“I can’t go out to eat! It’s too expensive!”

Hello and good day to you all!!

Play your cards right and you will get a bang for your buck and not have to pay a card payment in dinner expenses!!

Today, I want to talk about going out to restaurants without going broke.

My husband and I celebrated our 6^th anniversary on the 15^th and we decided that we wanted to go out and have a dinner that was special but we didn’t want to go to our “usual” places. I looked around and was able to find Benihana. It is a Japanese restaurant where they entertain and cook right in front of you. It was a blast!

            Just a heads up about restaurants like this they ARE expensive but if you play your cards right you can get away with paying half the price or less.

Here is how to get a bang for your buck:

• Look for a restaurant that you would like to go to on the internet
• Check to see if they have coupons for a special date or occasion. Most of the time they will
• If you are planning a special occasion you can usually reserve online and ask for special services.

- When you go to order ask your partner if they would like to share something special. This way you will be saving on one meal. Also, when you are looking online sometimes you can gauge how big the portion sizes are. Therefore, this would help you to determine if you are going to be hungry after sharing a meal or not. Plus it is romantic to feed each other a shared meal J

After going to Benihana I was C.R.A.V.I.N.G their AMAZING ginger sauce so I decided to look online and see if someone had a recipe for it. THEY DID! Tastes just the same as Benihana and you can use it as a salad dressing or pour it over rice.

Dinner Recipe #2

Homemade Stir fry

Ingredients	Price
2-3 cups Rice (your choice)	Already had $0
2-3 tbsp. Olive oil	Already had $0
1 cup Broccoli chopped	Approx $.19/cup
½ cup Peas	Already had frozen $0
½ cup Corn	Already had frozen $0
2 Eggs scrambled	Already had $0
TOTAL	Approximately $.19

-This may seem a little crazy but if you keep a grain or grains like rice, couscous, barley, etc. in a cupboard then you will most likely not have to buy any for a while and can essentially say after the first trip that you didn’t have to buy any and count it as $0 spent J   

-It is also good to keep some frozen veggies around for a quick meal like stir fry.

Ginger sauce http://www.food.com/recipe/benihanas-ginger-sauce-108265

” The taste was AMAZING!

Ingredients	Price
1 yellow onion	Approx $.18
2 tablespoons peeled and grated fresh ginger	Approx $.16
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice	Already had $0
1/2 cup white vinegar	Already had $0
1 cup soy sauce  ( I replaced this with the Low-sodium one)	Approx $2.18
I added 3 cloves of garlic! YUMMY!	Already had $0
TOTAL	$2.52
TOTAL FOR SAUCE WITH FOOD	$2.71

 "A cannibal is a person who walks into a restautant and orders a waiter."                 -Morey Amsterdam-