Saving Money When Eating Out

“Why does Sea World have a seafood restaurant?? I'm halfway through my fish burger and I realize, Oh my....I could be eating a slow learner.” - Lynda Montgomery

On http://www.wisebread.com/ the article Five More Tips For Eating In Restaurants And Sticking To A Budget and the comments that follow suggest these ideas to save money:

1. Eat Early – You get more value for your money at Breakfast and Lunch. We have local places where the price of a hamburger goes up $5 on the dinner menu.
2. Look for places serving breakfast & lunch all day long - At many diners you can get a giant breakfast for under $10 any time of the day. Hamburger & sandwich deluxe platters should also be under $10.
3. Don’t stuff yourself - If you do go out for dinner, immediately set aside half the plate for takeout so you’re not tempted to eat it. You’ll get two meals or more this way. (Most Dinner portion sizes are way too big to be healthy). When I order a meal special that includes a “free” desert I order my desert as takeout in a doggy bag.
4. Share – Order the dinner special with soup, salad, etc. and share it with your spouse. Watch out for sharing fees! When we share my wife will order a token item like a bowl of soup or small salad for her “meal” since she is dieting.
5. Order take out – Another way to avoid a sharing fee is to order the food to go. You may find that two main courses can be shared at home to feed an entire family.
6. Order an Appetizer as your meal – Just yesterday I ordered Peking style noodles (an appetizer) and a small soup as my lunch. It was way too much food so I have leftovers for a second lunch. Be careful here. Some appetizers are disappointingly small and not a meal bargain (like bruschetta).
7. Order the kid’s meal – this one is tricky as many places do have a age limit or restrict takeout of kids meals. But if there is no restriction, you might be quite satisfied with the child’s portion size.
8. Watch out for Beverage prices – my wife and drink just water with lemon when we eat out. The price of soda can be $2 or more a glass and alcohol even higher.
9. Skip dessert – Why pay $6 or $8 for a slice of pie when you can buy a whole price for the same price? Go out for ice cream instead or buy a pie to eat at home.
10. Use Coupons – we get restaurant coupons in the mail, in the newspaper, online, etc. The best are buy one get one meal free.

Bottom Line

I love to eat out and it is not cheap. When I was unemployed over the summer, we made a rule of no meals out. And yet we did not suffer. Buy a good steak and a whole pie at the grocery and you can have a meal almost as good as eating out but at a ½ to ¼ of the cost.
Also consider why are you eating out?

• Too tired/busy to cook? – Make large batches of pasta/lasagna on the weekend and freeze it in meal size portions for a quick microwave dinner when in a rush.
• You like to socialize by eating out – Try dinner parties at home
• Are you a bad cook? – take cooking classes. Ask a friend to teach you some recipes. Anyone can make mac & cheese at home!
• For the variety – when I eat out I like to order foods I would not make at home because they are too complex or too lengthy to prepare. Why order something that you can make (perhaps better?)