How to Save Money on Food | Best Takeout Tips

Published Oct 7, 2022, 7:00 AM

Ordering takeout to satisfy your cravings is thrilling for a moment until you see your bill. Takeouts should not make you feel regretful, you just need a little bit of planning to fully relish it. In this episode, the Frugal Friends still wants you to enjoy the comfort of food delivery apps and takeouts as we give you the easiest and best ways to save money on takeout food. 

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Episode to how to save money on food take out. Addition, welcome to the Frugal Friends podcast, where you'll learn to save money, embrace simplicity, rights, and liberal with your life. Here your host Jen and Jill m. Welcome to the Frugal Friends podcast. My name is Jen, my name is Jill, And this is the second time we're recording this episode. So I forget the banter we had the first go around, but I think it went something like, I love take out and I eat it at least twice a week. It's it's better the second time, kind of like those leftovers of take out that you keep in your fridge and it can just simmer and marinate a bit more, and it's just sometimes it's better the second day. Chipotle is not better the second day. True, the lettuce gets real wilted. Yeah, you'd think here we are four and a half years in. You've heard us do this before. We're probably in the double digits now. Technology issues still happen, So here we are recording again. Okay, guys, I got a new computer. I bought it. This episode had cost me so much money, but we're not here. That's why I'm going to need to save a lot of money on my take out for the next year. Uh. And uh, I'm here for this episode even more than I was the first time we recorded it. Yeah, you know, there were some retractions in the previous episode. I'll tell you when we get there. So I'm kind of glad for this next one. I'm like, oh, I can correct that. Yeah. Uh So we're gonna need these sponsors even more than we did before, including this one, which is not a sponsor. But this episode is brought to you by Hurricane Ian relief. Uh So, our neighbors to the south were just I mean forty five minutes to an hour south. We're devastated by Hurricane Ian. And it's really sobering for us because that was supposed to be us until twenty four hours before landfall, that was supposed to be us. And so we really have um our hearts go out to our neighbors in Lee County and uh just Fort Myers, Naples, Charlotte, and we want to do whatever we can to help. We are frugal so that we have margin to help others, and we hope you will join us in in this effort. So we have decided to match all donations up to for the next two weeks. Uh and if everybody listening gave a dollar, we would hit that max that we would max out today. So if you're listening to this on the day it releases, like I mean, max us out today, let's do it. Give a dollar and you can give that at Frugal Friends podcast dot com slash ian and that goes to the Southwest Florida Emergency Fund. And they are an organization, a local organization located in Fort Myers that does this work consistently and they are um now just focusing on the hurricane relief efforts, but they are well established in the community. And we like the idea of giving to organizations, but organizations that are are hyperlocal. So Frugal Friends podcast dot com slash ian. There is not a good way for you to denote us in the actual donation process. I tried it out yesterday. So if you just want to take a screenshot in your com it will send you to confirmation emails. You don't have to afford. You can forward it to Frugal Friends pod us at gmail dot com if you want. It's going to have your address. So if you just want to take maybe a screenshot of how much you you gave, send us that and we will match for the next two weeks up every every donation that we get. So Frugal Friends podcast dot com, slash I A N so thrilled to be doing this, and we so appreciate everyone who did reach out to us through email and on social media checking in. Knowing that this hurricane was supposed to hit the Tampa Bay area and like Jen saying, it took a turn south in in the final moments and again, crazy devastation happening there. I think the last episode that we recorded, we didn't yet know what was happening. We were evacuated and we were just about to lose power and an uncertain what was going to occur. And now in recording this episod, so we have seen what has occurred, and like like you said, Jen, just super super sobering and wanting to help, Like we have family and friends in that area, and right now they're still flooding. There's no emergency responder or I'm sorry, only first responders are allowed into that area right now, and it's really hard to get to even so the best thing to do at this point is send money. You know, a lot of people want to drive down donations or send donations, but what they really need is money to be sent to the organizations that are already on the ground bringing in the supplies that are actually needed as they can see what the need is. So if you want to join us in those efforts, please do Frugo Friends podcast dot com, slash Ian and we are just thrilled to match that money that that you all also donate. Thank you for your care for us. Yes, uh, so let's talk about take out. We'll move, We'll move from that sobering experience to one that's hopefully a little lighter. Um. Hopefully your take out spending doesn't sadden you as much as hurricane devastation. Hopefully it is a source of joy for you, or it can be a source of joy. Getting take out can be something that's exciting that you don't have to feel guilty about and you just have to do a little prior planning. Uh. And so, if you are geeking out about how to save money on food in general, a few other episodes to queue up would be episode to fourteen how to Save Money on Groceries, where we dive into specifically groceries, and then episode ninety two. I think we did a really we did an updated version of this one, but it's the same episode, Episode ninety two Reducing Food Waste with Dick Kicking Mom. She is fantastic and had some really great tips for reducing the amount of food that you throw out. So let's get started. We're gonna divide and conquer. So our first article is going to be about meal delivery, so like takeout delivery, which seems to be a really more popular way to do take out. And then the second part is going to be just on takeout in general, so it's going to have some delivery in there, but like mostly just take out in general where you're whether you're picking up or having delivered. So what did you think about this first