Eating Out In A Restaurant - On An Au Pair Budget
I don’t know about you but in my first year as Au Pair I always avoided restaurants. First because I was not confident to order, I didn’t know how to pay with card (that made me really nervous and now I’m like.. lol. No big deal) I was afraid I wouldn’t understand what the server say’s to me or I would order the wrong food and I will not like it. But the biggest reason was simply I thought it’s way too expensive to go and eat out all the time.
It wasn’t until my second year and until I made a lot of local friends that I started to eat out in restaurants on a regular base. Only issue, it was still expensive. But my friends were going out to eat at least once a week and I wanted to spend time with them.
Well, me the budget queen I am I found some ways to still enjoy eating out in restaurant without breaking my budget. Here are my tips for you:
Talk to your friends about your budget
Especially if your friends are locals it can happen that you have very different income. A couple of my friends were making a lot more money, so for them it was not something to look for. They didn’t have a budget. But good friends will understand and be mindful. I told them my weekly budget for eating out and we will find restaurants that are cheaper or don’t go as often. Another thing, we would not just split the bill, they would often eat more expensive thing, have appetizers, dessert or a drink. Everyone was just paying for their own stuff.
Eat “Family-style”
My two really good friends introduced me to it. They both are from the Philippines (so far my favorite culture to meet, these people are insanely nice) and it’s part of their culture to share food. So if you eat out with friends you would order dishes for the table not just for yourself. All the dishes go in the middle and you take from everything. Since in america the meal sizes are huge you can usually calculate one dish for two people. If you are 4 friends in total you would order just 2 main dishes and split the cost. And not just that you get to save some money you also get to try a lot more food in one place and it’s my favorite thing ever.
Drink water
Water is free. Yes, always. And you get it without asking. Most of the time they bring you a water straight to the table before ordering. Otherwise if they ask you what you want to drink you just answer with “Just the water, please”. You can get all your fancy drink desires on another place but in a restaurant, we drink water.
If a drink, then soda or iced tea
I know I just said just water, but once in awhile you want something different. Now one fun thing about america. You get in most places free refills for soda and ice tea. I know, sounds unreal. But sure it’s true. Most of time they will bring you the refill if you have not even finished the first glass. So the only thing you really have to pay for every glass is alcohol, canned or bottled beverages. Honestly I think i’ve never ordered something other than water in a restaurant but my friends have and guess who is sneaking sips. Me! Of course I always ask them but they know already that they are sharing their ice tea with me. I mean they are getting free refills, so it’s basically a free drink for me.
Eat before/after
I understand this is not for everybody but I don’t always eat with my friends when we go in a Restaurant. If I don’t want to spend my money on this kind of meal, I eat either before or after and just join them on the table to talk. I don’t have a problem with that and it took my friends a bit to get used to, because they would feel bad. But I explained them that I would have the money but I made the choice of not spending it for this. Again, the right friends understand and it’s not that I sit there with sad face and frowning. I enjoy the time with my friends and that’s what matters to me. Of course this is harder if you travel with strangers or people you just met but it’s possible.
Kids meals
Like mentioned, the portion sizes in America are huge. Usually so much you leave about half on your plate or you overeat. Now they offer kids meal and yes most of the time they put on the card “Just for kids under the age of 12” but it never hurt to ask. Kids meals are more than enough food to get an adult satisfied for way less money and no food waste. (Yes, you can take the rest home, but not an a road trip or in this purpose of saving money) I was always very friendly and put on my beautiful but I’m poor smile on and asked if I can order from the kids menu. They never said no so far, sometimes I don’t even ask and just order the kids menu. How do they wanna know I don’t order for my 11-year old waiting at home?
Order the cheapest thing on the menu
Duh. Seems obvious but I wanted to mention it. Often I made my choice not by what I want to eat but with what is cheapest. Sometimes just an appetizer does it for me. No need to go full entree sometimes.
Now I want you to keep in mind that you have to give a tip at the end. I know for most of us it’s not a common thing to do, but in America it’s part of it. Now I will not bore you and throw a percentage on your head, since no one really does the math when paying the bill. But it should be more than $2 for a good service. If I was eating out with my local friends they would always tip way more so I didn’t feel so bad. But depending on how good the experience was, how nice the server was and more important how much I still have in my budget I tip more than 2$. If you asked my friends they will tell you that’s a joke and I have to give more. But honestly give what you are comfortable with.
I hope this will help you to save some money, have some fun and give you the chance to experience more of the US.
Love, Michelle
