How to Save Money Dining Out Without Giving It Up

Eating out is one of those expenses that adds up faster than almost anything else in a monthly budget. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average American household spends over $3,600 per year on food away from home -- and that number climbs well past $5,000 for families who eat out two or three times per week. If you've ever looked at your bank statement at the end of the month and wondered where the money went, restaurants are almost certainly part of the answer.

But here's the thing: telling yourself to "just stop eating out" rarely works. Dining out isn't purely about the food -- it's about convenience, social connection, date nights, and the simple pleasure of not having to cook and clean up. Cutting it entirely often leads to burnout and then a rebound of overspending once you give in.

The better approach is to keep dining out in your life while spending significantly less when you do it. The 14 strategies below can realistically cut your restaurant spending by 30-50% without making you feel like you're missing out on anything. If you're already working on trimming your grocery bill or cutting subscriptions you don't need, your restaurant budget is the next big lever to pull.

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How Can You Eat Out for Less Without Feeling Cheap?

The biggest savings don't come from ordering the cheapest thing on the menu or skipping the tip. They come from changing the timing, the method, and the small decisions around your restaurant visits. None of these strategies require you to sacrifice quality or enjoyment.

1. Eat Lunch Instead of Dinner

This is the single easiest way to save at restaurants. Most sit-down restaurants offer lunch menus where the same dishes cost 25-40% less than their dinner counterparts. A chicken parmesan that runs $22 at dinner might be $14 at lunch -- same kitchen, same chef, same portion (or close to it).

If you like going out with friends or your partner, suggest a Saturday lunch instead of a Friday dinner. You'll get the same experience for significantly less, and you'll often avoid the wait times and noise of a packed dinner service.

2. Use Restaurant Apps and Loyalty Programs

Almost every major restaurant chain now has an app with a loyalty program, and the rewards are genuinely worth the 30 seconds it takes to sign up. Here are some of the best:

• Chick-fil-A One -- earn points on every purchase, redeem for free entrees and sides
• Chipotle Rewards -- 10 points per dollar, free entree at 1,250 points, plus regular bonus point days
• Panera Bread -- frequent free pastry, coffee, and bakery item offers
• Starbucks Rewards -- free drinks and food, birthday reward, bonus star challenges
• Domino's Piece of the Pie Rewards -- free pizza after six qualifying orders

The birthday rewards alone are worth signing up for. Many of these apps send free entree or free drink offers on your birthday, and stacking a few of them throughout the year adds up to meaningful savings.

3. Check for Restaurant Week Deals

Most major cities run "Restaurant Week" events one to four times per year, where upscale restaurants offer prix fixe menus at steep discounts -- often $25-$40 for a three-course meal at a place that would normally cost $60-$90 per person. Search "[your city] restaurant week" to find upcoming events and bookmark the restaurants you want to try.

This is one of the best ways to experience higher-end dining without the higher-end price tag. Many restaurants use it as a marketing tool, so they put out their best work to attract new regulars.

4. Order Appetizers as Your Main Course

American restaurant portions are famously oversized. A single entree at most sit-down restaurants contains 1,200-1,500 calories -- roughly half of what most adults need in an entire day. Appetizers, on the other hand, are often the more interesting items on the menu and cost $8-$14 compared to $18-$30 for entrees.

Try ordering two appetizers instead of an entree. You get more variety, the portions are closer to what you actually need, and your bill drops by 30-40%. This works especially well at restaurants known for creative small plates, tapas, or shared-plate menus.

5. Split Entrees With Your Dining Partner

Most restaurants will plate a split entree for you at no extra charge, or at most a $2-$3 sharing fee. Given that most entrees are easily enough food for two people when paired with a shared appetizer or side salad, splitting cuts your per-person food cost nearly in half.

This is one of those things that feels awkward exactly once. After that, it just feels smart.

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What Are the Best Apps and Websites for Restaurant Deals?

Beyond individual restaurant loyalty programs, several apps and websites aggregate deals across many restaurants at once.

6. Buy Discounted Gift Cards

Sites like Raise, CardCash, and Gift Card Granny sell restaurant gift cards at 5-15% below face value. That means you can buy a $50 gift card to your favorite restaurant for $42-$45 -- an instant discount before you've even ordered.

Holiday season is the best time for gift card deals. Many chains run promotions like "buy a $50 gift card, get a $10 bonus card free," which is effectively a 20% discount. Stock up during November and December and use them throughout the year.

If you're the type who plans meals and outings in advance, this is free money. It takes five minutes and saves you 10-20% on every visit.

