With the economy going into free fall, the media has been highlighting ways of surviving through this credit crunch. One particular topic that affects all of us is food – food prices have shot up considerably. Many things that used to be 99p have now crossed that £1 threshold and those pennies sure add up throughout the week. As a bit of an exercise, I thought I’d break down the costs of a takeaway and a fakeaway (defined by the BBC as “A home-made, belt-tightening version of a takeaway – think, a curry made with a jar of sauce, bag of rice and a packet of poppadoms from the supermarket.”). Of course, since this is a food blog, I’ll be making my curry from scratch!
The Indian Takeaway (a typical order):
This was ordered from a little takeaway joint down the road. Unfortunately, this little place has now closed, giving me yet another reason to cook Indian food at home! There are other Indian restaurants nearby but this was the tastiest and our favourite and thus I’ll use the numbers from them.
£5.95 – some chicken based curry, mostly sauce and not much chicken
£2.95 – chana masala
£2.95 – saag paneer
£2.40 – two naans
Total – £14.25
We always finish everything when ordering takeaway. And who knows how much oil there is in there? £14.25 seems reasonable for dinner for two but if you were to have a couple meals like this each week, it starts to add up.
The Indian Fakeaway:
I cooked a simple chicken curry, adapted from this recipe at Quick Indian Cooking, and a cabbage sabzi from this trusty recipe from One Hot Stove.
£1.95 – a large chicken breast from the Middle Eastern shop
£0.58 – a tin of chopped tomatoes
£0.30 – two onions
£0.50 – half a large cabbage from the farmers’ market
£0.40 – basmati rice for two
negligible but let’s say 30p – turmeric, chili powder, dried chili flakes, cumin, coriander (fresh leaves and crushed seeds), brown mustard seeds, garam masala, salt
Total – £4.33
There was enough to feed the both of us and provide leftovers for one, so really, we were feeding three with this meal. It costs less than a third of the price of the takeaway, it fills us up, and it’s a lot healthier too. If you were to use a jar of sauce, the price would be pushed up another pound or two, which is still significantly cheaper than the takeaway.
For the purposes of this exercise, I’ve left out energy costs and timing. Of course it will take longer to cook the fakeaway but there’s always a sense of accomplishment when cooking your own meal that doesn’t happen when you lift the cardboard lid from the aluminium tinfoil case. And if you need the push, gosh, that curry recipe is tasty and that cabbage recipe is very easy and so delicious! Of course, I’m not giving up takeaways completely; they are still very convenient after a long, tiring day at work and I do like a fresh naan. However, this exercise will have me thinking twice when I just feel lazy to cook and overall, I hope to reduce the number of takeaways we eat, increase the number of meals cooked at home, and keep eating out at the same level. I think that’s an alright balance perhaps…
How about you? Have you been cooking more, having fewer takeaways, or perhaps eating out less lately?
Tue, 14 Oct, 2008 at 01:46
Since i dont work, id usually cook. My food and his. Id also make sure I cook his food more so he can take some for his lunch.
We only eat out if im really lazy and dont know what to cook. Or at least buy some lunch meat for his 1 week sandwiches whc is still waaay cheaper than buying sandwiches everyday. Now is deifnitely the time to eat out less. 🙂
Tue, 14 Oct, 2008 at 04:25
Looks like it’s really expensive to eat out in London… your home cooked version looks good and at 1/3 of the takeout price!
There are cheap food avenues like ‘hawker centers’ and ‘food courts’ for eating out over here… that’s why a lot of Singaporeans eat out a lot ;p
Tue, 14 Oct, 2008 at 11:23
The thing I’ve found with Indian and Chinese restaurants, both eat-in and takeaway is that, if there’s just one or two of you, you can get a meal at a reasonable price.
But, if you go in gang-handed, there’s always some garbage-brain yelling for more prawn crackers, poppadums or onion bhajis, or what-have you and before you know where you are, you’re out nearly forty quid!
BTW, a friend told me he went into an Indian restaurant the other day. An Indian family were sitting near him, and he tried the old trick of ‘I’ll have what they’re having!’
They brought him a plate of ham, eggs and chips!
Wed, 15 Oct, 2008 at 01:36
man, this economy issue is going to drive me to drink (well, more than i already do!). you’re so right – making indian food can result in leftovers for days and at a cheap cost. but nothing beats the curry i get at my local restaurant. i just still can not make it as good as they do!
