What do you have for dinner on a Saturday night?

[DisneyBaby]

My family have always had a takeaway every Saturday night (and often on a Sunday night too) since I was a little girl, often Indian, fish and chips or kebab on a Saturday and Chinese on a Sunday, if not Chinese on a Sunday then freezer food or we'd eat out. I am the eldest of 4 kids and Mum always felt that the weekends was her days off being in the kitchen.
Now that I have my own dd1 (15 months) and don't live at home anymore I am a lot more conscious about what we eat and during the week I make everything from scratch with lots of veg etc. We barely ever have freezer food and I don't even use jars or packets. I had never known how to cook before moving out, so I'm really proud that I now make healthy homemade meals for us every night.
Thing is we often go round to my Mum and Dads on a Saturday night so I end up having the normal takeaway they're having and then I prepare something quick and healthy for dd1 to eat, usually some pasta with veggies.
My family think I'm being overly cautious with what I give my daughter to eat, and think a takeaway every weekend is normal, they think at 15 months she's fine to have the same takeaway we're having and jokingly call me a 'food snob'.
So I'm interested to know, what are your average Saturday night and Sunday night dinners?
Is a takeaway or two every weekend normal?
And what would a good weekend alternative treat be? I agree with my Mum that I don't want to be cooking weekday meals on a weekend but something more nutritious than a takeaway would be good!

We often have a takeaway of sorts on a weekend. But we live in a large town with a multitude of restaurants offering takeaway/deliveroo/just eat type services. So there are many choices. Italian/Greek/Spanish/Mexican/Japanese/Thai... doesn't have to be the chippy or a pizza nowadays.

We often have takeaway or a takeaway style meal on a Saturday but ds has only recently started eating pizza etc with us, hes now 5.5. I would always make him something like omelette and beans or those fish in parsley sauce with peas and sweetcorn....so not total from scratch but much better for him than joining in the takeaway.

I wouldn't give a 15mo takeaway every weekend - way too much salt. We have a takeaway the odd time but on a Saturday night, DH cooks - it's my night off. On a Sunday, we have a big lunch at my mum's so have toast or cereal or something for tea so I don't usually cook on a weekend.

It's always a bit of a treat meal, but we have very limited options on takeaway so it's usually homemade. Steak and chips tonight. Other regulars are things like homemade pizzas, lasagne, fajitas.

I've never lived anywhere with decent takeaways so we rarely have a takeaway- I did have one last weekend for a birthday 'treat' and it was so disappointing. We do have a good fish and chip shop locally so might occasionally have one but the queues are often horrendous on a Sat night!

I don't really feel that Sat night is any 'different' to any other night, but I work Saturdays (retail) so prefer something quick easy or DH might cook, often have a BBQ in the summer. Planning chicken and rice dish tonight, takes about 30 minutes.

Fajitas, fish finger sandwiches with roasted veg, curry with lots of veg etc. Things that are quick and simple to make.
We have take away a couple of times a year. The salt, the oil, the cost and the excessive packaging all put me off doing it more often.

We sometimes have a takeaway on a Saturday night, but other weeks it’s a takeaway style meal that doesn’t need a lot of effort.

Tonight we are having Nando’s style chicken with salad, pitta, rice, corn on the cob and chips. I’m also doing big mushrooms and halloumi for the non meat eater.

I’ve never lived in a situation (parents / flatshare / co-habit / married / family life / long stay with ILs) where anyone had a takeaway every week, let alone two.

For a 15m old it would depend on the takeaway or dish. Dahl and rice and a small amount of tandoori chicken, fine.

Ditto egg fried rice with shredded chicken or stir fry with plain noodles.

Full on salt, MSG and greasy gloop, no.

Most takeaway is super salty - even the so-called healthy food. So you need to be careful with such a young child. Still occasionally have a take away but as an alternative we’ve got really good at making homemade takeaway - pizza, burgers, pad thai, various currys, fish and chips. There are some excellent recipe books available.

I think 15mo is way too young to have most takeaway food; it's loaded with salt, sugar and fats.
We only have a takeaway occasionally, generally maybe once every couple of months, but sometimes once a month, sometimes longer between.

I think the chicken breast in a chicken kebab with salad and pitta or tandoori chicken pieces without the sauce would be a healthy option for a child, and that would actually be one of my top choices.

We didn't really eat takeaway whilst the children were young; the only exception was sushi before the dc were 6yo. I enjoy cooking though and I wasn't brought up having regular takeaways.

From then we had the odd McD, BK, fish and chips, etc, but I wouldn't say it has ever been a regular occurrence.

Our quick meals are things like frittata, homemade veggie fritters, fajitas, meat, mash and veg, jacket potato with filling, all in 1 traybakes or stir fry.

I find most meals can be cooked in less time than it takes to order, and pick up or wait for delivery of takeaway anyway.

I actually made doner kebab the other night, which was tasty and better for you than a takeaway doner. Tbf, though, that did take a while to make (about 70 mins).

The pink is bacon, it's not raw.

Takeaways are so expensive I can't justify them that often.

Saturday we have a homemade curry, or nice pizza from M&S.

We tend to have a takeaway on a Friday (or freezer nuggets and chips/pizza etc). Saturday we might have burgers and corn on the cob, or paella with baguette. Sunday we have something with lots of veg (eg roast/pie/casserole). I am conscious of too much salt for DS, especially with a roast as it is easy for that to end up very salty (salting veg water/seasoning meat/potatoes etc).