one? Five meal deal delivery tips to save money? So this is this was my retraction from the first go round of recording this episode. It I love this article. It actually comes from a restaurant in Australia called Cousina Dolce, but I originally thought that the restaurant was in Nada, so correction, it's in Australia, non Canada to that. But I love this because it's written by a restaurant telling you how you can save money on meal delivery. And it's not from someone who's trying to undercut local restaurants, but a restaurant themselves saying, here's the best thing that you can do if you're trying to get your food delivered to your home and save money. So the first one is to avoid using third party sites or apps. You will hear us talking more about these third party apps throughout the episode, So we're not saying cut this out entirely, but if we are talking about ways to save on takeout delivery, this is gonna be a really primary key way to do that because what we're seeing happen, and I'm sure all of us utilize delivery food delivery throughout the pandemic, we saw a huge uptick in that. But what has happened is those third party sites do charge the restaurants a portion of their sales. It's not as if we're just paying some money to the third party site. They're also charging the restaurants. So whatever it is that you've purchased from the restaurant, they need to then pay a percentage to that third party site. So now the response of the restaurants has been we need to up the price point for our menu items that we put on the third party sites. I'm sure many of you have noticed when you go into these sites, as would be like your Uber eats, your door Dash, your Postmates. Oftentimes now restaurants have different menus and higher prices on their menu items on that third party site, and then you're paying the delivery fee and the tip and all of that, And we do encourage that if you're using the service, tip the people. But the best way would be to go through the restaurant themselves if they offer that. Many restaurants do offer delivery, and oftentimes that means you can order off of their menu at their prices. They don't have to up charge if they're not paying a third party for it, and then that that money saved can then go towards, you know, the the tip of the restaurant, the tip of the driver from the restaurant. So that's a great way to support the local restaurants to save some money ourselves, but then also be helpful for the restaurant themselves. Yeah, and we're definitely like not against the third party apps. Sometimes you just got to use them. Sometimes there is no restaurant with their own delivery around you. So we get it. But if it it, just check check before you go straight to Uber eats, your Postmates if you know where you want to go. Second is to take advantage of cash back on your credit card. So this is like a little bonus. I don't view credit card rewards as a way to save money. They are a bonus if you are saving your you want to focus on saving money first, because credit cards can oftentimes get us into this place where I'm getting cash back, I'm getting a reward, so maybe I'll spend a little bit more so I can get more rewards. That is a that is a downward spiral. Uh. If that is your mindset when you are using um cash back rewards and travel hacking, this is not the mindset we're looking for. We're looking how do I optimize and still get the best deal, the best price for what I really want, and then I can add a little bit more by choosing the right credit card, because different credit cards will offer different cash back for either meal delivery like third party apps or just buying from restaurants and je neural so you can have so like the Chase Freedom flex I believe it's called it is um a really great starter credit card, highly recommend to anybody trying to get started with travel, hacking or building credit in general. And it is a no annual fee. In every quarter they do a different five percent cash back and sometimes it's on delivery app, sometimes it's on restaurants or dining out in general. So you can look at that, look at what the next quarter is going to be and if it's if you're going to be buying take out anyway, using that card to do it, and then you get five percent cash back that you can use on your bill or for gift cards or whatever. Five tends to be. It's about it's high range for cash back. Usually you're gonna see one percent UM. If you're paying attention and the card is prioritizing restaurants or delivery apps, you could see two or three percent. But that's why it's like a bonus, it's not we're not focusing on it really, so you can take advantage of that UM or you can use like a program like a rebate a rebate app, but like josh uh it's a an app where if you purchase, you link your credit card so you can use a rewards credit card, link it to Doosh and some of the restaurants that are are in Josh that are connected there. You get an extra five cash back in there too, so you can kind of like double it up. Um. But but yeah, so just look at your credit cards. Don't consider it a way to save money. Consider it just like the icing on top. I love that perspective to look at it like a bonus. If you're already planning on getting take out, this is something to check into, not a reason to make take out an entire lifestyle because I'm quote unquote saving money. Yeah, and you can also some of the credit cards will have complimentary year trials to or thirty days or something to like a Postmates plus or a grub Hub plus or you know whatever the Uber Eats equivalent is. So also check to see if your your credit card offers that as a feature too, or if you're kind of trying to decide which credit card to get, you can kind of look at the one who's offering what when, Yeah, and then that could lead you there. I know Chase Sapphire Reserve offers that. I believe it's with Uber eats. The zero zero dollar delivery, so they take care of that. I think my Bank of America card does grub Hub plus for a year. Yeah, yeah, so look into it if you're not aware. Sometimes we get credit cards based on one main key factor that we're excited about, and we kind of miss some of the peripheral bonuses that they give. So definitely look into what the bonuses are if you do use credit cards. Yeah, take as much from the bank as possible and give them nothing like, take as much as possible while giving nothing in return, and that's just a bonus. My motto with credit cards, yes, exactly, make them wish they never approved you, yea, make them, make them regret it. Number three on here is choose pick up instead of delivery. So obviously this is more of how to