Comments on: Eating Out Without Breaking Your Budget

By: DDFD at DivorcedDadFrugalDad

DDFD at DivorcedDadFrugalDad — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 02:56:57 +0000

Nice tips. Ice water with a slice of lemon saves me a small fortune.

By: Bradley Jones

Bradley Jones — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 02:25:18 +0000

@kev – That’s just mean.

@post – I’ve always been one to eat out quite a bit. Even grab just a “snack” at the supermarket or gas station every day.

Well, a few months ago I was researching what all I was spending money on because I just could not figure out where all my money was going.

As I’m sure you can see where this is going, I tallied up the amount of money I spent on eating out on a daily basis. My daily total averaged around $8/day. Doesn’t sound like a whole lot does it?

Think about it in a monthly perspective, though. $8/day times 31 days = $248/month. That’s a good chunk of change lost each month. Needless to say, I’ve pretty much cut eating out OUT.

By: Retireby35

Retireby35 — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 00:56:48 +0000

Check check check. Good info, I generally do all of these.

Yelp.com is pretty good in finding good tasting local spots. And I find Chinese food is usually much cheaper than American/Korean/Japanese food.

Also I try to save coupons in one stack so that whenever I get hungry for food, I just rummage through that stack and pick a place to eat.

By: Laura

Laura — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 23:30:56 +0000

If we have dessert we split it, with the exception of tiramisu.

By: MoneyEnergy

MoneyEnergy — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 20:23:30 +0000

I tend not to order any drinks when going out for dinner – water and lemon is just fine (and usually healthier). Ditto on the desserts, save for very, very special occasions – and even then I usually split them.

By: Heather

Heather — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 19:30:17 +0000

I’m just going to come out and say it…splitting a drink that has free refills is not frugal, it’s just cheap, plus a little immoral. I take issue with a store charging me to split a meal with my hubby but I certainly understand them not wanting us to share a drink.

By: Ann

Ann — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 19:12:38 +0000

Breakfast is also a good time to go out, especially on the weekend when you can relax and enjoy that second cup of coffee/tea & read the morning paper.

By: nbjork

nbjork — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 18:54:28 +0000

Many chain restaurants have rewards programs you can sign up for. About once a month we get e-mailed coupons for free entrees, half-price appetizers, etc.. Also, we always sit in the bar area because it is usually first come first serve, and there are usually happy hour deals that only apply to the bar.

By: Arvin

Arvin — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 17:16:35 +0000

We’ve found it worthwhile, after gauging the atmosphere of the place, to split an appetizer as well as split an entree, and oftentimes split a drink. My girlfriend and I oftentimes can’t finish a lot of the large servings, so this saves us time, as well as the waste of packaging for takeout.

Oftentimes my girlfriend and I would arrive at a restaurant, order a full meal to sample the food, and, if we care to go back, but we’d ordered too much, we would say “We learned our lesson, we know how much to order next time.”

Besides, while you save a bit by taking out that food, its cost was probably still more than it would’ve had you made your own food, so skim the money off the bill first by ordering less.

By: Lysle

Lysle — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 17:16:04 +0000

Also avoid the fancy drinks that are little more than juice and tea.

I’d say water is generally good if you really want to be frugal. Some fancy sit down places charge as much as $2.99! for your drink and other than being a bottom less tank of soda only adds to the cost. I’ve always been tempted to take in a 2 liter just to see what people would say.

By: Heather

Heather — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 12:48:06 +0000

Get water to drink!

By: kev

kev — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 12:44:08 +0000

Don’t leave a tip – lol.