• Do not order drinks. To order a soft drink or an alcoholic beverage at a restaurant means paying a mark up of usually more than 100% for the item. For a soda at a typical restaurant, you would pay around $2-$3. At a typical grocery store you can purchase a 2-liter bottle of the same soda for $1.50 or less. The same holds true for most alcoholic beverages as well. In addition to that, these items make the cost of your meal higher, which means the amount you tip on is higher, etc. So, save on your eating costs by ordering waters, and drinking soda at home, or not at all.

Making your dollar stretch further Tip one: Do not allow yourself to impulse shop. Impulse shopping leads to eating poorly, and spending far more than is necessary on food. If you want to make your eating money go further, you need to go to the store with a plan, and base that plan around sales, and what you are going to cook for the week. Buying on impulse increases waste, and costs a whole lot more than planned shopping. Tip two: Shop on double coupon days, or on overlapping sales days. For example, let's say that the sales items change each week on Wednesday. Some stores still honor both ads on Wednesday meaning you get last week's sales prices, and this week's as long as you shop on Wednesday. Tip three: Shop less often. Your dollar is going to seem to go a lot further if you enter the grocery store less often. When you go everyday for this or that, you come home with this or that and a whole lot more. If you shop less, you spend less. For example, if you go grocery shopping twice a month and spend $200 on each visit, you spend $400 total. If you go 2-3 times a week and only spend $25-$40 a visit you are going to find that you are spending more in the long run. So shop less, spend less. With a little commitment and planning your dollar will stretch as far as you need it to, and you will find that your eating costs can be greatly reduces, while the quality of food stays the same or is improved.

• Do not order appetizers. Appetizers are a fun way to start a meal, but typically they are over-priced, and make it so that you are too full to finish your meal as it is. So, this means that you are going to pay for food you are not going to eat. Usually you do not take leftover appetizers home, as they are not typically the kind of food that keeps well. So, if you are not going to be able to wait until your food comes up, eat something at home before you head to the restaurant to tide you over until you can eat.
• Split meals. Most portions at restaurants are over-sized, and this is why to-go boxes, and doggie bags are so common. However, most people do not eat their leftovers, or waste at least a portion of the meal. A better alternative, and a great way to save money on eating costs is to split meals. If you eat all of it and find you are still hungry, then order a second meal. However, chances are by the time you drink your water, eat the bread, or chips, or whatever comes out before your meal, and eat your meal, you are going to be too full to eat any more. This cuts back on your waste, and saves you a huge chunk on the bill.




• Do not order desserts. Once again, ordering a dessert at a restaurant means paying more than you need to, and paying more in tip, etc. Let's say you order a piece of cheesecake. Typically this will cost you between $4 and $6. For that price you can buy half a cheesecake from a grocery store. So, instead of ordering dessert, go to the grocery store and get your dessert there. Or, avoid it all together, save money and calories.
• Eat at places that do not have servers. These days there are more and more casual dining places popping up. These are places where you stand in line to get your food, and then sit at a table to eat. The food is not fast food quality, it is better. When you eat at these places you eliminate one big thing--paying for service. This means that you are saving 15-20% on your eating costs by refilling your own drink, and bussing your own table. The food is the same. So, if you are eating out for food, not for the service, then consider these types of restaurants over traditional sit down, server takes your order restaurants.
• Use coupons. Even restaurants sometimes have coupons. They might be something like $5 off a purchase $25 or higher, or they might be a buy one and two drinks, get one free. The fact is that if you look, you can almost always find a way to get a better deal than the menu says on food. There are always coupons or discounts of some kind to be had, you just have to look for them.
• Go to lunch rather than dinner. Lastly, to save on eating costs when eating out, go out for lunch rather than dinner. Usually the lunch menu is far less expensive than the dinner menu, and often the portions are extremely similar.

When eating in:

Eating in is the best way to save money on eating costs, but it is still very possible to overspend on food when eating in. The following are some tips for how to make eating in even less expensive.

• Cook from scratch. Most mixes and frozen prepared foods are far more expensive then the same meal would be cooked from scratch, and often it does not take a whole lot longer to make. For example, a muffin mix might cost you $2, and the ingredients from scratch would be closer to 40 cents. You still have to add eggs and water, or oil, etc. to the mix and put the mix in the pans and cook them. Measuring out the flour and salt and other ingredients only takes a few minutes.
• Avoid processed foods, junk foods, etc. These always cost more, and they are not as good for you. So, instead of buying potato chips, buy potatoes. If you want to save money on food, but it as close to its natural state as possible. It may seem more expensive that way, but it is usually not, and it is far better for you.
• Cook in bulk. Buying food in bulk is often less expensive, but it also often leads to waste. The best way to eliminate that problem is to cook in bulk then freeze meals. For example, you can cook a huge pot of soup, take out what you will eat for that meal, and for lunch the next day, etc. then freeze the rest. If you cook one week a month, and freeze meals, you can usually eat for the whole month.
• Don't waste food. A study showed that in 2007 the average family wasted about 14% of the food they bought. Either it went bad before they got to it, or they threw it out unused. So, to help cut the cost of eating down, do not buy food you won't eat, or won't get to. The best way to do this is to plan meals, and only buy what you need for them.
• Plan ahead. If you make meal plans you can overlap ingredients so that you do not have stuff left over. For example, if a recipe calls for half a cup of chicken broth, and you open a 2 cup can of it, make something later in the week that will use the other cup and half. This eliminates waste, helps you buy what you need, and often keeps you in rather than out because you have a meal planned.
• Do meal swaps. A fun way to save on eating costs is to cook two of everything you prepare, and swap meals with friends. For example, your friend could cook M,W,F, and you could cook T, TH, Sat. You only have to buy enough groceries for 3 days, and they only have to buy enough. Often cooking for twice as many people does not take twice as much stuff. You still only need one bottle of BBQ sauce, or one package of buns, etc. Meal swapping also frees up time.
• Have a leftover day. Last, but not least, a great way to save money on your eating costs is to have one day a week be dedicated to cleaning out the fridge. Most leftovers are not going to be good for more than a week, so if one day a week you eat leftovers, you waste less, spend less, and still fill your belly.