* Kid's could share an adult meal. Sometimes it works out cheaper to order an adult meal for two children instead of two children's meals. Just ask for an extra plate to divide the meal. An added bonus is the healthier options on offer for main meals. You know what I'm talking about. Children's menus are loaded with chip, nuggets and more chips.
* Ask for a jug of water with your meal. Soft drinks and alcohol add so much to the bill total. Quite often the soft drink on offer is mixed soda water and syrup. Save your money and drink healthy.
* Look for the " kids eat free " nights. This might be earlier in the week when restaurants are hoping to entice customers in.
* Sign up to loyalty cards. If you are a frequent diner, see if your restaurant of choice offers these discount cards. You may as well save a few dollars along the way.
* Eat a small snack before you dine out. A couple of dry biscuits and cheese at home will be far cheaper than ordering garlic bread for everyone at the restaurant.
* Eat out at lunch time and order from the lunch menu. Quite often lunch menus offer cheaper / smaller meals. You'll still get the same enjoyment of eating out but saving lots of dollars.
* Watch out for the added extras when ordering your meals. Wait staff might ask if you'd like cheesy sauce, dressings, flavoured butters or avocado etc, etc with your meal. Always ask if it costs extra for these items.
* Share dessert if you're still hungry. Even better, have your dessert at home. I'm sure you have a tub of icecream in the freezer just begging to be eaten.
* Little children generally don't eat much. Have a think about it. How many empty kids plates do you see in restaurants ? Probably zero. Ask for an extra plate and give them some food off yours.
* Check the back of your shopping dockets for discount meal coupons. Just make sure you read the fine print.
* When dining in a large group, ask the wait staff if they do separate bills. There's nothing worse than paying for other people's food.
Dear Wendy, when Husband and I first met, we made excellent use of the coupons on the reverse side of the register dockets. We had some lovely meals for really not much more than we might have spent on ingredients trying to impress each other...lol! These are great tips. We love eating out, but find that the service these days is pretty disappointing. So mostly we stay home, and keep our money in our own pockets rather than lining someone elses. It's the curse of being good home cooks, I guess :) Mimi xxx
ReplyDelete