Cuisines/Meals that are not economically justifiable to cook yourself

Pho. The recipe is really involved too.

I'd say unless you buy a lot of ethnic ingredients, pretty much anything ethnic is expensive to make. Oddly enough, we keep a ton of Asian ingredients on hand, so when I want to be cheap I make an Asian meat recipe and some vermicelli.

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Probably depends on for how many you are cooking, but for 1 or 2, going out might be about the same.

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I'm getting better about shopping for the week on Sunday to cook every night and forcing myself to eat leftovers every day for lunch, but for a while, cooking at home wasn't cheaper. It is inexpensive now because I have a freezer full of meats and veggies that have built up that I can use, but when you're just starting out, cooking is expensive because you often need to buy every single ingredient in a recipe. Building up your staples and being in a routine where they're regularly restocked can be expensive at the beginning.

Fried for sure. Unless cooking for a decent sized group.

Once you buy the curry paste you can use it for the next couple red curries. So next time you will just need to buy chicken, coconut milk, and vegetables. You'll get more food too. But yeah factoring in time to cook it's probably just easier to get take out

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Thai?
I made a red curry the other night and I think it would have been very close in cost to just do takeout.

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I used to think this. Now that I have found a local source for the paste I like, it's no big deal. Most of the other ingredients can be stored long term. making the paste from scratch? NFW.

Pizza

Usually a lot of ingredients makes it pricey to do at home

Cost of ingredients is never a determining factor for me. Time and techniques (my skills or equipment inadequate) are what deter me from certain meals.

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Pizza

Usually a lot of ingredients makes it pricey to do at home

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Have you tried the Trader Joe's pizza dough? It's super cheap and tasty, then a little sauce, a few toppings, and some fresh mozzarella. Easy and not too expensive... and way better than the cheap places.

I'm kinda surprised by some of the responses in this thread. But I'm the main cook in my household of two, so I have plenty of practice.
--pho: less complicated than, say, gumbo, and easily made in huge quantities that render it quite time & cost effective. In a pressure cooker, 45 minutes will yield 5-6 quarts of pho made w/chicken legs (cheapest chix part). Garnishes aren't expensive, esp if you plant some cilantro and holy basil in a spare corner of flowerbed or big pots.
--thai curry: like a prev poster said, once you buy a jar of paste, it's easily made from standard supermarket ingredients & scalable, as you can use just a little paste at a time. Canned coconut milk doesn't break the bank. See my first point about growing a small herb patch...
--tex-mex: well, that covers lots of ground. Beans and rice are practically the cheapest things you can cook...and a chicken quesadilla,
--pizza: make your own crust (use Jim Lahey's no knead recipe), use canned crushed tomatoes instead of a jarred sauce (they taste better anyway), and the only real expense is decent cheese & meat.

I'll agree with fancy pastry & cakes, as those can be quite difficult to execute in small quantities & the leftovers/surplus aren't easily frozen or repurposed. A single-layer cake recipe can be baked in two 6" layers for a 4-6 serving layer cake....though there is no efficient way to scale down a croissant recipe.

I found tamarind at Calandro's recently... it was with the BBQ sauces.