Wed, 15 Oct, 2008 at 15:37
very interesting. It is really very easy to cook indian food, you just need the spices 🙂 Eating out is a must at our house..mainly becoz iam lazy 😉 we go out atleast once a week!
Wed, 15 Oct, 2008 at 19:08
sigh… I’m trying to cook more at home for sure! It’s just that the food cooked by professionals tastes so much better… Your curry looks really good though
Wed, 15 Oct, 2008 at 22:21
Farina: I agree! Not just for my wallet but for my stomach too! The horrible thing is that I ate so many sandwiches as a student that it’s hard to look at them now. But it looks like I’ll have to…
noobcook: I looooooove eating out in Singapore! I had a fabulous trip there last year and all the food was so good and so affordable!
travelrat: Classic! Love that! And I agree with you about all the extras. I do try to control myself when it comes to ordering…
Jonathan: I know what you mean – I’ll definitely still be eating at my favourite places in Southall but I’m definitely trying to reduce takeaways on weekdays! Maybe on weekends…
sangeeth: I think it’s all the spices that most people find intimidating! With the Chinese food, Thai food, Malaysian food, Indian food, Japanese food, Spanish food, etc, etc, that I cook, that’s a lot of spices and bottles! I too eat out at least once a week!
foodhoe: Thanks! The professional stuff does taste quite fabulous…but I do also like my own cooking. 😛
Thu, 16 Oct, 2008 at 09:52
Hurrah for good old home cooking. I have a personal aversion to takeaways. Why spend money to get fat and spotty, when you can create a quicker, cheaper version at home!
Fri, 17 Oct, 2008 at 09:35
I’m all for home curries over takeaways… but sometimes only takeaway will do 😉
Tonight I’m cooking 2 curries (one meat, one dhal) for 6 people – probably for less than the price of a takeaway for 2… Yay!
Fri, 17 Oct, 2008 at 21:45
Mallika: 😀 And possibly healthier too! Thanks for your great recipes!
kittie: Nice! I hope you blog the results!
Tue, 21 Oct, 2008 at 07:15
I have so many dietary restrictions that eating out is very difficult and ends up not being much fun. But I’m usually very successful at making healthier home versions of my favorite restuarant meals, and I have always loved to cook Indian food. I cook all the time, and even during very busy weeks, cook at least once or twice and freeze meals for the rest of the week. I also eat a LOT of salads and thankfully never seem to get sick of them – especially since I’m always trying out new ingredients and making my own original interesting dressings. Speaking of which, I find it’s more expensive to eat a fresh vegetable centered diet. I don’t know if I save much not eating out, since fresh fruits and veggies cost so much more than boxed or prepared food, and sometimes even more than takeaway.
Thu, 23 Oct, 2008 at 13:22
My pr firm worked with Sainsburys on the fakeaway survey, which was picked up by the BBC and elsewhere. It’s great to see someone’s put the theory into action, and yours looks delicious. We’d worked out the fakeaway cost for what you made is £3.81 so it’s also good to see we were close on price. Thanks for testing the theory!
Sat, 25 Oct, 2008 at 20:32
atoosa: I agree with you on the fresh vegetable centered diet costs. I find that I need more vegetables to fill me up (a small portion of meat is more protein heavy, I guess) and that can cost a bit, especially if you like more exotic fruit and veg! Shame you can’t eat out often due to your dietary restrictions!
Kellie: Oh neat – so your firm coined the term? It’s a great word! Glad that the numbers are just about correct – I wouldn’t have liked to find out that I got ripped off somewhere!
Mon, 27 Oct, 2008 at 03:51
I think cooking Indian food, especially if you try vegetarian, is a very good way to save money and yet eat well.
Mon, 27 Oct, 2008 at 22:54
launate: I always say that if I had to be a vegetarian, I’d be eating a lot of Indian vegetarian food! It’s so delicious!
Wed, 27 May, 2009 at 08:04
[…] An Indian Fakeaway – I ran with the idea of a “fakeaway” when I first heard the word coined on a BBC article written when the recession was starting to affect many people’s lives and their everyday eating. […]
Mon, 16 Nov, 2009 at 10:31
hoooooooooooooooooo
it`s so nice I like to eat it >> ^^
Wed, 24 Sep, 2014 at 12:43
Really glad I found this information, thanks