<p>I love all the threads on economical grocery shopping, soup making etc. !!! Let’s keep it going!</p>
<p>But sometimes it’s just nice to go out or have some take out at home. </p>
<p>Any chain restaurant good deals to share? 2 for 1 nights? Places that give big portions so you can still do 1 for 2??? Local good deals?</p>
<p>My kids love Schlotsky’s pizza. On Wednesday’s and Saturday’s after 5pm all their individual size pizza are $1.99. Can’t be that! For 10 bucks I can make 4 people happy!!! Plus they have interesting flavors…my favorite is the barbequed chicken-jalapeno!</p>
<p>I’m definitely cooking most meals at home…maybe one meal out a week - not bad, but how can we still make it cheap???</p>
<p>We love ethnic restaurants. Often we find that Korean plates by Yummy’s can be split & serve more than one hungry diner. If you make your own rice, you can ask for an extra vegetable instead.
Some Chinese restaurants also have large servings and huge variety. Dim sum can be a great deal at some of the resturants which offer 3 pieces for $1.50 or so.
Eating out at lunch is often a substantial savings over the same food at dinner.
There is a place, Sensei Sushi that offers 50% off most menu items ordered on Sunday or Monday before 6pm.
Costco cooked chicken or ribs is great for several meals around our home.
Hawaiian plates can also be split between two hungry folks (though they are a bit pricier).</p>
<p>My kids love to go to Applebee’s - after 9 pm the appetizers are 1/2 price and they eat them for their dinner. The also have some good lunch specials.</p>
<p>When they are home and we like to take them out - we rarely do dinner as they are not usually around. We take them to a local diner for breakfast. They not only get up in the morning but are friendly and conversational and love breakfast.</p>
<p>If you look for codes for restaurants.com, you can get $25 coupons for restaurants for as low as $2. Usually there are some restrictions such as a minimum of $40-$50 spent, no alcoholic beverages included, but still a good deal.</p>
<p>I agree that Costco’s cooked chicken is a great deal. I like their big pot pie, too, though I usually make my own. Coupons for local places are great. Also my kids like the Hot Pockets and personal Celeste pizzas that can be bought very cheaply, especially on sale. Makes a nice quick meal if you are in rush. </p>
<p>I never pay full price for even Burger King or McD’s on the rare occasion that we go out. Son needed a book quickly last week and I got him 40% at B&N with a coupon plus we got hot chocolate there at a buy one, get one free. On top of that I used by B&N card to get an additional 10% off. I always check the on line printable coupons before I go anywhere. Son just got haircut at Supercuts for $3 off, I have a 20% off for Christmas Tree Shop, and only buy at the book stores with coupon in hand.</p>
<p>HI mom, what island are you from? H and I are thinking about stimulating HI economy a bit, since RT flights from here are dirt cheap right now.</p>
<p>I’ve been clipping Papa Murphy’s coupons for a while - I love their pizzas, and their specials combined with a $2 off coupon can make our dinners and the next day’s lunches very inexpensive. Pizza baked at home, served with a mixed greens salad (comes in big tubs at Costco) and a drink of choice in front of our big screen TV - surely beats sitting in a pizza chain restaurant wondering if the table had been wiped out before we were seated.</p>
<p>Logan’s Roadhouse (a good restaurant) has some cheapo special going on- I’ve seen it on TV. It’s 2 complete dinners for $22 or something like that.</p>
<p>Make sure you sign up for the “birthday club” at any and all restaurants. Create a hotmail.com account.
For my birthday last week, I received certificates for a free dessert at Longhorn, a free Like it sized ice cream from Coldstone, free entree at Applebee’s, free gourmet cheeseburger at Red Robin…mmmm</p>
<p>Applebee’s also has a new “2 for $20” promotion, the world’s largest casual dining chain invites guests to share a generously-sized appetizer and two classic entrées – all for only $20.</p>
<p>I like Papa Murphy’s vegetarian deluxe pizza - buy it maybe twice a year.
Chicken at Costco is a staple here if we are all coming home late and there is no leftovers from yesterday. I do not like the quality of that chicekn but can’t beat the price, recently down to $4.99 from $5.99.
Chinese restaurant for lunch - a full entry with soup, spring roll and shripm is $5/person and we have leftovers for a second meal. Usually go when H is travelling and I need some time away from the stove :)</p>
<p>Our local Indian restaurants have some great lunch buffets, though I think the dinner deals where you take half the meal home and get at least one more meal out of it are almost as good a deal and less likely to make you overeat.</p>
<p>I love the rotisserie chickens from Costco too! Good for a couple of meals - I like to pair it with their Greek pasta salad - that will feed a bunch of people.</p>
<p>One of our local wings places has .35 cent wing night (up recently from .25 cent wing night) - 10 large wings for $3.50!</p>
<p>I don’t care for the Costco chicken at all. I find the flavor odd and find it slimy.
Indian lunch buffet and Chinese lunch specials are great deals.
We are still dining out each week. We don’t go to super expensive places. One thing we have started in ordering one entree to split and ordering a 2nd soup at one of our local places. It is plenty of food and we don’t overeat.
My husband and I have a standing lunch date on Friday. We don’t go super expensive. Today it was a local mexican. Two tortas and two drinks 18 dollars. It would have been healthier to split one torta.
We are lucky that our income is secure. We rarely go to chains. Try to keep the money in town and support locals.
adding- the local mexican place was empty. Sad. Usually it is fairly crowded.</p>
<p>Try local Indian restaurants for lunch buffets. They generally run under $10.99 all you can eat including salads, soups, appetizers, main entrees, and desserts.</p>
<p>You can keep your total bill reasonable if you do not order any drinks other than plain water. Lassi can run $4.00 and alcoholic drinks add way more money to the bill. </p>
<p>The other place I really enjoy eating at is the Macaroni Grill. If you don’t order soups, appetizers, drinks, and desserts, one can have a nice meal without breaking the bank!</p>
<p>By the way, for the folks who live in NJ - try Saffron on Rt 10 East, E Hanover
Mr Chu’s on Rt 10 E in E Hanover -ask for the Chinese authentic menu. You can order 2 entrees and large bowl of soup for 19.99
Noodle Chu’s on Rt 46- if you like Cantonese food… is very reasonable</p>
<p>Dinner at a Claim Jumper can be relatively cheap if two people split one dish. The food portions are so humongous, my H and I always have leftovers even after sharing an entree. </p>
<p>My cheapest dinner so far was a meal for two at a local Ruby’s Diner. I ordered fish tacos, ate one and found a gigantic fly in the last one! I made some jokes about the “extra protein”, but D, who was sitting across from me, got disgusted, put away her french fries and called a manager. Wow, they were very apologetic and brought us replacement tacos, a dessert and a check for $0! I grew up on a farm, so a fly in my food was not something I have never seen. D is a city pansy, so it was a huge deal for her. :)</p>