I’ve been a Tastecard member for 3 years or so. To be honest, if I’d remembered to cancel I might have done this year! With an under 2 year old, the reality is that I really don’t eat out enough anymore to get the value I did at first.
But diners’ clubs and schemes like Tastecard do represent a good way to save money on eating out – something that can be particularly expensive. Here’s the basics about Tastecard:
- £79.95 per year membership fee
- December is usually blacked out across the majority of restaurants
- Typically the offers the rest of the year are 50% of your food bill or two for one on food
If my husband and I eat out, our food bill will typically be anything from £30 – £80 depending on where we eat. So if we save £15 to £40 each time, we don’t have to eat out much for it to pay for itself.
There are hundreds of restaurants in Manchester alone (where we typically eat) and many of our favourites are on it.
But as we eat out less, we’re looking at alternative diners’ clubs where perhaps the annual fee would represent better value. Here are the ones I found:
| Club | Annual Fee | Typical Offers | Limitations |
| Tastecard | £79.95 | · 50% off food bill
· 2 for 1 on meals
Varies restaurant to restaurant
|
· December blacked out by many restaurants
· Saturdays blacked out by many restaurants · Tastecard discount sometimes not applied on set menus or special offers – varies restaurant to restaurant |
| Gourmet Society | £69.95 | · 25% off food and drink
· 50% off food · 2 for 1 on meals
Varies restaurant to restaurant |
· December blacked out by many restaurants
· Saturdays blacked out by many restaurants · Gourmet society discount sometimes not applied on set menus or special offers – varies restaurant to restaurant |
| Hi-Life Diners Club | £69.95 | · 2 for 1 on meals
|
· December blacked out by many restaurants
· Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays blacked out by many restaurants · Some restaurants apply the discount on 3 courses while others will only apply it to a single course |
With the tenner a year saving and similar offers and restaurants, I’m going to give the Gourmet Society a go using its 90 days for £1 offer currently running.
I’ll you know how that goes!
