We are fortunate in Cache Valley to have an unusual number of restaurant discounts available to us. Even chain restaurants often have daily specials or distribute coupon mailers on a regular basis for specials I never see in Salt Lake. For example, one of my favorite lunchtime restaurants, Paradise Bakery, never distributes coupons in Salt Lake---they don't even have a birthday club. But in Logan, Paradise Bakery sends out mailers every month with coupons for 40% or 50% off your entire meal, plus they have a huge list of daily lunch combo specials at the restaurant. If you play your cards right, you should almost never pay full price to eat out in Cache Valley, no matter where you want to go.
With that in mind, I would like to share with you the gem of Cache Valley savings: the Cache Valley Direct Book.
Unlike other coupon books, such as the Entertainment book, which mostly have coupons for new or less popular restaurants, Cache Valley Direct has coupons for all the places you want to go. Some of my favorites from last year included Cafe Sabor, Juniper Take-Out, Noodles & Company, Rumbi Island Grill, Cold Stone, Firehouse Pizza, Willows Miniature Golf Course, and the Utah Festival Opera. Most coupons are buy one get one free.
Not only does Cache Valley Direct have great BOGO coupons, the front of the book always includes tear-out coupons for completely free items, such as a small cheese pizza at Dominos, a free cookie at Paradise Bakery, and a free breakfast sandwich at McDonald's.
Another perk is that you can use coupons from up to three books at the same time! So you don't have to worry about that pesky one-per-table rule. If you have a family of six and want to buy three books, or if you want to go out with friends who have their own books, you can all get a discount! We always buy three books---one for my grandparents, one for my parents, and one for Dylan and I---so when I come to town, all six of us can go out and use our coupons together.
Not only is Cache Valley Direct a great bargain, but you can support your local schools by buying one. The books cost $25, and the school gets to keep 50% of that money. Last year, both South Cache and Providence Elementary participated in the fundraiser, so if you know a child that attends one of those schools, ask them about it. Or keep an eye on Cache Valley Direct's facebook page for more information. Books for the coming year should start going on sale October 1.
The same company also puts out Dixie Direct and Idaho Direct, so if you have relatives in St. George or Idaho, or if you visit there often, you may be interested in those books as well.
Using coupons for eating out can save you tons of money. For example, a couple weeks ago when I visited Cache Valley, Mom, Dad, Dylan, and I ate breakfast at Chick-fil-a to use up our last few Cache Valley Direct coupons before they expired. Here is what we got:
2 oatmeals with fruit and nuts, 3 cinnamon clusters, 2 breakfast sandwiches, an order of hashbrowns, and 2 diet cokes (I confess, I love diet coke for breakfast).
Here is what we spent:
Yes, that does say that our total was $3.34. And we got $22.98 worth of food. How did we do it?
We used the free oatmeal and free cinnamon cluster coupons from our Cache Valley Direct books, another Cache Valley Direct coupon that gave us a free breakfast entree when we bought a hashbrown and a drink, and the September free breakfast sandwich and drink from my mom's Chick-fil-a cow calendar.
Oh, hadn't I mentioned the cow calendar yet?
Chick-fil-a does a great promotion every year at Christmastime where you buy their cute cow calendar for $6 and it comes with at least one free item for every month of the year. This year, $6 got Mom
January - Medium bowl of soup
February - Large waffle potato fries
March - Fan favorite classic entree
April - Large drink
May - Entree salad
June - Grilled chicken sandwich and large drink
July - Small handspun milkshake
August - Large drink
September - Breakfast entree and a large drink
October - Large drink
November - Mystery offer
December - Spicy chicken sandwich
Plus she got a humorous cow calendar featuring pictures of the cow family on vacation.
These calendars come out every year a few weeks before Christmas and can be purchased at Chick-fil-a. They could even make a fun and different Christmas gift.
Hopefully this will provide some inspiration to start you on the road to serious savings and enable you to recreationally eat to your heart's content (right Grandpa?) And if not, at least you got to see some funny cow pictures.
Hopefully this will provide some inspiration to start you on the road to serious savings and enable you to recreationally eat to your heart's content (right Grandpa?) And if not, at least you got to see some funny cow pictures.
*I just learned that all Utah Chick-fil-a restaurants will be giving away free breakfast every Wednesday this month from 6:30 a.m. to 10:00 a.m.! Today was a free 3-count chicken minis. Next week will be a free bacon, egg, and cheese biscuit. All you have to do is go into the store or through the drive thru and tell them you want the free breakfast item. No purchase necessary! One per person, and you have to be present to get one. All the info is on their facebook event page.
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