Whenever anyone creates a thread about a popular food chain, like Nandos, TGI Fridays, Domino's, Pizza Hut etc ... it fills up with loads of people ranting about how it's all way too expensive and they would never even dream of eating there. I even saw some people bitch about the price of McDonald's a few weeks back.

It's actually ridiculous. Don't any of you have jobs? I work in Asda ffs, and I pay rent and Sky and go out drinking every week and I can still quite happily afford a Domino's with side orders. I can still afford to go and get a whole chicken at Nandos or a full rack of ribs at TGI fridays. These places AREN'T THAT EXPENSIVE. You need to get over yourselves. These places are nice and they serve tasty food and they are not unaffordable, even with a minimum wage income.

Yeah you can buy a pizza from Iceland for a quid. But it tastes like socks. Viva la Pizza Hut.

People want value for money, providing what they order is what they get and not horsemeat when it should be beef. £12 for a pizza is asking a bit much.

Ok, so a £1 pizza from Iceland amy not be all that good but people could find a decent local takeaway and get a pizza as good as, if not better than Pizza Hut for 4 or 6 quid.

The reason why chains pop up all the time is that they are consistent and pretty much everywhere.


No point in someone saying that the takeaway round the corner does the best food as probably nobody else here would ever get to try it.

Embarrassing, isn't it?

I've got a normal job. Most of my friends and family do as well. We're all perfectly able to afford at least one takeway a week. We're not talking big money here. Rarely does it come over £20-£25 and that tends to feed three or four.

I think people just moan for the sake of moaning.

I wonder how many of them spend their money on cigarettes and alcohol.

You're afraid to post anything about takeaway food on here in fear of the penny pinchers and the takeaway police.

"Why buy a portion of chips from a chippy when you can grow your own potatoes for free?!?!?!"

It's bordering on the insane in this forum, I swear. I've just ordered a Pizza Hut in spite of everyone here and it's going to be delicious. Absolutely amazing. And it's not bankrupted me, because I work for a living.

It's not that people can't afford to eat out, it's just that they resent paying £12 for a bit of bread with cheese on top. The reason that there are so many pizza restaurants around is that it is the cheapest food to produce. If I eat out, I want to eat food that I wouldn't have at home. Something a bit special, not pay through the nose for food that I can buy in the supermarket.

It's bread with tomato/bbq sauce and cheese on top, most likely with more ingredients than that too (ham, pepperoni, sweetcorn, mushrooms etc..) prepared by a man earning a wage, placed into an oven that costs money to operate. It's then taken out of the oven by another man earning a wage and placed into a box. From there it's bought to your front door by another man earning a wage in a car / on a moped that uses petrol that costs money to operate.

What you're paying for isn't a bit of bread with cheese. You're paying for a piping hot delicious pizza to be delivered to your door by a man, 20 minutes after you've requested it. £12 isn't unreasonable for this service.

If you're really that poor you can go collect from the place for much much cheaper.

Well for me yes I can afford to eat out but if I am going to spend money on food I would rather get a chinese, I just dont think its worth it for a pizza but everyone is different and entitled to their opinion

every friday me and the kids head on down to the local chippy owned by mr and mrs chandra and ask for a bag of bits/scraps from the local chippy, and sit out side the chip shop and eat them.

thats only if the kids have been good though as it is a luxery and we cant make them feel too spoilt

I prefer to know what is in my food. I also enjoy cooking my own recipes and really don't want to waste money to pay someone else to do it when I can do it more than adequately.

If more people cooked at home, the world would be a better place.

what I don't get is people saying it's expensive to eat healthily. It really isn't. In fact it's more expensive to eat crap.

Which begs the question as to why a local takeaway can do exactly the same, for as good as or better product for half the price.

Well no, thousands of people would be out of work.

Last 2 times I've been to Pizza Hut it's been awful.

Personally i'd rather save up a bit and eat somewhere where they don't use frozen bases and frozen toppings.

We rarely eat out these day, its just to expensive for the 5 of us. Last time we had a take away was before Xmas, never mind going to a restaurant.

I just got a 3.4% pay rise, and I eat out usually three times a week

What is wrong with buying alcohol like?, i would much, much, much rather buy a £15 bottle of wine than a £15 pizza from Dominos and the like and i love pizza.

oooh bitchy

As my father in law to be would say, yes we have money because we don't spend £17 of it on a pizza. Think how many hours you spent at work before you earnt that £17 to take home. Was it worth it for a pizza? Just different views, neither is right or wrong.

You are what you eat...

Of just full of more people being smug and patronising

This is a food forum. If you feel patronised by people talking about cooking from scratch, I'd proffer you are in the wrong place.

I disagree, I work and could afford them like you but won't pay the price as they're NOT WORTH IT. Come on, if you have no BOGOF vouchers, pizza for a family, you'd need two large, with sides, could be £40 to £50.

By the way, do you have a habit of eating your socks?

Exactly. It's not about money for me Adam, but I would much rather spend my cash on delicious, well cooked food, which places like pizza shite cannot provide. Sorry if that gets your already tangled knickers into an even bigger twist.

I'll have to sit on the fence here.

I must admit, I do hate the sanctimonious stuff you sometimes see here that is referenced above, such as 'why buy x,y,z when you can make it from scratch at home.'

Such a view is all well and good, but I simply don't have the time to scratch cook 3 meals a day, 7 days a week and I am sure that is the same for anyone who has a full time job and other similar commitments.

I can afford the odd takeaway and in fairness, I probably have more than the average person does (and indeed should)

That said, to take it to the other extreme, I can understand why people are not prepared to regularly overpay for takeaway. In fairness, any Pizza from Dominos/Papa Johns/Pizza Hut isn't value for money at normal prices and even with deals and vouchers, I would not say it is cheap.

Like I say, I have enough money that I can justify this to myself on occasion, but am not so flush that I can frivolously do this regularly without a care in the world.

It's like most things in life, it is all about finding the right balance.