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Tip Store: Entertainment: Eating Out
HAVE A MEAL OUT FOR A TREAT
I know Cheapskates promotes healthy MOO eating, but occasionally you may want to go out to eat. Don't pay full price! Use different promotions to get a discount like THEFORK.com.au which lets you book and get up to 50% off your food bill, you can also pre-buy a meal using SCOOPON.com.au, GROUPON.com.au, CUDO.com.au or Shopadocket.com.au (or back of your dockets). Our family has had some amazing meals and tried different cuisines using this method. You save almost 50%.
Contributed by Vaz Deacs
Contributed by Vaz Deacs
Budget Friendly Chinese Takeaway
I love getting Chinese take out, but it is so expensive. So what I have started doing is decide what night we will be having Chinese and go to the Chinese restaurant during the day and grab a couple of their lunch specials. Usually the lunch special will consist of fried rice and a main meal and is more than enough for one person. Some even include 2 spring rolls! For a meal for 4 people this saves me around $20, which makes it a lot more affordable!
- Contributed by Pennie McArthur, 2nd December 2011
- Contributed by Pennie McArthur, 2nd December 2011
Dinner at Nanna's Restaurant
Instead of having take away to give me a night off from cooking, we go to Nana's! The kids and my husband go to his Mum's every Wednesday night (while I am at uni) for dinner. She gets to cook for people who love to eat and they all get to spend time together. I usually get a meal out of the freezer (a favourite that I have cooked and frozen on my cooking days) to eat before uni. This saves me at least $30per week, up to about $60 depending in what take away we would have. Plus, I don't have to cook - this saves us even more, because one night off cooking each week gives me the desire to cook on the other nights.
- Contributed by Sarah, Upwey, 21st April 2009
- Contributed by Sarah, Upwey, 21st April 2009
Takeaway Pizza
Approximate $ Savings: $2 per pizza
We all love the occasional 'takeaway' meal. Once a month, I will head to our local Eagle boys pizza on 'cheap Tuesday' and purchase my pizzas. I take them home and freeze them so when the mood strikes we can have 'takeaway' without the expense. You save a few dollars per pizza but, you save much stress on the night your family really want/or deserve their treat. They reheat beautifully in the oven from frozen in 15 minutes and they smell and taste better than they did when you purchased them in the first place. The individual slices also heat well in the microwave if you like giving pizza to your kids for afternoon tea or lunch.
- Contributed by Debra, Roma, 15th March 2009
We all love the occasional 'takeaway' meal. Once a month, I will head to our local Eagle boys pizza on 'cheap Tuesday' and purchase my pizzas. I take them home and freeze them so when the mood strikes we can have 'takeaway' without the expense. You save a few dollars per pizza but, you save much stress on the night your family really want/or deserve their treat. They reheat beautifully in the oven from frozen in 15 minutes and they smell and taste better than they did when you purchased them in the first place. The individual slices also heat well in the microwave if you like giving pizza to your kids for afternoon tea or lunch.
- Contributed by Debra, Roma, 15th March 2009
Sunday Brunch in Good Company for Less
Approximate $ Savings: $80+
We love to have leisurely and yummy brunches on the weekend in the company of friends. We used to take turns in selecting which cafe we'd visit next. Having recently made a significant real estate purchase, the need to economise has become paramount. Now instead of spending $20-$30 a head for brunch, we take it in turns to "host" brunch. For the cost of just one person's meal out, we can make our yummy brunch for 4-6 hungry tummies, and that includes buying newspapers we used to read for "free" at the eateries! We all feel quietly smug as we tuck into our eggs, bacon, hollandaise sauce, spinach, fantastic thick cut bread or muffins, coffee or teas. We can even run to a few slices of smoked salmon for an extra special treat. We feel spoiled, enjoy the company and leisurely catch up time.
- Contributed by Simone, Eureka, 9th July 2008
We love to have leisurely and yummy brunches on the weekend in the company of friends. We used to take turns in selecting which cafe we'd visit next. Having recently made a significant real estate purchase, the need to economise has become paramount. Now instead of spending $20-$30 a head for brunch, we take it in turns to "host" brunch. For the cost of just one person's meal out, we can make our yummy brunch for 4-6 hungry tummies, and that includes buying newspapers we used to read for "free" at the eateries! We all feel quietly smug as we tuck into our eggs, bacon, hollandaise sauce, spinach, fantastic thick cut bread or muffins, coffee or teas. We can even run to a few slices of smoked salmon for an extra special treat. We feel spoiled, enjoy the company and leisurely catch up time.
- Contributed by Simone, Eureka, 9th July 2008
Lunch at Breakfast Prices
Approximate $ Savings: $5.00-$8.00
Having lunch at breakfast prices. If you like going to buffets or all you can eat restaurants trying going 30 minutes before the lunch time switch. You will be charged breakfast prices and can talk and wait for lunch to come out.
- Contributed by Leticia, Henderson, 10th December 2007
Having lunch at breakfast prices. If you like going to buffets or all you can eat restaurants trying going 30 minutes before the lunch time switch. You will be charged breakfast prices and can talk and wait for lunch to come out.
- Contributed by Leticia, Henderson, 10th December 2007
Enjoy Eating Out for Half Price
Approximate $ Savings: $25.00
each time you go out for dinner Every time I am going out for dinner with a friend, I alway jump on the Hot Dockets website before I leave (wwww.hotdockets.com.au). The website allows you to print off Buy one Get One free vouchers at different pubs, cafes and restaurants etc. It also allows you to try different restaurants and different styles of foods. The dinner ends being a cheap night out!
