same place but through justeat and got a 16ins for £20. My husband went in and they are giving her a free one next time 🤣

For 4 adults

Chinese takeaway £40
Fish and Chips £25
Indian £40

The Indian now has an offer on a limited three course menu at £15 per head so going to try that soon.

We've decided apart from fish and chips, we can no longer justify the cost of a takeaway.

Chinese has just hit £30 for 2 adults and a 10 year old.

Dominoes is just horrendous value for money now. Probably about £40 for us and the offers are deliberately confusing, and never quite right

We just get the best quality supermarket pizzas with a few sides, and it comes in about £15.

@SiobhanSharpe Omg fish and chips I love but we never order now. Used to live next to one (London) it was £12 a head sharing chips. It’s now about the price you said and we are slightly further out!

You won’t get much change from £20 for fish and chips and in my area and that’s the cheapest kind of takeaway.
dominos pizza do a 2 Pizza for £25 but it’s not a great quantity of food tbh and the chippy is better,
Chinese takeaway for 3 where it all gets eaten costs around £27. Used to be £21. Food is gorgeous though as is fish and chips. I’d rather make my own pizza or go without.

I measure it against getting an Indian curry from M and S and that could easily come to almost £30 for 3. Again I’d rather make my own but sometimes I just don’t want to.

Two adults, about £25 - that's one starter, two mains, a large rice and chips - and enough left over for the next day.

I spend around £20 for 2 of us.
Its usually between £15-25

So for 4 I’d be willing to pay £30-50ish.

No idea really, as there are no takeaway food shops where we live.
The nearest town with 2 Indian restaurants is a 30 min drive away so you still have to microwave the food a bit, when you get home. We might buy one on the way back from a trip into the city but probably no more than 3 times a year.

Otherwise, we eat out or buy a takeaway when we go on holiday, so I'd budget around £15-20 per head?

Yes , 1 chicken and mushroom pie and a portion of chips £12.95 - extortionate but I was tired and hungry .
I ordered a pizza the other week, advertised as £9.99 for a medium size, when it came to pay the price had jumped to £14.99 , I had a bowl of shreddies instead 🤣

Once it is over £50 per head (adults), I think we should probably go out for a meal. With a takeaway, it's seen as a casual thing, not a treat.

The question in the OP was “how much is too much?” So this poster has answered that.

Spent $70 inc tax and tip on a Thai takeaway, 3 mains, fancy fried rice. For 2 adults and a 4yo who will put away an adult sized portion of pad Thai. Had enough leftovers for adults for 2 days. We spend $60-$100.

a bag of chips is sometimes £4.50. Not a large bag either!

I remember paying 50p for a small, £1 for a large 🥲

That would be 25 mains at my local Chinese!!

Does that mean £195 is fine?

Around 30 for Chinese or Indian takeaways. I don't eat meat and the kids have small appetites and prefer the sides to main courses. I'd never buy four mains - two mains and some sides will feed all of us with leftovers.

I reckon between 14-£20 per adult is ok. Anything above that is too much. I guess it’s the paying for convenience of having someone cook and deliver your food so it’s never good value for money based on the food alone.

It's relative to what you can afford and how much you pleasure you get out of it.

If you spend £50 every week that's £2600 a year. For me that isn't worth it and I would rather have one a month and spend £2000 on a holiday!

For us as 2 adults and a teenager probably about £90 and we get a takeaway weekly.

No reply from OP?

I think some places must do really tiny portions because just about everywhere here its not actually possible to buy a takeaway for one person because a main and rice or fish and chips alone will feed two and when you start adding starters and bread it starts to become 'so stuffed I can't move' if you eat it all.

So if you have 4 people and you order 4 mains, 4 sides a couple of starters and a couple of breads, you're actually ordering enough food for 8 people, so no wonder it's expensive. Of course, it gives you the choice of ordering less, sharing and it costing a bit less or ordering a 'full set' each and having leftovers for the next day.

People will accuse me of competitive undereating but they've not seen the amount of food I'm talking about. You can't actually fit something like fish and chips on a standard large dinner plate, the fish is hanging over the sides and the chips really piled up.

We last paid £70 but it was a special treat. 6 pizzas.

I just wouldn't pay the kinds of amounts quoted here. I don't see the point when the supermarkets do nice takeaway bags etc.

10-15 pound per person so I wouldn't want to spend more £60 for 4 people

It largely depends on the food items but I reckon on at least £50.
Four adult portions of fish and chips around here cost that, and that's without any extras or delivery charges.
Indian or Chinese is likely to be similar or slightly more depending on the dishes and extras.
For context : affluent part of West Midlands.