As the prices of everyday household expenses like gas and groceries continue to climb, many families are cutting back on eating out. However, if you'd still like to enjoy an occasional meal out with your family or spouse, try cutting out coupons before you cut out the fun of dining out.

It isn't hard to find good coupons for restaurants you like if you know where to look. Begin by getting an Entertainment book for your city. You can find discounted prices for these books at www.couponmom.com in the Restaurant Coupon section. At the beginning of the school year the new annual edition comes out at full price, which ranges from $25 to $35, depending on the city. However, over the course of the year the price of the book drops when you buy it online. By this time of year, you can get a free 2008 book when you reserve your 2009 book or buy the 2008 book alone for $10 or less. Because the coupons in this year's book do not expire until November 1st, 2008 you still have plenty of time to save with hundreds of dollars of coupons. You'll pay for your book with one "buy one, get one free" coupon at most restaurants.

The Entertainment book's restaurant coupons cover the full spectrum of casual to formal restaurants. Each restaurant generally has one coupon in the book, however, you can go to the Entertainment.com Web site and register your book with its membership number as soon as you get it. As a registered member you will be able to print monthly coupons for a percentage off the total order (such as 20 percent) for many of the restaurants. These coupons are even more valuable when you have a party larger than two people. As an added bonus, you can select any zip code in the country and print coupons for restaurants in other cities, which can offer big savings on summer vacations.

Another easy, free way to get restaurant coupons is to go directly to restaurant Web sites to get free coupons. Most restaurants have their own Web sites and many of them have email newsletters that send out generous coupons. Although national chain restaurants have had email and printable coupons for years, today you can also find valuable coupons on the Web sites of many local restaurants. With a quick search online, you can find out whether or not you can print a free coupon for restaurants in your city or cities you plan to visit.

For example, I recently met a business colleague for lunch in her city, about 2,500 miles from my home. When she confirmed the name of the restaurant and insisted she treat me to lunch, I Googled the name of the restaurant and found its Web site. It was a very nice restaurant, so it offered a very generous printable coupon of $25 off your first visit. I printed it and brought it with me. When she received the check the coupon covered almost the entire bill! This example demonstrates how easily you can save at nice restaurants if you look for coupons.

Other places to look for coupons include:

• Magazines and coupon flyers mailed to your home. When you get one, quickly flip through to see if it has restaurant coupons you like and tear them out immediately. Keep all of your restaurant coupons in one box or envelope to have them handy when you need them. You may even want to keep the envelope in your car so you won't forget them.
• Local community coupon books distributed via local businesses, schools and libraries
• Sunday grocery coupon circulars
• Community newspapers and free community magazines
• Local Web sites. Go to a search engine and enter the name of your city and the term "restaurant coupons" to find good local sites.
• Ask your favorite restaurants if they have coupons available and where they distribute them.

Other little-known ways to get discounted gift certificates for restaurants include checking your local television station Web sites. Many sell-half price gift certificates for a handful of popular local restaurants on a limited basis. If coupons are available for the same restaurant you may be able to combine the coupon with the gift certificate.

Finally, if you have a jar of spare change you may get paid visits to Starbucks with very little effort. Take your change to your local grocery store's Coinstar machine and have it counted. If you were to exchange your coins for cash, you'd pay a service fee to have the Coinstar machine provide the service of counting your change. However, if you opt to receive a gift certificate for a Starbucks store, you will not pay a fee at all. That's worth checking under your couch cushions!