My mother has figured out, like many of you, how to eat for practically free at Arby’s once a month. On the back of every receipt there is a # to call to take a brief survey about your experience. At the end of the survey you’ll be given a verification # to write down on the back of the receipt, which will give you a free sandwich at Arby’s. Of course your receipt from your free sandwich will also have a survey request on the back so you can do it all over again (once every 30 days). For our family we can make a quick, inexpensive Arby’s meal by picking up the free sandwich plus a sandwich and fries from their value menu. Add sliced apples at home and we’ve got a fast food meal for around $3. Some other restaurants that offer similar surveys are Wendy’s, Burger King, Chick-fil-a and Panda Express.
Also sign up for birthday clubs and fan clubs to all the restaurants and fast food places that you enjoy eating at. Just about every chain restaurant I know offers these programs, even if they aren’t widely advertised. Just swagbucks your favorites and get signed up. It would be wise to set up a separate e-mail account for such registrations. [yourname]eatsout@domain.com would be an easy one to use. When you plan and budget to eat out in a given week you can log into your dedicated food e-mail account and see what offers you have.
Don’t forget about free kids’ nights too. We are going to Chick-fil-A tonight for kid’s night. Because Turkey eats so little we can get one adult meal, one free kid’s meal, and just add an extra sandwich (which I have a free coupon for). We’ll have plenty for everyone. Here is a good list of restaurants that offer free or cheap kid’s meals Here are 2 pages where you search database of restaurants listed by city. Kids Meal Deals and My Kids Eat Free. You can also try searching swagbucks for “kids eat free” and your city name. Here is the best kids eat free page I found for the Tyler area. ALWAYS call ahead to confirm your local restaurant’s participation! We used to take our older kids to eat at Pizza Hut for the buffet on Tuesday nights about once a month. One night we got a bill for 2 adults and 3 children, and then found out they had cancelled the promotion without notice. Ouch-lesson learned!
It is a very rare occasion for my family to go out to eat at a sit down restaurant without a coupon or gift certificate. Many times they come from restaurant programs like the fabulous Chick-fil-A calendars sold every year around Christmas that have 12 coupons for free items. But just as often the GCs come from any number of online rewards programs that I participate in (click the ways to make money tab for examples of these) Why spend money you have if you don’t have too? We all know the best things in life are free, and there are lots of opportunities for free food from restaurants when everyone wants your patronage!
Happy eating out on a budget!
Just a heads up: we were told by a Chick-fil-A worker that they will be changing the format of the calendars this year. No more non-expiry coupons and instead a gift card pre-loaded with the offers. Whether or not they expire I don’t know.