Treat Your Family Out to FREE Ice Cream

By now, most of you have learned that having a modest stockpile is a great way to save your family money.  Stockpiling ice cream just isn’t going to work too well unless you don’t mind the taste of freezer burn.  You certainly can’t stockpile ice cream that you eat out, or can you? I’ve figured out a couple of ways to treat my family to ice cream out without paying a penny. Dairy Queen and Chick-fil-A are now two of my very best ice cream friends.

Did you know that Chick-fil-A kid’s meal toys can be traded for ice cream if they are unopened?  It doesn’t matter how old they are either-they’ll still take ’em back.  I know someone who keeps a box of CFA toys in the back of her van so that anytime they’re out and about they can pull in for free ice cream.  The kids would much rather have the ice cream than the toy anyway! That particular Mom is very thankful to not have all the CFA toys in her house too. If you’ve never heard of this at your CFA, call ahead to be sure.  CFAs are all owned and operated separately and some don’t adhere to the same policies as most. 

Dairy Queen’s kids meal comes advertised with ice cream (dilly bar, ice cream sandwich, or ice cream cone) but what you actually get is a coupon on the bag.  We save our coupons for a treat for later.  A couple of weeks ago we all loaded up in the van on a hot Saturday afternoon and enjoyed ice cream for free!   This is one of those times that I’m tempted to dig through the trash just a bit, when I know there’s an ice cream Q close to the top.  Never done it yet, but tempted.  The cans outside Walgreens are also extra tempting, but I’ll not go that far unless I’m desperate! DQ also offers frequent BOGO Qs for blizzards with their blizzard club.  Not quite as fabulous a deal, but if you have 2 free kids Qs and a BOGO blizzard Q, your family can still enjoy a nice treat for under $3!

McDonald’s has inexpensive (for ice cream eaten out) ice cream cones(2/$1) and sundaes ($1).    When I was pregnant with Turkey my cravings were for pizza (ok, so I always crave pizza, but in my defense my cravings were heightened) and McFlurrys.  After finally giving in and buying one at $2.79, I realized that it was actually the vanilla ice cream that I craved and I just happen to really like M & Ms.  So I bought a gallon of store brand vanilla and took some easter M & Ms and mixed them up in the blender.  Very yummy and for a fraction of the cost.  Plus, it’s much quicker than a trip out, when you make do.    Every once in a while we’ll do the same thing with butterfinger bars. 

Don’t forget how easy it is to make homemade popsicles or fudge pops either!  

I’m sure there are some other great ways to enjoy ice cream treats for the summer, but those are what come to mind at the moment. If you’ve got any other suggestions for free or inexpensive cool treats with this 100 degree weather, please share!