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Not willing to give up on eating out but still want to save money?

I'm with you. I love letting someone else do the cooking for me, but even though it's something I prioritize in my budget, I still like to get a good deal.

In this episode, I'm going to give you 5 tips to save money when you're eating out on a budget.

Resources mentioned in the show

• Raise.com for discounted gift cards

• Chase Sapphire Preferred Credit Card for 3x rewards on dining out

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Below is the transcript from today's show. Or you can download the full transcript as a PDF.

Welcome to the Go From Broke podcast where you'll learn how to take control of your money so you can stress less and save more. If you're tired of living paycheck to paycheck or constantly wondering where your money is going, you're in the right place. This podcast is all about giving you actionable tips and advice so you can get started improving your finances today.

I don't know about you, but judging by the stats I read and the numbers I see in my clients' budgets, not to mention my own preferences, eating out is a big expense.

When you're trying to take control of your finances, your dining out costs should be one of the first places you look to cut back.

It may not surprise you, but food actually accounts for a huge portion of our monthly expenses. In fact, it's the third highest expense that most of us have with only housing and transportation outpacing it.

Now, while I say this is an easy area to cut if you're looking for savings, I also know it's really tough to totally eliminate it.

Cut back if you can, but even if you value eating out enough for it to be a top spending priority, there are still some ways you can optimize your experience to make it more cost efficient.

So in today's episode, I'm going to go over my top five tips for eating out on a budget.

First my most favorite spending hack ever is to use a discount gift card.

Did you know that you can actually buy gift cards for less than their face value? On sites like Raise.Com and Gift Card Granny, you can buy discounted gift cards to give you instant savings at some of your favorite stores and restaurants.

Now the percentage discount will vary depending on what the store or restaurant is, but typically you can get at least 5% and sometimes upwards of 20 or 30%, depending on if the site's having any deals.

Raise.com will often do bonus discounts on top of what's already there.

So we do this for pizza night in our house. I know that we roughly spend a certain amount at Domino's or Papa John's, so I'll go on Raise first and buy enough to cover our meal.

Usually I'll save at least $5 or $10 per meal, simply by grabbing a discounted gift card before I order.

So if you're determined to eat out, go and take a look and see if you can buy a discounted gift card to your favorite restaurant before you do.

Okay. My second tip for eating out on a budget is to sign up for your favorite restaurant's email newsletters.

Just by sharing your email you can usually get some sort of discount or even a freebie. Most restaurants will email you special deals throughout the month as well.

Now it's a quick and easy process to sign up and it could save you a good bit the next time you decide to eat out.

Just keep in mind that by getting more emails, you may also leave yourself open to being tempted to eat out more often.

If you notice that happening, or if you're just tired of all the emails coming in, it's super easy to unsubscribe with the link in the bottom of the email.

Or even consider creating a separate email account that's just for these store offers. That way you can just check in on that account when you're planning to go out to eat and see if there are any current deals.

A third tip for saving money when you're eating out is to download the restaurant's app.

This applies more to fast food or national chains, but check to see if they offer an app.

Most restaurant apps will not only have deals and coupons in them, but they'll also link to their loyalty programs.

So, for example, Taco Bell, McDonald's, Chick-fil-A, those are just a few that I know that have loyalty programs inside their apps.

So you earn points each time you place an order through the app and when you have enough points, you get free food.

Another benefit is that most of these apps require you to order online through the app.

Now why is that a benefit? Well, in my experience, you're more likely to notice the pricing when you're searching through the online menu.

There's an added awareness that helps you make more informed decisions.

For example, I would have never known just how expensive McDonald's frech fries had gotten if I were just randomly hitting the drive thru.

But since I order on the app, I can see that the "value meals" are almost double the cost of the sandwich by itself. Now, knowing that McDonald's sells all of their sodas, regardless of size for a dollar, it's easy to see that they're charging as much for the fries as they are for the sandwich and more in some cases.

So noticing this has not only helped me curb my fast food cravings. I mean, it's just gotten so expensive. But it also helps me make different choices based on which menu items are actually a good deal.

Also their app in particular offers coupons and being able to see the value of each coupon can also affect my selection.

For example, sometimes they'll offer, buy one, get one free happy meals or a $3 off $15 purchase. Now in the app, I can easily see that a happy meal costs over $5. So it makes it a more valuable coupon than the $3 off one.

Now, I know we're talking about relatively small amounts here, but they really do add up, especially if you're eating out frequently.

Okay. Now for my fourth, favorite way to save on eating out, optimize your credit card usage.

Most credit cards offer rewards of some kind today, whether it's points, miles, cash back. Just check the fine print and see what sort of rewards you can get for eating out.

So I have a couple of cards that'll actually give me 3% cash back on restaurants.

If I was already planning to eat out anyway, I might as well earn a little extra by using the right card.

Also some cards will give you added perks as well. So if you log into your online account and you check the offer section, you may find some deals for restaurants that you visit.

I know I've taken advantage of a few different offers for 5 Guys where I got a $5 statement credit on a $20 purchase. That's a 25% discount just for going onto my credit card account and tapping to add that offer to my card. It all happened automatically after that.

Now, these deals usually are relatively limited. They're only available for a short time and they only have the one-time use. But still savings is savings.

Finally, my fifth favorite tip for saving money when you eat out is to plan ahead.

Okay. So this is a bit of a combo tip because if you plan ahead, you can really make sure you're optimizing on all the other tips I've mentioned.

So decide in advance where you want to eat. Knowing where you're going to go. We'll help you find coupons, apps, and menus that then help you make informed choices with the what and the when.

For example, let's say you want to eat at Olive Garden. You can go online and sign up for their email list to get news about any specials or deals.

You might even get a sign up deal for something like a free appetizer or dessert. Then you can download the app or check out the menu online and see what you might like to order.

You can see what the pricing is, if there's a difference between the lunch menu and the dinner menu.

They may also offer a happy hour discounts in their app that you could take advantage of or early bird specials.

Once you have an idea of how much your meal will cost, then you can pop over to Raise and grab enough discounted gift cards to cover it.

Then you simply order your food and enjoy it even more, knowing that you got a great deal on it.

The whole idea is that by planning ahead, you can decide where you want to go and then combine methods to save money by strategically deciding when to go and what to order.

Okay. So there you have it five different ways that you can eat out without breaking your budget.

For your action task this week I want you to get intentional with your dining out costs.

Ideally you'll plan out any restaurant visits in advance so you can best optimize where, when, and what. But even if you decide to impulsively order pizza for dinner tonight, at least make the effort to look online for coupons and to grab a discounted gift card. That way, regardless of how highly you prioritize eating out, you can still make sure you're getting a good deal so you can enjoy it that much more.

If you found today's podcast helpful, I'd love it if you could leave a rating and review.

Your support goes a long way toward making this podcast happen and is much appreciated.

As always take action and make it a great day.

Oh hey, before you go, I wanted to let you know that Go From Broke isn't just a website and podcast anymore. I now offer one-on-one financial coaching too. So if you've been stressed out and struggling to take control of your money, let's chat!

Head over to gofrombroke.com/coaching to schedule a free Q&A call where we'll discuss your unique situation and whether financial coaching is a good fit for you.

I look forward to hearing from you and can't wait to help you stress less and save more.