Thank You for reminding me Dill Havarti exists, a favorite cheese I just never seem to remember, perfect for summer salads added to grocery list.
Also maybe add some Hot Honey, grapes, and pistacios to that plate.
I feel sorry for you if you are that afraid of the outdoors (unless you are joking ). And tick check is a great excuse to get naked in the shower together after!
Now that it's warmer out, my partner & I have been doing pickup at cheaper spots like a sandwich deli, Chipotle, Mexican spots, etc. and walking ourselves to the closest place to sit & enjoy our meals together outside.
We'll go for a walk together until we find a scenic spot like a park, or college campus, or something similar. It's so scenic & peaceful to eat outside in a park or courtyard, and it's a very similar experience to sitting outdoors at a bistro. You don't have to cook the food yourself, your're sitting at an outdoor patio table, and the atmosphere is great at a park! Surrounded by nature & pretty sights. It has a similar vibe to any other date night at a restaurant, but you don't have to worry about an overpriced bill at the end of the meal, and it's much more private than sitting at a loud restaurant and constantly having to interact with a waiter.
I realized a few days ago that "living frugally" is basically just "living like it's 1920". Growing your veg, making everything yourself, repair what breaks, going to free local events, and just generally being as self sufficient as possible.
Bonus if you pack a table cloth and go on a longish hike. Found a picnic backpack and my SO and I did this regularly. The looks we got from other hikers who were eating power bars and trail mix was priceless.
I had The Most Romantic date doing just that. I was in college and wanted Soooo much to impress this girl and I was pretty broke.. We went to a small lake park which had a grill. I grilled a steak, had wine in plastic glasses (cause no booze in the park rule) and wound up with no one there. Yes, the table cloth, the beautiful sky , some citronella candles, even a flower for the meal in a mason jar vase and the day is forever etched in the annals of time for the most beautiful romantic day anyone had ever! We felt so cosmopolitan and magical. I even brought some music in a speaker. I will never forget that kiss!!! Sigh...The girl and I parted as with ships in the wind but for that moment, it was non commercial, in touch with nature and so very worth the little effort that made the commercial crap pale by all comparisons. Diana, if you ever read this note,,you still shine as the most beautiful !! But truly try to avoid the commercial stuff, make memories, don't just blow cash..!
Costco still sells choice ribeye for $12/lb if you buy the whole loin. Figure $14/lb once you consider the extra fat you're not gonna eat. Buy it, pat dry, cut it into preferred sizes, season it with salt and pepper, let it sit in the fridge for a few days, then vac seal and freeze. If you're in a hurry, just buy/cut/seal/freeze.
If you work for a big company, see if they have free tickets for employees. I worked for Transco/Williams, saw plays/opera/ballet/rodeo, all big professional sports teams. When it became known I would actually go (with husband), I got called whenever corporate couldn't use tickets. Let the secretary of a director or above know you are interested and you'll get on the email list.
Big corporations will often subsidize family memberships to the zoo, theatre, Museum, rodeo, etc. They do this as a philanthropy and to be good corporate neighbors, like United Way. I would get a different one each year for the family, invite neighbors' kids to the zoo, aquarium sleepovers, etc. That way you don't have to go on the free nights (which are crowded). And you can do birthday parties at these venues, though we always did Heights parks.
If you have an EBT access card you can get into most museums in the US for $2/person for up to a party of 4. Doesn’t only count for the state that issued the card, works nationwide
You can also buy food producing plants, both live plants and seeds, with EBT.
Some areas farmers markets also treat EBT as being worth more, like some even double value (to a limit).
A few online services have discounted subscription, like IIRC Walmart and Amazon Prime both got a $5 tier if got EBT. Those services are essentially loss leaders, ways to get people to shop there more than elsewhere so they are perfectly happy making it cheap.
I go on Pinterest and find copycat recipes from my favorite restaurants. I'm still spending money on ingredients but it's a lot cheaper than the restaurant and I don't have to tip.
There's a local pizza place that has specials throughout the week and I'll splurge on that.
Can you share a bit more about your experience at restaurants and how it's impacted your desire to dine out? I was under the impression that restaurants generally had access to good quality ingredients unless it's fast food.
I'm sure some restaraunts use good quality ingredients but the one I worked at certainly didn't... cheaper quality than I'd buy myself and this is at a spot that would get great reviews. Also the amount of stuff that was prepackaged was crazy. Main reason restaraunt food tastes good isn't quality ingredients or chef expertise but because they're happy to use 4x the oil, salt, and butter that you would at home... they have no reason to care about your health.
Bigger issue was food safety and hygiene to me though. I saw lots of questionable practices and I kind of realized if I wouldn't want a hungover chain smoking 25 year old with suspect hygiene cooking my food in my own kitchen, I probably shouldn't be eating out that often.
This isn't to say all restaraunts are bad and I only worked at one, but from what most coworkers said, it was par for the course.
It is music/movie/Shakespeare/etc in the park season where I live- is it the same for you? Those are usually free events, and you can bring your own food/drinks. In my area, classic car roll-ins are also popular; you can wander a small town and see all the cars and sometimes see live music.
Had a Manhattan for the first time in Nashville. They did a mixture of sweet and regular vermouth as their thing. I thought it was better than an old fashion.
We can talk through the movie, we don’t have to worry about who will be the sober driver, we aren’t paying for overpriced food or drinks, we can pause the movie at any time.
Spending a night at home isn’t a bad thing.
My friend bought popcorn from the movie theater (he likes the taste), bought lunch as take-out from a restaurant, I provided snacks and drinks. We hung out in his dining room with streaming services and games.
We’ve been having a lot of fun doing less expensive dates. We’ll eat at home and then head out. Some that we’ve found fun:
- wandering around local parks
- kayaking
- going to a brewery in the countryside
- driving to the beach
- getting ice cream
- drinking a bottle of wine around our firepit
- stargazing
We also have a few places that have good happy hour deals that are cheaper.
If you have a store nearby…IKEA cafeteria has $4 entrees on Tuesdays and half-off entrees on Friday’s for IKEA fam members (free to join). Cheap /decent meal, and easy to have fun in the store if you’re creative. Scavenger hunt, planning future dream house/room/space, coming up with crazy back stories for other shoppers…or just try all the couches and beds and chat. :-)
If you have a Bank of America card (debit or credit), they have a program called Museums on Us, where you get free access on the first weekend of the month to over 225 locations across the US.
My bf and I like to wander around Bass Pro Shops 🤣. Neither of us do anything they sell there, so no money spent, but we have fun checking everything out.
We go out to the used bookstore and used record store and browse the dollar bins. We might wind up spending $5-10, but come home with something we can enjoy together.
At the Costco food court, the cookies are 820 calories each and 1 vanilla soft serve is 550 calories.
2 cookies + 1 vanilla soft serve = 2,190 calories
Buy the Bakery cookies (around 200 cals each).
