Saving money during holidays with tastecard
This is a collaborative post
The school holidays are fast approaching and with the lighter nights and longer days, I think we’re all looking forward to two weeks without school runs, manic mornings and if we’re lucky, some well-deserved time off work with the kids. The downside? Keeping the kids entertained and stocked up with copious amounts of food and snacks can be expensive. Did you know that tastecard can help?
Over the last few weeks, we’ve been putting tastecard through its paces to learn more about how it can save you and your family money on eating out, takeaways and entertainment this half term. Here’s what you need to know.
What is tastecard?
tastecard is a subscription-based discount card that offers discounts and 2-for-1 dining deals at loads of different restaurants across the UK.
Don’t be fooled however, whilst you may have traditionally thought of tastecard as a restaurant discount card, this money saving card and app can actually do so much more!
In addition to their impressive restaurant dining-in deals such as 2-for-1 or 25% off food and drink, tastecard also offers a mega 50% off takeaway pizzas, huge savings on cinema tickets, substantial discounts on days out at family-friendly attractions and even 25% off your morning caffeine fix at a range of barista coffee venues.
As if that’s not enough. thanks to the tastecard member perks, you can even secure discounts on big-name brands such as Hello Fresh, The AA and Hotels.com
.
What tastecard Restaurants are there?
There are 1000s of restaurants to choose from on the tastecard app and whilst the exact listings will vary depending on location, here are the Birmingham restaurant deals as an example.
The great news is, many of the restaurants featured are family friendly, especially if you’re fond of Italian – from Prezzo and Ask Italian to Zizzis and Carluccio’s. There are also some great Indian restaurants in the Birmingham area too, ideal if you’re after something with a little more spice!
Most restaurants featured do require you to book in advance and state that you’re using a tastecard upon booking. There may be some restrictions in terms of days e.g. not available on Saturdays or throughout peak months such as December, but in most cases however there’s plenty of choice and flexibility. The choice of restaurants including lots of options that we knew would be a hit with our kids.
What other discounts can Tastecard get you?
If by day 2 of the school holidays you need a strong dose of caffeine to get you through the morning, fear not – tastecard have got your back. You can get 25% off a freshly brewed coffee at Cafe Nero as well as other local independents in tastcards coffee club. You can also plan some fun filled days out with the kids, from a trip to the cimema to see the latest releases (Dungeons and Dragons anyone?!) or discounted tickets to attracts such as Legoland, Alton Towers and the Sea Life Centre to name but a few.
How much does Tastecard cost?
tastecard offers incredible value for money, especially if you like to eat out regularly. You can currently get 12 months of access to tastecard for just £34.99.
Our tastecard Review
Not one to recommend anything without testing it out for ourselves, we’ve been using tastecard for the last few weeks. exploring how easy it is to use and how much money we can really save as a family.
Firstly, we ordered pizzas from our local pizza hut. This was so straightforward to do. We simply selected pizza hut from the tastecard app and were offered 50% off when we spent £30 or more, which you’ll know is fairly easy to do at a pizza restaurant. We ordered two large pizzas, which would have normally set us back over £40, but came out as just over £20 instead. After ordering, we were able to track out order as usual inside the tastecard app, following it through prep and baking until we could see it was out for delivery.
Whilst our local Pizza Hut and Dominos do occasionally have their own deals such as two for Tuesday, it’s nice to know you can get the tastecard pizza discounts all the time without having to hunt around for discount codes.
Next, we decided to head out for a meal at our local Prezzo restaurant, which luckily for us is less than a ten minute walk away from home. As you can see there are a few restrictions on when you can use it, but as we planned to visit midweek, this wasn’t an issue for us.
We called up to book our table in advance, simply mentioning that we wished to use the tastecard and they made a note of this on our reservation.
The discount at Prezzo was 2 for 1 and valid across all three courses, meaning that the cheapest dish from each course was free of charge.
We had a delicious meal at Prezzo. I will be honest, since covid we’ve eaten out far less as a family, so it felt so nice to be back out in a restaurant again (and not having to worry about the washing up!)
The 2 for 1 discount worked perfectly for us, offering a substantial saving on our bill. We may normally have opted to ditch dessert, but knowing that two out of four of us would be having a dessert for free certainly made it far more guilt-free! When it came to payment, we found the process quick and simple, with the waitress scanning the QR code on my mobile phone before going to get the bill.
Our thoughts
Three weeks in, we’ve barely scratched the surface of the deals that tastecard has to offer. Overall I am really impressed, I found the deals easy to access and easy to book. I would say ensure you phone up first to confirm the restaurant is accepting the tastecard, as this ensures a smooth transaction when you come to pay. We’re going to the cinema during half term and I will be using my tastecard to book e-codes in advance. Whilst this process has a few more steps (buying e-codes through tastecard and claiming them at Cineworld) every little helps when it comes to entertaining the kids!
What we love
- Choice of family friendly restaurants
- 2 for 1 or 25% off
- 50% pizza deals with easy ordering and tracking
- Entertinament discounts offers a good choice for families
What we would improve
- If we had to suggest improvements to tastecard, we’d say that the restaurant choices could be wider. The vast majority of restaurants included are Italian / pizza / pasta themed – that suits our family down to the ground, but if you’re not a fanof Italian you may find the list somewhat more restrictive.
Want to try it out for yourself?
Fancy giving tastecard a try yourself – you can get a 60 day free trial for just £1! Yes you read that right? For £1 you can get instant access to the tastecard app with digital membership. You can then start using your tastecard to grab 50% off your pizzas, 2 for 1 or 25% off at thousands of restaurants and 25% off your coffees. You can head to the cinema with your family or visit the Sea Life Centre for less and it’ll cost you just £1 for the benefit. No brainer right?
IMPORTANT – At the end of the 60 day trial, your tastecard subscription will renew at £39.99 for the year (£3.33 per month). If you do not wish to continue you MUST remember to cancel the card before the end of the 60 day period.
You can learn more about tastecard, including the deals near you at tastecard.co.uk
