Being Frugal about my Restaurant Expenses With Loyalty and Reward Programs

I don't eat out much, and when I do I think that it's important to limit the cost of my food and beverages. It's a cliche, but eating out in the United States can be much more expensive than cooking food at home, even when you take into account potentially costly ingredients and the hassle of acquiring them.

The cost of labor to cook and serve food is added onto the price of the meal and the upkeep for the infrastructure used to prepare it, and the business owners usually profit from the meal as well, all contributing to the cost of food before it gets to your plate.

Then to complicate matters in many restaurants a diner is expected to pay a gratuity to the serving and waitstaff.

I personally try to limit my excursions to places in which it is not customary to tip, like a quick service restaurant, and then further reduce my expenditure by financing my visits with gift cards that I earn from reward services like Google Screenwise Trends, Bing Rewards, and Swagbucks. All in all I am usually able to finance a few visits per month to a location of my choice.

To make the visits even more useful, I am sure to sign up for any applicable loyalty rewards programs, and I prefer to frequent areas with local Wi-fi service so that I can continue to do work to earn a little extra cash while I'm there.

At this point, I am a Starbucks Gold Card member, which permits me to get free refills, access to discounts and special offers, and a free drink after accumulating 12 stars. The cool thing is, I can actually get stars by referring friends and family to the My Starbucks Rewards program, so I can essentially earn infinite free drinks. The only limitation on it is that I can only refer so many people for stars each month.

I also joined the membership programs for Panera Bread, Dunkin Donuts, and a few other quick service restaurants.

At this point, I can grab a sandwich or a cup of coffee from any one of over 3 dozen locations around town without paying a dime out of pocket.

Are there any ways that you are frugal with your restaurant expenses?