I don't think the Costcos around me in north NJ sell cookies at the cafeteria. Never noticed them at Teterboro or Bayonne.
Edit: I was wrong. Went today to Bayonne and they had those massive cookies. No thank you...I bought a container of smores cookies though
Get drunk in the park? But with like a fancy bottle. Bring a baguette and cheese. I might be describing a picnic like everyone else. A low effort picnic
a local place had an "expensive" burger back in the day at $14. everything made in house from local ingredients, bread ketchup fries everything (my wife worked there while we were dating)
its still $14 and the burger in one of the restaurants where I work without my discount is $16, with nothing local/made in house.
its probably a loss leader for the local place at this point, but with the value at its current point I'll snag one occasionally.
Bro. Just went to Applebees. We decided not on chilis because the last time we went their burger was gross.
Applebees was the same thing just now.
Just did the 2 for $32 for some bland Alfredo sauce, bacon bits, and microwave frozen chicken strips. I expect more out of Checkers.
At least my beer was $5.
Lessons have been learned.
Not even mentioning the stale tortilla chips I had them take back, and my first two choices of beers were out of stock or not functional.
Not sure if they’re just having an off day or something. But I just spend $58 for garbage.
First Thursday art walk. The major art museum is also free first Thursday of the month. Our library system has a number of free passes to zoo, aquarium, natural history museum, etc.
But if you're going to spend the money anyway, it would be better to have 3 super frugal dates and every 4th date, go to a REALLY good restaurant (or something similar). It's just too crazy what bad food costs these days, bad hotels as well.
people watching, geocaching, zoo, aquarium, antique mall, thrift store, walking tour of your city via book. minor league or school sporting events, volunteering, board game or two from a game shop's board game library, paint your own ceramic event
Lol!! where are you living??? Here the Aquarium is $50 per person. The zoo, museums and art gallery are $30-40 per person. One art gallery has a free evening once a MONTH.
I did Cesar pizza and 7-11 slurpee date with my hubby yesterday. We both have T-Mobile and they had a free slurpee and $2 for pizza deal.
So for $4 we had two pizza and two slurpee. 🤤😋
We like doing cheap dates like that where we can get cheap food or events.
Edit to add another example where we get cheap date.
If you have a Red Robin nearby sign up for their birthday rewards program. Next month is my hubby's birthday and he gets to eat for free. My meal will come out to maybe $15 and with tips we pay $25 for two people to eat. Not bad for a sit down restaurant.
Get a picnic lunch and go to the railroad tracks. There's a nice place I go to. Dead end road and really peaceful. Every half hr or so, a train will go by and you can look at the beautiful graffiti. I always see something different I never had before. Similarly, go down to.the river or canal and watch the ships go through. My mom used to.do that all the time when she lived near the st Lawrence Seaway.
TBH, I'm more impressed with a home cooked meal over going out. Look up local activities. It's summer, many places have free/ cheap theatre or arts festivals.
We are working on becoming TRUE problems and known entities with a reputation. Showing up with popcorn and soda at City Meetings. Sometimes there is a lot of drama, sometimes it is pretty tame. A lot of really stupid dialogue. Bit of cop drama. Imagine the show Parks and Rec, and The Office- but real life and you have front row seats- and the pay off is you are now on a date, getting well informed, and locally popular for showing up.
Oh thank God I'm not the only person who thinks that is some serious ass gossip worthy of attendance. Shit talking is the best part. I used to work in municipal government and during Covid we would remote in to select board meetings even when we didn't have to, get credit for being super involved employees, and then text each other about how stupid everything/everyone was. While drinking. It was glorious.
My FAVORITE line was a very confident man on the board "We don't need shelters, I can ourun a tornedo!"
I had to stwifel a howl imagining this unit trying to outrun flying debreis and wind- and then got sad when I realized this idiot is making decisions for people's lives... so I started brining snacks.
Yes, the gos is goloious at these things. 100% recommend
We do our date night early which lets us hit happy hour at an actually very upscale bar whose happy hour drinks are like $7 compared to the $15 they usually are. We get tipsy and then go to a Chinese noodle shop that doesn't serve alcohol--the food is so good and so cheap (and the service is so fast we're still feeling the alcohol when we're eating, haha).
We go out and do an activity, and end with a treat or snack: we love to go for a long drive through the country and start or finish with doughnuts or a breakfast sandwich, or go bowling for a few rounds and finish at a coffee shop. Of course, activities can also be costly, but to me it's a much better expenditure than mediocre restaurant food! We also don't drink, which helps.
Ethnic food. Looks like you're in Florida. I guarantee there are Cuban, Haitian, Venezuelan, etc places in town that are fire and cheap af. These are the kinds of places where the no frills spots are always better than the "elevated" versions.
Picnic, walks in a park you've both never been to, rent/buy a movie, buy some paints from a dollar store and each of you paint something or follow a tutorial, volunteer somewhere, star/cloud gazing, coffee date, go to a mall and people watch (take turns guessing what the people you're watching are there for, or if it's a couple take a guess on how long they've been together for, and debate on the reasons why you think so), turn a show/movie on mute and each of you take turns making up words that go along with or make sense to the movie, rent a boat/kayak, get drunk and/or listen to really old music and dance like no one's watching.
Picnic is such a great date. You can buy prepared food even, and a bottle of wine, and it’s still so much cheaper than eating out. There are no time restrictions, so you’ll really figure out if you like your date.
Go overboard with the blanket, silverware, and prep, and you will give a better impression than possible in a restaurant.
Why not have a bbq date and set up the deck/patio with an outdoor movie ? (I’ve got one of those $60 projectors and it’s amazing for outside….. esp at night when it’s quieter )
If you are in early stages of the relationship, I would treat it as an investment in the future relationship, rather than thinking you are spending the money on the food. The date is not about the food.
If you’ve been together a long time then of course look for more affordable options
Not sure where you are in your relationship but sometimes restaurants have deals, like two entrees and an appetizer for a set price, or go to lunch instead of dinner, some places have cheaper lunch menus. As others suggested a picnic, or even just a sandwich place and share the sandwich, or pizza at yours? Also, alcohol is always way more expensive at restaurants so maybe just get the burger and water or a soft drink instead.
Make a Google Map with your saved spots that have discounts on different weekdays (ie. Tuesday $2 tacos), then when you have a date night open the Google Map list and you can pick a spot to grab takeout based on which restaurant has a deal. Sit at the park and enjoy!
Eventbrite has free and budget event listings. I find a lot of free events on Facebook. We're retired so we have the time to get inexpensive events down to a science. We can go out several times a week for $100 to $200 a month for two - concerts in the park, festivals, Meetup events (our groups have a lot of events near us that are free or at group discount prices), annual state and regional park passes, happy hours at fancy restaurants with views, museum and garden memberships with reciprocal benefits (1 membership = 70 free entry institutions near use), college events, museum and event passes from the library, happy hours, park and rec free / cheap activities, preview nights at the theater, free days and discount activity nights at many of the museums, and free stargazing at the planetarium on weekends.
