Dining out can put a strain on a budget, especially if you do it more than 4 times a month.
A lot of people like to dine out because they want a break from cooking and want to have dinner that they don’t make all that well, and they simply enjoy the dining out experience.
However, because it can be costly, especially since the restaurant item prices keep increasing each year due to inflation, people are not dining out as often and are sticking to meal kits of readymade dinners from the supermarket which are a lot cheaper.
Even though you don’t want to stop dining out due to the cost, there are ways to dine out more often when you are on a budget. These 5 tactics will not cause you to burn a hole in your wallet!
1. Look For Special Offers And Save Vouchers
You will get flyers in the mail that include dining out vouchers or coupons where you can buy one restaurant item and get another one for free, or provide other offers. The more you take advantage of these, the more you will save and that means you can potentially dine out a lot more often if you keep using these vouchers. You can also join sites such as Groupon to find what kind of specials you can get.
2. Order One Entry And Split It
Restaurant entries are usually quite large, and you can easily order one item and split it with who you are dining out with. That will save you cost as well as calories as many restaurant items can be quite high in calories. That is a double win!
3. Don’t Order Appetizers Or Drinks
Drinks are expensive and so are appetizers. If you don’t want to split the entry with who you are dining out with then this is the next best tactic to utilize. This means to eat a snack before you dine out so you are not too hungry and stick to drinking water as there is no charge for that.
4. Dine Out At A Certain Time
If you want to eat out at a particular restaurant, then you will want to see if they offer specials at certain times of the day or even on certain days of the week. For instance, if there is a restaurant that holds a steak special that goes on from 4 to 7 pm on only Tuesdays, then you will want to go dine out there on Tuesdays (if you like steak), but even if not, there are likely specials that your favorite restaurant offers at different times and days of the week. Take advantage of those.
5. Get Cashback Dining Out Rewards
If you apply to get a debit or credit card, then if dining out is your thing, find out which cards offer to dine out cashback rewards and apply to those. You can also get rewards from the restaurant itself meaning that the more times it is stamped after eating there, you can be rewarded for a free meal.
Those are the tips to utilize to save while dining out. If you have other ideas for dining out on a budget, please share!
