Is it cheaper to buy takeaway or to make your own? In these difficult economic times, Taste.com.au’s Francesca Percy crunches the numbers and finds out that the home cook is well ahead.
Simple pleasures seem to be increasingly important of late. According to an article in the Sydney Morning Herald, people are bunkering down to weather the financial storm in front of the TV with pizza and a beer. As a result, spending on takeaway food has jumped.
Staying in more often is a good way to save pennies, yet while takeaway is an easy option it can still make a dent in the wallet. With this in mind, we at Taste.com.au headquarters decided to check out how much some of our favourite takeaway recipes would cost to make at home, compared with our local takeaway shops.*
We started with a classic Margherita. My local pizza place charges $6.50 per serve (half a medium pizza), whereas this margherita pizza from Taste.com.au costs roughly $2.10 for the same quantity. Too difficult! I hear you cry. But is it really? A Taste member recently commented on the recipe, saying she had “bought a base just in case the pizza dough didn’t work, but it was so easy and far better than any bought base”. So not only is it cheaper, it’s easy, it’s tasty and odds are it’s much healthier too.
Next on the list, fish and chips. About $7.40 per serve to takeaway, or you could make your own following this fish and chips recipe for $3.40 per serve.
Pad Thai? $9.00 per serve for takeaway versus about $2.80 to make this version of pad thai at home. Let’s round it up to $3.00. That’s still only a third of the cost of the takeaway.
Chicken korma is one of my favourite takeaway meals. My local Indian restaurant charges $7.50, which I’ve always thought quite reasonable. Could taking it really be all that more expensive than making it? This chicken and lentil korma costs less than half the price – about $3.40 per serve. In addition, it only requires 15 minutes preparation, plus half an hour on the stove. It’s quick, delicious and affordable.
So, next time you’re thinking about getting a takeaway, why not hop onto Taste.com.au and look up the recipe instead. Even if you have to duck into the supermarket, it should still take a lot less time than standing around waiting to pay someone else to cook your food. Then you can experience the simple pleasure of going home, kicking off your shoes, and filling your house with delicious aromas as you make your own.
Related Recipe Collections: Budget Recipes
*Ingredients for the home-cooked meals were costed by looking at Coles or Woolworths online. The Taste team then divided the cost of the ingredients by the serves. Home-cooked meals were compared with a range of takeaway shops in inner Sydney.
Source: Taste.com.au – March 2009
Author: Francesca Percy