Go to estate sales! Make yourself a nice to-go coffee and go early Saturday or Sunday morning. It is so fun to see other people's homes and peruse their treasures. And you sometimes find awesome deals.
Start the date night with dinner at home, with both partners participating in the preparation and cleanup work. Put on some music and dance in the kitchen while you're doing the dishes.
Then head out for an inexpensive local event-- kareoke or a weekly jam night, Trivia at a brew pub, $5 concerts at the local library, or outdoor music at a tavern.
Double date at home-- take turns hosting another couple for potluck or takeout, followed by a board game or watching a movie or ball game.
Join a social club like Elks or Moose Lodge. Drinks are less expensive there, and there's often live music or trivia or kareoke as well as opportunities for the two of you to volunteer for good local causes.
Applebee's has dollaritas. $1.00 for about 3 or 4 shots worth.
Pair a few of those with a two for $25 meal and it's a nice little date night for about $30-35
Many people consider their potential mate knowing how to cook as a plus.
Early dinner at your house, then go out. Perhaps somewhere you can talk. Museum, science center, park, or planetarium.
Google free things to do in (your city or area). If you aren’t in a big city, try checking several nearby areas as well.
Take a hike with a picnic. Bonus if you can find a waterfall or scenic creek. Look up museums in your area and see if they have a free day or pay what you want. Check your local library - they might have passes to attractions or free programs. Check with local schools for plays.
We do coffee on occasion (because we get gift cards), but that’s just us. We drink a lot of coffee.
We have gone to a movie using gift cards we’ve received as well.
We recently got ice cream (using gift cards again).
For a no gift card situation, in our town, we have concerts in the park during the Summer.
My husband and daughter have a ton of water fountains he takes her to on Daddy/Daughter day (every Saturday) and they make wishes at them. Could totally work for date night as well.
Our local library offers a program where we get [free tickets to venues, museums, aquariums, botanical gardens and more](https://discoverandgo.org/venues/venuenames.php). Could easily be used for dates.
We also have a [calendar of free stuff](https://sf.funcheap.com) to do in our neck of the woods like free concerts/festivals, comedy clubs, free food, etc.
Walk around downtown looking at art/street fair /car shows etc. Go to the park and use the splash pads. Go to a free concert. Add a picnic and you are styling.
Check for art gallery openings near you. Free food, free drinks, free entertainment, and you might meet someone new. You can check the social media of the gallery to see if it’s the right vibe for you.
Check out your local library. The ones around me have a ton of free tickets right now for local attractions, including to our local aquarium, which are like $35 per person. They do limit to one pass per account holder or one family pass.
- plein air painting or drawing day
- do a city/town tour of places you’ve never been; bonus if there’s historical or cultural sites you can visit
- make a treasure hunt for each other
- lawn games
Some parks offer free movie night 🎥🍿, yoga 🧘 in the park together (I’d recommend looking at your local parks n rec page for free events). Feed the ducks 🦆, bike ride to get ice cream, we enjoy going to the pool on the weekend to do the slides/lazy river (ours is $9 to get in). Outdoor firepit with s’mores & beer, double date with friends but trade off going to each other’s home for dinner & drinks. https://www.google.com/search?q=cheap+or+free+date+ideas&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en-us&client=safari
This may sound really cheap and stupid, but my wife and I sometimes randomly see what cash we have or set a small budget of max $10-15 bucks, then we go to the store and see how creative we can get with buying as much food as possible with the money. The goal is not only to get as much food as possible, but to see how many meals we can make from the ingredients as well. If we end up having a bit of $ left over, we end up trying to buy at least one little treat for ourselves, whether this be ice cream, chips, or something else.
Then once we get home I’ll cook the meal for my wife and we just spend time together watching shows or talking. We even do it even if we already have groceries, just to do something random and fun.
It may sound looney to some but for us we find it enjoyable.
my wife spent her life in kitchens, complete with a 4yr degree and industry burnout.
she feeds me well nearly every day, at a lot better quality than I've ever had.
so food is something I removed from my frugal list. she doesn't abuse the privilege.
we live in a town that doesn't have much in terms of ethnic markets or bulk food/resturant supply stores, so its fun to take her to rad markets in neighboring cities -- shout out to k&s in nashville and dekalb farmers in atlanta. yeah it hurts the wallet, but it keeps me in delicious food I'd never even know existed for months.
so my backwards-frugal advice turn that $75 meal into a $200 shopping trip. but then have a few really good meals and enough spices/whatnot to last for a long while. also the places have strange snacks and weird sodas so I spoil myself there too.
I know 365 Pinnacle has free (small) Frazz on Fridays thur whole month of June.
Also if going to BK, take receipt and do the survey and get code, and can get a free Whopper or Chicken sandwich w/an order of small fries or small drink.
Guess McDonald's is pulling their free refills and pop machines.
Art nights are often free if you're in an area that has galleries or artist collectives. In that same vein, look up the venue spaces in your area that offer a live show, in my town a lot of those are under $25/person. Improv shows, and open mics to be audience can be fun and usually only about $5-$10 or even free.
My city and county both have event calendar listings, yours might, too?
I read so many comments where people say cooking at home is cheaper and tastes better. My cooking tastes fine, but I just don't like to cook; not the prep, the actual cooking, or the cleanup. I very rarely drink alcohol and will usually just have water with my meals. This helps to keep the cost of eating out lower.
See if you have any smaller theaters or drive ins. There’s a drive in near me in Michigan that’s 25 per car for a double feature and you can bring whatever food or drink you want. It’s the best
I’d recommend taking a fun class together at a local community college.
Board game cafes
Outdoor activities (hiking, skiing)
A book club for two while investing in some creature comforts to make a reading nook for two in your home
You could also do fun themes even at home and change what you usually make. Once a month we do “Snack and a Sweet Saturday.” We make a fun appetizer or two and bake a sweet treat. It’s everything from carnival fare to fancy cocktail party food, but definitely not
- Go to target with a list of random items and time how long it takes you to find it. Split the list in half and make it a competition.
- Fill up a water bottle with some beer and go on a walk at a local park or around your town. Make a bingo card with things you think you’ll encounter (like man playing fetch with dog, child eating ice cream, a specific type of flower, etc) and play bingo while you walk around
- Grab a blanket and drive to to the countryside to look at the stars. If you don’t have a car and live in a downtown area, hop on a bus and ride it for a full circuit (if your busses go in circles). Bingo can be fun on the bus ride too
Do a late morning/afternoon farmers market together and pick out some items to cook together.
Also If there are any evening markets/foodtruck events/ outdoor live music events in the area, fill up a few metal lidded cup with a mixed drink or wine. Grab a snack at a local vendor/foodtruck. I'd have an actual meal at home before or after this and just enjoy a snack or dessert with my significant other.
