How to Eat out for Less

Eating out in our family used to be a requirement of our busy lifestyle. Now that we have become  a frugal family, and have more mouths to feed, eating out expenses are carefully fit into a budget and done only when absolutely necessary or as a splurge or special occasions. 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. But the big picture of the other great activities and purchases we can make instead of spending it all on restaurants is worth it!

Here are my own personal tips on how to eat out for less. Hopefully, like for us, it saves you a few dollars at least, so you can enjoy your 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 two people. Think you are hungry enough to eat more? Order your own side salad.  This is usually still cheaper than ordering your own entree. This also works really well with my older tween kids that are too hungry for a kids meal but can't yet eat their own adult meal.

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.  Ask around or check the facebook pages of your favorite restaurants for specials, promotions, and kids-eat-free nights. I have found that Wednesday's are a popular night for deals.

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 was 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. Our busy nights usually turn into our left over nights, or sandwich nights or grab and eat it nights.  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,