How I Took My Family of 5 "Out-to-Eat" for Under $11

As many of you know, it is expensive to go out to eat, especially when you have kids. At the same time, it's nice to be able to eat out, if only to just give yourself a break from cooking every once in a while. This past weekend, I was able to feed my family of 5* for only $10.46! (The total bill should have been:$36.46.)

This is how I did it:

I received 3 free Kid's Meal coupons from the dentist's office. Many doctors and dentists have free Kid's Meal coupons to different restaurants. Don't be afraid to ask about them. They won't mind handing them out, especially if your kids are being really good.

I also had a $10 gift card. I got the gift card by earning points through MyPoints. My Points is a program in which they send emails to your inbox. For each email that you click-thru and look at, you earn 5 points. (Some of the emails offer more points for buying products. I have never used this function.) When you earn enough points, you can redeem them for gift cards, such as the On the Border gift card that I used. I strongly suggest opening a separate email account for programs such as this so that your main email account doesn't get bogged down. 

The third thing I did may seem small, but it saved us another 15% on our bill. We didn't actually eat at the restaurant. I ordered the food online and picked it up at the restaurant. The food tasted just as good and we got to eat it in the comfort of our home. On the Border, even included a large bag of tortilla chips and LOTS of salsa (my personal favorites).

*Technically, there are 6 of us, but the youngest is under a year old, so we don't have to buy a separate meal for him yet!