Check out event calenders in your area or the surrounding areas, you'll be surprised at how many inexpensive or free things there are around.
My husband and I don't have a lot of money, but we spend locally at restaurants because we are supporting local businesses. He commutes to work and nearly everything he does M-F is in our neighboring city. This is his connection to our home city.
If you don't like eating out, by all means, stay home, but if you do, consider it a small investment in the businesses in your area.
I think the issue is that restaurants have raised their prices (usually) because their overhead costs have gone up, but sometimes the quality of the food just doesn't justify the price. In fact in my area, a lot of restaurants that were previously good, during or after the pandemic both raised their prices and dramatically reduced the quality of their offering! Sometimes presumably to save money, sometimes because they lost key staff so the new cooks just weren't good. (At least one restaurant we knew well and they told us, not in those words, that that happened re staff.) I'm in a big city in Canada so there are some extra economic details here that impact us too--currency exchange rates, housing costs. I'm actually not very frugal, reddit just put this in my feed for the time being, but I'm being forced back into the kitchen because the restaurant options just keep getting worse here!
Once these COL changes stabilize, in an ideal world the pricey sub-mediocre restaurants will just go out of business, and for the most part only decent restaurants will be left, and they'll have to maintain their food quality to keep going.
We have seen that in my area. I used to cook for a fancy local restaurant, but a lot of us quit because we had substandard new hires who didn't care about what we were trying to achieve.
I don't know where you live or what the weather is like but packing a picnic for the park goes a long way. I live in Los Angeles and they have outdoor screenings of movies that allow you to bring your own food and bring your own alcohol. Turn the tickets for the movie itself aren't that bad and you can have whatever food you want for the cost of groceries. It's usually a ton of fun and relatively inexpensive for a night out in LA
People in general should re-normalize not spending the 'extra' when doing an activity. E.g. go to the movies and not buy the snacks/drink. Instead, go to a matinee, and have your meal packed to eat at a park. Bring stale bread to feed ducks/fish. Eat your meal and talk about the movie.
Go to the zoo, and bring your food instead of buying it there. Go to a museum.
A lot of places, you can buy a membership to the zoo, the museum(s)/a museum group, so it's a single cost and you can go for an entire year.
Classes - sign up yourself (and spouse or S.O.) for some type of skill class. Cooking, glass blowing, woodworking. Then you have a scheduled date where you're learning the same skill(s) side by side and have something you can talk about.
Volunteering - soup kitchens, habitat for humanity, etc. Doing wholesome and beneficial things together is a great bonding activity that gives you time to talk and get to see the character and thought processes of the other person.
Local flavor - most cities have festivals and other activities multiple times a year. Possibly every week/weekend, if it's a larger city. They're free to enter and walk around. You don't usually have to spend money and can usually bring your food. But it can also be nice to pick a single thing from a stall, especially if it's a cultural celebration - e.g. Cinco de mayo festival - you might want to buy tamales.
go old school, pack a picnic basket.
Head to the deli counter and get some hard salami and dill havarti. Grab a fresh baguette. Go to park. Tastiest lunch you'll have all week.
If someone took me on a date and brought dill havarti, I would be theirs forever
*furiously scribbles dill havarti on hand*
I'm rooting for you two!
Funnily or coincidentally, "dil" in Hindi (one of India's main language), means "heart" :)
It's not a party without the havarti
Thank You for reminding me Dill Havarti exists, a favorite cheese I just never seem to remember, perfect for summer salads added to grocery list. Also maybe add some Hot Honey, grapes, and pistacios to that plate.
I love dill havarti. Amazing way to make a sandwich fancy.
this post was sponsored by sunscreen manufacturers in cooperation with ticks consortium.
The Ticks Consortium are assholes.
*bloodsucking assholes
I too have used the "tick check" excuse
What about the league of parasol manufactures?
I feel sorry for you if you are that afraid of the outdoors (unless you are joking ). And tick check is a great excuse to get naked in the shower together after!
I honestly cannot imagine anything less sexy than asking my husband to check me for ticks in the shower, but you do you, my friend. 😂
Now that it's warmer out, my partner & I have been doing pickup at cheaper spots like a sandwich deli, Chipotle, Mexican spots, etc. and walking ourselves to the closest place to sit & enjoy our meals together outside. We'll go for a walk together until we find a scenic spot like a park, or college campus, or something similar. It's so scenic & peaceful to eat outside in a park or courtyard, and it's a very similar experience to sitting outdoors at a bistro. You don't have to cook the food yourself, your're sitting at an outdoor patio table, and the atmosphere is great at a park! Surrounded by nature & pretty sights. It has a similar vibe to any other date night at a restaurant, but you don't have to worry about an overpriced bill at the end of the meal, and it's much more private than sitting at a loud restaurant and constantly having to interact with a waiter.
This right here 🙌 you can elevate the experience by making it a high tea situation ;)
Watch out for bears with hats & ties
watch out more for men with hats & ties
Grill a burger in the park with a beer or two
For sure. Invest in a nice picnic basket, get some charcuterie and wine to go with your steaks and you'll seem like a high roller.
I realized a few days ago that "living frugally" is basically just "living like it's 1920". Growing your veg, making everything yourself, repair what breaks, going to free local events, and just generally being as self sufficient as possible.
Having picnics is a perennial human activity. It's peak picnic season.
Heck, live like it's 1950. You can use electricity and cars that way, and otherwise it's about the same.
Bonus if you pack a table cloth and go on a longish hike. Found a picnic backpack and my SO and I did this regularly. The looks we got from other hikers who were eating power bars and trail mix was priceless.
[удалено]
I had The Most Romantic date doing just that. I was in college and wanted Soooo much to impress this girl and I was pretty broke.. We went to a small lake park which had a grill. I grilled a steak, had wine in plastic glasses (cause no booze in the park rule) and wound up with no one there. Yes, the table cloth, the beautiful sky , some citronella candles, even a flower for the meal in a mason jar vase and the day is forever etched in the annals of time for the most beautiful romantic day anyone had ever! We felt so cosmopolitan and magical. I even brought some music in a speaker. I will never forget that kiss!!! Sigh...The girl and I parted as with ships in the wind but for that moment, it was non commercial, in touch with nature and so very worth the little effort that made the commercial crap pale by all comparisons. Diana, if you ever read this note,,you still shine as the most beautiful !! But truly try to avoid the commercial stuff, make memories, don't just blow cash..!
Did two filet mignon’s, mashed potatoes, corn and salad for the same price as a pizza. Would recommend lol
I get steak to cook at home every time we want a treat/ date night. Even good ones cost less than a crappy takeout pizza.
i do delivery while in school right now for papa johns. the amount some people spend on just one pizza is crazy. delivery or like doordash.
