takeaway – #ThisGirlEats

Make It At Home! My Favourite Alternative Takeaway Recipes | #ThisGirlEats

As far as I’m concerned, ordering in is one of the modern world’s greatest luxuries. Okay, so opening that cardboard box and seeing your order slopping all over the place from the dodgy ride in the delivery driver’s car, looking NOTHING like the ad that pinged into your inbox an hour ago, might not look like luxury. But the fact that we can get delicious comfort food without even changing out of our PJs is a marvel.

But takeaway costs a dollar, right? It’s expensive. And it’s unhealthy. And it’s super lazy, let’s be honest.

Making your own “takeaway” sounds like effort, but if you’re willing to put in just a little time you can make something fresh, tasty and satisfying that saves some pennies and doesn’t drown your insides in grease.

I’ve rounded up some of my favourite make-at-home takeaway alternatives, from pizza to a full blown Chinese takeaway. Give them a try and see the savings for yourself!

Tortilla Pizza

Average takeaway cost: £17.99 (based on Medium Pepperoni Passion pizza from Dominos UK)
Average make-at-home cost: £5

Average takeaway calories: 226 calories per slice (based on Large Pepperoni Passion pizza from Dominos UK)
Average make-at-home calories: 470 calories per whole pizza!

This recipe takes barely 15 minutes from start to finish, and it’s honestly such minimal effort. A whole pizza will appear before your eyes before you know it! Check out my tortilla pizza recipe here.

Vegetable Curry

Average takeaway cost: £10 (based on local takeaway prices for a classic vegetable curry, boiled rice and plain naan bread)
Average make-at-home cost: £8.85

Average takeaway calories: 1,020 calories (based on nutritional information from weightlossresources.co.uk)
Average make-at-home calories: 650 calories

Curries are all about the flavour and, sure, you could order a veggie curry with some plain-ass side dishes for a tenner, orrrr you could make it at home, spice it up to your heart’s content, and save some dollar on the side! Check out my recipe for vegetable curry with rice and tortilla naans here.

Cheeseburgers

Average takeaway cost: £11.45 per person (based on standard cheeseburger and small fries from Five Guys UK)
Average make-at-home cost: £8.35

Average takeaway calories: 1,126 calories per person (based on standard cheeseburger with grilled onions, grilled mushroom, lettuce, tomato, ketchup and mustard and small fries from Five Guys UK)
Average make-at-home calories: 742 calories per person – includes everything in the Five Guys burger, plus avocado and a roasted vegetable side salad.

Five Guys is the God of fast food. It’s what places like McDonald’s and Burger King should aspire to be. But you can slash the price and calories by almost half if you make a piled-high burger and chunky veg side salad at home. Check out my recipe for home made beef burgers with roasted vegetable salad here.

SERIES: My Journey to a Healthier Lifestyle #3 | #ThisGirlEats

7:45PM: It’s Friday. I’ve worked all week. I’ve got a (rare) weekend off. Should I punish myself for wanting to have a little kick back on a Friday night? No. No, I bloody well shouldn’t – and neither should you! This is all about still eating what you like, when you like, and I think that involves coming home at the end of the week, putting on your comfy pants and helping yourself to a cider or two in front of the new Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 blu-ray you bought the other day.

We’re not ordering in. We’re not stuffing our faces with excessive quantities of greasy takeaway. We’re having a nice, relaxing Friday night in, treating ourselves to a little indulgence along the way, but not gorging until we’re sick and not throwing yet more money at those greedy – if oh-so-tempting – buggers of the takeaway industry.

FOOD DIARY

Breakfast
🌟 Cup of green tea
🌟 One protein-packed, low-calorie Graze snack (I felt peckish this morning)

Lunch
🌟 Boots Meal Deal – Shapers chicken, bacon and avocado club sandwich, Walkers Baked Fusions cheddar and red pepper crisps, small bar of chocolate and a Diet Coke
🌟 850ml water

Post-work snack
🌟 Half a miniature pot of plain Pringles

Dinner
🌟 Half a pizza, potato wedges, baked beans and a few dough balls (like seriously, have you tried those things? That garlic dip is to DIE for…)
🌟 2 small cans of Rekordalig cider

Friday night snacking
🌟 Handful of BBQ Pringles

Exercise
🌟 10 minute walk (you know, outside of running around the shop, on my feet at work all day!)

RECIPE: Chunky Vegetable Curry with Crispy Tortilla “Naans” | #ThisGirlEats

Serves: 4
How much does it cost? This cost me less than 50p per person
What are the benefits? You get at least 3 of your 5 a day, it’s vegetarian friendly and makes a great takeaway alternative

I’m a thief. I’ve nicked the idea for this from two different recipes; one a cheap student affair and one a low-fat chicken curry.

I’ve shamelessly pinched my favourite bits from both to make this yummy mid-week meal. It’s fairly straightforward, low in cost, full of nutrition and incredibly versatile, as you can use any vegetables in the house for a delicious outcome.

The tortilla “naans” (which are not naan breads at all, but are an alternative side to this curry dish) were an idea born from a combination of having leftover tortillas dangerously close to going off and forgetting to buy actual naan breads in the week. They turned amazing!

It’s a lower carb option than fluffy naans and, being chock-full of veggies, it’s much lower in fat than the usual creamy carnivorous curries we get. Butter chicken and onion bajhis may have my heart, but this is a pretty second choice!

tumblr_mml50yIGSr1qbq5v7o4_250 — *tumblr.com*

INGREDIENTS
1 Medium Potato, Chopped
1 Carrot, Sliced
1 Onion, Chopped
1 Bell Pepper, Sliced
4 Mushrooms, Sliced
1 Tomato, Chopped
1 Apple, Chopped
400g Tin Chopped Tomatoes
400ml Coconut Milk (reduced fat if you can)
2 tbsp Curry Paste
1 tsp Tomato Puree
1 Vegetable Stock Cube

SEASONING
Each part of this recipe kinda lives and dies with the seasoning. For the curry, you want to add some dried garlic, dried coriander leaf, salt, pepper and chilli flakes to the pan. If, like me, you find rice quite bland, add some salt, pepper, thyme and coriander leaf as the rice cooks just to give it a pop. And, finally, before you put the tortillas in the oven, you want to cover them with a sprinkling of garlic flakes, coriander leaf and cracked black pepper.

So, this is how I did it…

1. First thing’s first, heat up the frying pan and add your chunkier vegetables – potatoes, carrots, anything that takes a little longer to soften up. Fry these off for about 5 minutes.

2. Then add the rest of your veggies, along with the chopped tomatoes, coconut milk, curry paste, tomato puree, crumbled stock cube and seasoning. Cook this for about 15-20 minutes, and just keep an eye on the liquid levels – if it starts to dry up, add a splash of water to tide it over.

3. Following the packet instructions, along with some seasoning, and cook the rice, either on the hob or in the microwave.

4. Place the tortillas on a baking tray, brushed with a teeny tiny amount of oil, sprinkled with seasoning and put them in the oven for about 5 minutes, until they crisp up.

Tips & Tricks

An excellent way to bulk this up even further (as if it doesn’t have enough going on already!) is to add lentils or chickpeas. They’re both really filling, are great for you, and are awesome ingredients for a curry.

If you’d like the sauce a little thicker, sprinkle in a small pinch of flour and stir. It’ll help thicken everything up (I’m not a fan of runny sauces).

Got a slow cooker? This recipe is wonderfully tasty and so incredibly easy in a slow cooker, just bung the ingredients into the crockpot and cook up the rice when you’ve got the chance.