This post is in conjunction with tastecard, but all thoughts and opinions
are my own.
The cost of living seems to keep going up, but that doesn’t mean you need to cut back on date nights if you can be savvy about how you plan them to save money! If you are looking for an affordable date night you might think about avoiding the well-known restaurants and activities like the cinema, but you certainly don’t have to. Here I will show you how to do both, but a little cheaper!
Going out for a meal on a budget – choosing where to go
Initially, you might think that the only places you can afford are fast food restaurants and Wetherspoons but that isn’t always the case. The price of these is always low but often so is the quality and service. If you want a nice restaurant meal then there are no reasons you can’t do this if you have a tastecard (more about that shortly).
Do you fancy an Italian, an Indian, Chinese or Pub Grub? If you live in or near a city you are likely to have a huge choice. We live near Nottingham so often choose to eat there before seeing something at the Theatre or Royal Concert Hall. Later this year we are seeing Fascinating Aida and Jimmy Carr and we already saw Steel Magnolias.
The first thing you should do is decide where you would like to go, in an ideal world if budget wasn’t an issue. then look to see if there are any offers for there. Sometimes restaurants are cheaper early in the evening which you could follow with a trip to the Cinema (Odeon also has discounts with tastecard!)
Saving Money on Date Night with tastecard
If you have a monthly date night to spend time together, as many people do, then I would highly recommend buying a tastecard. For £34.99 for the year, you can get some massive discounts on meals out. this works out at less than £3 a month so it isn’t much to have to save to be worth it! You could actually save your annual fee in one night depending on your choices!
Check on the tastecard website for where you live but I know looking at their restaurant deals Nottingham has so many choices. Many are choices that will be available in other cities too such as Wicked Burgers, Bella Italia, Prezzo, Pitcher and Piano, and even the Kitchen at Jury’s Inn.
Have you eaten at Bella Italia before? With tastecard you can get a 2-for-1 deal there and if you are going to the Theatre it is perfectly located at The Cornerhouse in Nottingham. There is also a Cineworld nearby if that is more to your tastes.
Saving over £30 with tastecard in one night
So, a tastecard costs £34.99 or £39.99 after a 60-day trial for £1 (worth getting if you are not sure if tastecard is for you!), but how much can you really save? I wanted to check this out for you because there are so many discounts and offers nowadays it is hard to know whether they are actually worth it, isn’t it?
Bella Italia is somewhere I quite like so this is where I wanted to try out for you in a real-life situation with our choices. It is easy for companies to say you can save £100 for example but this is based on expensive steaks and wines usually!
Food costs
Starter – Caramelised onion flatbread to share £7.29
Main courses – Vegan Pepperoni pizza for £13.49 and Carbonara for £14.59
Drinks – 250ml glass house white wine £6.59 and Diet Coke £3.39.
Desserts – Cookie Dough £7.49 and Tiramisu £6.79.
Entertainment costs
For a night at the Cinema, there are a few variables to take into account as different films can cost more but here we are talking about a standard screening on a Thursday Night.
Tickets bought online – £5.99 each plus 95p each booking fee.
Cinema Snacks – Large popcorn £5.65 to share, large soft drinks £4.20 each.
Prices with tastecard
Food – 2 for 1 at Bella Italia saves on one starter, one main and one dessert.
We shared a starter so saved on mains (£13.49) and dessert (£6.79). Saving of £20.28.
Tickets using tastecard – 2 Adults £8.03 plus 54p admin fee. Saving of £5.31.
Cinema Snacks – 1 large Popcorn and 2 large drinks £7.88. Saving of £6.17.
Total Date night savings of £31.76 for two people.
Date night savings of over £60 for a double date night
If you decided to go on a double date with another couple you could use all these same deals on your tastecard (up to 4 people on the Bella Italia deal) and save £63.52!
Imagine if you did this once a month for a year. The £39.99 cost of your tastecard would save you £762.24 and for that, you could have a few nights away!
A few notes on our Savings
At Bella Italia there is an alternative offer Set Menu for £19.95 per person with starter and dessert alongside main includes both of our main course choices and dessert choices but we would need to choose a starter each from a range of 5. This does limit choice a little and would work out as £39.90 for the two of us compared to the full price of £49.65 or the tastecard price of £29.37.
Had we chosen two starters rather than one to share the cost would have been an additional £6-7 without the tastecard, about the same price with the tastecard and the set menu would have been unchanged.
The cinema prices are based on the standard cinema tickets on a Thursday evening, tickets for 3d screenings or with discounts or offers from Cineworld directly may be different prices.
Cineworld has no issue with you taking your own food into the cinema which would save more money but they do not allow alcoholic drinks or hot food (this is in their FAQs).
Me and my fiance converts tesco club card points for restaurant vouchers