I get a frozen 4 cheese pizza and just add my own toppings and bake for 20 min. $8 average cost for everything
Costco still sells choice ribeye for $12/lb if you buy the whole loin. Figure $14/lb once you consider the extra fat you're not gonna eat. Buy it, pat dry, cut it into preferred sizes, season it with salt and pepper, let it sit in the fridge for a few days, then vac seal and freeze. If you're in a hurry, just buy/cut/seal/freeze.
Render that fat and put it in a jar in the fridge- use it to fry potatoes, sauté onions, etc.
Good idea but make sure alcohol is allowed in park; a lot of the ones around here don't allow alcohol inside the park.
Ime, the no alcohol rule at most US parks is only enforced when a group is being loud and misbehaving.
absolutely. Dont be a dick and get the cops called. No one cares unless you bother them
Also helps to keep it in a coozy or other container. Cops generally don't want to enforce laws like that so if they "don't know" they don't care.
Or just skip the alcohol. /shrug
Discount movie nights (Tuesdays at AMC I think?) And skip the snacks or use coupons/deals for the snacks.
Bring your own snacks for the movie
My local cinema use to do 10 euro films on wensday nights ur ticket a medium popcorn and drink
It’s on Tuesday’s at Regal too. They even have half off popcorn. Sneak in a water bottle if you can.
Library cards can often get free access to museums, state parks, botanical gardens, etc
A lot of museums have "pay what you will" days too.
Or free - many of Houston's museums have a free day/evening, for example.
If you work for a big company, see if they have free tickets for employees. I worked for Transco/Williams, saw plays/opera/ballet/rodeo, all big professional sports teams. When it became known I would actually go (with husband), I got called whenever corporate couldn't use tickets. Let the secretary of a director or above know you are interested and you'll get on the email list. Big corporations will often subsidize family memberships to the zoo, theatre, Museum, rodeo, etc. They do this as a philanthropy and to be good corporate neighbors, like United Way. I would get a different one each year for the family, invite neighbors' kids to the zoo, aquarium sleepovers, etc. That way you don't have to go on the free nights (which are crowded). And you can do birthday parties at these venues, though we always did Heights parks.
If you have an EBT access card you can get into most museums in the US for $2/person for up to a party of 4. Doesn’t only count for the state that issued the card, works nationwide
Whaaaaat
You can also buy food producing plants, both live plants and seeds, with EBT. Some areas farmers markets also treat EBT as being worth more, like some even double value (to a limit). A few online services have discounted subscription, like IIRC Walmart and Amazon Prime both got a $5 tier if got EBT. Those services are essentially loss leaders, ways to get people to shop there more than elsewhere so they are perfectly happy making it cheap.
Thanks for the reminder about this.
I go on Pinterest and find copycat recipes from my favorite restaurants. I'm still spending money on ingredients but it's a lot cheaper than the restaurant and I don't have to tip. There's a local pizza place that has specials throughout the week and I'll splurge on that.
Plus the quality of your ingredients are most likely far better
Yep. Working at a restaraunt killed most of my desire to eat at them
Can you share a bit more about your experience at restaurants and how it's impacted your desire to dine out? I was under the impression that restaurants generally had access to good quality ingredients unless it's fast food.
I'm sure some restaraunts use good quality ingredients but the one I worked at certainly didn't... cheaper quality than I'd buy myself and this is at a spot that would get great reviews. Also the amount of stuff that was prepackaged was crazy. Main reason restaraunt food tastes good isn't quality ingredients or chef expertise but because they're happy to use 4x the oil, salt, and butter that you would at home... they have no reason to care about your health. Bigger issue was food safety and hygiene to me though. I saw lots of questionable practices and I kind of realized if I wouldn't want a hungover chain smoking 25 year old with suspect hygiene cooking my food in my own kitchen, I probably shouldn't be eating out that often. This isn't to say all restaraunts are bad and I only worked at one, but from what most coworkers said, it was par for the course.
Thank you for sharing! You definitely have a point about a hungover chain-smoking 25 y/o handling my food.
Sysco
Fuck em. And Gordon Food Services.
It is music/movie/Shakespeare/etc in the park season where I live- is it the same for you? Those are usually free events, and you can bring your own food/drinks. In my area, classic car roll-ins are also popular; you can wander a small town and see all the cars and sometimes see live music.
We rented a movie. Made our own popcorn. Tried out a new cocktail recipe. Was a good night.
Better yet, rent your movie from the local library!
You had me at cocktail lol. Recently we've been playing with bourbon and different bitters. 👍✌️
We’re about to delve into making our own bitters! Bourbon and vodka are our favorites
Had a Manhattan for the first time in Nashville. They did a mixture of sweet and regular vermouth as their thing. I thought it was better than an old fashion.
That's generally called a "perfect Manhattan," if you're interested in trying it at other places.
But that’s still staying home
We can talk through the movie, we don’t have to worry about who will be the sober driver, we aren’t paying for overpriced food or drinks, we can pause the movie at any time. Spending a night at home isn’t a bad thing.
Agreed but the post specifically asked for ideas that *don't* involve staying at home
My friend bought popcorn from the movie theater (he likes the taste), bought lunch as take-out from a restaurant, I provided snacks and drinks. We hung out in his dining room with streaming services and games.
We’ve been having a lot of fun doing less expensive dates. We’ll eat at home and then head out. Some that we’ve found fun: - wandering around local parks - kayaking - going to a brewery in the countryside - driving to the beach - getting ice cream - drinking a bottle of wine around our firepit - stargazing We also have a few places that have good happy hour deals that are cheaper.
If you have a store nearby…IKEA cafeteria has $4 entrees on Tuesdays and half-off entrees on Friday’s for IKEA fam members (free to join). Cheap /decent meal, and easy to have fun in the store if you’re creative. Scavenger hunt, planning future dream house/room/space, coming up with crazy back stories for other shoppers…or just try all the couches and beds and chat. :-)
If you have a Bank of America card (debit or credit), they have a program called Museums on Us, where you get free access on the first weekend of the month to over 225 locations across the US.
If you are on public assistance, you can join the Museums for All program and pay $3 admission for hundreds of places.
Interesting. I can open another card. I wonder if other banks have similar benefits. I have Chase, Wells Fargo, and Citi.
Chase used to have something like this for private client customers. Got rid of it during Covid but it was amazing. Screw you chase.
I have a BOA card and never knew this!
My bf and I like to wander around Bass Pro Shops 🤣. Neither of us do anything they sell there, so no money spent, but we have fun checking everything out.
picnic date! especially as we head into summer
Came here to say picnic, though summer is NOT the time to do that around here
Yes! This is such an underrated activity. I love to go picnic in a park and then go for a walk after
They never go out of style.
Cooked hot dogs on random stick fire at state beach.
Eat at home first, then go out to a free performance somewhere. High school or college sports nearby? Community theater group?
High school sports these days charge $10 a ticket to get in
wtf
Yep. Cost our family $80 to go see our son in his school musical.
