How to Save Money When Eating Out

We love food of all kinds. While we enjoy eating at home and making our favorite meals, we love eating out just as much. We have a busy life during the school year with all the kids activities, practices and games. It makes it difficult to eat at home all the time, so we eat out quite a bit. Since eating out is expensive, we try to limit it when we can. When we do choose to eat out, we use various ways to save money. Here are 8 ways we save money when eating out, I hope they help you save money when you eat out.

1. Coupons – a lot of restaurants still distribute paper coupons. We get a free bundle of sales papers that contain coupons in the mail about once a month. They tend to have the coupons for the same restaurants each month, usually pizza places, but occasionally we get some fast food coupons as well.
2. Text deals – some restaurants have daily or weekly specials that they deliver directly to our phones through text. Most of the ones around us have a number displayed on a sign at the location that you text a word to and that signs you up to receive their deals.
3. Apps – some fast food restaurants have apps that you can download to your phone that always have deals available. We have saved a lot of money though these over the last few years. Some restaurants have deals that change daily or weekly, others usually have the same deals available all the time. If you eat at a chain restaurant, check to see if they have an app, it may be well worth your time.
4. Rewards programs – some restaurants have reward programs. Some work on a monetary basis (spend $100, get $10 off your next visit) and others are like a punch card (buy 5, get the next one free).
5.  Savings websites – there are websites where you can buy discounted meals. Groupon, Living Social and Restaurant.com are 3 of the more common ones. These work better in large cities or tourist areas, we don’t find many available around here, but I have been able to grab a few over the years, especially when we are on vacation. Sometime I have purchased a specific item such as buffet and drinks for 4, other times it is strictly a discounted gift card (pay $10 for a $25 gift card).
6. Vouchers – we have a local website that sells half price vouchers to local restaurants. It started out in conjunction with one of the radio stations, every Thursday they would have a new half price hook-up available at 10 am. It was wildly popular and usually sold out within just a few minutes. Now there is a website that sells these vouchers for more than just the one business each week. I pay $25 and receive 5 $10 vouchers. I currently have vouchers for 6 local restaurants.
7. Store specials – many restaurants run their own specials. Some are regular deals such as 2 for $20 where you get a choice of appetizer, and 2 meals for $20 that are available all the time. Others are limited time offers that come and go and are usually replaced on a regular basis. If you are flexible on what you order, then you can save quite a bit of money by purchasing the special that is available at the time.
8. Value books or fundraising cards – there are a lot of books or cards that are sold to help raise money for school clubs or church groups. These are usually inexpensive and have pretty good coupons for a lot of local restaurants, sometimes a buy 1, get 1 free or a free drink with purchase.

I am sure that there are more ways to save money eating out, but these are the ones that we use regularly. Some of these may not be available everywhere, but if you look around, I am sure that you can find a lot of ways to save at your favorite restaurants.

Did I miss anything? Do you have any secret tips? Leave me a comment and let me know how you save money when you eat out.

Here are a couple of other ways that I save money: Meal Planning – My Way and How I Save Money at Kroger.

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