7 Ways to Make Takeout Cheaper and Healthier, According to Reddit

7 Ways to Make Takeout Cheaper and Healthier, According to Reddit

A takeout is already on the cheaper side — although not always as cheap as we’d like, especially if you’re ordering one of the healthier options. Fortunately, redditors have come to the rescue.

It’s entirely possible to take advantage of deals at your favourite fast-food places, stretch your Thai curries, and leave a sit-down restaurant with an entire second meal’s worth of leftovers — if you know how to do it. These tips will help.

Add frozen veggies

Photo: ImranShaikh144, Shutterstock
Photo: ImranShaikh144, Shutterstock

Redditor wooden_skirt recommends this for Chinese takeout, but the approach could work for a variety of foods. If you’re ordering a meal that is mostly protein, you can stretch it (and make it healthier) by combining your entree with cheap frozen vegetables. Peas, carrots, and corn are easy go-tos.

Eat the sides and pack your entree

Photo: Rosamar, Shutterstock
Photo: Rosamar, Shutterstock

If you can find a restaurant with plentiful soups, salads, or bread, fill up on those while you’re sitting at the table. Then pack half your entree (or all of it, if you’re really committed to the hack) and save it for another meal at home.

Double your meal at Chipotle

Photo: B Young, Shutterstock
Photo: B Young, Shutterstock

At Chipotle, you can order your “burrito” as a bowl, with a tortilla on the side. We’ve sung the praises of this approach before, as you’ll generally get more food this way than by asking for an already-assembled burrito.

The folks on reddit have double-sized this hack, though, by noting that you can also get an extra portion of most non-meat ingredients for free. So ask for double beans and double rice (and pay for double meat, if you like.) Result: two full meals, more or less.

Order the dinner portion at lunch

Photo: Jacek Chabraszewski, Shutterstock
Photo: Jacek Chabraszewski, Shutterstock

This is the reverse of a classic hack, so we advise checking the prices and portion sizes to figure out which approach will get you the most for your money.

The older wisdom is that if a restaurant offers both a lunch and a dinner portion of the same meal, the lunch portion is the better deal: it’s a bit smaller, and significantly cheaper. But as redditor oregonchick points out, the sides on the dinner portion are often better, and you’ll get more of them. So getting the dinner and splitting it into two meals may be the smarter move.

I get parmesan crusted chicken or a lovely steak, then select 2 baked potatoes for my side. One potato, half of my entree, and possibly the soup are reserved for future meals, while I still have a filling meal that first round.

Add silken tofu

Photo: Brian Yarvin, Shutterstock
Photo: Brian Yarvin, Shutterstock

Several redditors agreed that if you can snag some silken tofu on sale, it’s a great way to cheaply stretch out soups and sauces while adding extra protein. DeerBunniesExist recommends adding the tofu before you pop your leftovers in the fridge: “the tofu will absorb the sauce/soup flavour quite a bit until you reheat it later.”

And if your meal doesn’t come with quite enough extra sauce? Just ask for more, thriftedqueer suggests. They’ll may indulge you for free, or sell you a large portion for a dollar or so.

Supply your own sides

Photo: Joshua Resnick, Shutterstock
Photo: Joshua Resnick, Shutterstock

What’s so special about, say, an order of KFC? The chicken, of course — which you can’t easily make at home. But it’s not so hard to mash a few potatoes, or open a box of potato flakes. Redditor southernlights22 says their grandmother would order the chicken and serve it with homemade sides.

Similarly, you could fill your takeout box with entrees from a Chinese buffet, and serve it with your own rice at home. At a non-buffet restaurant, the rice tends to be cheap enough you might as well ask for an extra serving of it, which brings us to our next hack…

Make fried rice

Photo: stocksolutions, Shutterstock
Photo: stocksolutions, Shutterstock

You can often get extra rice with your order for just a few bucks. Besides rounding out the meal you ordered, Redditor yeswithaz explains that you can create a whole additional meal the next day: “You know how when you’re almost done with Chinese leftovers, there’s usually a couple of containers that each have just a few bites left? Combine those with the rice for fried rice,” seasoning with soy sauce packets to taste. “It’s not a life changer but it’s a fun way to squeeze one more meal out of the dregs of takeout leftovers. And 1-2 days in the fridge makes rice perfect for fried rice.”


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