Eating Out in Montreal Without Breaking the Bank

Eating out seems to be getting more expensive. But it doesn’t need to. If you plan your meals out and budget properly, you can actually eat out more often, without blowing your budget. And if you know a meal out is within your budget you won’t feel guilty, and you’ll enjoy it more. Follow these tips to make your paycheck go further while still enjoying the city’s numerous restaurants.

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Firstly, use social media. Follow the restaurants you like on Facebook and Twitter to find out when they have specials on. Restaurants are always trying to build a following, and they will have promotions purely to get people to share their page. That’s an opportunity to save on your next meal.

Following on from the first tip, any eatery will try to cover its costs during its quietest periods. That may be lunchtime, early evening or certain days of the week. They will usually publish these promotions on Twitter or Facebook, so keep an eye out.

Thirdly, make your credit card do the hard work. Find out which credit cards reward you the most when you eat out. For starters, you can check out this review of the Amex Cobalt card which gives you points for every dollar spent in a restaurant. Other credit cards share similar reward schemes. Some credit cards will also give you discounts, or rewards in the form of coupons at restaurants. Credit cards will often give you free credits for certain stores. You can use that credit to buy gift cards for your favourite restaurants.

Next up, you can become a gift card trader. You can buy and sell unwanted or unused gift cards at sites like giftah. That means you’re getting cash for the gift cards you probably won’t use, and you get to spend that money on discounted cards you will use. This requires a bit of planning, so it’s good to get into the habit of buying and selling them so that you always have inventory.

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If you want to have cocktails before or with your meal, you can also save money by going during happy hour. The food might not be on special, but the drinks will. The rest of the time, skipping drinks is a good way to cut the cost of a meal. Drinks always seem to end up costing more than expected.

If you are going to a restaurant for its really good food, then it makes sense to focus on the main meal and also skip the coffee and dessert, which can easily amount to half the bill. And, if you feel you can’t have a meal out without coffee and dessert, get your mains as a takeaway. That way you can have a cheap dessert and coffee, and save on the tip as well.

Habits are a great way to learn to consistently save money over time. Getting into the habit of splitting a starter or dessert means you are only paying for one of the two every time you eat out.

With a bit of planning, you can still eat out on a regular basis without it breaking the bank. It’s just a question of being up to date with all the promotions you can take advantage of, and avoiding the little extras that push the bill from being “perfectly reasonable” to “out of control.”