How to Eat Out for Cheap {with a family!}

Okay, I’ll admit that cooking is not my favorite. I do cook at home most days, but with busy kids, teens, and young adults in our home, there are times when we’re on the go too much to cook.

In an ideal world, I would pull made-from-scratch burritos from the freezer, but this isn’t an ideal world, and I don’t always have my ducks in a row. Like many other middle aged moms, I’ve been struggling with some health issues, and I don’t always have maximum energy to work with.

While we shoot for healthy home-cooked meals, there are definitely days when eating out or picking up food to bring home is our best bet. However, have you SEEN the prices these days?! It’s shocking sometimes.

When I started this website in 2010, we were living a frugal life because we were young and working to make our income work for our growing family. We are now back to being frugal because of crazy rising prices and income that is trending downward because of changes with Google search and AI.

So here are my Top 10 Tips for Eating Out CHEAP with a Family!

1. Don’t buy drinks. Buying a soda for each person in the family (we have 6 of us at home currently) can easily add $15 – $16 to our total bill. At the places we eat, a soda, tea, or other drink costs anywhere from $1.99 – $2.89. Is soda really worth all that??? We sometimes let the kids get sodas, but we often make everyone drink water, especially when we’re watching our budget.

If your kids protest about drinking water, you can tell them, “Hey, you know that lady who wrote the LEGO books? Her kids drink water too.”

Also, if you have kids or teens who are old enough to earn their own money, you can always give them the option to buy sodas, coffee drinks, or other treats with their own money. You can supply them with healthy, nourishing food, but if they want treats they can choose whether or not it’s worth it to spend the extra money.

In fact, backing up even more, it’s best to discuss what kids (especially teens) can order and not order before you get to the restaurant. Is it going to be okay for one of your kids to order the double burger? Ribs instead of BBQ beef? If not, it’s better to discuss this up front instead of in the line while ordering.

2. Join the loyalty programs. Yes, I know every restaurant has one, and it can get annoying to keep up with all the apps and rewards, but it’s sooooo worth it. We use the apps for Chick-Fil-A, McAlister’s, Chipotle, and more, and have earned many free meals doing so. You’ll also get a free treat on your birthday at most restaurants that have a loyalty program!

The Sonic app doesn’t use points, but it has deals. My college son says that you can save a lot of money by checking their current deals and ordering based on those.

3. Buy the main dish out and make sides at home. This is a fantastic way to make life easier for yourself while saving money at the same time. We will often pick up BBQ brisket from a local restaurant or chicken tenders from Raising Cane’s and then cook easy sides at home. I can cook green beans or carrots, make some macaroni and cheese, and get out bread or rolls at home to go with our chicken tenders or BBQ. It’s still a super easy dinner, but not nearly as expensive as it would have been if we had bought sides at the restaurant.

4. Don’t go places where you have to tip. If you eat at a sit-down restaurant, then you need to tip. It would be obnoxious not to! But if you are eating out as a family, tips can easily add $10 – $20 to your bill depending on what you ordered.

Lots of casual dining places that are barely a step up from fast food are now offering the option to tip when you pay. I usually don’t. One of my sons worked at Jersey Mike’s for awhile, and tips did add a little to his paycheck. However, he was paid a fair hourly wage there and didn’t rely on tips. His pay was on the low side, but higher than the state minimum wage. I feel like if I’m paying an already outrageous price for a sandwich, then I don’t need to tip, especially if no one brought the food to my table! What are your thoughts on this issue?

5. Costco. Now here’s where you can buy your soda! In our area, a fountain drink at Costco is 69 cents. You can’t beat that! Or, you can get a bottle of water for 25 cents. Costco’s pizza and hot dogs are tasty, and it’s the cheapest lunch in town. We’re usually buying fresh produce at Costco, so we often eat pizza for lunch and then eat fruit when we get home to balance out the health level a little, haha. Now that my kids are older, two of them prefer the chicken bake. It costs more than a hot dog but is still very affordable compared to most restaurants.

6. Share meals where you can. I have a lot of boys who are big eaters, so we can’t do this nearly as much as we used to! At sandwich places, however, we still usually split a large sub between two people. It’s cheaper than buying two of the smaller ones. Skip the individual bags of chips, and bring your own chips from home. At a nicer restaurant, the portions can be huge. Share an entree between two people, or bag up half of it and take it home for the next day’s lunch.

7. Use special discounts! Ask about discounts for police and first responders, military, teachers, and senior citizens.

8. Watch for kids eat free places. In our area, kids eat free at Dickey’s, Chili’s (with the app), Freebirds Burrito, and more. A quick Google search should bring up a list of places that do kids eat free in your area. Many restaurants allow kids to eat free (usually with the purchase of an adult meal) on a specified day of the week.

We’ve outgrown this stage of life, but we used to do quite well at Dickey’s. If we went there with my parents after church on Sundays, then we would be buying 4 adult meals and would get 4 kids meals for free. Score!

9. Supplement a kids meal with an extra side. I’ve found that when our kids are starting to outgrow the kids meal portion at a restaurant, I can often get away with ordering an extra side. McAlister’s has LOW prices on their kids meals. I can add an extra side of fruit so that they get a sandwich, chips, AND fruit for less money that purchasing an adult meal.

10. Ask for local items. Our local Chick-Fil-A allows us to order a chicken sandwich kids meal. It costs more than the 5 nuggets kids meal, but it’s much more filling, and costs less than the adult meal.

After you go out to eat, finish out your frugal family night by learning a new card game!

Here’s a collection of 20+ Family Card Games to play with a deck of cards.