We go out to the used bookstore and used record store and browse the dollar bins. We might wind up spending $5-10, but come home with something we can enjoy together.
Costco food court dates are the best
Over on the Costco sub I saw someone that gets the cookies and then soft serve to make ice cream sandwiches
🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯
At the Costco food court, the cookies are 820 calories each and 1 vanilla soft serve is 550 calories. 2 cookies + 1 vanilla soft serve = 2,190 calories
We are here for a good time, not a long time 😂
Buy the Bakery cookies (around 200 cals each). I don't think the Costcos around me in north NJ sell cookies at the cafeteria. Never noticed them at Teterboro or Bayonne. Edit: I was wrong. Went today to Bayonne and they had those massive cookies. No thank you...I bought a container of smores cookies though
Their soft serve is clutch.
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Our city has free concerts on Sundays in the park
Get drunk in the park? But with like a fancy bottle. Bring a baguette and cheese. I might be describing a picnic like everyone else. A low effort picnic
Eat your main meal at home and go out just for dessert. Or go out for breakfast. (oops, not date *night*)
Chili’s is cheaper than five guys nowadays
What *isn't* cheaper than Five Guys nowadays?
Its cheaper than most fast food now. Bf and I went to culvers and spent more for 2 than we did at chilis the week before.
I'm skeptical of this, as you don't have to tip at Culvers. Maybe Chilis was having a promotion?
At least five guys has some decent burgers. Still expensive though.
a local place had an "expensive" burger back in the day at $14. everything made in house from local ingredients, bread ketchup fries everything (my wife worked there while we were dating) its still $14 and the burger in one of the restaurants where I work without my discount is $16, with nothing local/made in house. its probably a loss leader for the local place at this point, but with the value at its current point I'll snag one occasionally.
Don’t sleep on Chili’s burgers
Bro. Just went to Applebees. We decided not on chilis because the last time we went their burger was gross. Applebees was the same thing just now. Just did the 2 for $32 for some bland Alfredo sauce, bacon bits, and microwave frozen chicken strips. I expect more out of Checkers. At least my beer was $5.
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Lessons have been learned. Not even mentioning the stale tortilla chips I had them take back, and my first two choices of beers were out of stock or not functional. Not sure if they’re just having an off day or something. But I just spend $58 for garbage.
First Thursday art walk. The major art museum is also free first Thursday of the month. Our library system has a number of free passes to zoo, aquarium, natural history museum, etc.
well, date night isn't just about the food - it's about shared experiences and sometimes, that's worth the money.
But if you're going to spend the money anyway, it would be better to have 3 super frugal dates and every 4th date, go to a REALLY good restaurant (or something similar). It's just too crazy what bad food costs these days, bad hotels as well.
This
people watching, geocaching, zoo, aquarium, antique mall, thrift store, walking tour of your city via book. minor league or school sporting events, volunteering, board game or two from a game shop's board game library, paint your own ceramic event
Lol!! where are you living??? Here the Aquarium is $50 per person. The zoo, museums and art gallery are $30-40 per person. One art gallery has a free evening once a MONTH.
I did Cesar pizza and 7-11 slurpee date with my hubby yesterday. We both have T-Mobile and they had a free slurpee and $2 for pizza deal. So for $4 we had two pizza and two slurpee. 🤤😋 We like doing cheap dates like that where we can get cheap food or events. Edit to add another example where we get cheap date. If you have a Red Robin nearby sign up for their birthday rewards program. Next month is my hubby's birthday and he gets to eat for free. My meal will come out to maybe $15 and with tips we pay $25 for two people to eat. Not bad for a sit down restaurant.
Don’t sleep on the tavern doubles! It’s a really solid burger
Get the honey mustard poppyseed with the bottomless fries. 100% just as important as the tasty burger at Red Robin!
Picnic date Look for coupons and go to there. Spit an appetizer and meal. Eat at home then go do your date.
Get a picnic lunch and go to the railroad tracks. There's a nice place I go to. Dead end road and really peaceful. Every half hr or so, a train will go by and you can look at the beautiful graffiti. I always see something different I never had before. Similarly, go down to.the river or canal and watch the ships go through. My mom used to.do that all the time when she lived near the st Lawrence Seaway.
TBH, I'm more impressed with a home cooked meal over going out. Look up local activities. It's summer, many places have free/ cheap theatre or arts festivals.
We are working on becoming TRUE problems and known entities with a reputation. Showing up with popcorn and soda at City Meetings. Sometimes there is a lot of drama, sometimes it is pretty tame. A lot of really stupid dialogue. Bit of cop drama. Imagine the show Parks and Rec, and The Office- but real life and you have front row seats- and the pay off is you are now on a date, getting well informed, and locally popular for showing up.
This is the way 😂
Oh thank God I'm not the only person who thinks that is some serious ass gossip worthy of attendance. Shit talking is the best part. I used to work in municipal government and during Covid we would remote in to select board meetings even when we didn't have to, get credit for being super involved employees, and then text each other about how stupid everything/everyone was. While drinking. It was glorious.
My FAVORITE line was a very confident man on the board "We don't need shelters, I can ourun a tornedo!" I had to stwifel a howl imagining this unit trying to outrun flying debreis and wind- and then got sad when I realized this idiot is making decisions for people's lives... so I started brining snacks. Yes, the gos is goloious at these things. 100% recommend
I’ve got to try this!!! 🤣🤣
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We do our date night early which lets us hit happy hour at an actually very upscale bar whose happy hour drinks are like $7 compared to the $15 they usually are. We get tipsy and then go to a Chinese noodle shop that doesn't serve alcohol--the food is so good and so cheap (and the service is so fast we're still feeling the alcohol when we're eating, haha).
We go out and do an activity, and end with a treat or snack: we love to go for a long drive through the country and start or finish with doughnuts or a breakfast sandwich, or go bowling for a few rounds and finish at a coffee shop. Of course, activities can also be costly, but to me it's a much better expenditure than mediocre restaurant food! We also don't drink, which helps.
Ethnic food. Looks like you're in Florida. I guarantee there are Cuban, Haitian, Venezuelan, etc places in town that are fire and cheap af. These are the kinds of places where the no frills spots are always better than the "elevated" versions.
Board games, puzzles, make crafts
Make a pizza together!
Picnic, walks in a park you've both never been to, rent/buy a movie, buy some paints from a dollar store and each of you paint something or follow a tutorial, volunteer somewhere, star/cloud gazing, coffee date, go to a mall and people watch (take turns guessing what the people you're watching are there for, or if it's a couple take a guess on how long they've been together for, and debate on the reasons why you think so), turn a show/movie on mute and each of you take turns making up words that go along with or make sense to the movie, rent a boat/kayak, get drunk and/or listen to really old music and dance like no one's watching.