save just on takeout, and of course it's a way to save on delivery if you're not getting it delivered and you are being your own delivery driver. I will say, for me personally, this is my big reason for getting take out is getting it delivered. Oftentimes I will go to a sit down restaurant or I'll cook at home, and if I'm getting take out, it's usually because I just don't want to leave my home so that that's like, you know, it's difficult for me to say, oh, yeah, I'm going to order it, but then I'm going to get in the car and go pick it up. But this is the best way to save on takeout by not sitting down, not not paying for the delivery, but getting it yourself. What I have seen can work for me is if I can think ahead. Uh, and I'm already out, so I know, Jen, you and I will do this when we get together. We will often get take out when we get neither one of us. Sometimes we will cook. It's like, all right, what do you got? What do I got? Let's I'm a piash it together, get delivery. I am a pick up person, and I love that about you, and it's just not true for me. But if we can think ahead and say, okay, I'm on my way to your house, let's pick a restaurant that is en route, and and let's get the order in now. I'll leave in ten minutes and I'll pick it up along the way. That's perfect rather than just showing up at the other person's house and then making the order and then you've got to send someone out. So if we could just implement a little bit of forethought that helps in this and if not, you know, Jen and Travis come over and Travis is always willing to go pick up that food, and I love that about him always. We are pick up people because we you do save a hefty amount, like a hefty percentage of your purchase by picking it up yourself. And you can, um, you know, do a single Well, you can't tip the restaurant when you order delivery. You're tipping just the drivers. You're not tipping the people at the restaurant putting your meal together. So if you can cut out that middle may and then you get to you know, just tip one person. Uh and and yeah, and just have your food be there before it's ready so you can bring it straight home so it's still hot. Like I know sometimes when I ordered delivery, it's not super hot by the time it gets to me. Uh So I think it's just a quality thing as well as saving money for me. But yeah, we are always willing to pick up because we also, I mean, having a young child, the idea of sitting down at a restaurant is often torture. So it is we do it so little that it's not a big deal for us to go drive and we have so many places so close, so that's a unique thing for us. It may not work for everyone, but yeah, I mean I'm a huge advocate. I'm kind of all or nothing because if I'm going to get in the car to go out, like then I want that to be worth something. And to go sit down at a restaurants. I don't have young children. Yeah, that is a big difference between us, just that it is an enjoyable time when you go eat out at a restaurant. It is enjoyable for you, it is not enjoyable for But also I realized a long time ago that actually sit down restaurants aren't in my values. My values lie in not having to do dishes and not having to cook. And so for me, I don't need to have the experience of sitting down at a restaurant. So that's something even before we had Kai, that was something I identified that I don't need to pay the extra um to you know, have the drink and have the app and you know, have that whole experience. Uh two. And I just I'm perfectly fine with take out, and for me, I don't do take out a lot so when I do choose to do it, honestly, it's probably once or twice a quarter, and it's in my values and budget to say I'm going to pay someone to deliver that food to me because that's true convenience for me. So yeah, there's freedom. Choose what you want. Yes, save money how you want, save on the things that don't really mask you. Yes. Four is uh. They recommend to order in bulk, and I kind of I like the I like what they're saying. Again, this is a restaurant saying this. So but they say, if you are maybe one person, you can order two meals thinking ahead, ordering in bulk, and you still only do one delivery fee, but you get more food. I think a better way to save money would be too, and we'll we'll talk a little bit about this in the next article, but to maybe just order a larger portion of one meal or just the regular dinner portion of some thing, cut it in half, and if that's not enough to satiate you, then add some chips and salsa or something comparable, because most of the time might take out as Mexican, but just add something and then you have the other half of that meal for later. And most of the time that's going to be a fine choice. So that for me is bulk. They are also saying like bulk order like almost catering for gatherings and special events, and yeah, I mean if you're having something catered, I mean definitely. A lot of the times will include delivery already, so I don't know why you would have to worry about that with the delivery app, but you can also just pick it up, so true. I do love the idea though, of you order it one time, and even if you do get deliver, you pay the fees, you pay the tip, but you're maximizing the fact that you paid the deliver and you've paid the tip to get a good amount of food that might last you for a while. So it really feels like you made the most of the money that you spent and and maximized some of the convenience of it to potentially provide a few meals for the rest of the week. So I do like that idea. Yeah, it could be if the restaurant has some kind of family style, like you know, mega entree for multiple people, this could be the time to do that. Yeah, and I would if you're going to do that I would encourage to get the food that you know is freezeable, so that'll be you know, if it's from an Italian restaurant like your your eggplant palms, your lasagna's, things like that can freeze real decent. Just if you know you're ordering a lot, make sure that it's something that like that isn't Chipotle where you're gonna have wilted lettuce the next day. The types of foods that could sit in the fridge for a couple of days or be frozen so that you minimize the food waste. And last, but not least, a way to save on takeout is to not do it at all. Number five love that love. I love when the last one is just don't do it. Yeah, the way that they're saying don't do it is by making your own takeout, which is true. This is a great tip. It's not like we don't know this tip. So I'll say it again. We can prepare ahead of time for the days when it's super chaotic and we don't have time, we don't have