The participants were 435 of their customers - people we might expect to be more frequent eaters of takeaways. Ministry of Health statistics suggest 28 per cent of us eat takeaways once or twice a week.
In the Menulog survey, 53 per cent of respondents answered "yes" to the question: "Have you ever ordered takeaway because it was more affordable than buying the ingredients to cook a meal?"
But this doesn't mean they believe takeaways are a cheaper option. In fact, 70 per cent answered "no" when asked: "Do you think takeaway is generally more affordable than purchasing the ingredients to cook a meal from scratch?"
This is reassuring. Although there are a lot of cheap takeaway options around, comparing these with something you eat at home is not comparing like with like.
Takeaway food is typically energy-dense and nutrient poor. A recent review of some popular options for Healthy Food Guide uncovered takeaway meals that contained half to three-quarters of the average person's daily calories in one meal.
This food is also often loaded with refined carbohydrates, saturated fat and salt.
Research shows eating fast food more than twice a week is, unsurprisingly, associated with an increased risk of being overweight and obese. So takeaways are not the best move for health.
They're not the best move for the budget, either. Menulog says the "sweet spot" for how much people are willing to spend on takeaways is about $15 a person. For a family of four, that's $60 for a meal. $60!
When we're developing recipes for the magazine, I get antsy when they're above $5 a person. For $60, we could put together a huge home-cooked feast.
At that level, a week of dinners alone would come in at $420.
Cooking takes time and attention - more than phoning. But not much more.
A regular Friday night dinner at my house is home-made fish and chips. It takes five minutes to chop spuds; about half an hour while they're in the oven. Six or seven minutes to cook the fish and five minutes to toss a big salad.
At worst it's equivalent to takeaways; at best it's at least $10 cheaper than takeaways for a meal for four. And it has veges.
The question that doesn't seem to have been asked in this survey was about the other motivation for resorting to takeaways: time. The Menulog survey reported more than 40 per cent of respondents got home after 7pm up to three times a week.
That's when you're likely to feel hungry to the point of being "hangry", and also a bit over the idea of cooking. Although I love cooking, sometimes I just can't be bothered. There's nothing wrong with that - and there's nothing wrong with a treat of takeaways once in a while.
But let's not delude ourselves we're doing it to save money, any more than we are to be healthier.
Takeaways v home-made: The cost and health comparisons
Niki Bezzant is editor-in-chief of Healthy Food Guide magazine.
