Dining In – The New Eating Out – Mexican Family Feast

We Brits love our takeaways. The UK takeaway market is worth a staggering £5.5 billion each year. Research also shows that New Year’s Day has emerged as the biggest single day of the year for sales of takeaway dinners delivered to the home, yet as we head into January are we are more likely to stay at home and cook as we await the first payday of 2017?


Dining In – The New Eating Out – Mexican Family Feast for a tenner


Sometimes there is nothing I like better than to simply order a takeaway. The convenience,  perusing the menus, ordering online or by phone, the taste and the variety of food on offer. Not to mention having hot food delivered to your door, ready to eat.





However, there is always the cost to consider. As a treat, they are great, but order more frequently and it can soon make a big hole in your disposable income.

There is also the health aspect to think about. A takeaway is so tasty but we are not always sure of the ingredients, and quantities that give us that taste. A Public Health Research report says that between a fifth and a quarter of people in the UK dine out or eat takeaway meals at least once a week and that food prepared out of the home tends to be less healthy than home cooking. 


But the good news is, we don’t have to miss out. And a home-made alternative to a takeaway can be healthier, cheaper and just as tasty - it just requires a little more effort and planing.

As you will see below our family of four enjoyed a Mexican family feast this week, cooking some of the food from scratch and adding accompaniments from the supermarket and it cost just £2.50 per person. 

To order the equivalent from a local takeaway delivery service would have cost nearly £50.


Dining In – The New Eating Out – Mexican Family Feast for a tenner

The Mexican Family Feast:

  • Quorn Chilli with onion, mixed peppers, Quorn mince and red kidney beans
  • Rice
  • Guacamole
  • Dips
  • Nachos
  • Breadsticks
  • Garlic cheese bread


Method:

Home-made veggie chilli
  • Chop one onion and fry until lightly cooked in a pan on the hob.
  • Chop ½ red pepper, yellow pepper and green pepper and add to onions
  • Add chopped garlic and chilli powder and stir.
  • Add the Quorn mince, chopped tomatoes and red kidney beans and simmer.
  • Add water if necessary. Flavour with a stock cube or gravy powder and my special ingredient of a spoonful of cocoa powder.
  • Continue to simmer for 15 – 20 mins. Taste to check heat add more chilli powder if required.


Dining In – The New Eating Out – Mexican Family Feast for a tenner


Home-made guacamole
  • Half the avocado, remove the stone and scoop out the flesh with a spoon into a bowl.
  • Add a dash of lemon juice, a tablespoon of tomato puree and a pinch of chilli flakes and mash together with a fork until smooth.


Dining In – The New Eating Out – Mexican Family Feast for a tenner



Additional preparation: 
Cook the rice in the microwave.
Bake the garlic bread in the over.
Place all other ingredients on the dining table and serve to a hungry family.


Dining In – The New Eating Out – Mexican Family Feast for a tenner


Cost: £10 for four people and there was enough left over for a meal the following night.
  • Mini tortilla wraps - 2 packs £1.00
  • Uncle Ben’s Mexican Rice £1
  • Avocado £0.75
  • Quorn Mince £1.49
  • Savers Tortillas £0.46
  • Savers Dips £1.08
  • Bread Sticks £0.38
  • Onion £0.16
  • Chopped Tomatoes £0.30
  • Mixed Peppers £0.48
  • Red Kidney Beans £0.30
  • Grated cheese £0.25
  • Lettuce £0.40
  • Garlic Cheese Bread £1.00
  • 4 Cornettos £1


Not only was it fairly inexpensive, it was a lovely family meal. We all sat together around a table sharing food. We filled the tortilla wraps to make tacos with rice, chilli, lettuce, dips and cheese. We topped the nachos with the same and also dipped them, the garlic bread and bread sticks in the dips and guacamole. Then finished it off with an ice- cream!

Dining In – The New Eating Out – Mexican Family Feast for a tenner


The boys have described it as great, fantastic and fabulous.

Cost: £10 for four people
Time: Half an hour to prepare and cook
My Boys Club Rating: The boys were really keen to try and Mexican food is now the flavour of the month in our house. They even took some leftovers to school in their packed lunch.
:
What's your favourite takeaway?

Deb x


Mummy in a Tutu


13 Comments

  1. You can't beat Mexican food - in fact we are having fajitas tomorrow and Quorn tacos on Monday for #meatfreemonday.

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  2. Lush :) We eat Quorn all the time, the boys didn't used to like it but now they do. Hurrah x

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  3. I love Mexican food so much - using Quorn isn't something I've ever thought of doing to be honest but I'm interested now :)

    Tori / Tori's World

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  4. It's really easy to use. Just add the flavours and spice you like to it and it will be delicious. I find that the cocoa powder adds a little flavour and colour! Let me know if you try it :)

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  5. Yum! What a great and affordable way to have a meal that's a treat for your family without having a takeaway. I'm glad that more people are enjoying Mexican food at home than they used to. #foodiefriday

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    Replies
    1. The boys are expecting it again this week :)

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  6. It all looks very tasty! I want to do more meat-free cooking, too. I love the convenience of takeaway food, but definitely can't afford to do that too often. Sometimes I just run out of cooking inspiration and feel like we're just eating the same things all the time. Quick, easy and cheap is what I look for in a recipe! #FoodieFriday

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  7. Girl after my own heart. Quorn and Mexican... I now need to go make Mexcian... damn you!!

    Thanks for linking to #foodiefriday

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    Replies
    1. mmmm ... now me too :) Now do we have the ingredients?

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  8. Mmmmmmmmmmmm this looks so good we love chilli and this would be perfect for us since one of my daughters has recently become a vegetarian and I'm always on the look out for veggy friendly family meals can't wait to give this a go

    #foodiefriday

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  9. We are not all veggie so it is nice that we can eat this meal all together x

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  10. The Guacamole looks delicious x

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