energy, we just can't think straight and we can just grab food. That's why, that's typically why we're doing take out. So if there are times in our lives where we are just blessed with extra time. I don't know exact acly when that happens, but sometimes the stars aligned and you make extra food, freeze it, put it away for those days that you need something simple, easy, quick to grab. Sometimes I will even you know, we all know the okay, make extra entree and put that into the freezer. But even like a portioned out meal where in a little glass container you're doing the main protein, the side, the veggies into one one size serving glass container that's easy to pull out and reheat. As here's the meal, here's the takeout meal. Or if there's times when you've gotten take out in the past that you can freeze some of that and you know it's take out that you enjoy and it's already sitting in your fridge. So this is or your freezer. This is one of those think ahead, anticipate, know that this is coming, like like an emergency fund an emergence see freezer full of yummy takeout food, prepped and ready. That's how you save that's how you save money. Beautiful. Speaking of food, so we've talked about how to save money on the delivery, let's talk about how to save money on the actual bill, the food bill. So we've got eighteen ways to save money on restaurant, food, delivery, and take out. We are not going to go through all of them, but we will go through our favorites. And the first for me is to choose cheaper items and hear me out because we hate the C word cheap, not choose. We love choosing. So this one is so so weird to me that they give the example from ie Hoop and I'm like, why would you be getting take out from ihop? Eye Hoop is where you go when there is nothing else available to you at two am. That is why we go to eyup. That is why we love I hop or when you're on like a road trip in the middle of nowhere. Yeah, we do not crave iHub for dinner. And I'm sorry, you do serve a purpose, but they know where they live, they the category. They're not trying to be anything they're not. But if you do crave ihob, you're clearly not alone with this author. Um so he uses I assume it's a heat. I'm just gonna oh no, it's Amy Amy live Amy, all right, She's Amy lives in Central New Jersey. So Amy lives Jersey. I don't know what that means. But okay, So Jersey know exactly what that means. I'm I'm sorry, I don't um okay. So, near Amy's house in Central New Jersey, there's an eyehop where sandwiches cost around ten while hot dinners like chicken steak seafood costs between eleven and fifteen. And she says it's not a huge difference, but it can add up. So to choose the sandwich instead. I will push back on this because a sandwich meal is often smaller than a hot dinner like said chicken steak seafood, and so you are typically only going to get one meal out of it. Should you get the larger entree that costs a little bit more, Maybe you're getting the chicken entree that's fourteen, Yes, you're paying four more dollars, but you could get two meals out of that. Add chips and salsa, and then you've got two meals for seven dollars each. So and then you could I would say, maybe instead of choosing the steak or seafood option, maybe you stick to the chicken or the vegetarian option, and then choose like shop at the grocery store for your nicer cuts of steak, or go to some kind of butcher somewhere for your seafood. So you can still have your premium meats, but maybe you use not to do them from Eyehop and you choose something a little simpler. You are given great tips. I love the idea of getting your more premium cuts from the grocery store, making them yourselves, getting your chicken take out. I just can't. It's great tips. Jen, love what you're saying. I cannot get over this Eyehop thing. Though sea food. I am googling do I Hops seafood and like Also, the next question in line is does I have have Dr Pepper? Which like valid but much Dr Pepper. I just need to remind all of us that i HOP stands for International House of Pancake Pancakes. Well, okay, so pancake singular pancake pancakes, but sea food mm hmmm, who's going to the International House of Pancake. Let's not judge, Let's have a Di'm okay, So I'm not saying like, who's okay? I did just say that, I don't. Why is I HOP International House of pancakes, selling grilled talapia and sevich a. Also, yes they do. They're nine I Hops secret menu items. I'm getting deep into it. Patagonian prawn sevich a at the twenty four Hour Diner. Here's another thing, um, maybe unpopular opinion from me. I don't do seafood delivery to my house. Like that's just a rule of thumb for me. I'm not getting seafood delivered. I'm gonna pick that up myself. I am going to pick that up myself. Good to know from me personally, it won't be from ie hob Yeah, I mean there is no shade on I Hop. Props to their marketing department. Do you know their loyalty club. You you get rewarded for your purchases in pan coins and it's the Inner How's and you put your pan coins in the International Bank of Pancakes and the pan coins quote unquote are like their their cryptocurrency for rewards. It's a brilliant marketing al whoever came up with it. I just I guess I would just say they're doing extra and good for them for going is doing it. Expect breakfast and pancakes from them. I would not expect sevich A. Yeah at all. Well, let's let's move on. This is not how to save money at I could be good be um, whose turn is it yours? Next? Okay, please do not talk about I. I won't. I won't, I won't. Okay, number unless she talks about it. But amy, So number three is split a dish. I do love this one because this is just how I typically live my life. Even if I'm going out to eat, I split a dish, but particularly with take out, if we're looking to save money, usually the portion sizes that restaurants give are much larger than one what one person needs realistically. I get it takeouts tasty. Sometimes we just we do. We gobble it all down. But if we can split the dish, whether that's with ourselves, with someone else in our household, a friend, a family member, whoever you're with, consider splitting it and obviously that like you can connect thoughts on why that would be less expensive. Uh, and especially if you are just one person. What you can do is you get that take out, you bring it home, and you immediately before putting it all on your plate or digging in with your fork, like, split it before you even begin eating. Put the other half into the fridge and you have given yourself an amazing gift for the next day, or or put in your freezer and you're being kind to yourself next month. What