It is staggering sometimes how much it costs us, as a family of five to eat out, even at one of those family style restaurants. By the time you add the cost of the food plus the tip, it would be cheaper to have bought four or five days worth of groceries.
Does that meant that we can never eat out again or have to choose between a meal out and the cable TV? Of course not. We have employed some strategies that work for us and have learned how to save money when we eat out with kids.
One of the biggest “sins” to eating out with kids is all of the food that inevitably goes to waste. We have learned exactly who in our family will eat a whole kids meal and who will not. So, we usually have the ones that won’t share a plate. Even better, all three of our kids can share one adult size meal, which saves money over three kids meals, even if we include a drink for each child.
As a bonus, the children learn to enjoy a wider variety of food. They don’t have to exist on a diet of macaroni and cheese and chicken fingers whenever they eat out.
If the kids do want those chicken fingers, though, consider buying the appetizer plate instead of the kids meal plate. You’ll often get more food for less money this way. At one restaurant, a kids meal of chicken fingers came with three chicken fingers, a side of smiley fries (about five) and a small drink for $5.99. In comparison, an appetizer plate of chicken fingers came with six chicken fingers for only $3.99. A small drink at $.99 or water for free made the appetizer the better deal. Yes, we missed out of the smiley fries, but the kids don’t like them anyway. A $1.99 side order of apples or broccoli could replace the fries and still leave us coming out ahead.
You can read more blog posts by Mary Ann Romans here!
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