Redditor wooden_skirt recommends this for Chinese takeout, but the approach could work for a variety of foods. If you’re ordering a meal that is mostly protein, you can stretch it (and make it healthier) by combining your entree with cheap frozen vegetables. Peas, carrots, and corn are easy go-tos.

If you can find a restaurant with plentiful soups, salads, or bread, fill up on those while you’re sitting at the table. Then pack half your entree (or all of it, if you’re really committed to the hack) and save it for another meal at home.

At Chipotle, you can order your “burrito” as a bowl, with a tortilla on the side. We’ve sung the praises of this approach before, as you’ll generally get more food this way than by asking for an already-assembled burrito.

The folks on reddit have double-sized this hack, though, by noting that you can also get an extra portion of most non-meat ingredients for free. So ask for double beans and double rice (and pay for double meat, if you like.) Result: two full meals, more or less.

This is the reverse of a classic hack, so we advise checking the prices and portion sizes to figure out which approach will get you the most for your money.

The older wisdom is that if a restaurant offers both a lunch and a dinner portion of the same meal, the lunch portion is the better deal: it’s a bit smaller, and significantly cheaper. But as redditor oregonchick points out, the sides on the dinner portion are often better, and you’ll get more of them. So getting the dinner and splitting it into two meals may be the smarter move.

I get parmesan crusted chicken or a lovely steak, then select 2 baked potatoes for my side. One potato, half of my entree, and possibly the soup are reserved for future meals, while I still have a filling meal that first round.

Several redditors agreed that if you can snag some silken tofu on sale, it’s a great way to cheaply stretch out soups and sauces while adding extra protein. DeerBunniesExist recommends adding the tofu before you pop your leftovers in the fridge: “the tofu will absorb the sauce/soup flavor quite a bit until you reheat it later.”

And if your meal doesn’t come with quite enough extra sauce? Just ask for more, thriftedqueer suggests. They’ll may indulge you for free, or sell you a large portion for a dollar or so.

What’s so special about, say, an order of KFC? The chicken, of course—which you can’t easily make at home. But it’s not so hard to mash a few potatoes, or open a box of potato flakes. Redditor southernlights22 says their grandmother would order the chicken and serve it with homemade sides.

Similarly, you could fill your takeout box with entrees from a Chinese buffet, and serve it with your own rice at home. At a non-buffet restaurant, the rice tends to be cheap enough you might as well ask for an extra serving of it, which brings us to our next hack...

You can often get extra rice with your order for just a few bucks. Besides rounding out the meal you ordered, Redditor yeswithaz explains that you can create a whole additional meal the next day: “You know how when you’re almost done with Chinese leftovers, there’s usually a couple of containers that each have just a few bites left? Combine those with the rice for fried rice,” seasoning with soy sauce packets to taste. “It’s not a life changer but it’s a fun way to squeeze one more meal out of the dregs of takeout leftovers. And 1-2 days in the fridge makes rice perfect for fried rice.”

Taco Bell has a My Cravings Box that’s only available if you order online. For about $5 you can choose a specialty item like a chalupa, a classic item like a taco, a side, and a drink.

The McDonald’s app “often has free sandwiches or fries with a $1 (small drink) order,” redditor Inevitable-Place9950 writes, and you can tack on condiments like butter, creamers, and jelly for free. Dipping sauces are also free, they note, and you can use those to jazz up staple foods at home, whether by dipping veggies into them or mixing them with canned chicken. Other redditors note that you can get these deals multiple times per day, sometimes as soon as 15 minutes after placing the first order—so you can pick up the second order as soon as you’ve finished eating the first.

Panera’s “sip club” costs $11 per month, but you get unlimited drinks for the price. Inevitable-Place9950 points out that besides the lemonades, coffee, tea, and soda, this can be worthwhile for travelers and unhoused folks: go to the bathroom, get some hot water for your ramen, and rack up visits in their reward system that you can trade in for free food and discounts later.