Eating Out

'tis the season for visiting with friends and family, holiday shopping and celebrations that lead to many meals outside of the house. I have already had 3 this week and am heading down to my parents' this weekend where there will likely be another.

It won't surprise you to learn that my advice for these outings is to plan ahead. Here are a couple of tips to help save money and calories:

1. Don't Wait Too Long: If you are out shopping, stop and have lunch or dinner before you are too hungry. If you are totally famished you will eat way more than you would otherwise and likely make poor choices. So plan your day to include meal stops at regular times, not lunch at 4:00.

2. Chart a Course: If you are heading out for a whole day of shopping plan to be near restaurants you know are safe, hit the mall that has a Panera or Au Bon Pain where you can get healthier quick options. If you are with a group, make it known early in the day that you would prefer one of these places to burgers or pizza. This will also help with #1, if you have a destination and an agreed upon plan you are less likely to wander aimlessly until you are too hungry to think right.

3. Do Your Research: Going out for a nice dinner? Look up the menu online in advance. This will help you plan a budget for the evening and make some healthy choices, be firm so that even if you arrive a little harried and over-hungry you stick to your original choices.

4. Save Money on the Liquids: Downgrade your drinks. If you normally drink $10 fancy cocktails, have 1 and switch to less expensive wine. If you normally drink wine and others do too try to plan ahead and order a bottle for the table to save some money. If you are a beer drinker try spacing out your beers with a glass of water in between. If you don't drink alcohol, stick to water, soda is over priced and full of empty calories.

5. One Dessert, Two Forks Please: Restaurant desserts are notoriously huge and expensive and during this season of the many baked goods it seems as American as apple pie to have dessert with every meal (for a list of my favorite breakfast desserts, email me :) ). Cut cost and share the calories by splitting dessert, even if you aren't cozy enough with your companion to eat off the same plate, chop the sucker in half and take your piece.

I won't avoid going out over the next couple of festive months and I would certainly not ask my friends to forgo holiday merriment either, I will just have to make my plan and try my hardest to stick to it. Between that and keeping up my gym time I hope to come out of the holidays unscathed.