What's really in takeaway foodTakeaways vs supermarket meals

Guideline daily amounts

Chinese: less saturated fat than the Indian takeaway

Men / Women

Total calories: 2,500 kcal / 2,000 kcal
Sugar: 120g / 90g
Total fat: 95g / 70g
Saturated fat: 30g / 20g
Salt: 6g / 6g

Kcals are a measure of how many calories there are in food. The calorie totals given here are averages based on an 11st 10lb man and a 9st 7lb woman. The figures for sugar, total fat, saturated fat and salt are the maximum an adult should eat.

Chinese 

Takeaways 

We ordered a meal of sweet-and-sour chicken, egg-fried rice and a portion of vegetable spring rolls. Where available, the sweet-and-sour chicken was unbattered.

Chinese takeaways are the most popular type of takeaway ordered in the UK.

• This meal contained much less saturated fat than the Indian takeaway, so it might seem a healthier option. However, it contained nearly three times as much sugar.
• One of the meals contained more than 19 teaspoons (96g) a portion.
• Three of the takeaway portions contained as much fat as a woman should eat in a day.
• On average, the takeaway meals had more calories per Which? portion (pictured above) than supermarket versions.

Tesco's vegetable spring rolls

Supermarket versions

• M&S’s and Morrisons’ sweet-and-sour chicken are battered and, therefore, have the highest total fat, saturated fat and salt of all the supermarket versions of the dish.
• Tesco’s vegetable spring rolls had the highest saturated fat content, nearly five times that of the M&S version, which had the lowest of all the supermarkets.
• Weight for weight, all the supermarket egg-fried rice had more calories than the sweet-and-sour chicken it accompanied.

Indian

Naan bread: more calories than chicken tikka masala

We bought chicken tikka masala, pilau rice and a plain naan – one of the most popular meals.

Takeaways

• On average, the takeaways had more calories a portion than the supermarket versions, but less salt (especially the naan and pilau rice).
• Naan bread contained more calories, weight for weight, than chicken tikka masala.
• Pilau rice had a similar number of calories weight for weight as the chicken tikka masala.

You might think bread and rice are healthier than the masala, but the problem is how they’re cooked. Pilau rice is fried and naan has a thick layer of butter on it.
Half the takeaway meals had more saturated fat per Which? portion (pictured above) than a woman should eat in a day.

Supermarket meals

None of these stood out as significantly healthier or less healthy than the others.

For example, Asda’s meal had the most saturated fat and sugar.

Waitrose’s pilau rice contained more than five time the fat of the Tesco version (which had the least), and M&S's chicken tikka masala had more salt than other supermarket versions.

Pizza

Asda has one of the largest supermarket pizzas

We ordered medium thick-crust cheese and tomato and medium thin-crust pepperoni pizzas. Pizza chains recommend a medium pizza for one to two people. If you share this equally, a portion is about 300g which is, on average, the same as a whole standard supermarket pizza.

• Our results show that, on average per portion, the supermarket pizzas have fewer calories than the takeaway ones.
• Pepperoni increases the fat, saturated fat and salt content of your pizza. 
• A 300g portion of takeaway pizza contains more saturated fat than a woman should eat in a day, and more than two thirds the salt that an adult should have. 
• Pizzas from different chains contained similar calories.
• Asda’s Deep Pan Cheese Feast was one of the largest supermarket pizzas, weighing 460g. The label gives values per half pizza, assuming you’ll share it. But sometimes we eat what’s in front of us, not what we’re meant to. Eat this whole pizza and that’s 1,311 calories, 26.2g saturated fat and 5.5g salt – close to the guideline daily amounts for men.

Reaction

Pizza Hut give nutritional details on their websites

Domino’s and Pizza Hut give nutritional details on their websites. We compared our results with the information given. The four Domino’s cheese and tomato pizzas we tested had at least 50% more fat per 100g than the website stated. The pizzas are handmade, so we would expect some variation between the figures, but not this much. 

Our test showed no problems with their sugar and salt values. There is no data on Domino’s website for its thin-crust pepperoni pizza.

A spokesman said: ‘We regularly monitor pizza making in all of our stores and have never seen variances of the size that you report.’

The company said it takes the allegations very seriously and will re-test all its pizzas and update its food guide. The difference between Pizza Hut pizzas and information on its website wasn’t significant. Perfect Pizza had no nutritional details on its website, but is to add this in future.