How Often Should You Eat Out While on a Budget?

If you asked five people how often you should eat out while living on a budget, you’d get five different answers. Why? Because it really depends upon each person’s budget priorities, which are based on their personal and financial goals.

Notice I didn’t say it depends upon a person’s income.

Because it really doesn’t matter whether you make minimum wage and struggle to make ends meet or if you earn a million dollars a year.

It’s not about what you make, but about what you want to spend and how much you want to keep, that matters.

Eating out, like anything else, is a choice. And the more you spend on dining out, the less you have available to spend in other areas, and the less you can keep.

How Much Should You Budget for Eating Out?

Dining out is something we all do from time to time. Sometimes we grab a quick bite at a restaurant for the sake of convenience. Other times it is to get together with friends or family. Sometimes we celebrate a special occasion like an anniversary or birthday. Other times we do it for a date night or “just because.”

Eating out (along with other entertainment expenses) is one budget category where it is very easy to overspend. And it is also one of the first areas to cut back on or eliminate when people need to tighten up their budgets.

The key to controlling your expenditures for dining out, while still enjoying yourself, is to decide in advance how much you want to spend each month.

I think there are basically two ways to look at it:

1. Decide how often you want to go out, then calculate how much you’ll need to budget for in order to make that happen. If you want to eat out three times a month and your average meal price is $30 then you’ll want to budget $90 a month.
2. Decide how much money you can allocate for eating out based on all of your other spending priorities and then calculate how often you’ll be able to go out given the amount of money you have. If all you’ve got for dining out is $40, and your average meal price is $30, then you can only go out once at that price (with some money left over for a dessert later in the month, or carry it forward to the next month) or you’ll have to get creative and find ways to stretch that money and get more out of it.

8 Ways to Save Money while Eating Out

Here are eight tips to help you live large (but hopefully not get larger) when you go to eat out on a budget:

1. Make it a game to see how little you can spend and still have a lot of fun.

Get creative and brainstorm ways you can make a dollar stretch. Our family shops a lot at Costco, so we’ll often go there on a Saturday and eat a lot of the free samples they give away. Then if we’re still hungry, we’ll buy a pizza for under $10 or a couple of hot dogs. This is not fine dining by any means, but it is one of the cheapest ways of feeding our family of seven!

2. If you want to enjoy the experience of eating at higher priced restaurants, order off the appetizer menu instead of getting an entree.

Many restaurants offer a wide selection of appetizers, and some can be meals in themselves. You can enjoy the experience of eating out by ordering appetizers instead of entrees.

3. Stay on the look-out for coupons and special offers from Groupon, Living Social, etc.

You can save a lot of money if you keep your eyes open for special deals and offers that are available online and in the newspaper or magazines. For example, a local magazine in our city features a buy-one-get-one deal at a different restaurant each month.

You can also shop through Ebates (see review) at Groupon and Living Social for even more savings!

4. Just drink the water.

Soft drinks and other beverages can really add to the cost of eating out. So unless a beverage really makes the meal at the restaurant you’re going to, just drink the water and save yourself some money.

5. Share an entree.

From time to time, my wife and I will share an entree. In those situations, we’ll usually pick an appetizer or two to share, share one entree, and then share a dessert. We’ve discovered that some meals are worth sharing and others aren’t, so we’ll ask the server for information about the portion sizes of the meals we’re considering ordering. Some restaurants charge a “plate charge” of a buck or two if you want to split a meal, but most don’t.

6. Go for lunch, the early bird special, or the day of the week deal.

Many restaurants offer lunch menu pricing that is up to half off the dinner menu price. This is a great way to eat out at a more expensive restaurant so you can enjoy the experience at a more affordable price. Some offer early bird specials if you arrive before 6:00pm, so you can beat the rush and save money. One of my favorite restaurants offers a special buy one get one steak meal, but it’s on Wednesdays only.

7. Fill up on the free starters and bring your meal home.

Years ago my wife would get together for some friends for lunch at an Olive Garden restaurant. They ordered their entrees but found that they got filled up on the free salad and bread sticks their server brought them while waiting for their meals to arrive. So they brought their entrees home to eat for dinner that night or lunch the next day. They decided to do this each time they went to Olive Garden, and were able to get two meals for the price of one.

8. Buy gift cards that give back.

One of my new favorite ways to save on eating out is to buy gift cards from restaurants that give you a kickback reward. One restaurant in my community gives you $10 for every $30 you spend on gift cards. We just ate at Ruby Tuesday last week and I noticed that they’re giving you $15 if you spend $50 on gift cards through the holidays.

So if you’re planning on buying gift cards for someone this Christmas, you may as well buy from a place that’ll give you money back. And even if you don’t need to buy them for someone else, it might make sense to buy some for yourself in order to get the bonus, so long as you plan to use them.

Be sure to check the terms and conditions of each offer, because some rewards are good only on certain days of the week and others are valid only after the new year.

What are your favorite ways to stretch your dollars while eating out on a budget?