5 Ways to Make the Most of Eating Out

February 25, 2016

Over the last few weeks, I’ve written about ways to save money on “fixed” expenses as well as discretionary expenses like travel. Another big discretionary expense for many people (me included) is dining out. Yes, we can prepare food at home more often (which is also healthier) but what about for those times that we want to eat out? Here are some ways to reduce the cost and make the most of the money you do spend:

1) Look for discounts. See if your favorite restaurants offer specials on certain days or times. You can find particularly good deals on sites like Groupon, Living Social, and Restaurant.com. I’ve seen restaurant.com gift certificates for as much as 80% off and you can use them at some pretty nice places, at least in my area. If you’re an American Airlines AAdvantage member, you can also earn 11 miles for each dollar you spend on restaurant.com certificates through their portal.

2) Make your reservation on OpenTable. Not only is at an easy way to make sure you have a table (you can even see which retaurants have openings on busy days like Valentine’s Day), you can also earn points that can be redeemed for gift certificates without having to spend any additional money.

3) Pay with a rewards credit card. There are many cards that will give you 2 points or cents for each dollar spent on eating out. Some of my personal favorites are the Citi Double Cash Mastercard (2% cash back for all purchases that are paid off with no annual fee), the Chase Sapphire Preferred ,the Citi Thank You Premier, and the Chase Ink Mastercard (for each dollar spent on restaurants, each offers 2 points that can be used with their travel partners).

4) Join a dining rewards program. If you register your chosen credit card(s) in a dining rewards program, you can earn additional travel points when you use it at participating venues. Here are some of the major programs: American, Alaska, Delta, Southwest, United, and Hilton.

5) Don’t overindulge. By following the steps above, you can eat out for less while earning points up to 4 times (restaurant.com certificates through AAdvantage, OpenTable reservations, credit card purchases, and dining club membership) for what you do spend. You don’t want to use that as an excuse to spend more though!

How about you? If you’ve had any experience with these or other ways to save or earn money eating out, please share your thoughts in the comments section below. Bon Appetit!