The first response I get from people when I ask how to get the best bang for your buck on a date is to hit up a buffet. In good concious, I can’t recommend this solution as I’m quite weary of the qaulity of food used in buffets and you should be to. There are far better options than stuffing yourself with the lowest grade of food possible. Plus, buffets are bloating and date killers.
As a generation, we have a habit of bringing back the old and making it new so my first suggestion is that we should start calling this the Summer of the Picnic. Picnics are a nostalgic throwback to earlier times when people enjoyed nature more and weren’t overburdened by a plehtora of fast food options. The picnic, more importantly, is a great way to save some serious money while not giving the impression that’s your main intention. I don’t have to tell you how much cheaper it is to buy you’re own food but if you need hard evidence, use the nifty calculator to the right to see how much you’d save over just a month if you started packing food from home whether its your daily meal or the many picnics you’re going to be having.
Of course, packing your own food or going on a picnic is not always possible so we need to tackle ‘going out’ solutions. The first piece of advice I’m going to give you isn’t that sexy but I assure you that its solid: research. The absolute worst question you can ask someone is “where do you want to eat?” Doing this makes you vulnerable to variables you cannot forsee and will almost always have you saying ” I’m not that hungry, this basket of bread is all I need”. So to avoid this unfortunate situation, use one of the many research tools online (e.g. Yelp, Urban Spoon, etc.) that will help you find a place that best suits your budget. Not only will this lead you to some great affordable options, but it will also give you some talking points after reading the review. The best date is often the smart date.
Finally, if you don’t have time to plan, steer the situation in your favor by suggesting that you play a game. The name of the game isn’t important but the general idea should be “let’s set a max spend for our date and see if we can make it under”. At first you might sound cheap but if you position it as “we’re so fun that we don’t really need to spend money to enjoy our time together”, you’ll be golden. Everyone likes a challenge and you’ll find yourselves uncovering new ways to have fun and eat out that you may have never considered before. All of a sudden, ordering water makes you more of a teamster than a cheap-o.
I’ve framed this piece for the dating crowd but any of these ideas will work with your friends. Naturally, having a picnic with a bunch of your dudes might feel odd but include a frisbee and you’ll put the ‘man’ back in ‘romantic’.
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Tags: Adil Dhalla, Budgeting, Eating Out, Recession, Recessionista, Saving, Screw You Recession
