Many restaurants have mailing lists that they use to distribute news and promotions to customers. Sign up to stay in-the-know.

But if you find the emails are tempting you to eat out more, hit "unsubscribe. To offset the cost, look for more affordable dishes try ones with fruits and veggies that are in season or opt for a smaller portion size if it's available.

As for drinks, water is usually free, whereas soft drinks and alcoholic beverages can quickly add up. If you prefer a glass of wine with your meal, call ahead and ask the restaurant about corkage fees. Even with this fee, it may be more affordable for you to bring your own bottle than to buy one there.

Plan your meals around these offers to take advantage of free appetizers, entrees or desserts. Stay tuned to social media for promotional details. Restaurants like to hear about your experience at their establishment, so if they ask you to complete a survey, take them up on the offer.

Similarly, SurveyMini is a free app that unlocks discounts when you complete questionnaires about restaurants. Don't forget to factor in a tip for your server. For easy ways to incorporate needs and wants into your spending plan, see our advice on how to budget for both.

On a similar note Personal Finance. How to Eat Out on a Budget. Follow the writer. MORE LIKE THIS Personal Finance. Customer Service Profile Open an Account Virtual Assistant Log In Customer Service Profile Open an Account Virtual Assistant Log Out.

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Thanks for you sent email. Key takeaways Dining out is a major expense for many Americans, but there are ways to trim the bill without sacrificing the experience.

Timing is everything for spending less at restaurants. Shifting when you go out to eat by just a little bit could cook up savings. Feed your brain. Fund your future. Subscribe now. Hit up happy hour Saving money might make you happy. BYOB If dinner also involves drinks, see if there are any local restaurants that allow you to bring your own bottle.

Be careful on self-service tablets and apps Self-ordering kiosks and apps might encourage you to order more. Eat at restaurants-in-training Fine dining usually comes with a fine price tag. Join restaurant loyalty programs More than half of US restaurants have loyalty programs that give you rewards, such as free food or drinks, for being a regular customer.

Check out kids-eat-free days Feeding a family can mean a big bill, even if kids order off their own menu with smaller portions and lower prices.

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26 Ways to Save Money Eating Out at Restaurants · 1. Take Advantage of Military or Veteran Discounts · 2. Bring Coupons · 3. Buy Discounted A no eating out challenge is when you stop going to restaurants or ordering take out for a set period of time. You can save a ton of money! Eat at home is the biggest money saver. Take your lunch if you go to work. Treat yourself once a week for a meal $20 or less. You can spend two

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Savings on meals out - 1. Save half of your meal. · 2. Use coupons. · 3. Do a lunch date instead. · 4. Get the birthday discount! · 5. Skip the coffee, tea and soda. · 6 26 Ways to Save Money Eating Out at Restaurants · 1. Take Advantage of Military or Veteran Discounts · 2. Bring Coupons · 3. Buy Discounted A no eating out challenge is when you stop going to restaurants or ordering take out for a set period of time. You can save a ton of money! Eat at home is the biggest money saver. Take your lunch if you go to work. Treat yourself once a week for a meal $20 or less. You can spend two

Pro tip: Want to kick it up a notch? Head out to your favorite bookstore and pick out a cookbook. Then, open up to a random page. If cooking all three meals every single day is a little bit much for your schedule, you can always try intermittent fasting.

Then, you eat more substantial meals during that smaller time frame. This can be helpful if you prefer to eat bigger meals less often, but be sure to do your own research, and always do what is best for your own body.

Think sandwiches, salads and wraps. Meal prepping is when you batch cook a large amount of food in one go and eat it throughout the week. For example, on Sunday evening, you could prepare lunches and dinners for the entire work week, saving you loads of time and usually quite a bit of money too!

If your daily routine is eating out, try to challenge yourself to just reduce the amount of times you go out in every given week. For example, if you usually eat out 5x per week, can you get it down to only 3x?

You get to design your own no eating out challenge — so make the goal realistic. Of course, a no eating out challenge comes with great benefits for your wallet! But it also comes with some serious lifestyle upgrades as well.

Here are just a few reasons why YOU should take this challenge on. No mysteries, no surprises. Many of the offers appearing on this site are from advertisers from which this website receives compensation for being listed here. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site including, for example, the order in which they appear.

