6 Ways You Can Save a Buck On Food

In this day and age, we've all found ourselves wishing we could save a little cash from time to time on food. There are times when a trip to the grocery store can seem like we need to take out a loan first. There are a couple of ways you can go about making sure you save a little money here and there when it comes to getting food. There are a couple of tricks where you can even get your food entirely free. Some of these tips can be tried over and over while others are going to be things you can try once in a blue moon so for those, make sure you are picking your spots when you use some of this lifehacks.

Restaurant Promotions

While you might end up getting some annoying spam from time to time in your inbox, signing up for restaurant promotions can lead to big-time savings over the long haul. Some restaurants are just going to offer straight up deals that will allow you to buy one and get one free. More and more restaurants are also starting to offer loyalty programs that will allow you free items once you have made enough orders and purchases. Sometimes you'll be getting coupons and offers in your email, while other times you'll be able to track how much you are saving right on the restaurant website.

Fill out restaurant surveys

You might have gone to a restaurant and had the ability to fill out a survey using a code that is listed on the back of your receipt, or on a special slip of paper. You might feel like you should ignore this because it's some sort of trick or way to hook you into junk mail, but most of the time the restaurant is being true to its word. It really does want feedback about a food or service. In exchange, it's willing to give you deals or even free items for your time.

Birthday deals

Plenty of businesses want you to spend your birthday at their establishment. In order to get you to do this, they are willing to give free meals, or more often than not, free deserts if you come and spend your birthday with them. This is actually one promotion you've likely heard of, as it's been around for quite a while. Shop around a little bit (usually on the down low, restaurants aren't going to tell you flat out what they give you) and see which ones are offering the best deals.

Free Samples

Signing up on some restaurants and grocery stores' mailing lists will get you some free samples mailed to you. When going to brick and mortar stores, Saturdays are still a day when most grocery stores are setting up one stand after another to give out samples and get you to buy more of what they are offering. Play your cards right and you can eat the equivalent of a full meal just using those free samples. The bigger the store, the more samples you are going to get. Those samples are also not going to be out every day. Saturday really is the day you should be focusing on but Sunday might have some sample days as well.

Hit Store Openings

Check your local paper and local news for announcements on store openings. These events will usually be offering either entirely free food or big-time discounts for those who choose to attend. Sometimes you'll need to be among the first customers to walk through the doors so once you find out a start time, make sure you are getting there plenty early.

Become a Mystery Shopper

These are real positions, though you need to weigh and do some investigations into which positions are valid. If you can get a real mystery shopper job, you will be employed by the company to test a number of different aspects of the business. This can mean that you will get to test out anything you want or test out something that you will be specifically steered to as a part of your job. Either way, you can get something free.