If you are like most people, then you absolutely enjoy eating out. This is normal; people don’t like to cook and would rather have their choice of anything that the restaurant has to offer. Now, it doesn’t matter if you are going to eat out at a fancy restaurant or a fast food establishment, there are some good ways to save money.
Before you rush out to your favorite place to eat, make sure you understand that eating out is not a good use of money. If you can cook at home as opposed to eating out, then you will be able to save a substantial amount of money. I know that most people won’t eat at home all the time and that is why I have a few solutions for you as to how you can save money.
Money-Saving Tips When You Eat Out
Cook Partial Meals – How many times have you gone to McDonalds? I ask because a lot of people go there at least once a week and spend way too much money. What I suggest is that you cook part of the meal. For example, buy a bag of fries from the store and cook them yourself. Since most people go to McDonalds for the hamburgers anyway, it will be beneficial to you to cook the fries and buy the drinks yourself. Just don’t make the mistake of buying everything there because doing this can cost you a lot more money than cooking some of the meal at home.
Order Family Meals – Another tip that I have for you is to only order family meals. By ordering family meals you will be able to save some of it for the next day. I know that you probably don’t want to eat day old food but the trick to locking in the flavor is to put it in the freezer until you are ready to eat it and then place it in the oven, not the microwave. By doing this you will buy one meal but have enough for two or three.
Choose Sides – This tip is very simple, just choose sides as opposed to meals. Did you know that restaurants will charge you as much as 400% for the price of side dishes? For instance, if you order a steak and get a baked potato and corn you will pay almost as much for that as you really are for the steak. It is because of this that you should buy sides as opposed to always buying full meals.
These are some of the best ways to save money and still be able to eat out. Just know that if you would rather eat out than cook at home, then you will be spending more money than you really need to, however, there are ways around the huge expense that you will have. Trust me, use the methods that I listed above each time you eat out and you will see how much more money you have each week.
1 Comment
You’re absolutely right about the side dishes at the fast food joints. They’re a huge rip off. I remember a certain burger place charging 99 cents for a burger and 40 cents extra just for a slice of cheese on the burger. Those sides are how they really rob you!
A strategy that I like to use is ‘eating before you eat’. I started doing this about 4 years ago when I weighed over 300 pounds just to make myself less hungry when faced with the temptations associated with eating out. It’s a really good money saving tip as well. Have a little snack right before you go out to eat. You won’t be as hungry when you arrive at the restaurant so you’ll end up spending less money.