Ways to Save Money When Dining Out

Food is a necessity in order for us to survive. It's the fuel to our bodies, the remedy to a growling stomach, and the reason our day is planned out. But we all know food can be expensive. My wife and I eat breakfast and dinner at home, but I find myself reaching into my wallet everyday during lunchtime to pull out six to seven dollars to pay for my overpriced reuben sandwich. Eating out everyday for lunch is convenient for me being that my home is twenty minutes away from work. Though it's convenient, it still adds up. I'm spending close to forty dollars a week on food, which equals over one hundred per month. But food doesn't have to be so expensive. If you find yourself constantly balancing the checkbook and wondering how you can save then pay close attention. Here are a few ways to go from empty to full on your own personal fuel gauge without breaking the bank.

No tip. No problem.
Living in a coastal town, the economy here is very service driven. There are several great sit down restaurants, cozy cafés, and delicious delis that offer a variety of great lunch items. Keep in mind, this is just lunch. You don't have to eat a great meal every meal of the day. Lunch should be thought of as just a meal to get you by through the day, just enough food to spare you of any embarrassment from co-workers because your stomach is whining like a toddler. The first way to save money is by selecting a restaurant that allows self service. Don't choose a sit down restaurant that requires a waiter. On a seven dollar sandwich and drink choice, you'll spend somewhere around two dollars on tip. If you did this everyday, then you could spend approximately forty dollars extra per month on tip alone. Choose a restaurant like Chick-Fil-A where the tip is out of the question but the food is still filling.

Cash Not Cards.
Whether it's for lunch or dinner, make sure you use cash instead of credit cards. In fact, leave your credit cards at home. They're too tempting and convenient to use. What this does is allows you a budget. If you're stuck with twenty five dollars in cash, then you know that you can't spend any more than that or else you'll be scrubbing dishes at the restaurant. Using a credit card implants the idea in your head that you can afford anything on the menu. If you can physically see the money in your wallet disappearing then it forces you to be wise about ordering food. This point is especially important when going for lunch. If five dollars remains in your wallet, then order a small item. A credit card would allow you to order the eight dollar hoagie that is so tempting, filling your belly for now but emptying your bank account later on.

Desert the dessert.
This point mainly applies for dining out during dinner hours. If you just had a wonderful dinner, don't feel like you have to end the night perfectly by getting an eight dollar scoop of vanilla ice cream with caramel poured over it. You could easily go home and have the same dish, and at the same time eating dessert at home will prevent you from feeling self conscious about getting chocolate sauce all over the edges of your mouth. Make eating dessert at a restaurant a special event, not a normal event.

Ditch the drinks.
This is a tough one. I know this isn't under the "food" category as the title of this article suggests, but I felt it was necessary for me to discuss. I suggest drinking beer or any other alcoholic beverage prior to going out for dinner. You won't feel the need to get to dinner and order a four dollar Sam Adams beer when you could've drunk a six pack of Sammy for five dollars. When you go to a restaurant, use the frame of mind that you're going to pay for something that you couldn't normally do. They're offering you something that you don't want to spend the time or energy on fixing yourself. Alcohol is an exception to this rule. There's absolutely no reason a restaurant can justify simply twisting off a beer cap and marking the price up two dollars on a bottle of beer. If you still want to drink at a restaurant, steer away from the liquor drinks and instead drink domestic beer. Not import beer. Domestic beer.

Brown bag it.
This idea ditches eating out completely. Bring your lunch to work. You can bring a sandwich and a bag of chips to work and get full. Also, bring your drinks to work so that you don't have to spend money on the soda pop machine. If you get tired of making the same ordinary sandwiches and eating them everyday at work, then one trick is take leftovers to work. For instance, most sandwiches at Subway come in either six inch or twelve inch sizes. For the money, it's actually a better and cheaper deal to buy the twelve inch sub sandwich instead of the six inch. Buy the twelve inch, eat half of it and take the other half for lunch the next day. Also, don't be afraid to use coupons.

These are just a few ways that you can save money when dining out. If you're like me, you're always trying to find a way to stop the bleeding in your bank account. By using these few tools you can start saving, not spending.