Free Thanksgiving dinner at Don Giovanni's

Wow. Talk about giving back to the community. I just found out that one of the nicer Italian restaurants, Don Giovanni, in downtown Mountain View annually offers a FREE Thanksgiving dinner. To anyone willing to stand in line. Last year they served upwards of 1500 dinners. No questions asked, no money required. You can be rich, poor, lonely, needy, well-off, come with a ton of friends and family, homeless or drive up in your Tesla, it's open to anyone and everyone. How amazingly cool is that?

We have annual plans with out-of-town family that weekend, or I would be all over this. Fancy pants restaurant Thanksgiving dinner, on them? You really can't beat that. They'll be serving up turkey with all the fixings. On the other 364 days of the year, Don Giovanni's offers great traditional Italian food.

Now everyone should go here on not-Thanksgiving and support such a fabulous local business!

Le Boulanger November promotion

A while back I posted on the perks of having a Le Boulanger card. In the months since, things got kind of weird with them and they stopped giving out a loaf of bread each month. There were a couple of months of no man's land, and then bam! the freebies are back, just scaled down a bit.

For the month of November, Le Bou is giving out two free mini pumpkin muffins to any customer that presents their loyalty card. It's no loaf of bread, but it'd still make a nice snack with a cup of coffee. So grab your loyalty card and head on over to the bakery and treat yourself.

If you don't already have a Le Boulanger loyalty card, find your nearest location here.

Free dinner for the kids!

I am alive! Two babies is exponentially more work than one. I did not expect to take this long a break, but am back and will hopefully be posting semi-regularly again.

Tonight is the last night kids can eat for free at Sweet Tomatoes. They've been running a promotion for Halloween week, and the last night is tonight. One free kids meal for each adult meal purchased. Kids under 2 are free, over 12 are the regular adult price. No coupon needed. Find your closest Sweet Tomatoes here.

So go eat a healthy dinner before you all stuff your faces full of candy.

Happy Halloween!

Free Krispy Kreme doughnuts!

Who doesn’t love free stuff, and who doesn’t love Krispy Kreme? In order to appease us all for losing an hour this weekend due to the Daylight Savings time change, select Krispy Kreme locations will be giving away one free original doughnut per customer on Sunday, March 10^th.

Sadly, there aren’t too many Bay Area locations offering the deal. If you’re in the South Bay, head over to the Mountain View (2146 Leghorn Street) or San Jose (121 Curtner Ave) locations for your free doughnut. For a full listing of other California or US locations, check out the list on their website. I’m not sure if they all do, but the Mountain View location has the added bonus of having their conveyor belt in full view of the shop so you can watch the doughnuts being made and glazed while you wait in line. It’s kind of mesmerizing watching hundreds of doughnuts gliding blissfully by. I dare you to walk out with just one.

Oh yeah, and don’t forget to set your clocks an hour ahead on Saturday. But don’t worry, you can get your free doughnut anytime during regular business hours on Sunday. 

Free Valentine's Day

I’m forever searching for a more frugal way to spend Valentine’s Day, as I find it hard to stomach the idea of shelling out $100+ for a special romantic meal that would probably just leave me with heart palpitations over the excessive waste of money being spent. Okay, maybe not a waste because I do love delicious food as much as the next person, but on my current budget, the thought of spending $100 bucks for one meal is just ridiculous.

That being said, I ran across a couple of freebies this morning that can complement your plans for this Valentine’s Day.

Redbox

Today only, Redbox is offering a code for one free night’s rental. The code is SWEET and can be redeemed online or at any kiosk. Find your closest location here, or text FIND to 727272.

Denny’s

Denny’s is offering free coffee today from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. No purchase is required and I’ve seen conflicting evidence if you need a coupon or not. Just to be on the safe side, here’s a link for a printable coupon to bring with.

Also, don’t forget you can still get $1 16 oz. Jamba Juice smoothies, today and tomorrow. My store was dead when we went in on Monday. Unlike what I’d expected, there was zero line and we were able to pick any smoothie and walk right out. They’ll also upgrade you to one of their larger size smoothies at a special price of just $2 per drink, and, they even applied the dollar price to a smoothie for my two year old!

$1 Jamba Juice smoothies!

Monday through Friday this week, Jamba Juice is offering all 16 oz. smoothies for just $1! Between the hours of 9 a.m. and 11 a.m,, Feb 11^th through 15^th, you can get one 16 oz. smoothie per person, per visit for one buck. The offer is only valid in certain states and isn’t valid in Safeway Jamba locations. For a list of all states and participating locations see their website. 

Free pancakes!

Tomorrow, Feb. 5^th, is National Pancake Day. To celebrate the holiday, as well as to raise awareness for Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals and other local charities, IHOP will be giving away a free short stack of buttermilk pancakes to interested customers. In exchange, they request you leave a donation. Since they began celebrating National Pancake Day this way in 2006, IHOP has raised over $10 million dollars.

Okay, so the pancakes aren’t technically free, because as a rule, I don’t recommend going to a fundraising event and not donating anything. However, I do consider supporting this a frugal move, as you get a double bang for your buck…you get a meal out, and you can feel good about it since whatever you pay for said meal is all going towards charity.

The free pancakes will be offered between the hours of 7 a.m and 10 p.m. Click here to find the IHOP nearest you. 

Free bread!

Like bread? (PSA: If you don’t, you’re weird) Like FREE bread? Grab a loyalty card at any Le Boulanger location, register it online, and enjoy a free loaf of bread, every month. That’s it. You don’t have to accrue points or buy lots of expensive deliciousness, and they still give you a free loaf every single month. Did I mention it’s free?

Honestly, I don’t know why everyone doesn’t know about this program. Hot, fresh, gourmet bread is awesome. Once you have a registered card, it will automatically load your free items. Each month, they offer a different bread-of-the-month and that is the one you’ll receive free.  Just bring in your card, they’ll swipe it, and bam, you walk out with your bread. In addition to that, I received a free cookie just for registering my card, and a free cinnamon roll on my birthday. If you actually spend money here and use your loyalty card, you’ll also earn points to earn more free stuff like coffees and lunch items. Pretty awesome, no?

I’ve only used this at a couple of South Bay locations, and normally have no problems with it. However, every now and again, things seem to not load onto the card. I’d recommend checking your card online before venturing out to the bakery just to verify your free items are on the card.