Has Ireland Gone Mad On Takeaways?

xXxkorixXx

Just wondering what peoples thoughts are on this

me and me fella used to get a takeaway nearly every night, and they were always very busy.

Dont get me wrong, i love them but do you think that there is a huge takeaway culture today in Ireland? And do most people now a days get a takeaway every night and just dont bother cooking anymore?

(Like i said, i love takeaways and i'm not saying anything bad about them, i'm just saying do you think that Ireland just doesnt care about proper home cooked meals anymore??)

Any opinions would be great.

Cheers, Kori

7sr2z3fely84g5

its 50/50,some families where just raised on fast food and you see kids under 12 weighing a good bit,other families kept the tradition of cooking at home.

kfallon

I haven't got one sober for over 2 years!

Had a few drunken taco chips but not often at all, the Japanese flag arse and cost of savlon cream is a great deterrent!

Geansai Rua

Its why we're all fat ba stards...

No biggie

orourkeda

Beef curry with boiled rice chips and chicken balls is the way to go

ScummyMan

Bleedin Japanese baastards Joe!

General General

Takeaways - if you can still fit in the door, then you haven't had enough - if you can't fit in the door any more, why not try our home delivery service???

JONJO THE MISER

For the love of god dont go into the gambling or Galway city foruum if you dont like takeaways.

Captain Darling

There's about six takeaways in Athenry now (where i'm from), for a town thats small its far too much.

There was some statistic there lately saying that the recession was actually boosting sales in chippers etc, because people couldnt afford to buy decent food. Its hard to understand, because takeaway food just sits like a ball of sh1te in your stomach and in the long run doing a decent shop for good food knocks the cost thing on the head.

I used to think it was great hangover food, but it only makes the hangover twice as bad. Fook that.

wild_cat

OP..

Seriously get your cholesterol checked.

strokemyclover

I used to think a few people were out of control with take aways a few years ago too. Its certainly not a new thing, I reckon everyone goes through periods of not understanding the difference between food/drink and love so invariably we all go through these phases....just my 2c!

ColeTrain

Thread title reads like a TV3 special report.

7sr2z3fely84g5

i think its case of both parents working,coming home tried so a takeaway is ordered..

theteal

when in ireland i would get a chinese/chipper maybe 3 out 4 Fridays of a month. merely based on habit that we didn't cook on a friday. during the week, it was all fresh meat and veg.

chippers over here are sh!te so i'm on a health binge

for the overall perspective, i can't say i would have noticed any take-away places being overly busy apart from friday evenings and after pub closing

[preach]
OP you should probably have a serious look at your diet - cholesterol can't be good from the sounds of it
[/preach]

Captain Darling

ColeTrain wrote: »

Thread title reads like a TV3 special report.

Reports for idiots. Like programmes that leave you in no doubt over what the subject matter is about:

The Worlds Fattest Man

The Worlds Smallest Woman

The Man who wants to be a cat.

Ahhhh, just feck off with these dumbass programmes!! :mad:

admiralofthefleet

wild_cat wrote: »

OP..

Seriously get your cholesterol checked.

im the op's fiance. if you saw her you would swear she never ate a takeaway once in her life

The Scientician

Captain Darling wrote: »

There was some statistic there lately saying that the recession was actually boosting sales in chippers etc, because people couldnt afford to buy decent food. Its hard to understand, because takeaway food just sits like a ball of sh1te in your stomach and in the long run doing a decent shop for good food knocks the cost thing on the head.

I think takeaways are thriving to the detriment fo swankier, more expensive establishments and going out in general. Even if your takeaway costs €20, it's cheaper than going down the pub or even the cinema etc.

OPENROAD

Thought demand for takeaways would have gone down considering the economic situation and the price of takeaways

mrsbyrne

theteal wrote: »

when in ireland i would get a chinese/chipper maybe 3 out 4 Fridays of a month. merely based on habit that we didn't cook on a friday. during the week, it was all fresh meat and veg.

chippers over here are sh!te so i'm on a health binge

for the overall perspective, i can't say i would have noticed any take-away places being overly busy apart from friday evenings and after pub closing

[preach]
OP you should probably have a serious look at your diet - cholesterol can't be good from the sounds of it
[/preach]

nothing to say about the takeaways, just wanted to point out that i was born in Hornchurch, down your way.:)

Buceph

xXxkorixXx wrote: »

me and me fella used to get a takeaway nearly every night

Fer srs? That's madness.

I used to get one about every three or four weeks when I was at friends' places. Now even that's too expensive and we end up getting frozen pizzas. My parents would get one every six months or so.

