Here are 5 Tips to Save when Dining Out from The Frugalette:
- Decide how much you will set aside for eating out each month. Budget!
- Decide what to order before you get to the restaurant. Menus can be viewed online.
- Eat before you go and/or order appetizers instead of a full meal. You get the dining out experience without the full price.
- Pay in cash. This will prevent you from ordering extras.
- Have half your meal boxed to-go before it’s brought out. Saves money by giving you two meals in onw AND prevents you from overeating!
Be sure to catch up on all the previous Let’s Save Some Money posts.
I updated The Frugalette’s top 5 with 5 of my own here: http://themarketsquawk.wordpress.com/2012/01/25/eating-out-on-a-budget/
Enjoy! :)
Eating out with a family of 6 at a restaurant can be very expensive, sometimes it’s a necessity especially while traveling. We save money since I don’t give the kids the option to choose what they want to eat. (I don’t give them the option at home so why at the restaurant) I order a few adult plates (since they are over portioned) and ask for a few extra plates, divide up the portions and we all pretty much share it. We save loads on doing that and drinking water.
check out restaurant.com you can get a $25 off a $35 purchase for $2 most of the time..with drinks and tips we usually only pay around $15 and have plenty to take home for lunch the next day…
Yes, definitely water only. Family of four drinks, non-alcoholic are usually $2.79 plus tax and tip! That’s around $13 right there!!!!
We use a lot of these tips to save money while we’re eating in Disney! We don’t use meal plans but use Tables in Wonderland (which also saves 20% off anything we order) at a lot of table service restaurants. When we order appetizers instead of entrees, we can save a lot – and sometimes we discover delicious hidden gems that we wouldn’t have tried otherwise if we had a meal plan that didn’t include appetizers. The few times we want to splurge on dessert we often decide to wait until later… we may find we’re still too full for it, or we’ll find a tasty dessert for cheaper at a bakery or ice cream parlor later on.
I’d consider adding one more thing to this list for any dining out though: sharing. Restaurants (especially here in America) tend to give much larger portions than an individual really needs. I don’t know how many times I’ve seen people get up from a table with half-eaten plates all around. They don’t box it up, and they don’t even think of sharing in the first place… money down the drain! Drives me crazy! My family shares orders all the time!
My hubby and I always order different things, so we can share. And luckily for me, my kids are still little and always share with mom and dad.
Christy, lots of reasons why folks eat out (workday lunches, celebrations, business lunch/dinner, too far from home and the family is hungry, etc.) Big picture is to have a game plan so one doesn’t blow the budget on eating out. One meal out for one person can easliy be the same cost as a family of four eating at least one meal and perhaps the entire day at home. With a bit of planning, eating out can be budget friendly to include convienence meals like a take out pizza.
If you have children, try to eat places where kids eat free. Also check local circulars for coupons and sign up for restaurant emails to possibly get coupons.
Don’t forget to order tap water to drink!
But what if the purpose of eating out is so you don’t have to eat at home? That makes little sense to me.