5 Real Ways to Save Money on Takeaway Food and Delivery During the Circuit Breaker Period in Singapore

As part of the circuit breaker measures (effective until 01 June 2020 at the time of writing), dining out is no longer allowed in Singapore and many of us have resorted to getting food delivered. This convenience comes with a premium and some restaurants have been running a number of in-house promotions to direct some of that traffic away from popular food delivery platforms like GrabFood and foodpanda. Here are some tips to help you save money on food delivery (especially via food delivery platforms and apps) during the circuit breaker period. 

1. Ordering Food Directly from Restaurants

Just last month, netizens were enraged about food delivery fees (apparently it goes as high as 35%) levied upon by platforms. Therefore, if you wish to help local businesses as much as possible you should always go directly to the restaurant to check whether they offer any kind of delivery service during this period - some of the restaurants near my place actually deliver for free! Additionally, you would be surprised to find out how many businesses actually provide complimentary islandwide delivery with a minimum purchase amount. I have ordered from quite a number of restaurants since the start of the circuit breaker period on 07 April 2020 but some of my favourite restaurants offering free delivery are Wee Nam Kee (with S$30 minimum spend), Chatterbox (with S$50 minimum spend) and Si Chuan Dou Hua (with S$38 minimum spend).

2. Take Advantage of Credit Card Promotions

There are some restaurants that are purely on food delivery platforms and if you do want to use them (especially since it is incredibly convenient), there are various credit card promotions each month that you can take advantage of on the various food delivery platforms (i.e. GrabFood, WhyQ, Deliveroo and foodpanda). Most of these promotions come in the form of a promo code which allows you to enjoy a fixed discount after meeting certain level of spend (e.g. S$5 off with minimum spend of S$45). I have personally found SGCODE on Telegram to be a good aggregator for these promo codes but do note that most (if not all) are subjected to availability. If you are planning to get a new credit card, check out The Shutterwhale Cards for the latest and best sign-up offers (get S$200 cash bonus transferred to your bank account with a new Citi credit card!).

3. Buy Discounted Vouchers (for GrabFood or foodpanda) - up to 15% off!

While credit card promotions are a great way to get some 'money back' from spending, they are typically fully-redeemed rather quickly. Therefore, the other way to save a little on these online food orders would be to purchase vouchers at a discount via Lazada or Shopee (use my referral code 'MARKC227' to get S$10 off your first purchase!) - the discount seems to be slightly better on the latter platform for whatever reasons. Essentially, what you do is to purchase a fixed-value voucher code on one of the aforementioned platforms at a discount and then use that to offset purchases when you actually order food.

Photo Credit: Shopee

For example, you can see that a S$10 GrabFood Voucher Code is priced only at S$8.50 on Shopee. Do via to download the Shopee app and go via ShopBack to get the best deal - some voucher codes (with the highest discount) can only be purchased on the app and not via your desktop.

4. Self Pick-up For Discount

It is not unusual to see businesses offering up to 30% discount on self pick-ups since they do not have to worry about delivering food to you. If the restaurant is located just a short stroll away, you should definitely consider walking over to enjoy your discount. Paradise Group is now offering islandwide delivery with minimum spend of S$50 but you can actually enjoy 20% discount on walk-in takeaways which may be significant if you are ordering for your whole family (especially if you are planning to drive anyway). If you are looking for more variety, foodpanda also offers 20% discount on self pick-ups across many participating restaurants. Additionally, Burpple and Eatigoare still offering up to 50% off your total dining bill as there are still plenty of merchants participating on these platforms during this period - always a good idea to check! For more information check out my previous articles below:

• Burpple Beyond Members Can Now Enjoy 1-for-1 Takeaways (Up to 4 Deals) per Visit until 30 June 2020

• Eatigo Still Offering up to 50% Discount on Takeaways During Circuit Breaker Period in Singapore With Eat-To-Go

Photo Credit: foodpanda

I also personally love using Waitrr (get S$3 off your first order with my 'MAR94817' referral code) as it allows me to place an order ahead of time before swinging by to pick it up (no need to queue in restaurant!). This is also an app that I use very extensively outside of the circuit breaker period as it allows me to not only save time but save money too on lunches in the CBD.

5. Use The Right Credit Card If Possible

Before the circuit breaker started, I wrote a guide on 5 Easy Steps to Overcome the Circuit Breaker Period in Singapore When It Comes to Buying Food and I highly recommend that you revisit that if you have missed it as I talk about the right credit cards to use during this period - so you can unlock 4 miles per dollar on your food purchases as well as bonus Cash Rebates if you are a DBS cardholder.