Cooking isn't that difficult. And I don't even mean the "make yourself a stew and three different vegetables every day." Get 30 chicken wings for €3.70 and stick them in the oven for 40 minutes, and then nuke a few potatoes. It's piss easy. Boiling spuds is easy, making a stir fry is easy, making pasta is easy. I don't know where people get the idea that cooking is difficult to do. Butchers no longer sell stuff that needs hours of preparation, most of their products are things designed to be cooked easily, with little preperation.

Captain Darling

The Scientician wrote: »

I think takeaways are thriving to the detriment fo swankier, more expensive establishments and going out in general. Even if your takeaway costs €20, it's cheaper than going down the pub or even the cinema etc.

Yeah, its a cheaper alternative to a posh meal. Fancy weekends away in Ashford Castle accompanied by a snazzy meal have now turned into a bag of chips, steak and kidney pie and a dry hump in the back of a 1998 Toyota Avensis of a Friday night.

My how times have changed....

Ally Dick

kfallon wrote: »

Had a few drunken taco chips

Same here. Taco chips followed the following day by taco sh!ts

LaLucy

xXxkorixXx wrote: »

Just wondering what peoples thoughts are on this

me and me fella used to get a takeaway nearly every night, and they were always very busy.

Dont get me wrong, i love them but do you think that there is a huge takeaway culture today in Ireland? And do most people now a days get a takeaway every night and just dont bother cooking anymore?

(Like i said, i love takeaways and i'm not saying anything bad about them, i'm just saying do you think that Ireland just doesnt care about proper home cooked meals anymore??)

Any opinions would be great.

Cheers, Kori

Every night are you mad!? I make all meals at home. If people are so uneducated to think its cheaper to get take away then let them on. What a ridiculous thing to say!
I'd say we get take away once a month and that would chips and vegetable burger. There's no excuse to be eating it every day, that's disgusting and lazy.
Even busy couples who come in late can prepare on weekends.

OPENROAD

Buceph wrote: »

Fer srs? That's madness.

I used to get one about every three or four weeks when I was at friends' places. Now even that's too expensive and we end up getting frozen pizzas. My parents would get one every six months or so.

Cooking isn't that difficult. And I don't even mean the "make yourself a stew and three different vegetables every day." Get 30 chicken wings for €3.70 and stick them in the oven for 40 minutes, and then nuke a few potatoes. It's piss easy. Boiling spuds is easy, making a stir fry is easy, making pasta is easy. I don't know where people get the idea that cooking is difficult to do. Butchers no longer sell stuff that needs hours of preparation, most of their products are things designed to be cooked easily, with little preperation.

Spot on imo, I used to possibly get a take-away once a week, stopped getting them though for a few reasons, firstly the price, far too expensive for what you are getting, especially given the quality of the food.

As you say it really is not all that difficult to cook, the hardest part is probably the prep work, but that is something you only need to do a couple of times a week, and you really do make huge savings.

Lady Chatterton

admiralofthefleet wrote: »

im the op's fiance. if you saw her you would swear she never ate a takeaway once in her life

You can be very thin and still have high cholestrol. A cousin of mine is a size 8 but her cholestrol up until a couple of months ago was 8.7, some of this was due to a poor diet but her GP reckoned that some of it was due to high stress levels for a prolonged period. Apparently, stress hormones such as cortisol, affect cholestrol levels.

Lord Nikon

Jaysus i fecking love a good curry. Saturday we religiosly get a takeaway, and maybe once or twice during the week too. It cheers me up actually, and i look forward to it. It's my little treat.

I dont drink as much as before, or go out much at all in fact, but a curry is a little luxury, like expensive bogroll.

Roast pork curry, no onions, boiled rice, bag of Macaris chips on top. Or maybe a side order of salted chilli chicken instead of the chips.

Sonnenblumen

I think takeaways are going mad looking for business. I thought it was a sign that people were copping on at last just how crap most of these places really are.

scotty_irish

generally tastes like ****e, gives you a food hangover, and little change from a tenner per person. and the driver spits in your food. nuff said.

gimme 20€, i'll feed 4 people, like kings.

ordinary_girl

I still get takeaways but not as regularly as I used to, mainly due to lack of funds and the guilt! I think maybe there is a bit too much of a takeaway 'culture' here though, I have relatives in Italy who never get takeaways and think it's crazy that we do. I'm finally starting to appreciate home cooking

AfterDusk

neuromancer wrote: »

but a curry is a little luxury, like expensive bogroll.