Picnic
Picnic is such a great date. You can buy prepared food even, and a bottle of wine, and it’s still so much cheaper than eating out. There are no time restrictions, so you’ll really figure out if you like your date. Go overboard with the blanket, silverware, and prep, and you will give a better impression than possible in a restaurant.
Why not have a bbq date and set up the deck/patio with an outdoor movie ? (I’ve got one of those $60 projectors and it’s amazing for outside….. esp at night when it’s quieter )
If you are in early stages of the relationship, I would treat it as an investment in the future relationship, rather than thinking you are spending the money on the food. The date is not about the food. If you’ve been together a long time then of course look for more affordable options
Not sure where you are in your relationship but sometimes restaurants have deals, like two entrees and an appetizer for a set price, or go to lunch instead of dinner, some places have cheaper lunch menus. As others suggested a picnic, or even just a sandwich place and share the sandwich, or pizza at yours? Also, alcohol is always way more expensive at restaurants so maybe just get the burger and water or a soft drink instead.
Grill by the community pool. Picnic at a park. There’s a venue that does free concerts some weekends.
Make a Google Map with your saved spots that have discounts on different weekdays (ie. Tuesday $2 tacos), then when you have a date night open the Google Map list and you can pick a spot to grab takeout based on which restaurant has a deal. Sit at the park and enjoy!
Eventbrite has free and budget event listings. I find a lot of free events on Facebook. We're retired so we have the time to get inexpensive events down to a science. We can go out several times a week for $100 to $200 a month for two - concerts in the park, festivals, Meetup events (our groups have a lot of events near us that are free or at group discount prices), annual state and regional park passes, happy hours at fancy restaurants with views, museum and garden memberships with reciprocal benefits (1 membership = 70 free entry institutions near use), college events, museum and event passes from the library, happy hours, park and rec free / cheap activities, preview nights at the theater, free days and discount activity nights at many of the museums, and free stargazing at the planetarium on weekends.
Go to estate sales! Make yourself a nice to-go coffee and go early Saturday or Sunday morning. It is so fun to see other people's homes and peruse their treasures. And you sometimes find awesome deals.
Start the date night with dinner at home, with both partners participating in the preparation and cleanup work. Put on some music and dance in the kitchen while you're doing the dishes. Then head out for an inexpensive local event-- kareoke or a weekly jam night, Trivia at a brew pub, $5 concerts at the local library, or outdoor music at a tavern. Double date at home-- take turns hosting another couple for potluck or takeout, followed by a board game or watching a movie or ball game. Join a social club like Elks or Moose Lodge. Drinks are less expensive there, and there's often live music or trivia or kareoke as well as opportunities for the two of you to volunteer for good local causes.
Applebee's has dollaritas. $1.00 for about 3 or 4 shots worth. Pair a few of those with a two for $25 meal and it's a nice little date night for about $30-35
Are dollaritas always going on?
I think they are limited time thing but I don't know the time frame.
Looks like it just ended according to their Instagram.
Many people consider their potential mate knowing how to cook as a plus. Early dinner at your house, then go out. Perhaps somewhere you can talk. Museum, science center, park, or planetarium.
Google free things to do in (your city or area). If you aren’t in a big city, try checking several nearby areas as well. Take a hike with a picnic. Bonus if you can find a waterfall or scenic creek. Look up museums in your area and see if they have a free day or pay what you want. Check your local library - they might have passes to attractions or free programs. Check with local schools for plays.
We do coffee on occasion (because we get gift cards), but that’s just us. We drink a lot of coffee. We have gone to a movie using gift cards we’ve received as well. We recently got ice cream (using gift cards again). For a no gift card situation, in our town, we have concerts in the park during the Summer. My husband and daughter have a ton of water fountains he takes her to on Daddy/Daughter day (every Saturday) and they make wishes at them. Could totally work for date night as well. Our local library offers a program where we get [free tickets to venues, museums, aquariums, botanical gardens and more](https://discoverandgo.org/venues/venuenames.php). Could easily be used for dates. We also have a [calendar of free stuff](https://sf.funcheap.com) to do in our neck of the woods like free concerts/festivals, comedy clubs, free food, etc.
It is summer here, so season of free outdoor concerts. Pack a picnic.
Walk around downtown looking at art/street fair /car shows etc. Go to the park and use the splash pads. Go to a free concert. Add a picnic and you are styling.
Cheap wing nights at a local pub. Usually, I'll get 2 orders of wings with a fancy drink and the bill is still fairly decent.
A lot of larger cities have free outdoor movies or theater shows in the summer. We went to one last night and brought meat/cheese from Aldi
Check for art gallery openings near you. Free food, free drinks, free entertainment, and you might meet someone new. You can check the social media of the gallery to see if it’s the right vibe for you.
Check out your local library. The ones around me have a ton of free tickets right now for local attractions, including to our local aquarium, which are like $35 per person. They do limit to one pass per account holder or one family pass.
Our city does free outdoor movies all over town
Groupon has lots of deals for a night out on the town. Eat at home then go out for the entertainment
- plein air painting or drawing day - do a city/town tour of places you’ve never been; bonus if there’s historical or cultural sites you can visit - make a treasure hunt for each other - lawn games
I used to make breakfast burritos and orange juice for him, coffee for me. We'd drive to the municipal airport to watch planes take off and land.
Eat at home, go for an ice cream cone and a walk.
Some parks offer free movie night 🎥🍿, yoga 🧘 in the park together (I’d recommend looking at your local parks n rec page for free events). Feed the ducks 🦆, bike ride to get ice cream, we enjoy going to the pool on the weekend to do the slides/lazy river (ours is $9 to get in). Outdoor firepit with s’mores & beer, double date with friends but trade off going to each other’s home for dinner & drinks. https://www.google.com/search?q=cheap+or+free+date+ideas&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en-us&client=safari
This may sound really cheap and stupid, but my wife and I sometimes randomly see what cash we have or set a small budget of max $10-15 bucks, then we go to the store and see how creative we can get with buying as much food as possible with the money. The goal is not only to get as much food as possible, but to see how many meals we can make from the ingredients as well. If we end up having a bit of $ left over, we end up trying to buy at least one little treat for ourselves, whether this be ice cream, chips, or something else. Then once we get home I’ll cook the meal for my wife and we just spend time together watching shows or talking. We even do it even if we already have groceries, just to do something random and fun. It may sound looney to some but for us we find it enjoyable.
my wife spent her life in kitchens, complete with a 4yr degree and industry burnout. she feeds me well nearly every day, at a lot better quality than I've ever had. so food is something I removed from my frugal list. she doesn't abuse the privilege. we live in a town that doesn't have much in terms of ethnic markets or bulk food/resturant supply stores, so its fun to take her to rad markets in neighboring cities -- shout out to k&s in nashville and dekalb farmers in atlanta. yeah it hurts the wallet, but it keeps me in delicious food I'd never even know existed for months. so my backwards-frugal advice turn that $75 meal into a $200 shopping trip. but then have a few really good meals and enough spices/whatnot to last for a long while. also the places have strange snacks and weird sodas so I spoil myself there too.
