Invite friends over for dinner instead of going out.

This worked really well for our family of four and our best friends’ family of four. After church Saturday evenings we needed to feed our families. We went "out" sometimes but it often ended up being stressful and expensive. Finally we made the switch to eating in. Ultimately, one family always cooked, which wasn't really fair but in this specific situation there were food allergies to consider. This was great because the adults were able to consider diets for themselves and the allergies of a child and make the best of the situation. We found ourselves having game time, fellowship, and movie nights when otherwise we would have paid a restaurant with loud music and crowd noise making it difficult to talk to each other. Invite your friends over, it never hurts to ask.