Which, incidentally, you need after having your curry

Lady Chatterton

scotty_irish wrote: »

generally tastes like sh1te, gives you a food hangover,

When I used to say that to my husband he used to laugh at me but I really believe that you can get a food hangover, when you eat processed sh1te and your body is used to normally having healthy food. I think if you eat processed food all the time you don't really notice how sh1te it really is and the effect it has on your body.

I know it is really boring but I sit down every weekend before I go shopping and I plan out the meals that we are likely to have during the week. I sometimes cook meals in advance too so that I don't resort to takeaways when I'm busy. I really enjoy cooking and I'm pretty good at it (so Mr D tells me) so takeaways don't really interest me.

I have one exception though, if I'm really sick, I will make my husband go to a local fish and chip shop of a bag of traditional chips cooked in lard.

Ally Dick

neuromancer wrote: »

but a curry is a little luxury, like expensive bogroll.

You need expensive bogroll after eating all that curry

scotty_irish

MrsD007 wrote: »

When I used to say that to my husband he used to laugh at me but I really believe that you can get a food hangover, when you eat processed sh1te and your body is used to normally having healthy food. I think if you eat processed food all the time you don't really notice how sh1te it really is and the effect it has on your body.

I know it is really boring but I sit down every weekend before I go shopping and I plan out the meals that we are likely to have during the week. I sometimes cook meals in advance too so that I don't resort to takeaways when I'm busy. I really enjoy cooking and I'm pretty good at it (so Mr D tells me) so takeaways don't really interest me.

I have one exception though, if I'm really sick, I will make my husband go to a local fish and chip shop of a bag of traditional chips cooked in lard.

i hope you feed him well after breaking his hedge cutters!

Jess16

I don't get why some people regard loving cooking and loving takeaway as mutually exclusive things? It seems there are a lot of leftover scraps of food snobbery post Celtic Tiger about who eats what and why. Having a fridge full of organic rocket harvested at dawn doesn't make you more informed in the same way that enjoying a burger doesn't make you ignorant

Lady Chatterton

scotty_irish wrote: »

i hope you feed him well after breaking his hedge cutters!

Hey, he thinks I'm a "Domestic and Gardening Goddess"

Lady Chatterton

Jess16 wrote: »

I don't get why some people regard loving cooking and loving takeaway as mutually exclusive things? It seems there are a lot of leftover scraps of food snobbery post Celtic Tiger about who eats what and why. Having a fridge full of organic rocket harvested at dawn doesn't make you more informed in the same way that enjoying a burger doesn't make you ignorant

The reason I like to cook my own food is not out of snobbery, it is just that it gives me more control over the quality and origin of the meat used and the cost of the meal.

df1985

only if im drunk or hungover..so often enough yea! ah no, once a week max.

Chucky the tree

A take-away nearly every night is disgustingly unhealthy.

Jess16

MrsD007 wrote: »

The reason I like to cook my own food is not out of snobbery, it is just that it gives me more control over the quality and origin of the meat used and the cost of the meal.

Again, you associate the notion of your food as being superior and of better quality whereas that isn't always necessarily the case. There seems to be a concept that all takeaways are MSG laden muck when in actual fact the Indian and Thai restaurants I eat from cook to order using entirely fresh ingredients.

With regard to costs, people seem to forget that the net cost of home-cooking isn't at the bottom of the supermarket receipt and often neglect to factor in the cost of running the oven/hob/microwave and dishwasher in addition to time itself. I understand that this all relates to personal circumstances but I don't think the disparity is always as great as people tend to assume.

MrsD007 wrote: »

I really enjoy cooking and I'm pretty good at it so takeaways don't really interest me

The implication being that consumers of takeout A. mustn't enjoy cooking and B. are not very good at it which simply isn't true.

OPENROAD

Jess16 wrote: »

Again, you associate the notion of your food as being superior and of better quality whereas that isn't always necessarily the case. There seems to be a concept that all takeaways are MSG laden muck when in actual fact the Indian and Thai restaurants I eat from cook to order using entirely fresh ingredients.

With regard to costs, people seem to forget that the net cost of home-cooking isn't at the bottom of the supermarket receipt and often neglect to factor in the cost of running the oven/hob/microwave and dishwasher in addition to time itself. I understand that this all relates to personal circumstances but I don't think the disparity is always as great as people tend to assume.



The implication being that consumers of takeout A. mustn't enjoy cooking and B. are not very good at it which simply isn't true.

Still works out much cheaper though.

