When we go out to eat sometimes (well, actually all the time. My mom is one of those people who gets whiny if we dont take her out to eat a bunch...my poor dad and his debit card)

Anyways, sometimes when we go out to eat, we've figured out that if you drink water, you can sometimes save up to $6 to $9. (some restaurants around here charge close to $3 for a glass of pop, with free refills)

Also, splitting an order of something with the person you're with is another way to make things cheaper. I went to a steakhouse/italian restaurant with my parents on saturday night. My dad and I split the special which was a chicken and sirloin thing. I took the sirloin, and my dad took the chicken and the veggies. I bought a side of mashed potatoes. The special was $12.

If we'd bought what we usually get there, just my order would have been close to $17! and that's without buying a pop to drink. My dad's order would have been about $13 (he always drinks water when we go out)

My mom's order was about $16. (we let her get what she wants) and she bought tea, so that was another $3.

We ended up saving some money by splitting an order between myself and my dad. The server still got a 20% tip based on the total price with a couple extra dollars added to even out serving 3 people.

My dad was happy because we usually will spend up to $70 at that particular restaurant when we dont split a meal in half.

My dad and I both managed to fill up on the food, and an added bonus was that neither of us felt so stuffed with food that we couldnt move, and we didnt have to bother with taking any leftovers home. (altho, I LOVE taking leftovers home from that restaurant...love their food!)

We sometimes do the split meal thing at restaurants that we know tend to load you up on food. As long as neither of my parents have their hearts set on seafood (I'm allergic) it's kind of fun to split an order in half with one of my parents.

My mom and I split my chinese food tonight. (plum chicken) My dad had his shrimp dish he likes, and I got some fried wontons and my mom had some soup, and we still managed to keep the ticket under $30. Came home stuffed, and I had a small amount of leftovers that will be my mom's lunch tomorrow.

I've been trying to eat at home more often, because even with splitting meals, it's still expensive. We're trying to get my mom out of the habit of eating out all the time...which is kind of difficult when my dad doesnt want to cook at home (he's the short order cook at home...my mom and I dont have very good cooking skills. I love my dad's cooking)

If my dad has a decent amount of warning (at least 24hrs) and I suggest something that I know is good and fairly easy for him to make, we can get something pretty good made for dinner. He usually likes my suggestions, and we dont usually get too wild or exotic in home made dinners.

Tomorrow we're having Chicken Goo. It's basically a thick chicken soup, that my dad adds cut up frozen chicken and vegetables to, that we serve over rice, or mashed potatoes, or even over baked potatoes sometimes. I got a bag of frozen biscuits the other day that will go pretty good with it too.

We made minestrone soup last week. My dad puts canned beans (red, white, and cici beans into a crockpot, adds whatever vegetables that we can find in the house, uses the seasonings from a box of Mrs. Grass chicken soup for the base, and then we eat with either french bread, or the frozen biscuits. (obviously we cook the biscuits first)

My dad is pretty good at MacGyvering up something for dinner out of the leftovers in the fridgerator and freezer. We freeze the leftover soup and will thaw it out in a few weeks for dinner again.