I will also do, since takeout is usually like a specialty thing for us, or even going out to a restaurant, Eric, my husband and I will often split. But then that we feel like that can give us some license to get maybe a smaller appetizer, something that's a little bit less expensive, but add some variety to the meal. So we'll split an entry, but then we'll get something that's like four or five, six, seven dollars. That's a nice appetizer that can also help to stretch the meal. So there's another little tip. Try my trick. Yeah, try it unless you have wildly different dining preferences, like so true Travis and I. Yeah, then you then you don't split. Then you split it in half. You say the other half for yourself for the next day. Split with yourself. It's still great. You split with yourself. I'm all about splitting with myself. That's how I live my life, alright. So the next one for me is to hit the grocery store and stay with me. So gosh, I went so deep into this the first time we recorded the episode. I don't know. I don't know if I can get as deep and passionate with it. But so we love going to publics and just picking up some of their deli food and bringing it home. Sometimes it's even better than getting take out from a restaurant. So I love their non breaded wings. They've got really good sandwiches and pub subs, so that made sandwiches are good to uh, soups, all kinds of things. So here's my let's break let me break it down. Let's break down the grocery store hierarchy. We got three guess there is a hierarchy. There's a hierarchy. So we've got three tiers, and you can put whichever tier on top that you want. My top tier is our economy our economy tier. You've got your al D, you've got your Walmart. We do not put save a lot here. Save a lot does not get to be in a tier. It's not it's not in the hierarchy. Which over here to the side to hear later on why you're saying anybody has ever been have you walked inside a save at it feels like walking into an all day No, oh my god, don't insult al d people are the cup and save a lot on blast right now. Yeah, So okay, so you've got your economy tier up top, you're all in your walm up. They have some good takeout stuff like you can definitely get by, and then you've got your mid tier mid tears where we where we live. Like if I want to get take out, but I don't want to go to a restaurant, I will go to my mid tiers, like my public says. I think I don't know what's beyond public. I don't know what's outside of Florida. I think a croker, I think that could be mid tier. I've never lived anywhere other places food liant, giant, anywhere with a deli. These are our mid tears. Our mid tears have a deli um, but they are not our bougie tier, which I put at the bottom um, which is our whole foods. So you're not gonna you're gonna gonna pay ten dollars for an apple kale salad a side of apple kale salad, not not a huge salad. So that's where we are at whole foods. But we're sticking with our mid tears, like our grocery stores that have a deli, the radical metal of the supermarkets. Yeah, it is an option where maybe you don't do your regular grocery shopping there, but you want take out, you don't have the budget for an actual for the restaurant take out, and here you are, there is your your mecca. You're welcome. This is my solution. I mean, I'm I'm with you on this soapbox, Jen. If there's room for the two of us, absolutely for all of us, thank you. I think we forget about some of the pre prepared foods that grocery stores offer that can give us that similar convenience of takeout but for a lot less cost. One of my favorite and this would be more on that guilty pleasure side of me. You old options, but Publix for those of us in the South, has really great fried chicken and perfect for chicken and waffles. So on one of those days where I'm like, I don't want to be spending a ton of time in the kitchen and also I want some comfort food chicken and waffles with the chicken. Fried chicken from Publix is amazing. And last time I mentioned, Walmart has these chicken these breaded chicken tenders frozen that are just like this peppery goodness. I don't know what's on them, but they are seasoned and they are also perfect for chicken and waffles. I have some in my freezer right now and also perfect. So I will the one caveat to hitting the grocery store. You gotta be with me. You've got to be laser focused. You cannot go in there for takeout and come out with eighty dollars of impulse purchases. It's counter intuitive. This would be a part where if you have a ninety day like if you could do like a ninety day free trial to like an instat cart Plus or like a Walmart Plus or one of those like free delivery things, this is the time to use it. There you go. Yeah, also included in some credit cards. But also I was just on like the t mobile Tuesday app and you get ninety three days of Walmart Plus with the delivery, so they exist. You gotta be but you gotta be laser focus. You gotta you can't walk out with impulse purchases, yes, ma'am. If you do this. Okay, that's it, ma'am yes, ma'am. H. Alternatively, plan for it. Know that that your week is going to be hectic, chaotic added to your grocery shopping list, So get some of the pre prepared meals for convenience and cut out food deliver very take out that week because you've already gotten the pre prepared foods. So there's a lot options here, folks. All right, number six and seven, I'm gonna rip through these because we did too much time we did talk about yeah, and you're like tears of grocery stores so important. That was important. I'm here for it. So six and seven are just talking about delivery fee. So so I know we talked a lot about delivery already, but do check for what the delivery fees are on the different third party apps if you are choosing to go that route. It can be pretty drastic, like one site may offer two dollar delivery fee, whereas another site might be ten dollars. That's significant, So make sure that you've done some comparison, especially for your area, what the delivery fee is going to be, and of course look for free deliveries. Uh. Sometimes the first time that you sign up with an app, you get a free delivery, or they'll be running specials at various times. So if you are in one of those positions, or you're like, today's the day I need my meals delivered to my house, make sure you check those things. And I'm going to combine my last two. So check your mail and search online. So check this kind of combined because you want to check your email too, and your apps, but look for cupons, look for sales going on. So this this helps with two things. First, when you are