Money
What If I Stopped Buying Takeaways?
What if I stopped buying takeaways?
A takeaway is a weekday truce. Three of them a week at £12 is £1,872 a year before tips, delivery fees you forgot, and the second order at 10pm. This experiment counts that habit as money, not as nutrition. There is no claim here that cooking is healthier, greener, or morally better. Frequency and average spend are yours to set; five years is the default horizon; interest starts at zero so the first total is pounds actually not spent. If those pounds were then saved, an optional rate sketches growth. That sketch is not a reason to eat badly, or to eat well. It is a line in a budget.
Change this
Results update as you move the controls.
0% shows money not spent. Any rate is optional and not guaranteed.
Your result
£9,360
spent on this habit
£36 a week
- Per year
- £1,872
- Over the horizon
- £9,360
- Illustrated growth
- £0
- Orders in the period
- 780
Before any illustrated growth
What does that mean?
3 takeaways a week at £12.00 is £36 a week, or £1,872 a year. Over 5 years the habit comes to £9,360. That is spending, not a verdict on dinner.
Compare
| Once a week | £3,120 |
|---|---|
| 3 times a week | £9,360 |
| 7 times a week | £21,840 |
Compare scenarios
Frequency does more work than the menu
Doubling the orders doubles the bill. Raising the average spend by a couple of pounds does less, at three nights a week, than adding a fourth night. ONS family-spending bulletins track how UK households split food eaten at home from food eaten out; they do not know your Friday. Use a month of statements if the slider feels fictional.
Stopping is not the same as saving
Money not spent on delivery can migrate to groceries, a different treat, or a savings account. This page shows the takeaway total and, if you set a rate, an illustration of investing that total instead. It does not subtract the cost of the replacement meal. The cooking-at-home experiment is the fairer comparison if you would still eat, which you would.
No sermons about vegetables
Takeaways are a spending category. They are not a diagnosis. The related coffee experiment is the same idea at a smaller unit price. A 10% cut across all spending is the blunter instrument. Use whichever matches the decision you are actually turning over.
How we calculated this
Weekly spend = frequencyPerWeek × averageSpend. Monthly equivalent = weekly × 52 ÷ 12. That monthly figure is then run through the same end-of-month annuity as the other money experiments, at the optional annual rate. At 0% the total is years × 52 × weekly spend. This experiment provides estimates for educational purposes and is not financial advice. Actual results vary depending on rates, fees, taxes, inflation and individual circumstances. Interest is optional and not guaranteed. Replacement meal costs are not deducted.
Go further
A curated rabbit hole from this question. Each link is a real experiment, not a random suggestion.
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