A mortifying delivery app spending tally sparks a year-long cooking challenge with real savings
I Went a Full Year Without Ordering a Single Takeaway in London and Here’s What Actually Happened
Twelve months ago, staring at a Deliveroo bill that had somehow exceeded my council tax for the month, I made a genuinely rash decision to go an entire calendar year without ordering a single takeaway. This is the story of what that actually did to my life, my cooking skills, and my relationship with my own kitchen.
The Financial Reality I Was Actually Confronting
When I finally tallied my previous year’s delivery app spending, the number was genuinely mortifying, easily rivaling what I paid in rent for a month in a considerably cheaper part of the city, all spent on food I could have made myself for a fraction of the cost with only slightly more effort than opening an app and tapping a screen.
The First Month Was Genuinely Miserable
I will not pretend the early weeks were anything other than difficult. Friday evenings, previously reserved for guilt-free Thai food ordered from the sofa, now involved actually standing in my kitchen making decisions about vegetables, a level of effort that felt genuinely unreasonable after a full week of actual work.
What I Actually Learned to Cook
Necessity, as it turns out, is a genuinely excellent teacher. I learned to make a passable pad thai, a curry I am now unreasonably proud of, and enough variations on a basic stir fry that I stopped needing to consult a recipe entirely, developing something approaching actual intuition about what goes with what.
The Social Complications This Created
This challenge produced genuinely awkward moments with friends who assumed a quiet night in obviously meant ordering something together, several conversations requiring me to explain my slightly absurd personal rule in a way that made me sound either impressively disciplined or genuinely insufferable, depending on the audience.
What Happened During Genuinely Difficult Weeks
I will be honest that there were weeks, particularly during a rather brutal cold in February, where the temptation to simply order soup rather than make it was almost overwhelming, and I maintained my streak through what I can only describe as sheer stubbornness rather than any genuine enthusiasm for cooking while feeling genuinely unwell.
What the Actual Financial Savings Looked Like
By year’s end, the total savings, calculated against my previous year’s spending, were substantial enough to fund a proper holiday, a fact that made every slightly reluctant Tuesday evening spent chopping vegetables feel considerably more worthwhile in hindsight than it did in the actual moment.
What Nutritionists Would Probably Say About This Change
Beyond the financial benefits, I suspect any nutritionist would point out the genuine health improvements likely resulting from actually knowing what goes into your food rather than trusting whatever restaurant kitchen happened to prepare your previous Friday night dinner, control I hadn’t fully appreciated the value of until I actually had it consistently.
Whether I’m Continuing This Into Year Two
I’ve decided on a modified approach going forward: takeaways remain permitted for genuine celebrations rather than simple Tuesday exhaustion, a compromise that preserves most of the financial and skill benefits while acknowledging that occasionally, someone else’s cooking is exactly what a proper celebration requires.
Further Reading
For more London budget experiments and questionable personal challenges, have a look through my author page at The London Prat, where several other equally stubborn financial decisions have been documented in full.
SOURCE: https://bohiney.com/