7. Use Cashback Apps and Credit Cards

Stack your savings by using cashback tools on top of other strategies:

• Rakuten -- offers periodic cashback at restaurant chains when you order online or through their app
• Ibotta -- sometimes offers cashback on restaurant purchases
• Dining credit cards -- cards like the Capital One SavorOne or American Express Gold offer 3-4% cashback at restaurants, which adds up fast if you dine out regularly

If you spend $300/month dining out, a 4% dining cashback card puts $144 back in your pocket over a year -- without changing your behavior at all.

8. Check for Daily Specials and Happy Hours

Almost every restaurant runs specials on slower days. Tuesday and Wednesday nights are common for discounted meals, half-price appetizers, or two-for-one deals. Happy hours typically offer 30-50% off appetizers and drinks during the late afternoon window.

Make a list of your favorite restaurants and their weekly specials. Timing your visits to match these deals can cut your bill by a third with zero sacrifice in food quality.

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How Much Can You Save by Cooking at Home More Often?

The most honest math: a restaurant meal costs roughly 3-5 times what the same meal costs to make at home. A $15 pasta dish at a restaurant uses about $3 worth of ingredients. A $25 steak dinner costs about $8-$10 to make in your own kitchen with the same quality cut.

That doesn't mean you should never eat out. But it does mean that shifting even one or two restaurant meals per week to home-cooked meals creates substantial savings.

9. Replace One Restaurant Meal Per Week With a Home-Cooked Version

If your household eats out three times per week at an average of $40 per outing, that's $120 per week or roughly $520 per month. Replacing just one of those three meals with a home-cooked dinner saves about $30-$35 per week -- over $150 per month or $1,800 per year.

The trick is making the home-cooked meal feel like an event, not a downgrade. Cook something you'd order at a restaurant. Set the table. Open a bottle of wine. Play some music. The experience matters as much as the food, and you can replicate it at home for a fraction of the cost.

If you're new to cooking at home regularly, meal prepping for beginners is a great starting point. Once you get into a rhythm, batch cooking with freezer meal prep hacks means you always have a ready-made meal waiting that's faster than ordering delivery.

10. Set a Monthly Dining Out Budget

This sounds obvious, but most people don't actually do it. Pick a number -- say $200 per month for dining out -- and track it. When you have a concrete limit, you naturally start making smarter choices: lunch instead of dinner, water instead of cocktails, splitting an entree instead of each ordering your own.

The key is making the budget realistic. If you currently spend $500/month dining out, cutting to $50 will fail within two weeks. Start by trimming 30% and adjust from there. The savings compound over time as you discover which strategies work best for you.

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How Can You Save Money on Takeout and Delivery?

Delivery apps like DoorDash, Uber Eats, and Grubhub have made eating out even more expensive. Between delivery fees, service charges, and tips, a $15 meal can easily cost $25-$30 by the time it arrives at your door. Here's how to cut those costs.

11. Pick Up Instead of Getting Delivery

The simplest fix: order through the restaurant's own website or app and pick it up yourself. This eliminates $5-$10 in delivery and service fees per order. Many restaurants also offer online-order-only discounts or loyalty points when you order direct rather than through a third-party app.

If you order delivery twice a week and switch to pickup, you'll save roughly $40-$80 per month in fees alone -- and your food arrives fresher since it's not sitting in a delivery driver's car.

12. Skip the Drinks and Desserts

Restaurant drinks have the highest markup of anything on the menu. A $3 bottle of wine sells by the glass for $12-$15. A $0.10 glass of soda costs $3-$4 with unlimited refills you probably don't use. A cocktail with $2 worth of ingredients runs $12-$16.

Switching to water at restaurants saves $5-$15 per person per meal. Over a month of weekly dining, that's $20-$60 per person in savings. If you enjoy a drink with dinner, have one at home before you go or after you get back -- same enjoyment, 80% less cost.

The same logic applies to dessert. A $12 slice of cheesecake at a restaurant costs about $2 to make at home. If you want something sweet, pick up a dessert from the grocery store or bakery on your way home.

This pairs well with reducing your coffee shop spending -- once you start noticing the markup on beverages, you'll naturally find ways to enjoy them for less.

13. Watch Out for Portion Sizes on Delivery

When ordering takeout, resist the urge to add extras "just in case." Delivery orders tend to run larger than dine-in orders because people over-order without the visual cue of food arriving at the table. Stick to one entree per person, skip the sides you won't finish, and save leftovers for lunch the next day.

Stretching a takeout meal into two meals instantly cuts your per-meal cost in half. A $20 Thai food order that feeds you for both dinner and lunch the next day is really two $10 meals -- much more reasonable.

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What Other Small Changes Add Up to Big Restaurant Savings?

