restaurant

A Cheapskate’s Guide to Eating Out

Posted August 26, 2009 - 08:00 by Paul Michael

Food and Drink, Budgeting, Consumer Affairs

Happy Food

When I was a young lad, eating out was something of a luxury for my family. Most of our meals, at least 95%, were prepared and eaten at home. This was the model for most people my age or older. But these days, society has migrated to eating out of the home way more often. The result is that we’re spending a lot more on food than we used to. So, are there ways to chop the bill and eat out for less? You bet.

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Restaurant Menus: Translating Cost and Taste

Posted April 13, 2009 - 08:08 by Thursday Bram

Food and Drink

Restaurant Menu

A well-designed menu is considered an easy way to separate diners from their dollars at a restaurant. Even mom-and-pop restaurants put a lot of time and effort into how they put together their menus in the hopes of not only directing you towards dishes with high profit margins but into tempting you to come back soon and try something else that sounds tasty. A good menu is advertising: a way to get consumers to spend more money. If you know some of the most important menu design tricks going in, you may still wind up ordering your favorite dinner — if the food's worth the price, why not? — but it can also help you decide to try a meal that's easy on the wallet.

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“Make your own Twinkies” and other secret recipes by the Food Cloner Dude.

Posted June 10, 2008 - 07:49 by Paul Michael

Frugal Living, Life Hacks, Food and Drink, DIY, General Tips

Todd Wilbur

Todd Wilbur is a name you may well have heard before. For lack of a better word, he’s a copycat…and a cool one at that. From homemade Twinkies to homecooked Big Macs, Todd can recreate just about anything from your favorite American restaurant chain. Now you can learn how to make those famous meals and snacks and save a bundle.

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Deal: Four Museum or Movie Tickets from American Express for $3 to $8

Posted April 20, 2008 - 17:21 by Xin Lu

Personal Finance, Frugal Living, Deals and Coupons, Food and Drink, Art and Leisure, Deals

If you are an American Express member, a promotion is currently going on called Museum or Movie. The deal is that if you make a certain number of purchases at participating merchants during 4/1/2008 and 5/31/2008 you can redeem the receipts for four complimentary movie tickets or museum tickets. If there is no movie theatre or museum location near you, they will send you a $40 Amex gift card. Here are a few ideas as to how you can take advantage of this deal for $3 to $8.

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Restaurant Recipes at Home-Cooked Prices

Posted April 14, 2008 - 06:50 by Thursday Bram

Food and Drink

Olive Garden Menu

There are some meals that I am a flat out sucker for — one restaurant’s appetizer, another’s entrée, several deserts. But eating out is one of the less frugal approaches to meal planning. I can’t justify going to Olive Garden every week just because I find it impossible to get enough of their spinach-artichoke dip, even if I could get good coupons.

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The case for caloric labeling

Posted October 31, 2007 - 14:55 by Andrea Dickson

Food and Drink

As a conscientious consumer, you have a right to know what you're buying, eating, or wearing. New York City is enforcing a law that requires chain restaurants to provide nutritional information on their menus, to help diners make healthier choices. Will this make any difference in America's battle against obesity? When you go out for a cheap, fast food meal, do you even deserve to know the nutrional value?

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Crappy service, great food...what to do?

Posted 2 years ago by Paul Michael

Filed Under: Food and Drink

Fawlty

Yesterday I witnessed something quite special. My lovely wife, who is usually not one for complaining, decided that the service we had received at a local restaurant (or hadn't in this case) was not on. She put her foot down, followed my advice, and I witnessed it with a glowing smile.

Here's the story.

After being seated by the host, we waited 15 minutes for a server to appear at our table. We did the usual 'please, can't somebody take our order' stares into space. We made eye contact with other servers. We did everything right. Alas, we were ignored.

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Get $25 dining certificates for $3 at Restaurant.com

Posted 3 years ago by Will Chen

Filed Under: Deals and Coupons

restaurant.com checkout

Restaurant.com is currently offering $25 dining certificates for $10. Apply the bonus code CHEERS during checkout and get another 70% off the $10. (Coupon code expires 12/29/2006.)

That's $3 for a $25 meal!

I personally tested this out an hour ago and it works! Here are a few tips on getting the most out of this deal:

Continue reading "Get $25 dining certificates for $3 at Restaurant.com"

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