Before I had both my children, my favourite way to spend my weekends or any downtime I had would be to go out for food and drink with my friends, always in Manchester. I’m still a massive foodie, and will always try to incorporate a lunch or a dinner into any of my plans, but since becoming a Mum, I’ve had to change up the places I go to. And quite drastically, too!
Before, I would be seeking out the chicest interiors and the most unique cocktail menus. Nowadays, I’m looking for the places with the cleanest highchairs, and tables spacious enough to accommodate a pram and a high chair! Oh and a cheap children’s menu, because my toddler barely eats a thing. How times have changed!
Either way, whether I was dining with friends or my husband, or heading out for a family meal, I have always enjoyed seeking the best deals and discounts. I used to use tastecard a few years ago when I lived in the centre of Manchester, and even though I have moved further out towards Cheshire, I am still using tastecard to find the best manchester restaurant deals.
What is tastecard and how can you save?
tastecard is a handy way to save on all your favourite things, all in one place! I used to have a physical card, but now it’s become more modernised with a clever little app. The app works as a restaurant discount membership that gives you access to huge savings on attractions – not just restaurants and bars. It covers a wide range of places, from your more recognised big-name chains to your favourite independent places. And although I find myself using it more frequently for eateries, one of the best things about it now that I have grown a family, is that I can use it for days out and attractions. The one I recently used it for was SEA LIFE in Manchester, which I’ll share with you in this post.
tastecard offers 2 for 1, 25 off or 50% off at various food and drink venues across many UK restaurants. Attractions can have 20% off booking, meaning that whatever it is you want to do, you manage to get either a handy little saving, or a big whopping one! I’m hoping to use it for the cinema soon, now that my little girl is 2.5 years old and I should be able to brave taking her to sit through a long film soon (wish me luck…).
The yearly membership with tastecard currently costs £29.99. However, you can now get a 30 day free trial for just £1.00 (renewing at £29.99 for the year*). *prices correct at time of posting, subject to change.
Being a tastecard super saver
I was recently challenged by tastecard to see if I could become a super saver, saving as much ££ on a trip out in Manchester of my choice. I’ll be honest, I could have been a real super saver by going through the attractions and offers and planning a day out using the most heavily discounted, but when I saw SEA LIFE on the list, I realised it would make a fantastic day out for my baby shark loving toddler – and an easy day out to bring the newborn baby along to too.
The tastecard offer for SEA LIFE is up to 24% off, therefore we were paying for 2 adult tickets which is usually £28 each. We managed to book them at £24 each, saving £8 on our ticket entrance prices.
The day was really great fun as a family, as SEA LIFE Manchester is based at Manchester Trafford Centre, is also meant free parking and access to lots of restaurants inside the Trafford Centre too. Some of the popular restaurants you can go to with your tastecard offer include Zizzi and Gourmet Burger Kitchen. Then of course, you have Pizza Hut and Burger King if you fancy the more family friendly fast food places. They also offer discounted cinema tickets at the ODEON in Trafford too.
Using tastecard as a family
As I mentioned earlier on in this post, my ‘days out’ are a little different now, and mainly involve looking for attractions which entertain my toddler, are pram friendly for the newborn, and include nice eateries for me and my husband – that allow for a mucky child and noisy enough to drown out the iPad!
As well as the great options at Manchester Trafford Centre, there is also access to the tastecard ‘coffee club’, which means you can get 25% off artisan coffees at barista style coffee spots across Manchester. These include Foundation Coffee, Caffe Nero, Krispy Kreme and Black Sheep. Now even if you have tailored your day to suit the family, getting discount when you need to fuel up on coffee as you go is an essential for us mums.
On rainy Sundays, I’ll really be looking forward to planning in some family cinema trips to ODEON cinemas, followed up by a good old Pizza Hut, while grabbing some handy discount.
You can sign up to tastecard here. Do let me know if you have managed to be more of a super saver than I have, and if so, what you managed to save!
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