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Restaurant Coupons - Ways to Save When Eating Out

We love to cook, but there are times when we just like to kick back and let someone else serve us – am I right? It’s so nice to enjoy a nice meal with no muss, no fuss and then go back home to a clean kitchen. But you need a restaurant coupon, I actually never leave the house without restaurant coupons. But, restaurant coupons get extremely cumbersome – I mean my purse is full enough with a bunch of restaurant coupons from which I never can find the coupon I’m looking for once I arrive at the restaurant! So, this article isn’t really about cheap restaurants, it’s about making restaurants more affordable. When you eat out we have some suggestions keep your meals within budget and sometimes even free.

There are several new businesses promoting restaurant coupons that also feel that restaurants should be cheaper and we should not pay full price. Here are a few that we’ve used successfully.

Restaurant Coupons - Groupon

First is Groupon, kind of the granddaddy of all the other sites. It’s been around a few years and seems to have most of the kinks worked out. You purchase a “groupon” (really a coupon, that becomes available after a certain number of people (ie. a group) decide to purchase) for generally about half the value of the amount of food you are going to get at the restaurant. Groupons are great because you can just bring them up on your smart phone when you arrive at the restaurant and don’t have to worry about loosing a paper. But beware, groupons have lots of fine print which is labeled and spelled out clearly for you. They also have expiration dates, but if you miss the date the groupon will still be worth the price you paid (you just loose the special deal). Groupon also has lots of fun activities and also products you can purchase cheap and get in the mail. You must work quick with groupon, deals are only available for a limited time, and can sell out early. Groupon will customize emails for you according to your location and preferences, which I recommend so you don’t miss out on a great deal. Press here to sign up for Groupon. These are not really restaurant coupons, Groupons beat restaurant coupons every day of the week!

There are others doing the same type of program that run very similar to Groupon, for instance www.homerun.com and livingsocial.com. I don’t have too much experience with these and they don’t seem to have as much going on as Groupon.

Restaurant Coupons - Restaurants.com

This one has also been around awhile – www.restaurant.com or www.restaurants.com. Try both websites if you are looking because sometimes one will run a special and you can get certificates worth $25 for $1,$2 or $4 instead of their normal $10. These are paper certificates that you must print. You must then spend more than the printed value (usually $35 or $50 for a $25 certificate), sometimes you can only use them on certain days, you pay gratuity at a certain rate on the full amount and the restaurant must call for an approval code after you order. So, they are more cumbersome but you do same money on the final check. These are more like restaurant coupons because you do have to have them with you.

To find out how long other foods are good for, please visit the Dairy, Drinks, Fruits, Grains, Proteins, Vegetables and Other sections of Eat By Date or use the search function below.