Time for Chick-fil-A calendar cards

If you've read my column for very long, you know that our family does not eat out very often. With six people, eating out can quickly "eat up" the money budgeted for groceries.

In fact, there are times that just one meal, if not handled skillfully and carefully, can cost as much as what we would normally spend on a week's worth of groceries!

However, we do enjoy eating at Chick-fil-A at least once a month. At the end of each year, we purchase calendar cards from Chick-fil-A and use them to buy meals and/or parts of meals throughout the year.

A couple of weeks ago, I got an email from Chick-fil-A reminding me that it is time, once again, to purchase the calendar cards.

Now, you may think it is silly to purchase these calendars (and 12 of them!) and work our way through them during the year. Is it silly to pay money in order to save? I don't think so, in this case, because the savings greatly exceed the expense of purchasing the calendars.

Let's look at this closely. In 2014, I bought my calendars from a group doing a fundraiser. They only cost me about $7 each. In January, the free offer was a a grilled chicken sandwich. In May and September, the offer was an eight-count nugget pack, and July and August also had entree offers of a free sandwich and free chicken strips.

If you never factored in the free sodas, free coffee, free lemonade and free breakfast items that are offered using the calendar card during the year, these entrees alone offer a tremendous monetary value!

As we did in 2014, our family will be purchasing a minimum of 12 calendar cards, and we will be using them for free meals (when applicable) and to reduce the cost of eating out (as in the case of the free drinks, desserts, fries, etc.) when those offers are the freebie for the month.

But, as I have told you before, this is not the only way to reduce the cost of eating at Chick-fil-A. When those kind cashiers hand you a receipt, and say "my pleasure," be sure that you do not simply discard the receipt before examining it.

Many times our receipts, given to us when we have just used a Calendar Card, have another free offer for a chicken sandwich. Of course, it takes just a moment to complete the survey -- but it makes another meal from Chick-fil-A less expensive!

Contact writer Rachael Mercer at savingcentsably@gmail.com.

This story was originally published November 24, 2015 at 9:44 PM with the headline "Time for Chick-fil-A calendar cards ."