This Costco Gift Card Hack Is A Genius Way To Save Money On Fast Food

Next time you head to Costco, take a look at the gift card sections, even if you don't need to buy anyone a gift. That's because buying gift cards for yourself is a great way to save money on some popular fast food chains. Costco sells discounted gift cards to various restaurants and retailers that are worth more than you pay for them. For example, you can pay less than $100 for a gift card set that will be worth $100 at the restaurant.

One idea for how to take advantage of Costco's gift card deals is for your next pizza night or next time you are throwing an event where you'll be ordering a number of pizzas. The big box retailer sells $25 gift cards in sets of four to Papa John's for just $79.99. This effectively gets you the equivalent of one large free cheese pizza, which is around $14 depending on your location, and a bottle of soda, around $3. Costco also sells $25 gift cards in sets of 4 to Domino's for $74.99. This gives you $25 dollars' worth of food at the chain for free. At Domino's, depending on your location, a small pepperoni pizza goes for around $15. That leaves you around $10 extra to get yourself a basically free appetizer, like some Honey BBQ Wings, which cost around $12 but that you'll be getting for $2.

Restaurant gift cards from Costco are typically redeemable at most of the locations for their specific chain. However, before you go off and buy a bunch in order to get free food, make sure the fine print covers the area you live in, as each restaurant chain has their own specific rules for the gift cards. For example, the Costco website states that Papa John's eGift Cards can be redeemed at any participating Papa John's restaurant in the United States. There are Papa John's locations in 45 countries, so the cards would not be valid in those other countries. It's also not a given that all U.S. stores will take the cards, as the store must be a participant in the deal. As for Domino's, the fine print states that Costco gift cards are an approved payment method and should be redeemable at all U.S. Domino's locations regardless of where the gift card was purchased.

Pizza gift cards are just an example; there are plenty of other big name restaurant gift cards available through Costco, with the savings value ranging anywhere from $10 in savings to $25 or more. Costco also currently offers gift cards for Subway, Peet's Coffee, and TGI Friday's to name just a few. If you have a specific restaurant that you frequent in mind, it's a good idea to look in the store as well as online, because some gift cards, such as for Subway, can only be bought through the Costco website.