Careful studying of menus can save you a lot of money on eating out

[Designgal34]

Recently, I've noticed two different food establishments that are offering better deals than you might notice if you don't study the menu for a few minutes. I wanted to bring them up here to point out the price practices to you all and get some feedback on other locations that might be doing the same thing (hopefully, to the benefit of us all!)

The first is Papa Johns. Last sunday we logged on to order a pizza and watch the games at home. On the home page was a section offering two large pizzas with 1 topping each for $20. Since we love leftover pizza, we thought this was a "great" deal. But when we dug deeper into the site, we found another deal of two large pizzas with 2 toppings, for $19.99! For a penny less, you got more toppings. It didn't make any sense to us, but we jumped on the better deal and ordered.

Then, a couple of days ago, I succumbed to the numerous McDonald's ads for chicken nuggets, and I ordered the 6 pack for $2.49. Stupid me. Only after I had paid did I notice that the 4-pack was on the dollar menu. So essentially, I could've gotten two 4-packs (total of 8) for less than what I paid for 6 nuggets. I was pissed, but more so at myself for not noticing in time. (And yes, I asked for a refund/change of deal and it was a no-go.) The extra $1.50 for two nuggets over the dollar menu choice seems like price gouging to me.

I was pretty pissed at myself for not catching the price difference, and plan on taking some extra time in the future to make sure I don't make the same mistake again. Has anybody here noticed similar things at other restaurants?

[khorrell]

I always take an excessive amount of time to read every possible option when we go to fast food or pizza places. It drives my family nuts, but I know that we save a bundle due to my comparison shopping. I always check all three major pizza chains online before I order (like you did) and figure out the best way to get enough food to feed my family for the best possible prices. It sounds like you've figure that out, too!

My fav tips are: Double cheeseburgers for the same price as regular cheeseburgers at McDonalds (but one and split it for kids?), kids' night prices (but ask a lot of questions, you don't want to have to buy an $8 adult meal to get a dollar of on the kid's price), drinking water, and buying the holiday coupon booklets. Those cost one dollar each and usually contain twelve coupons for things like an ice cream cone, a small fries, apple dippers, or an apple pie. Since I have four kids, I buy two books and we get a couple of treats for only $2. We never use them all, since we don't do McD's very often, but I still feel I'm getting my money's worth. They are usually available at Halloween and Valentine's Day, but often at other times as well. If possible, check them out before you buy; some are only good at participating locations. We usually use ours when we're traveling so that doesn't work as well for us.

[gt0163c]

Most places will allow adults to order off the kids' menu. There's some great food deals that way and most of the time a drink is included.

[lucille]

McDonalds still has the "american meal deal" but it is either buried in the menus or not there but you can still order it. It is a kids happy meal sans the box and toy. I used to order it all the time. It was much cheaper than the combo meals and enough food for me for lunch.

Look at menus in sit down restaurants too. I frequently see the exact same meal but in a smaller quantity buried on the menu. Some have senior menus or early bird specials but they will usually let anyone order them and most entrees have too much food on them to begin with.

[arkadofbabylon.org]

My spouse and I have had the same experience on the Pizza Hut website when looking for a meal to order in. The "deal" that is being heavily advertised on the front page is usually not the best buy for us. We can often find more food for less $$$ deeper into the site.

Thanks for sharing this tip!

[purplefdu]

Not all McDs have the american meal anymore, ours got rid of it in 2000 because we didn't have the room for the buttons. It was hidden in the senior menu though if that helps.

I know we tend to order a 2 cheeseburger meal from BK, made as rodeo cheeseburgers. We get it King sized and split everything. They don't charge extra for rodeos that way, although they are normally 1.49 each.

Friendly's new meal deal with drink, entree, dessert is 9.99, which is about the same as just the entree, but you save around $6 on drink/dessert.

If you like big macs but not the price you can order your double cheesebureger with mac sauce and lettuce. $1 big mac and less carbs

[amyschiff]

Drinking water is a HUGE money saver when eating out. At one of the restaurants the boyfriend and I frequent, I had started cutting back on costs by drinking iced tea instead of pop because it was $0.99 instead of $1.59. It saved 60 cents just doing that.

I switched to water when they started charging $1.59 for iced tea. If we both get water instead of pop, we save over $3.00 per meal.

At another restaurant we once ate at pops were $2.29.... I was pretty much appalled. Sure, you do get free refills but I barely ever need one, and I don't like to drink a lot of pop anyway.

[redsoxmaniac]

When my kids were little we used to play a game with them where they got a quarter or fifty cents if they ordered water instead of pop. Now they are grown and all we ever drink is water when we are out. Some restaurants charge up to $2.50 for a pop. It is crazy that a soft drink may end up being 25-30% of your food!

We also are big at using coupons. There are some great two-fers out there. Even if you are single and they allow take out. Doesn't work so well with stuff like burgers but for example a mexican take out place had a special with entrees and I ended up buying an enchilada plate and a burrito plate. I ate the burrito plate (well actually it was so big I got two meals from it) and froze the enchiladas. So for $6.99 I ended up with 3 meals. I always buy the Entertainment book for my area, because it has a lot in it I use and it has $20 off (4 $5 off coupons for Safeway) at the grocery store plus a bunch of 2 fers including golf. It pays for itself many times over.

I make my own pizza dough in the bread machine which is so easy and good that I rarely order pizza out unless I am out and we need to feed a large group. It is expensive to me. (good but expensive)

I am also a huge fan of the dollar menu, love it at Wendy's, Jack in the Box (tacos) and Mickey D's has a decent one.

My major switch for generally eating out at real restaurants is to eat at lunch rather than for dinner. Many times the portions are very generous but the price is a lot less
for many of the same things that are on the dinner menu. The other thing is that if you only want half a sandwich at some places they will make you half a sandwich for a little more than half of the regular price.

Good thread!

[click4credit]

Originally Posted by amyschiff

Drinking water is a HUGE money saver when eating out. At one of the restaurants the boyfriend and I frequent, I had started cutting back on costs by drinking iced tea instead of pop because it was $0.99 instead of $1.59. It saved 60 cents just doing that.

I switched to water when they started charging $1.59 for iced tea. If we both get water instead of pop, we save over $3.00 per meal.

At another restaurant we once ate at pops were $2.29.... I was pretty much appalled. Sure, you do get free refills but I barely ever need one, and I don't like to drink a lot of pop anyway.

I know a lot of people who think that getting refillable drinks save them money. In reality, you really don't get past much the second glass.

[MoneyTrev]

Originally Posted by click4credit

I know a lot of people who think that getting refillable drinks save them money. In reality, you really don't get past much the second glass.

You can buy less drinks and share it. That's a common strategy I see people use. Then using the free refill, you can save more!

My dad has seen truck drivers just go into a McDonalds with a McDonald cup and use the free refill so they pay essentially zero but my family never does that as it is unethical.