These offers do not represent all available deposit, investment, loan or credit products. Your first opportunity to save comes before you even leave the house with a bit of preparatory research. Some restaurants let kids eat free on certain nights.

Others offer day-specific discounts for particular entrees, like taco Tuesdays or prime rib Wednesdays. Others include a free dessert on a particular night or with a specific dinner. If your family has a favorite restaurant, find out if it offers special deals, discounts and offers to frequent customers.

Water will provide the hydration you need, and you can more easily afford your meal. Just like movie theaters offer reduced matinee prices in the daytime when seats are empty, restaurants incentivize dining out when business is slow.

The same goes for happy hours and prix fixe specials that restaurants usually offer in the late afternoon or early evening between peak lunch and dinner. If a shared meal with no appetizers, drinks or desserts in the middle of the day robs you of the pleasure that the experience used to bring, then accept that restaurants are now a rare treat more akin to concerts or ball games.

Budget and save for the moment, and when you have enough cash for all the trimmings and a tip, let your hair down. Spend big and treat it like the special occasion that it is. February 12, Read more. Saving Money.

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Credit Check Credit Build Credit Repair Credit Build Credit Fast. GEN Z: The Future of Finance. Loans Learn Home Loans Student Loans Personal Loans Auto Loans. Get Started Best Student Loan Refinance Options Best Personal Loans Best Auto Loans. Many restaurants offer discounted Gift Certificates at Restaurant.

com as part of their marketing programs. Group buying sites like Groupon and LivingSocial let you in on huge group discounts! Before buying, take time to understand the terms and conditions of the offer, plus the time frame in which the coupon must be redeemed.

Read the fine print first. Raise is a site that resells gift cards at a discounted rate where you can find gift cards for just about any store or restaurant, available to use almost immediately. You will never pay face value or any fee for gift cards at Raise.

And as a bonus, when you buy a Gift Card at Raise, you get Rakuten cashback, provided you have set up an account. Many restaurants save their most amazing deals for this category on the menu. Often these discounts are not advertised. Go ahead and order the large portion or dinner special, with the plan in mind to take home half of it for another meal.

Then you can put the to-go portion in the box immediately before eating. Go early and grab all the Happy Hour specials in the pre-dinner time slot, which in many restaurants are not just on drinks.

Coordinate eating out with your Birthday. FortunatelyLots of restaurants now offer special discounts and even freebies when you come in on your Birthday! Find discounts and coupons for more than establishments at Hey! EverydayCheapskate is reader supported.

If you click through some links in this post and make a purchase, we may receive a small commission at no additional cost to you. Caught yourself reading all the way 'til the end?

Why not share with a friend. We have Metro Dining Club cards. They get more expensive every year, but our favorite pizza restaurant has a card, so once a month we get half price pizza that we love. There is also a card for half price car washes, and a few other restaurants we enjoy.

Hi Mary, My husband is a veteran. Black Friday is a great day to buy gift cards online. I got great deals at six or seven places that I eat at regularly.

Beware of tipping. I ended up tipping twice. I called the restaurant and was told tip is included with a party of 6 or more people. I AM a light eater and I will vouch for the appetizer menu. Figure it all in. I was once on vacation with my family and the wife and kids wanted a soda with dinner.

I had a cooler full all day in the car and they went untouched. I explained for the cost of our 4 sodas at the restaurant, we could have bought 32 24 oz bottles of the same soda at the supermarket.

Not necessarily. I visited a restaurant with a full salad bar, just today. Things are getting back to normal in many areas of the country. Mary, thanks so much for your sound reply regarding salad bars and buffets! I have tried finding myPizza hut buffet near me; I loved going there because I can try different pizza toppings without having to buy an entire pizza as well as get my salad with the buffet at the same price.

The ones near me that I used to go to said they stopped serving because of Covid. They no longer serve salad as well. The advice is well received but the comments on buffets had to be before COVID They hardly exist at this date, if at all. I found some parts of the country virtually ignored any Covid precautions and those buffets stayed open.

I have family all over and was surprised at the differences. Please note this is a comment on my personal experiences only and not a judgement. I sign up for their rewards and get coupons and free food on my birthday.

I do surveys and use free gift cards to go out to eat a few times a year. Eating out is a treat so we do it for birthdays mostly unless there is free food in the apps. Download the apps to get free food too.