The lure of a takeaway is a difficult thing to resist. If you’ve had a hard day or are just feeling a bit lazy, it can be all too easy to give in to temptation – especially with apps like JustEat at your fingertips.
We all know that takeaways are an expensive way to eat, but the idea of slaving away in the kitchen can be enough to drive anyone to the Chinese. Instead of splurging each evening, here are some ideas for quick and easy alternatives – ‘fakeaways’ – that won’t challenge your pocket, so you can save your pennies towards that epic Indian.
Craving pizza? Go bespoke
Pizza bases are a bargain in the supermarket. Add a tomato sauce (or passata, if you’re feeling fancy), throw on some cheese and you are laughing. The best part about doing your own pizza is the freedom with toppings – meat, veg, whatever you like – making your own will be so much cheaper and just as satisfying. If that sounds like too much effort, ready-made oven pizzas are still a lot cheaper than a takeaway.
Craving curry? Grab a jar
This might not be quite as good the real McCoy, but at less than £1 for a jar of supermarket-branded sauce, you can’t really complain! Grab some easy cook rice and whatever meat or veg you like and bingo – curry. It’s as easy as that.
Craving Chinese? Make a stir-fry
Stir-frying has to be the quickest and easiest way of cooking. You can even buy bags of stir-fry veg ready prepped if you’re feeling really lazy – check out the reduced produce section in the supermarket for bargains. Every student knows how cheap noodles are and then all you need is some sauce, which you can also buy ready-made!
Cutting back on takeaways is one of the easiest ways to save money; cooking doesn’t have to be complicated and just think how much more you’ll appreciate that takeaway when you’ve cooked all your other meals for the week!
What are your favourite ‘fakeaways’ or easy recipes? Let us know and they might be featured on the blog.