- Contributed by Melanie, Epping, 8th August, 2007
each time you go out for dinner Every time I am going out for dinner with a friend, I alway jump on the Hot Dockets website before I leave (wwww.hotdockets.com.au). The website allows you to print off Buy one Get One free vouchers at different pubs, cafes and restaurants etc. It also allows you to try different restaurants and different styles of foods. The dinner ends being a cheap night out!
- Contributed by Melanie, Epping, 8th August, 2007
Coffee Club
Approximate $ Savings: $1,560.60
My husband and I both work from home so from Monday to Friday, we like to go to the local shops for a break and to have a coffee. We attempted to save money by just sharing a cake, and of course you can get the loyalty cards where you can buy 5 coffees and get one free which is helpful. However we have just acquired for free a Coffee Club membership. You can purchase a Coffee Club membership for a year and it costs $22. For this you get unlimited 2 for the price of 1 coffee for a whole year. Instantly we have saved ourselves, if we say coffee is the average price of $3.50 per cup, a whole $840.00 for the year minus $22 for the membership which is $818. In addition, the average cake costs about $3.95 and we shared one every day at a cost of $948 for the year. Now I buy a muffin or other cake mix at the shops, make a batch for the week, you can get a REALLY nice packet mix for $3.95 for 12 great muffins and we take one each every day which we have with our two for one coffee at the Coffee Club. We are very discreet with our muffins and so everyone is happy. By doing this we save $818 a year on coffee and a further $742.60 on cake if we allow one cake mix a week which is $189.60 for the year and we have one each now instead of sharing one! This makes a whopping total of $1,560.60 saved for the year having a coffee Monday to Friday. And this is just what we spend on coffees!
- Contributed by Gillian, Shailer Park, 8th August, 2007
My husband and I both work from home so from Monday to Friday, we like to go to the local shops for a break and to have a coffee. We attempted to save money by just sharing a cake, and of course you can get the loyalty cards where you can buy 5 coffees and get one free which is helpful. However we have just acquired for free a Coffee Club membership. You can purchase a Coffee Club membership for a year and it costs $22. For this you get unlimited 2 for the price of 1 coffee for a whole year. Instantly we have saved ourselves, if we say coffee is the average price of $3.50 per cup, a whole $840.00 for the year minus $22 for the membership which is $818. In addition, the average cake costs about $3.95 and we shared one every day at a cost of $948 for the year. Now I buy a muffin or other cake mix at the shops, make a batch for the week, you can get a REALLY nice packet mix for $3.95 for 12 great muffins and we take one each every day which we have with our two for one coffee at the Coffee Club. We are very discreet with our muffins and so everyone is happy. By doing this we save $818 a year on coffee and a further $742.60 on cake if we allow one cake mix a week which is $189.60 for the year and we have one each now instead of sharing one! This makes a whopping total of $1,560.60 saved for the year having a coffee Monday to Friday. And this is just what we spend on coffees!
- Contributed by Gillian, Shailer Park, 8th August, 2007
Don’t Waste Food, Ask For a Doggy Bag
Approximate $ Savings: $20
My husband and I can't often afford to eat out as we have 2 kids and I am currently choosing to stay at home with our baby. On our Anniversary we decided we really wanted the luxury of eating out, so we went to a wonderful local Greek Restaurant. Firstly we ordered from the banquet menu - a great way to get more for your money. Included in the banquet was dips and bread to start. Dips and bread are so filling that it often spoils your appetite for the rest of the meal, so we asked if we could skip the dips as part of the meal and take them away in a doggy bag instead! We had a fantastic meal - and didn't get uncomfortably full - plus when we had visitors the next day, we had four delicious home-made Greek dips to serve with evening drinks! It would have cost me about $20 to buy fresh, homemade dips and the banquet meal was great value too!
- Contributed by Suzy, Bentleigh, 3rd July 2007
My husband and I can't often afford to eat out as we have 2 kids and I am currently choosing to stay at home with our baby. On our Anniversary we decided we really wanted the luxury of eating out, so we went to a wonderful local Greek Restaurant. Firstly we ordered from the banquet menu - a great way to get more for your money. Included in the banquet was dips and bread to start. Dips and bread are so filling that it often spoils your appetite for the rest of the meal, so we asked if we could skip the dips as part of the meal and take them away in a doggy bag instead! We had a fantastic meal - and didn't get uncomfortably full - plus when we had visitors the next day, we had four delicious home-made Greek dips to serve with evening drinks! It would have cost me about $20 to buy fresh, homemade dips and the banquet meal was great value too!
- Contributed by Suzy, Bentleigh, 3rd July 2007
Later Lunches Save Up To 50%
Approximate $ Savings: Up to $5 per purchase If planning on having lunch in the CBD try to delay it until after 2 pm as many takeaway food places start reducing their prices at 2 pm. A pre-made focaccia sandwich can be $4 instead of the $8 it was at 1 pm.
- Contributed by Helen, Sutherland, 7th June 2007
- Contributed by Helen, Sutherland, 7th June 2007
Cheap Drinks
Approximate $ Savings: As much as one spends on alcohol
CheapDrinks.com.au is for people in Australia who visit bars, pubs, nightclubs, hotels; and/or buy from a bottle shop. CheapDrinks.com.au is an online bar and bottle shop directory; plus a cheap deals directory for drinks and meals. We showcase bars and pubs according to the crowd, ambience, service and value. We are focused on discovering the best quality bars, nightclubs and pubs.
- Contributed by Jeremy, Bondi, 15th April 2007
CheapDrinks.com.au is for people in Australia who visit bars, pubs, nightclubs, hotels; and/or buy from a bottle shop. CheapDrinks.com.au is an online bar and bottle shop directory; plus a cheap deals directory for drinks and meals. We showcase bars and pubs according to the crowd, ambience, service and value. We are focused on discovering the best quality bars, nightclubs and pubs.
- Contributed by Jeremy, Bondi, 15th April 2007