Tips To Help You Eat Out Less And Save Money When You Do

Americans eat 20% of their meals in mercantile establishments, meaning that on average folks are eating out more than four times per week. If you are among the 50% or so of Americans who eat out that much or more, consider the following tips to cut back on eating out.

1.  Special occasions: save dining out for special occasions.

2.  Buy frozen dinners: many frozen dinners offer the convenience of a meal out at lower prices and with the added benefit that you can do your meal planning for good health. It’s harder to eat healthy in a restaurant; even if the calories are posted, most of the nutritional information continues being lacking.

3.  Learn to make the foods you love to eat: if you find that you don’t enjoy the food you cook at home as much as you enjoy the food you eat out, take a class and learn to cook the food you really love. Most people grow up eating and learning to cook what their parents eat. Countless Americans over the past generation learned to love Mexican food eating out but don’t know how to cook it at home. If you love Mexican food, Indian food, Chinese food, you can learn to cook it at home.

4.  Invest modestly in the kitchen: it would be easy to blow a lot more money on the kitchen than you spend eating out, but buying a few handy items for the kitchen to make food preparation easier and faster could be money well spent. The most used appliance (apart from the fridge) in our kitchen is a $50 mixer that gets used virtually every day. No more smoothies at the mall!

5.  Eat lunch marathon: prepare dishes that can be frozen for future meals on the weekend, then pull them out of the freezer and eat them during the weeks that follow.

6.  Daily deals: sign up for Groupon and LivingSocial to get the daily deals they offer. Be disciplined about it. Purchase only the deals for the places where you’d eat anyway so that you are using coupons to save money, not to try fancy new restaurants.

7.  Check the restaurant web site: if you have a favorite restaurant, check the website for an opportunity to sign up for special deals, coupons, etc.

8.  Water vs. soda: soda you buy in the grocery store may cost as little as 1/10 of the price in a restaurant. Drink soda at home and drink water in a restaurant.

9.  Specials: there are two sorts of specials in restaurants—good ones and bad ones. The nice ones are often regular menu items discounted (the nice ones). The guilty ones are dishes the chef seemed to be nice to try that are often more expensive than other menu options. Watch out for those when you’re dining on a budget.

10. Pass the valet: whenever possible, pass the valet and park your car yourself. Save your money for the food!

By dining out less often and with a keen eye on the budget, you can still make use of the experience without burning so much money each month.