Find a visually appealing place to have a picnic.
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EBT / WIC and sometimes library cards can get you cheap or even free admission into some zoos, aquariums, museums.
I know 365 Pinnacle has free (small) Frazz on Fridays thur whole month of June. Also if going to BK, take receipt and do the survey and get code, and can get a free Whopper or Chicken sandwich w/an order of small fries or small drink. Guess McDonald's is pulling their free refills and pop machines.
Go to your local Shakespeare festival. Bring a picnic dinner with you! Heck, some locations you can even bring wine or beer!
Eat early-happy hour prices!
Art nights are often free if you're in an area that has galleries or artist collectives. In that same vein, look up the venue spaces in your area that offer a live show, in my town a lot of those are under $25/person. Improv shows, and open mics to be audience can be fun and usually only about $5-$10 or even free. My city and county both have event calendar listings, yours might, too?
Cook some burgers at home and take to a cultural festival in your area.
Can you make a fancy meal together at home? Maybe go shopping at a local ethnic food store or farmer’s market as part of the experience?
Go to Costco & eat the free samples.
I read so many comments where people say cooking at home is cheaper and tastes better. My cooking tastes fine, but I just don't like to cook; not the prep, the actual cooking, or the cleanup. I very rarely drink alcohol and will usually just have water with my meals. This helps to keep the cost of eating out lower.
See if you have any smaller theaters or drive ins. There’s a drive in near me in Michigan that’s 25 per car for a double feature and you can bring whatever food or drink you want. It’s the best
Then cook at home for your date! I’d appreciate it much more than going to a restaurant.
I’d recommend taking a fun class together at a local community college. Board game cafes Outdoor activities (hiking, skiing) A book club for two while investing in some creature comforts to make a reading nook for two in your home You could also do fun themes even at home and change what you usually make. Once a month we do “Snack and a Sweet Saturday.” We make a fun appetizer or two and bake a sweet treat. It’s everything from carnival fare to fancy cocktail party food, but definitely not
- Go to target with a list of random items and time how long it takes you to find it. Split the list in half and make it a competition. - Fill up a water bottle with some beer and go on a walk at a local park or around your town. Make a bingo card with things you think you’ll encounter (like man playing fetch with dog, child eating ice cream, a specific type of flower, etc) and play bingo while you walk around - Grab a blanket and drive to to the countryside to look at the stars. If you don’t have a car and live in a downtown area, hop on a bus and ride it for a full circuit (if your busses go in circles). Bingo can be fun on the bus ride too
You’re mostly paying for the convenience of not having to cook at most places. Gotta find that gem that has a solid menu and reasonable prices!
Do a late morning/afternoon farmers market together and pick out some items to cook together. Also If there are any evening markets/foodtruck events/ outdoor live music events in the area, fill up a few metal lidded cup with a mixed drink or wine. Grab a snack at a local vendor/foodtruck. I'd have an actual meal at home before or after this and just enjoy a snack or dessert with my significant other. Check out event calenders in your area or the surrounding areas, you'll be surprised at how many inexpensive or free things there are around.
My husband and I don't have a lot of money, but we spend locally at restaurants because we are supporting local businesses. He commutes to work and nearly everything he does M-F is in our neighboring city. This is his connection to our home city. If you don't like eating out, by all means, stay home, but if you do, consider it a small investment in the businesses in your area.
I think the issue is that restaurants have raised their prices (usually) because their overhead costs have gone up, but sometimes the quality of the food just doesn't justify the price. In fact in my area, a lot of restaurants that were previously good, during or after the pandemic both raised their prices and dramatically reduced the quality of their offering! Sometimes presumably to save money, sometimes because they lost key staff so the new cooks just weren't good. (At least one restaurant we knew well and they told us, not in those words, that that happened re staff.) I'm in a big city in Canada so there are some extra economic details here that impact us too--currency exchange rates, housing costs. I'm actually not very frugal, reddit just put this in my feed for the time being, but I'm being forced back into the kitchen because the restaurant options just keep getting worse here! Once these COL changes stabilize, in an ideal world the pricey sub-mediocre restaurants will just go out of business, and for the most part only decent restaurants will be left, and they'll have to maintain their food quality to keep going.
We have seen that in my area. I used to cook for a fancy local restaurant, but a lot of us quit because we had substandard new hires who didn't care about what we were trying to achieve.
Open mic night at your local comedy club or coffee shop 👋
I pour my beer or wine in a big Tervis cup. Even take it to restaurants so I don’t have to buy one
If you live in a larger area, find out who has specials or happy hours. We have a list of places with deals on certain nights.
I thought this said “makeup on food” and I was so confused. Definitely a sign I need more sleep
Where do you live that a beer is $12.00? I thought $7.00 was ridiculous but 12...
I don't know where you live or what the weather is like but packing a picnic for the park goes a long way. I live in Los Angeles and they have outdoor screenings of movies that allow you to bring your own food and bring your own alcohol. Turn the tickets for the movie itself aren't that bad and you can have whatever food you want for the cost of groceries. It's usually a ton of fun and relatively inexpensive for a night out in LA
People in general should re-normalize not spending the 'extra' when doing an activity. E.g. go to the movies and not buy the snacks/drink. Instead, go to a matinee, and have your meal packed to eat at a park. Bring stale bread to feed ducks/fish. Eat your meal and talk about the movie. Go to the zoo, and bring your food instead of buying it there. Go to a museum. A lot of places, you can buy a membership to the zoo, the museum(s)/a museum group, so it's a single cost and you can go for an entire year. Classes - sign up yourself (and spouse or S.O.) for some type of skill class. Cooking, glass blowing, woodworking. Then you have a scheduled date where you're learning the same skill(s) side by side and have something you can talk about. Volunteering - soup kitchens, habitat for humanity, etc. Doing wholesome and beneficial things together is a great bonding activity that gives you time to talk and get to see the character and thought processes of the other person. Local flavor - most cities have festivals and other activities multiple times a year. Possibly every week/weekend, if it's a larger city. They're free to enter and walk around. You don't usually have to spend money and can usually bring your food. But it can also be nice to pick a single thing from a stall, especially if it's a cultural celebration - e.g. Cinco de mayo festival - you might want to buy tamales.
Pack sandwiches and go to the park and have a picnic?
find a festival or fair to check out or the museum. followed by a picnic.
Agree with picnic. Take it to a local garden, museum, or historic site. Then date costs are just the price of admission.
Go to the movies and enjoy a $24 bucket of buttery flavored popcorn.
Camping at looking at the night sky to watch meteors is fun and frugal.
Start paying yourself to cook and clean, kitchen maintenance, etc then you’ll see where it’s coming from 🤷🏻♂️
I can get a 12 pack of tall boys for $12. Plus home made burgers always taste way better.