trying to figure out what to eat or where to get take out from, if there are too many options, it takes too long, you eat peanut butter and jelly. Obviously, honestly not a bad not a bad idea, but using and committing to special discounts cupons will drastically cut down the number of choices you have from like a million to two or three. So that can be really helpful. I know that's always a struggle we have. Um you can also, I I have a I subscribe to Creative Loafing. So for for us in the Tampa Bay area, it's ceel Tampa dot com and they do kind of like fifty percent off deals where you can buy a forty dollar gift certificate to this restaurant for twenty dollars or a thirty dollar gift certificate for fifteen, so stuff like that. So that's probably my favorite way to cut down on choices and to save a lot at restaurants. And the way I stay on top of all these I won't have all the apps on my phone all the time. I will have the subscriptions though to the emails, and I put them in unroll me unrolled dot M, so that way it sends everything to in one email. I do not have the subject lines attacking me in my inbox every day get trying to get me to spend money at the restaurant. I can choose to look at that quote unquote roll up email daily or whenever I want, and it's and nothing is attacking me. So I really like that way. You don't have to like subscribe and unsubscribe. I know that's like the first like how to save money unsubscribed from everything. No, sometimes you can save money on things you're going to buy anyway, and that's the goal, but it can also be a result in impulse spending very easily. So unrolled me has allowed me to stay subscribed to the places that offer me the discounts I want, but I choose when to see them. So I do love that one. It minimizes what's in your inbox too, cleans of that, and you can when you purchase online, so when you're doing some of this stuff virtually instead of calling in or going in, there are actually app specific and online specific deals that you can get. And you can even like where dosh is really good for shopping in store using your credit card. Um racket in off can offer cash back at certain places too, So frugal Friends dot Frugal Friends podcast dot com, slash racketin um if you're not already on there, I think you can get right now like thirty bucks like of cash back UM if you use that link. So yeah, there are a lot of pros to using the online resources. My final tip on here is number fourteen, which talks about utilizing discounted gift cards. So, especially right now as we're approaching the holidays, many restaurants will offer their gift cards at a discounted rate. So let's say you buy a fifty dollar gift card for forty dollars, you're saving ten dollars on food bought at that restaurant. So whether you're getting gifts for other people or you're just getting these gift cards for yourself to use throughout the year. If you know you've got a restaurant that you frequent and you're going to be going to, or is a great spot to do take out from, this can be a really proactive way of saving money. You've also got your websites like restaurant dot com that does a similar thing where you can search restaurants in your area and purchase those discounted gift cards. You can also use sites like Raise and you can visit them at Frugal Friends podcast dot com slash raise. They give gift cards. Uh, you can earn gift cards through their website. So just thinking about ways that we can maximize that type of resource for saving money on some of these convenience things that we enjoy. Yeah, I think Raise might give you five dollars a bonus cash to use there. I'm not sure, but check out Ford's podcast dot com slash raise. You can buy discounted I've bought several discounted gift cards there. Um and if for some reason one doesn't work, when you try to use it, you can return it and that that's happened to me before and there's no problem. Um. But yeah, usually, I mean typically they work just fine. Awesome. You know what else works just fine every single time, mind, And it's always a great value the week. That's right, it's time for the best minute of your entire week. Maybe a baby was born and his name is William. Maybe you paid off your mortgage, maybe your card died and you're happy to not have to pay that bill anymore. That's build buffalo bills, Bill Clinton, this is the bill of the Hi, Jen and Jill. It's Kyle here from the United Kingdom. My bill of the week is my mortgage. So over the last two years, I've paid off over seventeen thousand pounds in credit card debt, which has meant that we've been able to get a better mortgage, and it means that we're moving to an island off of Scotland, so we're moving to our our dream home. And having that debt paid off is meant that I'm not worried about the mortgage bill that comes through every month. So yeah, that's my bill of the week. Keep up the great work. Thanks guys. Wow, Kyle, holy looks you have done. You are living the dream and isn't it crazy how significant paying off credit card debt can be to increasing a credit score and making the cost of loans more affordable. So even if you're not going in to getting more loans, it can lower the cost of loans you already have and and provide this like freedom for you. So well done, Kyle. Kyle from the U K. Move into an island off the coast of Scotland. If that just isn't the dream? And what a win win win win, win win win across the board. I'm so thrilled to have heard this bill, and I'm also uh, you know, just slightly jealous of what's going on there is um but also wow, you you put in the work. There's been a lot of intentional effort there. I didn't even know that one could aim at moving to an island off the coast of Scotland. And now I'm re readjusting all of my life plans. Thanks Kyle, Thanks Kyle for calling and listening. We love your bill. If you all sending have a bill, whether it has to do with lowering your mortgage and paying down debts, so you can move to an island in the UK. I mean, call us love to hear from you, but I know if it's just normal debt payoff, you know, just like your typical debt payoff. We also want to hear from you. Two you matter. Visit Frugal Friends podcast dot com, slash Bill leave us here, Bill, and now it's time for Wow you. I'm gonna have to clean my microphone after that. Yikes. Um, I'm getting out, you know, after that Bill of the Week. There's just a lot going on. Much Okay, we are resetting and we're here for this lightning round the Vulnerable part of the show where we today are talking about our favorite treat yourself take out food, and I think we've got two good ones. Jill doesn't agree with