I’m a big fan of saving takeout and delivery food for true cravings, not convenience. Even the healthiest of eaters has a few culinary vices — for us, it’s Indian and Thai food and pizza delivery.
Sometimes, we just want our favorite pizza delivered (“doorbell pizza” my girls called it when they were younger), and no homemade version will scratch the itch. Fine. But calling in an order of pad thai and dumplings just because we can’t be bothered to spend a few minutes to make our own food is a troubling slippery slope. Delivery isn’t the devil; but save it for cravings.
The key to fending off the temptation to order in takeout as a convenience on a busy weeknight is to have a few easy recipes in your toolkit that you can whip out at a moment’s notice. And, it has to be easy enough to execute, even if I don’t think of it until 5 p.m.
For me, bonus points if it’s ethnic food. Since we don’t have an Indian restaurant within a 20-minute radius of my house, I’ve been recreating the flavors at home.