Missing your regular babysitter? Yeah, us too. Date night at home is the only way, mi amigo.

It’s not just the child-free time I’m missing. I’d really like to go out and be waited on. And escape the oh-so tedious merry-go-round of cooking and washing-up. *Entitled sad face*.

The next best thing is take-out, restaurant made ready-meals, or some sort of ingredient-led kit. Things may change early-July. Fingers crossed. I bloody hope so, anyway.

Here are my top lazy easy lockdown date night at home dinner suggestions to get you through the next 3 weekends.

Neha Hampton’s fresh curry pastes

Neha makes cooking from scratch a cinch. Add her aromatic fresh homemade pastes to a handful of fresh ingredients et voilà, incredible curry with virtually no effort or skill required. Neha kindly gifted me a trio of her pastes and we’ve enjoyed all of them Very Much. Thank you, Neha 🙏🏻.

Neha’s pivoted elegantly from supper club / private chef to kitchen table curry paste maker using fresh ingredients sourced from Jeremy’s in Henfield. She’s infused her blends with skill, knowledge and an infectious passion for authentic global cuisine. Until she’s back on the supper club circuit, I’ll be stocking up on her pastes for quick and easy suppers at home.

Pastes are vegan and gluten-free, stay fresh in the fridge for up to 5 days or can be frozen for up to 3 months. My top tip? Buy a handful and keep for when you fancy another date night at home. Or just a tasty dinner without the effort.

Neha’s pastes are available from Jeremy’s, Jeremy’s 2 & Nutritious Fish.

Curry Leaf At Home

The Curry Leaf were named one of Britain’s 12 Best Indian Restaurants in BBC Good Food Magazine. These guys are bona fide curry legends. We’re fans too. Pre-lock down The Husband was a regular face at the Brighton Station kiosk for lunch.

Ordinarily they’d be serving up scrummy curries, sides, samosas, pakoras and generous dollops of tasty chutneys from their various outlets across Brighton. During Covid-19 they’ve turned their hand to delivering chilled ready meals all over Sussex; hot food delivered in the Brighton area; or click and collect from their Kemp Town restaurant. BN5/BN6 day is Saturday, which is a bit of alright for us. We’ve got our order in for date night this week. Cannot. Wait.

Order your Curry Leaf at Home here!

Here’s the delivery map if you’d like to find out when you can get yours.

Cairo Van

Delicious, aromatic street food from Cairo Van at The Bull is the perfect way to end the week. Their wraps are mmn-hmmmn damn tasty: generous, rammed with flavour, sprinkled with toppings like tahini, chilli, dill yoghurt, fresh pomegranate and coriander verde.

Don’t miss out while they’re stationed at The Bull Thursdays – Sundays. They won’t be there forever, and when they’re gone you’ll have to track them down to get your fix.

For a romantic dinner to share, grab the meal deal for £30. Contents change weekly, generally including a wrap, large falafel salad and lots of sides. Grab a bottle or two from The Bull’s bottle shop and add on puddings from the pub’s own take-away menu. Date night, done.

Fatto A Mano

It’s click and collect if you’re outside Brighton & Hove, but well worth the trip in if you fancy proper pizza. We were impressed by the London Road Fatto A Mano when we went to collect our order recently: ready on time and social distancing measures carefully observed.

Fatto A Mano’s pizzas are exquisitely good for everyone – kids, adults, vegans, anyone who’s gluten-free, dairy-free, classic tomato base fans or white base lovers – they’ve literally got all bases covered.

Add on Scugnizzielli Nutella (deep fried pizza dough strips drizzled with Nutella), tubs of Gelato Gusto ice cream or sorbet, and Italian store cupboard essentials for maximum weekend convenience.

If getting your kids to bed early is off the menu, this is the perfect option for a super relaxed family date night at home. Eat out of boxes, the kids will love it. Best of all, you’ll be left with no washing-up. That’s my kinda night in. Buon appetito!

Rushfields

In the mood for a gastro pub style treat at home? Rushfields award-winning pies are extremely good if you do. A box of 4 pies and a box of veg comes to £27. Delivery is free for orders over £15 to households in a 10 mile radius of Rushfields. Add on a wine or beer box if that’s your kind of thing. Hipster soft drinks for us all the way. Sure you’ll have to whip up some mash and steam some veg, and there will be some washing up. But this is way cheaper than our regular date night meals and the pies are excellent. You’ll be left with loads of fresh produce and a couple of spare pies for the kids’ tea too. You win some, you lose some.

Coal Shed At Home

For the ultimate cook at home treat, head over to the Coal Shed at Home’s website. Dare you not to drool over their Thursday to Sunday delights. We haven’t tried this yet. But it’s on my lockdown list of things to do and pencilled into the diary for next weekend. Thai style smoking pork shoulder, steamed buns, asian slaw, fermented hot sauce, smashed pickled cucumber, sugar snap pea salad with a sharing chocolate pot and smashed honey comb to finish………🤤 Get.In.My.Belly.

There you have it a handpicked selection of great places to get your food for date night at home in and around Brighton & Mid Sussex.

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