Frugal eating can save you more money than you may realize. Lets face it, we all love to eat meals out but who wants the premium price tag that accompanies it? Imagine making your otherwise expensive night on the town almost as cheap as eating at home. Well great news, that can be easily done.

Most people seldom to consider the possibilities that come with some minor forward planning. Planning can be as simple as checking for local restaurant deals, finding affordable places you’ve thus far overlooked, or consider having a picnic or attending a local festival/event.

Food Trucks

Many food truck owners have little overhead cost. This enables them to reduce the markup on their food, something that we’ve come to expect out of most restaurants these days. Things like roaminghunger.com are a great way to find food trucks in the area.

Local Events and Festivals

Nearby restaurants often participate in local festivals to promote themselves. The benefit for you is that they greatly discount their prices to also showcase how good their food is. Live entertainment also tends to be present at these events so you can make a experience out of it.

Places like Eventful.com can be a great resource for finding events in your area.

Promotions

Restaurants and diners often hold promotions. Such as, grand openings, holiday discounts, ladies nights, local groupon deals, and even customer rewards programs. Larger chain restaurants even offer discounts for using their official app.

Daily, lunch or dinner specials are often offered at many restaurants. Calling ahead could give you a better idea of what their deals are and how much they cost.

Picnic

Even though picnics technically fall outside of the realm of ‘dining out’ they are still a great option. This is the ideal frugal eating solution as the cost of a picnic is only the food you bring from home. Not to mention with places like parks and beaches to picnic at you’ll have a scenic view with a homemade meal!

Utilize Smartphone Apps

There are hundreds of amazing apps out there are centered around finding you the best food deals. Apps like Yelp, Trip Advisor, Foursquare, and Zomato are some of the more popular dinning apps out there. Not only do these apps showcase affordable dining options but also allow you to read reviews from other diners. Even if you’re looking to be more frugal with your meals there is no reason why you should spend money on subpar services.

Splitting Costs

Ideally when eating out in a large group of people you could split dinner expenses up between everyone. Its obviously much easier to afford a nice meal if everyone pays for themselves. Understandably, you may only want to do this in certain social settings and with people you are truly comfortable with. Of-course you may have to flip a coin to see who leaves the tip!

Alternate who pays

This is going in the complete opposite direction of splitting costs. If you were to have weekly or monthly meals with people you could consider rotating who pays. This would allow you to plan further in advance for when its your turn. Not to mention also alleviating the burden of putting money aside as frequently.

Order Appetizers

Many restaurants serve appetizers that are every bit as filling as their full priced meals. This is where apps like Yelp can give you a first hand account of how large the meal proportions are beforehand. Also consider splitting multiple appetizers among people you’re eating with. You end up splitting the cost and having a more diverse meal.

How to make Frugal Eating work

When you try frugal eating you’ll see for yourself how effectively it can be applied to most dining situations.

For example, imagine you have friends flying into town at the end of the week. You anticipate that with your shoestring budget the only night out on the town would be the ride home from the airport. Well that doesn’t need to be the case.

Many people who are frugal tend to cut dining out from their budget all together. There is no denying that cutting it would save money but the point of dining out is more than just filling your stomach. Eating out is a social experience that should be appreciated

Being frugal is more than just cutting your budget but also about thinking outside of the box. Identifying where and when you can save and setting goals to accomplish savings is fundamental to frugal living.