Modest splurge on meals out

[WiseOwl]

We are doing everything we can to save money right now. I love to cook and have always done so from scratch, which is always best. You get much higher quality food, nutrition wise, by doing so.

However, we do like to eat out, occassionally. And when we do, we have switched from an occassional dinner out to that of lunch. The lunch menus are usually a much better value. Try and choose smaller family owned restaurant. Not only is the food better, it is a much better value. (We like Indian, and Italian). Besides, it's always nice to suppot a smaller business.

Occassionally, if we do want dinner, we get it to go and usually end up with very generous portions over what you get when you eat in. Since we usually patronize the same restaurants (we have two favorites), we are regulars, and that is always appreciated by the owners.

Have fun!

[yournontoxiclife]

more ideas on saving money eating out

To save money while eating out, I also like doing breakfast or asking for the breakfast menu at lunchtime. The omelet and skillet entrees are huge and reasonably priced. We usually get an extra meal out of it.

In addition, less expensive places like Denny's sometimes have buy-one-entree-get-one-free coupons, which allows for a sit down meal at a fraction of the typical cost.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

I do take out to save on tipping. Also it gets me the entree I want and often I combine it with stuff I make at home.

[tzsgti]

Lunch menu is the best idea. One place i used to like going to was really expenisve. We are talking wine, desert, main, side and appt for about 75 a person. I went thier for lunch and they had a stake sandwich for 15 including a side. Now thats not cheap but it was a full meal and if you drink water you can have a fancy lucnh with a client, co worker or business meeting for under 20 bucks including tips.

[Walt_Pennsyl]

Yeah lunch instead of dinner can save you some serious $$$. Makes a much bigger difference than you'd first think.

[persnicketyhousewife]

What if you don't have time during the workday to go to lunch? I don't like having a rushed meal if it's my meal out. I suggest planning your meals for the week so you can budget how much you spend. If you cook at home most nights, and then you have a larger budget for going out, you can splurge. Also we plan around special events (holidays, birthdays) so that we know when we're going to spend more than usual going out to eat.

[wilddeuce]

Time to use Groupon, livingsocial, Amazon Local, Google

Ok, living in NYC has its disadvantages, but also great perks. In NYC, there are many great restaurants. Going out for a meal in NYC is quite easy to spend close to $100 for two. Groupons, Livinsocial, Amazon Local, Google Local now constantly offer meal deals. We found these discounts, on avg, saved us about 30% of what we would have spent. Most recently we spent $35 on Groupon for one appetizer, 2 drinks (wine), 2 entrees (we ordered filet mignons). We left $20 for tips and tax. Total cost was $55. Without the Groupon, it's $20 more.

In the past two years, we've gone out to eat more, but we spent about the same.

In case anyone feel embarrassed about using these deals, don't. In NYC, it's actually kind of "trendy" to use these. In fact, most of the discounts offered are by trendy bars, restaurants. They know the younger/trendy crowd use smartphone, and this is a good way to draw them in.