When only takeaway will do?

Linda32

The only take-away we have is chips from the chippy. Bad for you but very very nice.

jcr16

i love chinese takeaway. and when i fancy one , then their simply is no subsititute. but to have a takeaway then it comes from the shopping budget. and for me because this month i am trying to use us thing's. it means i don't wanna add £15-£20 takeaway to the total. so i am being tight this month. but once freezers are empty , then we have said we are gonna have a treat. which because we are working towards something is making it feel so much more special

earwig

firday night are takeaway night for us always have been always will be it is bugeted for so dosnt come out of food money i know how to make what we have but the whole thing of takeaway night is no mess no cooking no pots and pans just eat enjoy throw the plates in the dishwasher and walk away perfect i couldnt ever manage to cook on a firday it just wouldnt be right

newlywed

I buy ready made stir fry sauces for those can't be bothered nights. Stirfry veg, add prawns if we have any, add sauce, pour over noodles (has to be sharwoods noodles though - the 8p ones just don't fill the same gap!). Blue dragon do a nice chow mein sauce in a small plastic type packet.

Every month I do a curry using Pataks curry paste - make double and then freeze half of it so I only have to cook rice and reheat the curry.

And I buy Tesco small naan breads and keep them in the freezer

I buy pizza bases from sainsbury and do HM pizzas - healthier and doesn't take long to cook.

My other favourite is chicken and chips from the chippy but I have found by having roast chicken and roast potatoes every month I can resist that desire too!

lynzpower

I do HM pizzas that are streets ahead of anything that we can get delivered here. Plus we have chorizo , which no takeaway round here does.

We snapped the other day and ordered a chinese, and it was utterly rank and we couldnt eat it. What a waste of 21 pounds. I could have done a weekly shop for that.

I have a copy (age old) st michael Chinese cooking big thin A4 book. Everything I cooked out of that is briliant.

I second hunting down a chinese supermarket. Living in lodnon we have chinatown but most cities will have one shop. A lot of the stuff you buy from there ( spring rolls, dumplings, pancakes, sauces,) are exactly the same as takeaways use too, dont forget. Its true the chinese curry is sold in Farmfoods called MAYFLOWER. I also saw today mayflower do a range of noodles, lemon chicken etc in foil trays for chucking in the oven at a quid a go.

Chinese is the easiest IMHO, as its so quick. Even a hot & sour soup is easy peasy once you have the right ingredients in.

INdian food we tend to go out for one, although the last one was so greasy I wasnt very well after, so we dont tend to do that very often now!

Montymoo_2

we're having a takeaway tonight as a treat...feel really guilty now after reading this thread :embarasse

culpepper

I bought some frozen ready battered fish over the christmas .I was going to buy white fish fillets and make my own batter but the fillets were all stupid little pieces and the 4 proper sized fillets ready battered were the same price. With oven chips,this is a very speedy 'take away' from the freezer. Takes about 25 mins in the oven.Would take that long to drive to the fish and chip shop and back.

dannahaz

lil_me wrote:

Thanks for that, I just tried adding the book to an order I just placed and it won't let me, will order it next time I order sounds great

It's available for 80p (plus 2.75 postage) if you buy it from Amazon marketplace.

Edited to add: sorry, I didn't see you r subsequent post where you had bought it.

allIcouldwishfor

Pandora123 wrote:

Sometimes we buy two veggie side dishes from the Indian takeaway (total £4) and serve over baked potatoes. A lot cheaper than a full takeaway!

:A

We do something similar. I make a big curry and freeze the leftovers so that when we feel like a "takeaway" we just get some accompaniments from the shop, some rice in the steamer and defrost a tub.

I think you have to ask yourself what it is that you like about takeaways, is it just the convenience (in which case it's just as easy to get something out of the freezer) or the taste? I think the supermarket stuff tastes comparable and it always works out cheaper, esp. if you buy it reduced and chuck it in the freezer.

furndire

If you live anywhere near Scunthorpe, there is a shop there called Tradewinds, a lovely chinese lady, who sells all the Chinese, Japanese stuff at extremely cheap prices, everything you need to cook your own takeaways. She is also really helpful as to how to cook the stuff, as she does evening classes at several local schools.
My daughter and I went to evening classes to learn Chinese cookery. Once you get into it, it is so quick and cheap, and much tastier than bought.