mine, but um, I love food. Jill doesn't love food as much as me. So anyways, that is so unfair. That's so unfair and just. And here's why I love food. I think, Oh, here we go, here's your salacious vulnerability. I think I'm more of a foodie than you are. You are more equality, You are more concerned with quality. I am more concerned with quantity. And this is why this is why Jess And I said, you're not invited with us to Vegas when we go see the Titanic exhibit because you would not find as much value in the all you can eat buffets. H Okay, yeah, no, yeah, none of that sounds good to me. I'm not going to Vegas for a buffet's no, what can happen? Yeah, that's that's a that's that's a weird thing. Like, I know, I think you talked about Titanic reenactments at every no. That was a Orlando. I can't keep talking about it. We'll talk about that later. Anybody who's interested can hear about this later. I love food and and you get me talking about food. This is one of my favorite episodes. That's why I'm not mad that we had to record this episode twice, because you get me talking about food, and it's my best day. What what you're confusing, Jen, is my lack of value for dessert. I like, like, I can enjoy sweep things. I'll have a bite of it, I'll eat a piece of chocolate, but dessert is not where it's at for me. Now, don't get it twisted. I like food, but I'm here for that salty buttery, carbi, starchy bread. You love bread, thick with bread. You just love bread. No, I don't hate for you. I also like for you. I like the hot, saucy, spicy, buttery, thick food. And you know what that's found in the treat myself. Take out for me is Indian food. I don't know what it is. I will go to Indian restaurants, but for some reason, I have an association of Indian food is take out for me. We never got an Indian take out. That saddens me, probably because you couldn't never don't know how ham I go. I couldn't handle ham. No. I know I'm not a big ham fan, but they don't typically sell ham anyhow. I ate so much Indian food when I was a vegetarian, I ate it so often. I'm not worried about saving money when I get take out from an Indian restaurant like this is where I will say, we're getting all the things. We're getting the garlic non, not just the regular non. We're getting the samosas, the veggie ones and the meat filled ones, and we're getting all the sides and the yogurt and the chutney's and multiple types of curries and the rice and sometimes even the dessert because Eric likes these like little dough balls soaked in honey. There's a term for it. I'm forgetting Indian food, bringing it back home, doing the spread, lighting a candle, pouring a glass of wine again, all of that spicy, salty, buttery thickness. M m m. I'm hungry now, Yeah, me too. I also love Indian food, but my treat yourself takeout food is Thai food. I love a good medium spice pad tie with tofu or chicken, depending on the mood. I'm in with a tie iced tea. And if you've ever tried to make those things at home, then you know that it's tie iced tea is impossible to recreate at home? Are you kidding me? And then pad ti just cost seventy bucks a plate to make it home anyway, so you might as well get it out, and that is really We have this place on the beach that weill, you know, get the takeout from us. Lit it in half, immediately, put one half in the fridge, um and one half will fill me up. And I just love it with my Thai iced tea. Sometimes if they're sushi at the restaurant as well, which very often there is. I'll get myself a little roll to maybe a seaweed salad, that is, if I'm going ham So, Yeah, that is my treat. You just don't like pad tie because you're like, are more authentic time because you've actually been to Thailand. I've been to the Thai restaurant. I love Thai food, Jen. I don't know if you remember this, I'm sure you do. The very first night we met, we went to a Thai restaurant. I know. We love to talk about those shots on the beach which did happen, and we shared we shared a plate of fries. But then after that we went to a Thai restaurant, Yes we did. I love Thai food, yeah, it's just one. The one thing I will not get from a Thai restaurant is pad thai. I think it tastes alfalfa and and like you said, I've had it in Thailand. Still don't like it. There. I'm here for all the curries, green curry, red curry, musclan curry. Love the way that they make the vegetables, a papayas salad that's spicy mm hmmm. If they do it right spice in my food, and I will get my food a little spicier so that nobody else in my family will eat it. I have a higher spice tolerance, and if I get it a little spicier than I get it all to myself yestion. And that's a different kind of tip, not totally a saving money tip, but keeping all the food to yourself tip. Increase your tolerance for the things that the rest of your family members don't joy. I did think of one more in the twenty hours since we recorded this last time. Um the saw the Halopino sausage roll from phrase I love love that uh with a Halopino sausage roll with a double chokate cake doughnut and a small cappuccino with one raw sugar m It puts me in a good place. And I'm supporting a coffee shop that like isn't too bougie for its breeches, because if I see one more bougie coffee donut shop in this city, I will cry. Initially I will scream, and then I will cry. So I just fe you. You love a fancy coffee shop? You do you? That is you? And I love just local they're all local, Jill. They're all local, and I especially like it if they roast their own get a nice light roast pour over or a cappuccino. I don't go often, but if I'm going to get coffee out, it's gonna be good and the environment is going to be aesthetically pleasing. Yeah, and Phrase is good coffee. It's not like Duncan, which some people love Duncan. I'm so sorry, but but yeah, so it's good quality and we're not to say I'm not sorry, so sorry for having opinions. Um I oh gosh, Phrase, And people know I love Phrase. I have a picture of Phrase sitting on my desk like an art and so the city loves it too. It's a it's a local treasure. I don't want to see it go out of business. I gladly support it with my money, and it supports me with its sausage rolls. I love that. Now that we've tempted all of our audience enough with all this talk of takeout, put it in your budget, afford what you value. Thanks so much for listening everyone. Many of you do know that we have a private community where we do monthly money challenges it's a really fun way to kind of gamify our personal finance. We also offer accountability groups so you can know and be known by others that can help you in your financial journey, paying off