When the going gets tough and the budget gets tighter, do the tough keep going out to eat? You can stay on budget and still eat out, making every 5 or 10 dollar bill count by keeping the following rules in mind. Order "Take Out" to Save Money When you order your food "to go" instead of eating in the restaurant, you save the cost of drinks, the tip, and maybe even dessert. Say you are going to a moderately priced popular restaurant chain. Not ordering drinks will save you about $2.50 a person and not ordering an alcohol-type drink will save you about $5 or more per drink. Not ordering one dessert will save you $5 to $7. And by avoiding paying a tip, you save an average of 15%. For example, if you order four dinner entrees as "take out" totaling $40 instead of eating in the restaurant, you could potentially save the: Tip = $6 on the $40 tab Drinks = $10 for nonalcoholic drinks for four (would be more with alcohol) Dessert = $10 for two desserts that the table shares For a total potential savings of $26. Check Your Sunday Newspaper for Extra Savings Sometimes local restaurant chains offer special coupons in the Sunday paper. The Sizzler restaurant chain, for example, recently offered a few coupons in Northern California: * A $9.99 "Create You own Combo" that includes your choice of two entree items and a baked potato * A $8.99 "Complete Burger Lunch" includes salad bar and a drink * A $9.99 "Complete Steak Lunch" includes salad bar and a drink Join Restaurant Email Clubs Most of the restaurant chains with web sites offer an email club. Each club has a slightly different name and list of benefits, but each usually offers some sort of sign-up incentive (a coupon or two) plus a little surprise when your birthday rolls around (a coupon). It's a "win-win" situation: The restaurant wins because the coupon brings you into the restaurant, and you win because you are getting a discount. 2 Meals for the Price of 1 Get two meals for the price of one by taking home half of your big restaurant meal. You can even ask your server to only serve you half on the plate and package the other half in a take-out container. This technique works especially well for restaurants that are notorious for serving mammoth-sized meals. The meal may cost you $13.95 or $16.95, but since it's serving as two meals, it's really costing $6.98 or $8.48 per meal. "Do" Lunch or Make It an Early Dinner to Catch the Lunch Prices Beat the long dinner lines and catch the lower lunch prices by eating an early dinner. You can also enjoy the lower prices by visiting your favorite restaurants around the lunch hour. Most restaurants stop serving the lunch entrees or offering the lower lunch prices around 5 p.m. You can get there around 4:30 or 4:45 and still order off of the lunch menu. Until 5 p.m., The Cheesecake Factory restaurants offer lunch specials ranging from $7.95 to $12.95 that generally include smaller portions of some of their favorite menu items like factory meatloaf, beer battered fish & chips, orange chicken, or chicken piccata. Make Every Side Count If your meal comes with a side dish and you really don't want it at that moment, choose something that you know you can take home and use later. This might be a baked potato (use it for a breakfast skillet meal the next morning or as a baked potato lunch -- add some cheese and shredded chicken, beans, or broccoli). At a Chinese restaurant, you might go home with an entire container of steamed rice. You can use this to make soup or vegetarian fried rice the next day. If your lunch comes with a green salad that you don't have room for, take it home and make a nice entree salad later that day. Today's Meat Is Tomorrow's Sandwich Have you ever ordered a steak or a roasted chicken dinner and were amazed at the amount of meat staring at you when they slid the plate in front of you? Often meat entrees total 10 ounces or more when most of us only want or need to eat around 4 ounces. Look at the size of your hand, not including the fingers. That's a sensible serving of meat for most adults. Anything more than that can be taken home and shredded or sliced to make a sandwich or entrée salad the next day. Add your leftover meat to enhance pasta or pizza dishes, baked potatoes, stews, or casseroles. Order From the Kids Menu Ordering from the kids menu (as a grown-up) can be a great way to get the most from your $5 bill if you are a modest eater or want to be a modest eater. The kid meals end up giving you, in my opinion, just the right amount of food. They usually come with a small drink, and if you've been extra nice to your waiter/waitress, they may even come with a mini dessert. What could be more perfect! Some restaurants charge a dollar more if you are ordering from the "kids" menu and you are clearly not a kid. That's fine with me because it's usually still a great deal. Senior Savings Add Up If you are at least 60 years young, many restaurants offer you a discount on your food purchase. It's usually about 15%, and this can save you $3 on a $20 food bill. Look around your town and find out which restaurants offer senior discounts. Every little bit helps. A Few Bites of Dessert Is All You Need If people at your table or at home would all love to try a new dessert, you can order one dessert to share instead of ordering one dessert per person. Have you noticed that even at reasonably priced restaurants the desserts seem to be shockingly expensive? A few desserts and your tab just went up about $18 ($6 each for three desserts) not including the increase in tip. The Molten Chocolate Cake or the Chocolate Chip Paradise Pie at Chili's restaurants each add about $5.99. One slice of cheesecake from a Cheesecake Factory restaurant costs about $7, so buying one slice instead of three will save you about $14 (not to mention an obscene amount of calories.)
lol its time to Save, coz i always Pig Out at maccas lol, eat too much and etc , i mean why eat 2 big macs when i can have 1 big mac and 1 cheeseburger ^^ btw these should work, like ordering from kiddies menu, lol i wonder why i always get a slice of free cake when i go to this particular asian food place ^6
rofl, i use to pig out at maccas, however i moved on to resturuants - - i feel the pain but it feel much better eating out XD
but eating out cheap doesnt mean ur eating healthily... why not just go buy a few ingredients an cook a healthy meal at home? though..obviously u can choose what to eat an what not to eat...
coz we're lazy, i mean why have homemade pasta which takes u 1 hour to make, when u can have a cheeseburger which is cheap, fast and easy .
lol its not like any of us asians dont already do this.... my parents made me do this when i was 7, but it does help when your budget gets a little tight though
if ur gonna get take away, u'd only go to cheapo fast food neway anything decent, by the time u get it home its all cold if ur gonna heat it up, ur ruining the good food neway all that effort, mite as well cook ur self~ plus ur not exactly "eating out" tips aren't compulsory neway... plus wen u go out to get ur take out, u gotta take into account all ur travel assocaited costs
Here is a cheap lunch tip: McDonald's has a $1 menu. Order a side salad, which is small, and the 4 piece chicken nuggets. Cut the nuggets into small pieces. All for only $2! The salad is only 20 calories and the nuggets are l70. The least calorie dressings are: (if you used the entire package.) Low fat Italian is 50 calories, Low fat Balsamic is 40 calories and Ranch is 170 calories. Then if you are a "senior". you get a "senior" drink for 49 cents with refills. It's a great day if I learned something new! too bad there is no dollar menu in Aussie
^ lol that is why mcd's has been a good place to fill up for cheap prices.... two double cheeseburgers and a McChicken for 3.15 after tax LOL
we got the pound menu....so we can get like cheeseburgers,etc for a pound or under at MacD's ^^ so..we dont hav to get a meal for like £3 - £4..... we get 2 apple pies for like £1 too :eat:
thanks, this might actualy help when i start uni next week, but i think il stick to the pot noodle, let say 69p a pack, just add boiled water, a meal for less than a quid
