3 Easy Ways To Save at Restaurants in Less Than 5 Minutes

Admit it, you don’t like to cook.

And really, I don’t blame you.

Whether you NEVER want to cook because you just don’t enjoy it, or you occasionally find yourself completely unmotivated to even think about dinner, you’re not alone.

{If you DO cook at home pretty frequently, here’s a quick tip that saved me $1,400/year}

Studies have found that the average American eats out 18 times a month, and with a relatively inexpensive commercially-prepared meal costing about $10, a family of 4 would cost themselves (and their budget) $720 a month.

Alone, that may not sound like much, but with the average credit card debt hovering right around $15,000, think about how much of that debt could have been avoided had these families not eaten out, or at least found some strategic ways to save on their restaurant meals.

So, even if you could save half the cost of your meals each month and sock away an extra $4,320 that you DIDN’T spend on eating out, what would you do with it?

Some people use the excuse that they don’t have time to work on saving money, which is one of the reasons they’re eating out in the first place, but I have to tell you that you can save at restaurants in less than 5 minutes. These 3 tips are super easy and will save you money no matter how much time or energy you have.

Use Restaurant.com

I often find myself way under-utilizing this site, and I don’t know why! Amazing savings + instant delivery makes this site one of the simplest and most impactful ways to save money at restaurants.

Sign at Restaurant.com up for free here, then input your zipcode (or the zipcode you wish to dine in). Choose the restaurant you plan to dine at, as well as the denomination of the gift certificate. Most frequently, Restaurant.com offers $25 Restaurant Certificates for $10, or $50 gift cards for $15, but using coupon codes will help get the cost down to $4 for $25.

When you use your gift card, make sure to read the fine print. Often, the $25 gift cards come with a $35 minimum spend requirement, but spending only $4 + tip for a $35 meal isn’t a bad way to spend and evening!

{Need to find some more savings to subsidize your eating out habit? Check these out}

Living Social and Groupon

Want to try somewhere new and hip and live near a big city? A discount site like Living Social or Groupon could be a good alternative to take it easy on your wallet.

A couple of deals currently running in St. Louis:

$29.99 for $60 worth of food from a Gourmet Cajun Restaurant, $15 for $32 to spend at St. Louis Pizza and Wings, or $17 for $30 worth of food from House of Wong. Pretty good deals from Living Social!

By comparison, Groupon currently has these types of offers: $16 for $30 worth of sushi from Wasabi Sushi Bar, $36 for $80 of Japanese Far at Mizu Sushi Bar, and $8 for $20 of food from St. Louis Italian Restaurant and Pizza Company.

Offers, discounts, and restaurants vary by locale, but in general if you take a few minutes before heading out to find food, you can almost always find steep discounts at fun, hip restaurants.

Plus, you get bonus points if you earn Swagubucks back on your Living Social or Groupon purchase. Right now, Living Social is offering 4SB back per dollar spent, and Goupon is offering 7SB back per dollar spent. For example, if you spent $30 on an offer from Groupon, you would receive 210 Swagbucks back.

You can learn more about Swagbucks or sign up here.

Raise.com

If you have your heart set on a specific restaurant that’s not found on Restaurant.com or a daily deal site, then your next option is Raise.com. This gift card reseller has gift cards available for nearly every chain restaurant discounted by 3% – 30%, depending upon the chain.

Incidentally, they also have gift cards to many major retailers and online stores, so if your night out is mean to involve some retail therapy, you could save there too.

If you like the Shop with Swagbucks tip from the last savings point, then you’ll love this: Currently, Swagbucks is offering 2SB back per dollar spent at Raise.com. Just a little added bonus for you.

You can learn more about Swagbucks or sign up here.

{Swagbucks is one of the tools I use to earn $1,793 in passive income every single month. Read about it here.}

Sign Up For The Email List

My final tip is the fastest one of them all: sign up for your favorite restaurant’s email lists, and follow them on social media. Emails from restaurants often contain free appetizer, free dessert, or other discount coupons. Restaurant’s social media accounts also often issue exclusive discounts for their followers, as well as list their daily specials, seasonal offers, and even discounted items, such as during happy hour.

Eating out is expensive, sure.

Is it more expensive than cooking at home? Probably.

But no one is perfect, and if we’re being really honest, restaurant food just tastes good.

So, if you’re on the hunt for a meal you don’t have to make in your own kitchen, utilize some of these strategies that may just get the cost of your meal down low enough that it rivals the cost of a frugally-prepared meal at home.