How cheapskates do dinner

A $26 ribeye tastes that much juicier at $13, at least to me.
So while some people shy away from dining-out discounts, fearing perhaps the scorn of their teenage servers, others like me won't leave home without one.

"I try to go out only if I have a deal," says Tonya Ward, a stay-at-home mother from Winston-Salem, N.C., who clips newspaper coupons, surfs the Web for discounts and goes to kids-eat-free nights at local restaurants.

One night, Ward even dressed her whole family up as cows, with black and white spotted t-shirts, to get a free meal at her local Chick-Fil-A restaurant.
"I am never one to pass up a free meal," Ward says.

But it doesn't take a costume to get discounts, provided you are willing to plan ahead, be flexible and use coupons and gift certificates unabashedly. And some of them are so discreet your date will never know you went cheap.

Discount blogger Anjie Henley, for instance, doesn't think twice about combining coupons and gift certificates to get her meals for a fraction of the price.

"I try to never pay full price for anything, especially food," says the operator of FreelanceByU.com. "You can eat out for pennies on the dollar" if you know where to look for discounts, she says.

Henley once bought a $50 T.G.I. Friday's gift card for $20 on eBay and then used it at a restaurant with a $7 coupon she received by e-mail. That's $37 in free food.
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Stiff competition in the restaurant business and a down overall economy are prompting more restaurants -- even white-tablecloth eateries -- to offer deals to bring in new customers and reward return patrons.

That makes it easier for diners find good meals at even better prices -- often discreetly.
The cash-back program Rewards Network, for example, gives its customers up to 20% back from their final tab, including tip and taxes. Rewards Network's members pay a membership fee or are referred by their airline's miles program in exchange for a rebate on each meal.

Customers register their credit cards. When they dine, they simply use that credit card to get savings. The server and your date don't have to know you are getting a discount. The rebate is refunded to the credit card a few days later, and the diner is notified by e-mail.

The savings "add up pretty quickly," claims Chris Curtis, a spokesman for Rewards Network.
However, prospective members should peruse Reward Network's site first to see if the restaurants you like are affiliates.

For someone like me who dines out only occasionally and doesn't drop a ton of money on a meal, the program is barely worth the $49 annual membership fee (deducted from your initial savings, not paid up front). If you join the program through an airline frequent-flier program, the membership is free, but you get your money back in miles.
Of course, even these miles can be turned into free dinners, if you know how.