Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My dd at college goes to Olive Garden and orders a meal. While there she only eats the unlimited breadsticks and soup. Then takes home the meal for the next day.

Mi did this in my 20’s at Ruby Tuesdays.

Don't we all do the Olive Garden hack. I thought it was fairly common

We're definitely not eating out as much theses day but do order a lot of delivery and sometimes, take-out. I always order enough for multiple meals or stretch the portions with some simple home hacks using kitchen basics. I figure you're already paying a delivery fee and tip, why not make it worth it and let someone else do the heavy lifting for you? Some examples include:

Peruvian Chicken - I get 2 full chickens (and sides) instead of just 1. We'll eat it the traditional way on night one and have plenty leftover to make salads, enchiladas, soups, quesadillas - you name it - to cover lunches and dinner(s) in the coming days/be frozen for a quick defrost meal later. Bones and other scraps are for stock.

Chinese/Thai, etc - When ordering a regular entree or noodle dish I always quickly stir-fry or steam some shredded cabbage, carrots, peppers or other veggies on hand while I'm waiting to mix into the dish. It not only extends the number of servings but makes it healthier by cutting into the amount of salt and fat you'd be consuming if you ate it straight. With rice I'll throw a steam-able bag of cauliflower rice in the microwave and mix that in 1:1 for the same impact.

Because of time constraints I don't do a lot of cooking from scratch. We are omnivores, but I rarely buy or prepare animal proteins at home. I always keep plenty of veggies and bagged salads around to supplement a pizza order or up the health quotation on any meal to make it go further.

I don’t get it, none of these are “hacks.” They’re just coupons and ordering less food.

When we go out for Mexican food, everyone gets a side of beans and rice. We all tend to eat the entree only since we are partially filled with chips. I save the beans and rice and make it into a casserole at home--mix it up with some more veggies salsa and then cheese on top. It's a whole extra dinner.

Anonymous wrote:I find it so funny that people are trying to save money by using apps to find deals on food/drink you could make at home for 1/8 the price.

1) I wouldn’t be at a restaurant if I didn’t mind making it at home.
2) If I just want a single serving of a treat I don’t eat with any frequency, it’s cheaper to buy it from a restaurant than to buy all the different ingredients and then just prepare one serving.

Order kids meals for take out

Anonymous wrote:My dd at college goes to Olive Garden and orders a meal. While there she only eats the unlimited breadsticks and soup. Then takes home the meal for the next day.

This is great!

I haven't done it, but with mobile or online ordering and/or grab-and-go at so many places, I've considerd how much cheaper it would be to just order the kids' meal. Especially at places where they have kids' meals that are pretty much exactly like the grown-up food in a smaller/more reasonable portion (and often including a side).

Anonymous wrote:I find it so funny that people are trying to save money by using apps to find deals on food/drink you could make at home for 1/8 the price.

Because sometimes people don't like to cook.

We've gotten lazy. I have to start using some of these hacks!

Anonymous wrote:I find it so funny that people are trying to save money by using apps to find deals on food/drink you could make at home for 1/8 the price.

*Maybe* 1/8 the cost of the ingredients. But you didn't factor in the cost of my labor (planning, shopping for, and cooking those ingredients) that could otherwise be spent working, commuting, parenting/chauffeuring/bonding, cleaning the house, walking the dog, doing something fun, or sleeping. On some days, that's priceless.

Anonymous wrote:I find it so funny that people are trying to save money by using apps to find deals on food/drink you could make at home for 1/8 the price.

Hmm, no. You can typically expect to spend 4x food costs eating at a sit-down place. Fast food is often not much more than ingredient cost relative to the grocery store.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We order 2 Chiptoles for the 5 of us (kids are 6, 4 and 1). We get the bowl, then buy 5 tortillas on the side. At home, we just split the Chipotle bowls into bowls for my kids and they tear up the tortilla and put it on top.

It's actually still more food than we need.

LOL are you my MIL??

DP - at least her kids are pretty little - but this reminds me of MIL who invited us for lunch and had purchased 3 deli sandwiches to feed 5 people (normal size sandwiches, not footlong hoagies).

+1

PP here - yes, same MIL!! LOL

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We order 2 Chiptoles for the 5 of us (kids are 6, 4 and 1). We get the bowl, then buy 5 tortillas on the side. At home, we just split the Chipotle bowls into bowls for my kids and they tear up the tortilla and put it on top.

It's actually still more food than we need.

LOL are you my MIL??

DP - at least her kids are pretty little - but this reminds me of MIL who invited us for lunch and had purchased 3 deli sandwiches to feed 5 people (normal size sandwiches, not footlong hoagies).

Anonymous wrote:My dd at college goes to Olive Garden and orders a meal. While there she only eats the unlimited breadsticks and soup. Then takes home the meal for the next day.

Mi did this in my 20’s at Ruby Tuesdays.

I find it so funny that people are trying to save money by using apps to find deals on food/drink you could make at home for 1/8 the price.