debt, saving money wherever you're at. And we want to congratulate one of our members for a big win. This is so exciting to me, Vanessa. Here we go, she says. My husband and I have made major changes in our careers, resulting in a loss of three thousand dollars a month in our household income. Needless to say, we've been trying to reduce our expenses to avoid our new lifestyle, but with a little bit of creativity, we've really been enjoying ourselves. We usually visit one country per month with our daughters for our Culinary World tour, so visit is in quotes, kind of like away within their area to visit. This month, they're supposed to go to a Turkish restaurant, but it's Culture Days in Alberta and the Turkish Association and Minton is organizing a free Turkish brunch. The stars have aligned for you, Vanessa. I'm honestly so grateful for our new life. We make less money, but the benefits of this new lifestyle are huge, and here we go, we're gonna rattle off a few. I'm less stressed. I'm actually happy to go to work. I have enough energy to work out. I do my chores during the day so when my kids come back from preschool and fully present for them, I can catch up with friends who also have flexible schedules. The list goes on and on. When you talk about designing your dream life, it speaks so much to me. I can't believe a year ago we started the Value Based Challenge and it has had an impact greater than I expected. I could not be jumping out of my seat more in reading this to to myself and now out loud to all of you. I think you know we live in such a time where personal finance so much of that culture is his whole hustle culture and make more and earn more, and that can be awesome, and that is the right path for some. But we've also got this other side of the coin of figure out what matters to you, what money you need to make to afford that lifestyle, and find the freedom and flexibility. I think it's it sounds shocking to read we plan to take a cut in our salaries and here's what it has allowed for us. And we've been able to do that because of some of the frugal lifestyle things we've put into place. Like I I, it's like I couldn't summarize what frugality and the aim of frugality is more than what Vanessa has chosen for her lifestyle. So congratulations Vanessa, this is so inspiring. Yeah, it's never either or. It's choosing to afford a life you love on whatever money you make, and however long you work, that's the goal. However long, like many times, many hours per week, that is the goal. In Vanessa, you we are truly we always geek out seeing your progress. So thank you so much for sharing. And if you're inspired by this you want to learn more, check out our monthly challenge community at Frugal Friends podcast dot com slash club. See what kind of money games we have coming up next money games. We'll see you next time. Frugal Friends is produced by Eric Syrian. Okay, Jen, I feel like it's worth recreating our post show show because you're telling me crazy stuff. Pick up where we left off about the Titanic dining. I'm not the only one that loves Titanic. Okay. So when I was at the gym one day, they have an icebreaker question, and it's what is like, if you could like a open a dream hotel, what would it be? And mine was a Titanic themed hotel where it's all first class and because we don't do classis m so we're all first and there is a recreate, a daily recreation of the sinking. And that's a little macab I know, but I just thought it was I love it, uh, And so I was like there and I told um our friends Jess and Joseph when they were at dinner UM the other night, and I was like, there has to be like that has to exist, not the hotel, but the recreation thing. There's so many Titanic exhibits, like four thousand artifacts floating around, you know, above the sea. There's got to be something, and there is right in our backyard in Orlando. You can go to the Titanic Exhibit and experience a first class dining like multi course meal with the Captain and the Unsinkable Molly Brown, and then at the end of dinner there's a recreation of the sinking using lines from the movie and at the end you can see if your person that you were assigned at the beginning of the night died only in Florida. Like, this is so chaotic and reckless. No it's not. Yes, what you're recreating someone's like worst trauma and slash death experience. When I watched it on YouTube, I did feel some type of way about that, like like you're sinking, like like it is. It's a cardinal sin. I think to like in a crowd yell fire right and like create mass panic. But that's like their plan, that's their dining plan is like let's and then like get people trampled. This recreation of moving you move in an orderly fashion with a band playing you out to the boiler room and then it's kind of taking you through like the events of the movie almost and and then women and children get to leave and men die at the end of the dinner. Yeah, this is just it's it's too much for me to wrap my mind around. Um, but I'm I'm glad I know about it. Like you know, the depths of humanity are always interesting to me, but also fun fact. Lesser known fact is I used to be a Thespian and I did plays, and I was in the community play one time of the Titanic, and I was this wealthy, young, pregnant woman named Madeleine Astor at boarded the Titanic as a first class passenger with her much older husband. I remember I knew it. I was like, that's on the tip of my tongue. It starts with an adel and in this community old rich husband in this community production. I was probably seventeen when I did this, and I played Madeline Astor, five months pregnant, and and you know, similar to real life, I was partnered with like a forty two year old man from the community played my husband. This was in a community play. Where did they find a four Like no, no, not high school, no community play. Yeah, yeow yeah. So that's my connection to the Titanic. I I recreated it in in a production stage production, theater production. You just want to recreate it over dinner for funzies, I mean that sounds bad. Um okay. I don't know if it's the most ethical way to spend your time, but I'm a big Titanic fan and interesting, Yeah, if you are a man and you attend the dinner with an infant you can at the end go I have a child, and then they let you leave, but all the other men die. I mean eventually everyone leave, right, yes, Jill, everyone gets to I don't know. It's Florida, I don't know. Loveless and I love it. I do love it. I love it for how reckless it can be sometimes. Yeah, Okay, I think we had our requirements.

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