DH usually cooks at the weekend and it could be anything really. This weekend it's toad in the hole and a roast.

If you fancy a break from cooking why not cook double of something in the week and put it in the freezer for the weekend?

Or use Hello Fresh or Gousto to change it up.

We don't eat takeaways very often due both to cost and health considerations. The grandparents never have them.

We sometimes have more fun foods on Friday nights like ribs and wedges, homemade pizzas, homemade burgers.

We have takeaway on a Saturday about once every 3 weeks but we always have Nachos on a Friday (just me and DH; the kids eat something else earlier). Kids don't like Chinese takeaway so they only tend to join us if we have fish and chips or kebab which they will eat the salad with. I don't think you're being a food snob at all!!

I'd do the same as you. Wouldn't want to give a 15mo a takeaway and certainly not on a regular basis. We don't eat takeaways though.

It’s not about being a food snob, it’s about the salt content.

DC2 is a similar age and I let them have a nibble on a pizza crust but that’s it. They can have home made pizza because I can control the salt. I certainly wouldn’t let them near Chinese, Thai, Indian, Mexican, etc. Fish and chips is actually fine as long as you don’t add salt, not particularly nutritious but the fish is good for them and it won’t do them any harm.

We sometimes have takeaway although when mine were very little they'd usually have something easy and we'd get take away when they were in bed.

We tend have things that are easy to prepare and cook homemade burgers, pizza, curry, pasta, lasagne, mexican food, pulled pork. I made coq au vin the other week and the kids exclaimed it wasn't Saturday food!
Also we often get lunch out so just have a toastie, cheese board or something for dinner.

It varies here. We don’t tend to get takeaways because there really aren’t any particularly good ones where we are. Even if there were I don’t think we would get takeaway a lot.
We cook pretty much from scratch all week and usually a roast (or bbq in summer) on a Sunday. Pre coved we would sometimes eat out, particularly if we were out and about and it fitted our plans. If it’s a quiet Saturday I really enjoy cooking a new recipe. But sometimes if Saturday is busy with sports fixtures or seeing friends we sometimes just go with on toast night! Strangely popular here, basically make a load of toast/ bagel thins/ English muffins with melted cheese for those who like and then a load of toppings for people to help themselves, beans, poached eggs, grilled tomatoes, garlic mushrooms, crispy bacon etc. It’s definitely a Saturday thing though. Can’t imagine having it on a Wednesday.
In op’s situation I think I’d be attempting a few fakeaways, there’s so many recipes out there and almost all are loads healthier.

I have one every couple of weeks or so but usually after kids in bed. If eating with family and at kids tea time DS1 who’s 3 occasionally has a fish cake with beans, DS2 who’s 10 months has either has one of his meals (home made weaning meals batch cooked and frozen) or they both have a picnic tea of sandwiches, fruit etc

DS1 is always offered our food to try but refuses. DS2 eyes up everything ! But waiting until he’s older before I give him anything to ‘try’ and even then, it’ll just before him to taste / explore - not for his tea as such

We have a takeaway probably once a week on a Friday or Sat night. Sometimes our 6 year old has it with us, sometimes not. Tonight we're having Indian food without him. If we cook on a Sat night it's usually something a bit more special than a midweek meal - like a from scratch Thai curry, steak, or something that sounds delicious or interesting. But that's usually just me and my husband.
If our son does have takeaway with us, it's usually a pizza in front of a Disney movie, or he will have some noodles, rice etc from a Chinese. He also loves sushi so sometimes he will eat that if we get Japanese. But most of the time he gets home made food and the odd beige freezer dinner. So long as they're not having takeaway or fast food for the vast majority of the time I think it's ok to let them have some every now and then - it's also a good way for them to try new things that you might not cook yourself. But we only did this once DS had reached 3 years old or so.

Roast, pizza, curry, toad in the hole, pie and mash, fish pie, basically comfort food. We only really get take outs once every few months.

We usually have a takeaway once a week, but I don’t let DD aged 6 have it every week. She has it maybe once a month as a treat. Last night she had tea at her Nana’s so we had a takeaway after she’d gone to bed. We’re adults and quite frankly eat healthily the rest of the week so feel like we are fine with a Friday night treat. Equally, I don’t think a bit of takeaway once a month or so does any harm to DD- she eats mainly fresh home cooked food the rest of the time. I wouldn’t have let her eat takeaway regularly at 15 months though, it’d have to be a one-off for me at that age.

Tonight we had tea as a family and we had a ‘picky tea’ of cheese, cold meats, bread, salads etc. Tomorrow we will have a roast which we have most Sundays. In normal times we quite often eat out on Sundays but DD usually chooses a roast anyway.

We often get a curry on a Saturday night, but wouldn't have another take away on Sunday, I usually cook a roast. It won't hurt your dd to try these things but they are pretty salty so I'd do what you're doing but let her taste little bits.

We have a takeaway every few weeks, usually on a Friday.

But DD is 4.5y now so has a higher salt tolerance. I don't thinks he ever had more than a few chips from someone's plate at 15mo.

We tend to get Vietnamese, pizza, fish and chips, Chinese or burgers. DD gets the mildest, plainest and healthiest option (note there is not HEALTHY option, just the least unhealthy). And we soup hers up with pepper strips, cucumber and tomato to at least get some vitamins into her.

The rest of the time we cook from scratch most nights, with the occasional easy meal, like a chicken goujon wrap for ease.