As part of my participation here at Financial Highway, I’m on a mission to figure out how to continue to afford for my family to be able to eat at restaurants while making the experience less expensive. This past weekend was my first attempt. And I think I did okay. Let me know what you think:
Money saving strategy #1: Substitute dinner with lunch.
Every weekend, I menu plan for the upcoming week. I usually plan 5 family dinners, one dinner just for me and my daughter (the husband works 1 night per week) and one restaurant meal. After looking at some recipes and our budget, I decided to do something different. I planned 6 family dinners, forgoing one dinner in a restaurant for a meal at home. However, I substituted a lunch at home (we actually only eat lunch at home on weekends) with restaurant meal. This was a new idea for us since we really enjoy eating lunch at home. Also, whenever we go out to lunch, my daughter wants peanut butter and jelly and I refuse to pay $5+ for something I can make at home for pennies.
Money saving strategy #2: Have a budget
Where we were going to was undecided. It was between a local burger chain (where kids meals are free. Sometimes. It depends on location) or a national chain restaurant that has a location near the mall, where we needed to go anyway. We tried to take a family vote but one temper tantrum later, we wound up at the national chain (California Pizza Kitchen). We had a $30 budget and I made the executive decision that we were not to go over that, including paying the tip. The husband said he would pay extra if necessary. I politely reminded him that if he adds in money, it defeats the purpose of the budget.
Money saving strategy #3: Share food, pay attention to price and adjust accordingly
When we were picking our meals, we paid careful attention to the price. We knew we could not exceed our $30, which made us a lot more strategic in our food choices. My daughter made it very clear that she wanted pizza, so we ordered her the kids’ meal which did include a drink.
That left us with $24.50 for our food and drinks. We agreed that we would both be drinking water—about a $5 savings right there. We also agreed that we would share one of the pizzas and perhaps an appetizer or something from the small cravings menu. By agreeing to share rather than each of us getting our own main dish, we saved about $12. After much deliberating (my husband eats meat and I do not), we settled on the 5 Cheese pizza and the Mediterranean plate, which came to a total of approximately $15.
Of course, at the end of the meal, our server gave us the dessert menu (even though we didn’t ask for it). Of course, we politely declined because it was a) way too early in the day for tiramisu and b )it would have put us over budget.
When the bill came, it was around $20.50. We left $25, including tip, and we were quite pleased with the $5 we still had in our restaurant budget (we budget $50 every two weeks).
Overall, I think our first attempt at employing some money saving strategies went well. Do you agree? Is there anything we could have done differently?
Sounds like you did well! That’s how we eat out most of the time! We don’t even have to discuss it before going in. If I order water, then my husband knows that we’re having water or we won’t be able to eat out at all. 🙂
I like that idea! Makes eat easy and simple.
That should say “makes it simple”. Shows you where my brain is!
Making small changes works well. Have you thought of skipping a week. Make it interesting by having a in home picnic or a short trip with a bagged lunch.
I actually don’t mind going out to eat once a week. I cook at home the other 6 days plus we pack lunch almost every single day. We have a strict restaurant budget that we adhere to so it’s no extra financial strain.
We’ve done at-home picnics and they are fun!
We have a dining out budget that we try to stick quite close to. If we want we can eat out once or twice a month. It seems to work really well.
I agree. Having a budget that we adhere to definitely makes going out to eat a lot more stress-free. By having a budget and sticking to it, it also makes us eat at home more often and we appreciate dining out a lot more.
That is the best way to do it!
Sounds delicious AND regret-free! Way to go!
For us, we try to eat out for dinner as a family maybe two times every 3 weeks. I also try to pack lunch instead of buying at work. This is sometimes difficult for some reason so it is not everyday yet. It still needs some work but I hope to pack lunch 4 out of 5 days.
We pack our lunches for work almost every single day. We each might buy lunch at work twice per month. From what I’ve been told, it does save a ton of money but it’s a habit I’ve had as long as I’ve been working so I have no real comparison figures. I may have to do a little research and see how much money I’ve saved over the years!
It is hard to get into the habit of packing your lunch everyday, but it does save quite a bit of money (unless you can find a dining out deal!)
It’s a good first attempt! Might I suggest checking for a coupon at restaurant.com (with a coupon code!) or an Entertainment book before leaving home next time? You could easily stretch that pizza budget to cover both lunch and the next morning’s breakfast with a little more discount hunting! Cold pizza is such a tasty breakfast. Mmm…
Also, consider skipping kids’ meals altogether if they’re not free. Especially with a meal like pizza, it’s easy to share off the parents’ plate to fill up a little belly. 🙂
Avoid booze or any drink other than tap water.