How to Share Restaurant Meals to Save Moneyby Mary Ann Romans | More from this Blogger 03 Jul 2009 06:14 AM As our family grew to include five people, the bill for eating out grew as well. But there is also a benefit to having a larger family. You can take advantage of this fact to strategically share meals. Many times when my family does this together, we actually wind up with more food for less money. Think about it. When you are eating at home, you generally serve everyone the same thing anyway? With a restaurant meal, you will often have a little more flexibility and choice, but the idea is the same. Also, all of the extras that come before the meal can help to fill you up. People often worry about filling up on the free bread, nacho chips, salad or whatever else comes to your table before the meal. While it is good to make sure that you have a well rounded meal, especially with kids, why not take advantage of those previews and then later skip the desert? Here are some more of my strategies. Kids Meals I usually start with kids sharing, because they will often have the same tastes. There is no reason why kids can't share a kids meal, especially if they are young. This beats having to throw away extra food that doesn't get eaten. If the kids are a little older, have them split an adult meal. One adult meal that costs $8 is less than two kids meals at $5 each. This is often more than enough for my two youngest children. If they are still hungry, they have a bit more off of the adult plates, or we order an extra side dish. Family Meals Another way to go is to choose a restaurant that serves platters of food or allow you to choose combinations or larger portions. Mexican and Chinese restaurants are two types of eateries that often do this. Ordering two larger meals is usually more economical than ordering four regular size meals. Choose items that are easy to divvy up, such as tacos, enchiladas, egg foo young pancakes, sweet and sour chicken, etc. Actually, pretty much anything that finds its way onto a plate can be divided. So far, I have never been charged for extra plates. I would imagine that even if we were charged extra it would still be worth it to save on the cost of an entire extra meal. You can read more blog posts by Mary Ann Romans here! Related Articles: 5 Ways to Spend Less Eating Out on Vacation Learn more about Mary Ann Romans  Mary Ann Romans is a freelance writer and mother of three children. She lives in Pennsylvania with her husband, the kids and a 16-pound cat. Relevantfrugal tags User Comments  Andrea Hermitt (5472) 10 Jul 2009 06:57 AMWe follow these rules without fail. Something else to remember, is that calorie wise, most restaurant meals are a full day's calorie allowance... it is not only smart for the wallet to split meals, but it is smart for the waste line. Andrea Hermitt (5472) 10 Jul 2009 06:58 AMerrr... excuse the typo. I meant waistline, not waste line.... maybe that was a Freudian slip? Community Tags eating, Food, frugal living Discuss this article
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