Lady Chatterton

Jess16 wrote: »

Again, you associate the notion of your food as being superior and of better quality whereas that isn't always necessarily the case. There seems to be a concept that all takeaways are MSG laden muck when in actual fact the Indian and Thai restaurants I eat from cook to order using entirely fresh ingredients.

With regard to costs, people seem to forget that the net cost of home-cooking isn't at the bottom of the supermarket receipt and often neglect to factor in the cost of running the oven/hob/microwave and dishwasher in addition to time itself. I understand that this all relates to personal circumstances but I don't think the disparity is always as great as people tend to assume.



The implication being that consumers of takeout A. mustn't enjoy cooking and B. are not very good at it which simply isn't true.

Jess - I was only giving my opinion, I'm not saying that my food is in anyway superior to a takeaway. If you enjoy takeaways and cooking that is great

I like going to my local butcher and knowing where my meat comes from, if I order from a takeaway they could well be purchasing their meat from the same butcher but they could also be ordering cheap cuts of poor quality meat from a meat wholesaler. I like to know exactly what I'm eating (as far as possible). I agree with you on the organic stuff, I think alot of the produce that is labelled organic is overpriced and I'm not sure that there is all that much difference in quality.

eternal

xXxkorixXx wrote: »

Just wondering what peoples thoughts are on this

me and me fella used to get a takeaway nearly every night, and they were always very busy.

Dont get me wrong, i love them but do you think that there is a huge takeaway culture today in Ireland? And do most people now a days get a takeaway every night and just dont bother cooking anymore?

(Like i said, i love takeaways and i'm not saying anything bad about them, i'm just saying do you think that Ireland just doesnt care about proper home cooked meals anymore??)

Any opinions would be great.

Cheers, Kori

This is disturbing.Of course you may be busy ,but every night ? Can you cook ?
The reason the world has gone made on convience food is that the pace of life has increased.This is pretty obvious in itself.People eat on the go a lot now.Still there is no reason to eat a takeaway every night .What does your boyfriend think ? He must really love you if he doesnt mind the fact that you dont cook for him.Im not a 1950's housewife but one major sign of love is creating a meal for someone you care about ,no matter how bad of a cook you are.No matter who you meet ,everyone has one 'special' meal they can prepare.Even if it taste awful youre not going to tell them.
If you or when you have kids I would sincerely worry about their health.
To be fair though ,I treat myself to a takeaway maybe once week or so.I love Indian food and even though Im ok at cooking I know I could never cook an Indian like chefs that have been ten years working in that cuisine.Its a completely different kind of cooking ,would take a long time to learn.I try to avoid chinese ,but once in a while you will find a decent restaurant that does good Chinese.I think a lot of places try to pass themselves as decent as Chinese food has become more mainstream .People also have become more tolerant of international cuisine .I bet nobody can look back 15 years and remember any Thai food in Ireland.Well not outside of Dublin anyhow.
Now nearly everyone can make a Thai curry .Funny in a way.

deisedave

ColeTrain wrote: »

Thread title reads like a TV3 special report.

It will be when the thread has ran its course, they need more info first:D

jive

Jess16 wrote: »

With regard to costs, people seem to forget that the net cost of home-cooking isn't at the bottom of the supermarket receipt and often neglect to factor in the cost of running the oven/hob/microwave and dishwasher in addition to time itself. I understand that this all relates to personal circumstances but I don't think the disparity is always as great as people tend to assume.

Ah go way. Of course it will work out cheaper. A kilo of rice is less than €2, a portion of rice is more than that and is probably 100g in Thai/Indian like you said. Restaurants also have the same costs as you do at home and then some - they obviously mark up the food to include preparation and all sorts of things as it's a business. If you buy your food and cook it yourself it will always work out cheaper. If it doesn't then whoever you are getting your takeaways from won't be around for long.

Washing up liquid 1 litre= 70c
10x sponges = €1
I don't know how much the stove/oven/microwave costs to run for about half an hour but I can't imagine it's all that much.

The disparity is as great as people assume. I'll take my local chinese for example - Chicken and rice + some sauce costs €7
In the supermarket you can get:

Chicken fillet = €1.10
Rice (1kg) = €1.80
Sauce (500ml) = €2ish
+ Washing up liquid + sponges = ~ €6

Not to mention you can use the sauce, rice, washing up liquid and sponges again so the next time you get that same meal for €1.10, and probably have enough sauce left to still have another meal for €1.10. Almost 3 meals for the price of 1 takeaway meal excluding heating costs (not exactly monumental).

