Image may contain: Cafe, Restaurant, Face, Person, Human

I ate at Spoons for a week to see if it was cheaper than cooking for myself

Bonus: No washing up!

| UPDATED

We've all been there. You finish a long, hard day of uni (sometimes a whole two hours) and you forgot to get anything out the freezer to defrost. Plus there's no Super Noodles left in the cupboard. You reeeeally can't be arsed to cook dinner from scratch. But then suddenly, like music to your ears, your housemate speaks the words that all students want to hear: "Spoons?".

But what if your housemate said that magic word to you every night?What if you always gave in to the Spoons craving – what would happen? I decided to apply this logic for five days and then compare it to five days of cooking for myself the week after. Yes, I saved money. But more importantly: I had the time of my life.

Day One

Image may contain: Dish, Vegetable, Meal, Food, Plant, Person, Human

Promise I wasn't the only one in there

Mondays are hard as it is, so it was definitely a beef burger and chips kind of night. The burger comes with lettuce, tomato and red onion for if you're trying to convince yourself that it's got some health benefits. Plus, if you order on the holy spoons app that we all know and love, you can include a drink (pink gins all round).

The week after I treated my body to some healthy goodness and cooked sweet chilli chicken with cous cous and peas. It took me 35 minutes to prepare and yes, my mum was very proud of me, but it just wasn't quite Spoons.

Price

Spoons: £4.99 (for food only).

Home cooking: £5.79

Verdict

Spoons: 10/10 – would recommend to a friend.

Home cooking: 8/10

Day Two

Image may contain: Dish, Meal, Vermicelli, Ice Cream, Dessert, Cream, Creme, Food, Pasta, Noodle, Human, Person

*Holds on to pink gin for dear life*

Tuesdays are my day off which means I snack a lot. I wasn't feeling too hungry but as you can tell by my face you know I was still happy to eat food that wasn't cooked by me. I had the tomato and basil soup which includes a piece of buttered bread. Nice.

The next week I made myself spaghetti bolognese. Usually I wouldn't mind cooking, but to prepare and cook the meal took me a whole 45 minutes. This is inefficient. We all know Spoons would've fed me a lot sooner.

Price

Spoons: £2.40

Home cooking: £6.63

Verdict

Spoons: 8/10

Home cooking: 9/10

Day Three

Image may contain: Meal, Bread, Food, Person, Human

Love at first bite

Wednesday is the Spoons Chicken Club which means one thing and one thing only: Chicken nuggets. At this point the staff began to recognise me which was a bit embarrassing but please enjoy this beautiful photo of one happy girl and her nuggets and chips.

Continuing on the chicken theme, the week after I had a chicken curry with naan bread. Although it was lovely, the washing up afterwards wasn't fun and preparing it meant the entire kitchen smelt like curry for two days. Spoons means no washing up, just saying.

Price

Spoons: £7.20

Home cooking: £4.48

Verdict

Spoons: 9/10

Home cooking: 8/10

Day Four

Image may contain: Pasta, Dish, Food, Meal, Person, Human

That kids' face is an absolute mood

Thursday in Spoons means Curry Club. The Curry Club deal includes a curry, rice, two popadoms and a naan bread – all you could wish for, really.

One week on, I began to actually crave Spoons. But I managed to power through and cook myself a simple tomato pasta. Typical student, I know, but pasta is cheap and pasta never lets me down.

Price

Spoons: £6.59

Home cooking: £2.95

Verdict

Spoons: 9/10

Home cooking: 6/10 – it didn't taste as bad as it looks but it just wasn't the same as Spoons.

Day Five

Image may contain: Platter, Dish, Food, Meal, Human, Person

Goodbye my lover, goodbye my friend

This was my final day of the Spoons experiment and frankly I was sad to leave. Friday means bangers and mash night. Nothing better than standard pub grub to finish up this enlightening experience.

One week later, alone and missing Spoons, I shuffled into the kitchen and half heartedly cooked myself a chicken stir fry. When I finished it I was left with a sink full of dirty dishes and a heart full of disappointment. I realised that eating in Spoons every night for a week might actually have been the best week of my life.

Price

Spoons: £5.99

Home cooking: £6.38

Verdict

Spoons: 10/10 – I was one happy customer.

Home cooking: 9/10 – good food but 2/10 if you include the Spoons withdrawal symptoms.

The lesson

From empirical evidence I can now confidently state that eating in Spoons is only a fraction more expensive than cooking for yourself. I spent a total of £26.23 on a week's home cooking, versus £27.17 spent in the Earl of Mercia – all that extra fuss for a saving of 94p.

Is it practical? No. Is it healthy? No. Will you enjoy going to Spoons on your own when your friends eventually leave you because they think you have a spoons addiction and need intervention? Also no. But it's worth trying out for a week.