14. Plan Your Dining Out in Advance

Impulse dining is where most overspending happens. You're tired after work, don't feel like cooking, and the next thing you know you've spent $45 on a weeknight dinner you didn't particularly enjoy.

Instead, plan your restaurant meals the same way you'd plan anything else in your budget. Pick one or two nights per week for dining out, choose the restaurant ahead of time, and check for deals before you go. When the "I don't feel like cooking" urge strikes on other nights, have a freezer meal ready to go or a simple 15-minute recipe in your back pocket.

Planning also means you can coordinate with other savings strategies: check for discounted gift cards, look up happy hour times, review the lunch menu, and download the restaurant's app for points -- all before you walk through the door.

The people who save the most on dining out aren't the ones who give it up entirely. They're the ones who are intentional about it. This is the same principle behind knowing what to stop buying and cutting your grocery bill -- it's not about deprivation, it's about getting the same enjoyment for less money.

If you're looking for other places to trim your monthly spending, reducing food waste at home is another surprisingly effective strategy. The average family throws away $1,500 worth of food per year -- saving even half of that is like giving yourself a raise.

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Your Dining Out Savings Action Plan

Here's how to start saving this week:

1. Check your bank statement -- add up every restaurant, takeout, and delivery charge from the last 30 days to see your real number
2. Download your favorite restaurants' apps -- sign up for loyalty programs and check for immediate welcome offers
3. Switch one dinner out to lunch out -- pick a restaurant you love and go at noon instead of 7 PM
4. Replace one restaurant meal with a home-cooked version -- try a meal prep approach to make it easy
5. Set a monthly dining budget -- start by cutting your current spending by 30% and adjust from there
6. Buy discounted gift cards -- check Raise or CardCash for your regular restaurants before your next visit

Most people who apply even three or four of these strategies save $100-$200 in their first month. Over a year, that's $1,200-$2,400 -- real money that could go toward an emergency fund, a vacation, or other budget goals.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Is it really cheaper to cook at home than eat out?

Almost always, yes. The average home-cooked meal costs $4-$6 per person, while the average restaurant meal runs $15-$25 per person before tip. Even factoring in grocery costs, cooking at home is 3-5 times cheaper than dining out for equivalent meals. The savings are largest for simple dishes like pasta, stir-fries, and grain bowls -- exactly the kind of meals that are easiest to meal prep in advance. Where the gap narrows is for complex dishes that require many specialty ingredients you'd only use once, but those are the exception rather than the rule.

How much should I budget for dining out each month?

A commonly recommended guideline is 5-10% of your take-home pay for all food away from home, including restaurants, takeout, coffee shops, and fast food. For a household bringing in $5,000 per month after taxes, that's $250-$500. If you're currently well above that range, don't try to slash your budget overnight -- cut 20-30% per month until you reach a number that feels sustainable. The goal is a budget you can actually stick to, not one that makes you miserable for two weeks before you abandon it.

Are restaurant loyalty apps actually worth using?

Yes -- the return on time invested is excellent. Most restaurant loyalty apps take 30 seconds to sign up and require no effort beyond scanning at checkout. Chick-fil-A, Chipotle, and Panera regularly send offers worth $5-$10 in free food, and birthday rewards from multiple apps can easily add up to $50-$75 in free meals per year. The only downside is the push notifications, which you can turn off in your phone's settings while still keeping the rewards active.

What's the best way to save money on delivery orders?

The single biggest savings come from skipping delivery apps entirely and picking up your order directly from the restaurant. Delivery fees, service charges, and inflated menu prices on third-party apps add 30-40% to the cost of your meal. If you do use delivery apps, look for free delivery promotions, order during off-peak hours when some apps offer discounts, and consolidate orders with family or roommates to split the fees. Also check if a monthly delivery subscription (like DashPass or Uber One) makes sense for your ordering frequency -- at $10/month, it pays for itself if you order delivery more than twice a month.

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Final Thoughts

Dining out doesn't have to be a budget-buster. The people who spend the least at restaurants aren't the ones who never go -- they're the ones who go with a plan. They check for deals, time their visits strategically, use apps and gift cards, and make smart ordering decisions that cut their bill without cutting their enjoyment.

Start with the strategies that feel easiest. Maybe that's downloading a couple of restaurant apps this week, or switching your next dinner date to a lunch date. Small shifts add up quickly, and once you see the savings in your bank account, the motivation to keep going takes care of itself.

The bigger picture matters too. Dining out is just one piece of your overall food budget. When you combine smarter restaurant spending with lower grocery costs, less food waste, and affordable coffee habits, you can realistically cut your total food spending by 30-40% -- and that's hundreds of dollars every month that stays in your pocket instead of disappearing plate by plate.