There's a reason people take in lunches to work and don't eat out every day of the week, and it's not because they all share a passion for cooking.

eternal

MrsD007 wrote: »

When I used to say that to my husband he used to laugh at me but I really believe that you can get a food hangover, when you eat processed sh1te and your body is used to normally having healthy food. I think if you eat processed food all the time you don't really notice how sh1te it really is and the effect it has on your body.

I know it is really boring but I sit down every weekend before I go shopping and I plan out the meals that we are likely to have during the week. I sometimes cook meals in advance too so that I don't resort to takeaways when I'm busy. I really enjoy cooking and I'm pretty good at it (so Mr D tells me) so takeaways don't really interest me.

I have one exception though, if I'm really sick, I will make my husband go to a local fish and chip shop of a bag of traditional chips cooked in lard.

Hey hats off to you !
I love that too ,planning food and getting excited about it.I guess though that you have a passion for cooking,it comes across in your posts.
Dont ever call yourself boring ,your husband is a lucky man.And before you think Im some sleeze ,Im a female who can associtae with you ,bar the husband bit.Freezing fresh food too is great.I dont know why more people dont do that.The only reason I can think that they dont is lack of freezer space.I honestly cant see how anyone could eat takeaways every night .It would take away any love you ever had for a takeaway.

Lady Chatterton

eternal wrote: »

Hey hats off to you !
I love that too ,planning food and getting excited about it.I guess though that you have a passion for cooking,it comes across in your posts.
Dont ever call yourself boring ,your husband is a lucky man.And before you think Im some sleeze ,Im a female who can associtae with you ,bar the husband bit.Freezing fresh food too is great.I dont know why more people dont do that.The only reason I can think that they dont is lack of freezer space.I honestly cant see how anyone could eat takeaways every night .It would take away any love you ever had for a takeaway.

Ah Eternal, thanks very much for the compliment I'm up late tonight with a sick child but I must say boards is wonderful company.

I adore cooking and entertaining and I love nothing more than an evening of good food, nice wine and great company = my idea of heaven

eternal

Thats bad and good news ,hope your child gets better .I love dinner parties too ,I think anyone I ever cooked for ,enjoyed (or pretended to convincingly) my food .Its nice to cook for people that you can sit with too and have a nice glass of wine.I think a lot of people ,when they are settled down with kids and stuff ,do this as kind of socialising and its lovely.
I actually for bad for couples who dont cook for each other and sit down together ,its the one time in the day you can be together .

lorebringer

Cost wise - a take away a day would cost approx €140 per week (for 2 people, average of €20 per night). Our food shopping bill for the week is usually less than this for the two of us, but this is breakfast, lunch, dinner, any other food (fruit, snacks etc.) and household stuff - not just one meal!

We cook most nights, even if it is a slap together pasta mixed with tuna and pesto or an omelet job it's still made in our own kitchen, we know what is in it (mainly thinking of fat and salt!) and it didn't cost a fortune. Often, we make way too much food specifically so that we can either have it the next day or freeze it (and eat it whenever!), so if we are having a lazy day we usually don't resort to a take away. I'm not saying we never get one - maybe once every 2/3 weeks (maybe longer) but living off of such low quality food cannot be good for ones health.

I think the take away culture in Ireland is a matter of habit - if you are not used to planning or preparing meals yourself, it can seem very daunting and such a pain in the ass to get into the routine of it. A take away is very little effort, tastes nice (even if it is super greasy and salty... probably because of this actually!) and is quick. If you have been out working all day there is nothing nicer than to not have to do anything when you get home, and if you have kids it's handy to put something in front of them that you know they will eat, but I think a lot of people forget to stop and look at the long term effects of their decisions (I'm not talking about a take away once in a blue moon, more so the 4+ times a week numbers) - health of both adults and kids, good habits for children, cost etc.

Lady Chatterton

I just had a look at the our local Chinese Restaurant's Takeaway Menu and if we were ordering two main courses from them, it would cost almost €30. It would be very expensive if you were ordering a couple of times a week. I could cook alot of food for €30.

Beef Chinese Style - €11
Soft Noodles - €2.00

Thai Seafood Combination with basil and spices - €11.50
Mixed vegetables - €4.50

solerina

I dont ever get a take away more than once a month.......think its easier and cheaper, not to mention healthier to cook at home

Bandana boy

I eat takeaway 4-5 school nights a week and 5 days a week for lunch I will usually do one sat night for a "treat" but I nearly always make the effort to cook on a Sunday
Take away on a sunday just seems wrong