Eating out in our family used to be a requirement of our busy lifestyle. Now that we have become more frugal, eating out expenses are carefully fit into a budget and done only when absolutely necessary or as a splurge or special occasion thing. Oh yes, how I miss fine dining. I would love to be able to eat at some of my favorite mexican or italian places at least once a week. So I did some research, and came up with a list on how to eat out and save some money while doing it. Hopefully, like for us, it saves you a few dollars at least, so you can enjoy that meal, without guilt about the budget.
1.
Order water.
This one I started doing just for health and diet reasons. And
amazingly enough, the food tastes a lot better without all that sugary
soda. Put some lemon wedges in it, and some sugar, and you have
lemonade! Save the glass of wine for when you get home, as the cost of
alcohol on a dining out bill can run as much as an entree!
2.
Order an appetizer, or ask for lunch sized portions.
Most places may not have lunch sized items listed on their dinner menu,
but ask and you may be able to still get the lunch size portion at
dinner.
3.
Share an entree.
Everything is still so super-sized that splitting a meal is usually
enough food for each person. Think you are hungry enough to eat more?
Order your own side salad. This is usually still cheaper than ordering
your own entree.
4.
Eat dinner early
so that you can order off the lunch menu. This is good for health as
well as we all know eating after 8pm when watching your weight is a no
no. The other option if you must eat out is to eat out for lunch instead
of dinner. (Gives you more time to digest!)
5.
Buy an entertainment book or fundraiser card. Schools and group organizations start selling these usually in the fall for fundraising purposes. The benefit goes two ways.
6.
Know the specials/discount days at your favorite places.
Especially when dining out with the whole family. There are a lot of
restaurants in town that offer kids eat free or discounts on the kids
menu on certain nights of the week. Check out
Wichita Family Magazine for a listing of kid friendly specials at restaurants around Wichita.
7.
Coupons.
Check the Sunday coupon section, back of the phone book, or sign up for
emails on the restaurant website. Sometimes just for signing up you get
a great coupon for a visit. Don't forget snail mail, look out for the
bulk mailers with coupons, make a stack and choose your dinner from your
selection. Get familiar with some of the couponing, thrifty Mom
bloggers out there. I like
Money-Saving Mom, Wichita on the Cheap, Thrifty Wifey, and there's tons more. I have also found that websites for news and radio offer some sponsor deals as well. Check out
fetchtoto.com for
a listing of deals all in one place (provided by Wichita on the Cheap),
There are some great deals to be found. Sign up for deal sites like
Groupon, and
Living Social, for 1/2 if not more savings. A lot of locally owned restaurants are now getting in on group deals.
8.
Be open to freebies or deals in unusual places.
My favorite freebie is a local dealership was offering a very nice gift
card to a very expensive restaurant just for test driving a particular
new car. Going through the whole sales spiel, and knowing what our
reward would be at the end, (date night!!) was worth it. No commitment,
and no stress. Just make sure you don't break down and come home with a
new car too. ;)
9.
Avoid restaurants where you have to tip. Rather than being a cheapskate and not tipping enough, just skip these places and save anywhere from 10-20% off your bill.
10. Make your favorite restaurant meals at home.
Allrecipes.com
is my favorite recipe site and there are thousands of recipes on
there. Type in just a few of the ingredients and it will pull up all
that match. You never know, it may actually turn out tasting better than
the restaurant makes it.
11.
Walk out if it doesn't fit the budget or glance at the menu before you sit.
12.
Plan ahead.
If you fall into the trap of having to eat out because of a busy
schedule, plan ahead and make up meals you can freeze and heat. You'll
find that doesn't take any more time than the time it takes to decide,
get there, and order. Check out
makeaheadmeals.blogspot
for 100 recipes that are all for making in advance. Money Saving Mom
posts her menu list each week, and has freezer cooking days where she
shares recipes and menus.
These tips have worked for
our family, hope you can use some of them as well. If you're looking to
save money, and cut back on your household expenses, this is one of the
easier ways to do it.
Let me know, what has your family done to cut back on the eating out bill?
Check out these websites for more tips on saving on dining out:
Sheknows.com, and
Sheknowschef.com,
sources:
moneycrashers.com;
thriftyfun.com, and
ehow.com
