As well as food vouchers, there’s a raft of permanent ways to save money on meals out. These methods are especially handy if you wine and dine on Friday or Saturday nights, which some vouchers exclude.

Book online

Dedicated dining websites allow you to browse restaurant offers and book online. Here you simply search for a table, book and print out the email or voucher. There are three top ones:

• Toptable.co.uk Online restaurant booking service Toptable features everything from local pizza joints to Michelin Star restaurants. For the best deals, click the 50% off button on the left-hand side. Some of the other offers are less hot, ie, free glass of wine when you spend £30.
  
• Squaremeal.co.uk One of London's largest online dining websites, Squaremeal.co.uk lists offers, new openings and reviews of restaurants and bars all over London.
• Lastminute.com. Lastminute.com has offers throughout the UK and commonly offers 50% off food or 2for1 main courses. Again, some offers are better than others.
• 5pm.co.uk. The discounts are smaller, but 5pm.co.uk is worth a look. Deals are mostly set menus and 20% off.

Get bargain meals with Tesco Clubcard

Use your Tesco Clubcard points on meals out at restaurants, and you effectively get them for a quarter of the normal price. This is because 100 Clubcard points are only worth £1 if you use them in-store. Yet spend the points on goodies from its Deals Brochure and you get four times the vouchers' face value, eg, £5 worth of Clubcard vouchers are worth £20 in Bella Italia vouchers.

Restaurants include Café Rouge, Planet Hollywood and Chez Gerard; see a full list. For more tricks to maximise Clubcard points, read the Loyalty Schemes guide.

Taste London card

A Taste London card entitles you to 50% off at 500 restaurants around the South East, including Thai Square, Spaghetti House and The Real Greek. At £70, 12 months membership ain’t cheap, but can be worth it over the year, especially if you often take out large groups.

Restaurants can get mardy if you suddenly produce the card at the end of the meal, so always book ahead, mentioning the offer, then show the card before ordering. Taste London often offers free month’s cards; these are always included in the free weekly email.

2for1 London restaurants

Another useful way to get 2for1 vouchers for restaurants in London is through National Express' London 2for1 Offers scheme. This has printable 2for1 vouchers for a range of restaurants and attractions, including The Living Room Islington and Bunker.

You'll need two valid National Express Coach tickets to London to use them though, so this is good if you're planning to get the coach to London anyway.

Even if you aren't travelling by coach, it may be worth getting two cheap National Express tickets to London from a nearby destination, though make sure they don't cost more than you'd save with the voucher.

You'll need to register after you've selected your offer in order to print the vouchers, which are personalised. Expiry dates vary, so make sure you check these on the voucher before you go.

Bring your own booze

If you like a bottle of plonk with your dinner, BYOB (bring your own bottle) places are a great way to save. Restaurants rake in profits by charging inflated prices for booze, eg, bottle of Louis Jadot Bourgogne Chardonnay is typically £16 on a wine list. Yet pick up the same bottle at Tesco before you hit the restaurant and it costs just £7.

For a list of BYOB restaurants across the UK, see Wine-pages.com. Some charge corkage of £1-ish, though many don’t.

Michelin stars on the cheap

If there’s a fancy Michelin joint you’ve always wanted to try, your foie gras and lobster ravioli will be vastly cheaper at lunch than at dinner. As an example, a three-course set dinner at Gordon Ramsey at Claridges costs £70, but the same thing costs £30 at lunch – a massive £40 saving. Check restaurants’ own websites for offers.

Home-cooked fayre

Eating out can munch away at your money, so do it yourself at home with recipes from forum’s Old Style (thrift) board. There are hundreds of lip-smackingly gorgeous ideas; see a full index of moneysaving menu plans.

If you’re a curry fan, here’s how to make a three-course Indian Takeaway for £5. Many Old Stylers report they now find restaurant grub disappointing.

Don’t feel embarrassed about tap water!

Finally, there’s absolutely no shame in asking for tap water. And it’s better for the environment too.