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When you have a large family, you have to think twice about how you approach eating out.  These are just a few ways we've found to help cut the costs.

Opt for Buffets

Eating out with a family of six can really hit hard.  If we were  to take the kids to a fast food restaurant, and all purchased a "value" meal at around $5-6 each.... that would be $36 for the entire family.  For what?  An unhealthy hamburger and fries with a coke?  I don't think so.

For that same amount of money, and much cheaper when the kids were smaller, is a buffet style lunch.   We all personally love Chinese Buffet's, which you can find in virtually any city these days.  I believe the one closest to us runs about $5.50 for an adult lunch. They are an incredible value for the quality of food and dining experience you receive.  If you've never frequented one, don't be swayed by the fact that you may not care for Chinese food.  Check out what the buffet offers.  Most, we've found, take the American appetite into consideration and offer an entire cart of American foods, such as ham, macaroni & cheese, pizza, etc. There are also always massive salad bars and dessert bars.

The beauty of  treating the family to a buffets such as this is the health factor.  Our kids happen to love Chinese food and it's chock full of healthy vegetables and lean meats.  We also much prefer the atmosphere to a fast food place.

There are a couple factors to remember when considering dining at a Chinese or Asian style buffets at a value. 

1.  Go before they switch from lunch to dinner.  The price can as much as double for the same or similar food.

2.  Ask if beverages are included.  Some are, some are not.  We always order water when beverages aren't included as soft drinks will add $6.00 or more to our tab.

3.  Like the dinner hour, Asian restaurants of this type generally charge a lot more on Sundays.  Avoid Sundays for the best value.

Kids Eat Free

Our kids are a bit too old for this now, but did we ever take advantage of it when we could.  When we had four under the age of 12, this was great.

In larger cities, particularly, there will usually be enough competition between family oriented restaurants to have them offer "kids eat free" on a certain day of the week.  It's nice to know which restaurants are doing this both where you live and where you may be visiting.  It's definitely worth eating out on Tuesday, for those free meals,  rather than Friday if you have enough mouths to feed!  There's even a site called www.kidseatfree.com that has many restaurants listed by city.

Be Creative

When you have younger children, Mexican restaraunts can be another very reasonable meal dining out. Perhaps not as healthy as Chinese cuisine, but cost effective and fun. 

Mexican restaurants will usually bring you a big free bowl of hot corn chips and salsa whle you await your order. Consider ordering a side of melted cheese, and you can turn those free chips into nachos. Most kids will fill up on the chips even before the food arrives. 

Another idea is ordering a side of flour tortillas (very cheap) and then filling them with the re-fried beans that come with most adult meals. You now have bean burittos that the kids will love. Some restaurants will give you tortillas for free!

Avoid Buying Beverages

Wherever you take the family to eat or even just to site see, you can save a lot of money if you avoid the over-priced soft drinks. 

In restaurants, ask for water.  If you must, bring a little flavor packet from home or ask for lemon.  One of the biggest places restaurants inflate their prices is in beverages.

Day Trips

If you're planning an outing to a zoo, theme park or site seeing trip, try to plan ahead and bring a cooler with low cost soft drinks, water or juices.  Again, avoid purchasing from over-inflated vendors. 

Additionally, it's always good to bring sandwiches and snacks. I realize this is kind of a no-brainer, but it's always good to reiterate.  These parks wouldn't make the money they do on food and beverages if everyone thought to plan ahead a little and save that penny.

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