Your Money_ The Missing Manual - J. D. Roth [42]
Eat a healthy snack before you go. Grab a banana or some carrot sticks to take the edge off your hunger so you won't be tempted to order too much when you look at the menu.
Order appetizers as your meal. At many eateries, appetizers are a cheap and tasty alternative to ordering a main dish, and they're often plenty big to fill you up.
Share food. Portion sizes in American restaurants have grown enormous over the past few decades, so try splitting an entrée. Many restaurants charge a few bucks extra for this, but it's much less than paying for a second main dish.
Watch what you drink. Restaurants make a big profit on soft drinks and alcohol (meaning they're a bad deal for customers), so if you're looking to save money, skip the drink order. Water may be boring, but it's cheap and good for you.
Order in sequence. When you order everything at once, it's easy to end up with too much food. If the restaurant lets you, order and eat your appetizer before you order your main dish. That way you can plan the rest of our meal based on how hungry you are. (If you order this way, be sure to leave a bigger tip.)
Take food home. One excellent way to stretch your food dollars is to plan to take leftovers home. (Some people ask for a box when their meal arrives so they can divide the portions immediately.) A $12 enchilada plate only costs $6 per meal if you also have it for lunch the next day.
Eat lunch, not dinner. If it fits your schedule, enjoy your meals out in the afternoon instead of evening—you'll often pay much less for the exact same food.
Skip (or share) dessert. If you crave just a bite or two of something sweet after a meal, try splitting a dessert. Or some people keep a bar of chocolate (or other sweet treat) in their purses or cars for such occasions.
Greens from the garden
Once you begin to master your grocery shopping, you'll find that you sometimes want more than the supermarket can provide, like fresh herbs at a moment's notice or strawberries that don't cost $3 per pound.
Food fresh from your yard is convenient and generally tastes better than what you find in the supermarket. If you have a suitable spot for a garden, growing your own food is a fun and rewarding way to save money. Here are some pointers for starting your own vegetable patch:
Plan ahead. Decide what you'd like to grow and figure out how much time and space you're willing to devote to the project. A container garden (http://tinyurl.com/container-garden) might be a good place to start. Or try square-foot gardening (http://tinyurl.com/SF-gardening), which lets you maximize food production in a small space.
Tip
Your public library probably has lots of great gardening books, including some tailored to where you live. Two excellent ones are Square-Foot Gardening (Cool Springs Press, 2006) by Mel Bartholomew and The Bountiful Container (Workman Publishing, 2002) by McGee and Stuckey. You might also want to check out You Grow Girl (www.yougrowgirl.com), a blog about gardening.
Start small. When planning your garden, don't be overly ambitious. If you want to test the waters, try herbs, which are easy to manage and much cheaper to grow than buy.
Choose productive plants. It's frustrating to plant a bunch of seeds that don't yield anything. If you want a rewarding and productive garden, do some research to find out what grows well in your area. One excellent resource is your state's extension office (www.nifa.usda.gov/Extension/), or ask your friends and neighbors for advice.
Share with others. When you buy a packet of seeds, you'll generally get more than you need. It's fun and frugal to split the costs with others. Same goes for equipment: You may own a rototiller while your neighbor has a trailer for hauling manure; share them to save money.
Buy quality tools. When you buy garden tools, it pays to get