This is based on my own experience. I decided to share it because buffets can be worth your money if you know the right strategy to make most of it. 1. Avoid Food you usually eat at home- if you eat fried chicken, peanut butter with jelly sandwich or some generic food on regular basis, Avoid them. The point of a buffet is to have an adventure and try something new. 2. Avoid carbohydrate Staples on the beginning. Rice, Pasta, bread and other stomach heavy carbohydrate foods will get you full in few minutes. Have a spoonful of most of the dishes instead. You can have those stomach fillers when the Buffet is about to end. 3.Avoid carbonated drinks- Go for high fiber drinks like fruit juice ,vegetable juice or fruit infused water. The Carbonated drinks are heavy on the stomach. 4. Eat the most expensive food first- Seriously my cousin wasted money on a buffer because she decided to eat Gummy bears, marshmallow fondue and a generic pizza instead. Meanwhile I targeted the most expensive food like lamb brisket, Roasted turkey, lobster, truffles, some organic vegetable from France that I can't pronounce. 5. Stand and walk around more instead of sitting. If you sit a lot you will get full faster. 6. Use the toilet once in a while- I digest food really fast so it is easy for me to give more space on my stomach. The Buffet I visit have a bidet. So I don't have hygiene issues using the toilet.
All you can eat buffets might not be the best deal, money-wise. In other words, a really strong combo at say, Burger King, could possibly fill you up just as much. Nonetheless, though, the fun of having more variety without limits is appealing. This is good advice, but when I got to a buffet, I normally don't care. It's like a party so I just do what I want. However, though, in regards to other food situations, I might be more careful. Anyway, one reason lies in the fact I rarely go to a buffet so it's a special occasion.
Those are tips I usually follow when I go to a buffet, I like to eat what I usually don't. I eat a little bit of everything I can so I can be satisfied of knowing that I have tried all I wanted. I will skip the fruits sections sometimes as I can eat my fruit salads for cheap at home anyway everyday.
The point of buffets is to not get full, In fact you don't want to get full right away because you want to enjoy everything. You are paying more for the experience. Eating endless lobsters on a buffet saves more money than buying a live lobster because it is more satisfying for me. I can enjoy multiple lobsters for the price of 1 lobster. Targeting the expensive foods first is the best way to make buffets worth it. The stomach heavy foods are something you will eat when you are about to leave.
We can seldom afford to eat out at a restaurant, but now and then, we do go the the Golden Corral which has an amazing buffet. I totally agree with @Beast_Titan that this is the time to enjoy foods that you can’t afford to eat at home, and not bother with cheap foods that you might eat all of the time. We never have lobster, or i would definitely be having some of that; but there is always the little popcorn shrimp, and I look forward to having that when we go out, as well as the seafood salad. It makes a lot of sense to enjoy foods that are expensive, or that you do not prepare at home, and since it costs the same amount regardless of which foods you eat, filling up on bread and potatoes or rice (or even salad) does not seem like a wise way to spend your money.
You made good points, I would have to agree to all of them. If I'm going to a buffet, I would simply just not eat anything at all to maximize the "space" inside my stomach to be able to eat all the food that I like in the buffet.
The OP has shared some really great ideas. However, the #5 and #6 reammy made me laugh. If you stand walk, you sure can eat more food, however, you will end up with upset stomach the next day. Emptyong your bowels just to eat more food also sounds ridiculous. Usually, I avoid eating dishes that I make in home. I also avoid eating the items that I don't like much. I will start with my favorite, such as chicken and fish.
I don't go often to buffet restaurants because, to be honest, it ruins my weight. I always gain 2 pounds whenever I eat in buffet lunch or dinner. Our style is to eat in small amount, talk, then get some food again. And when the buffet has several kinds of international dishes, we eat them one by one. That's why I gain weight because it takes us at least 2 hours to sample everything. And I confess that I couldn't eat dinner anymore after that.
These are some of the good tips. Another tip I'd like to add is going there empty stomach. I mean with light stomach. That way you don't have to worry about getting full quickly. And also it's worth your money that way. It is also beneficial to eat healthy in such places. This way we don't end up being unhealthy and stomach issues as well. So that's something to learn as well.
Another thing I discovered. They give discounts to people on their birthdays. So I will never cook for my birthday again. I want to celebrate on a buffet. One of the popular buffets in my area, doesnt charge the Birthday celebrant. They only charge the friends and family with the celebrant.
I agree, and I often do that. I don't eat any snacks for three hours before I eat buffets, but I drink water,so my stomach is empty,
Thank you for sharing your tips. It helped me a lot. The only thing that I do whenever I know I'm going to eat in a buffet is not to eat much before the buffet meal starts.
This Christmas, I will save my self from cooking in the kitchen. My family will celebrate on a Buffet. Not only it saves me money, I also saved some energy. I get to eat expensive food for less than it's price. I got a lot of lobsters and shrimp today for a price less than how they are sold on the markets. I also get to eat some high quality beef roast.
