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Austin Free Food: A Cheat Sheet for the City's Ultimate Deals

Free barbecue, kids’ meals, beer, and more.

Contigo
Contigo
Contigo/Facebook
Nadia Chaudhury is the editor of Eater Austin covering food and pop culture, as well as a photographer, writer, and frequent panel moderator and podcast guest.

Free food is the ultimate cheap eats, where no money is lost and all the eating is gained. The methods vary in Austin, where there are bars with free food; complimentary dishes from restaurants; buy one, get one free; and much more. Here’s a breakdown of the best ways to take advantage of those deals.

Eating is important while drinking, and free food is even better. Over at Draught House, there are free sausages on Saturdays starting at 5 p.m.. Rental store I Luv Video pour out free beer for its customers every Tuesday from 6 p.m. until midnight. The Guadalupe location sticks to bottles and cans while the Airport spot uses kegs. Down south, Corner Bar teams up with excellent barbecue purveyor and onsite trailer Brown’s Bar-B-Que for free barbecue plates starting at 3 p.m. on Sundays. The catch? Everyone needs to have a $10 bar tab.

Corner Bar and Brown’s Bar-B-Que. [Photo: Corner Bar/Facebook]

To accompany wine, beer, and cocktails, happy hour at Italic includes free cheese tastings from Mondays through Fridays, 4:30 to 6:30 p.m.

Don’t forget that children need to eat sometimes, too. There are kid-friendly places that offer completely free meals just for the little ones. At the last remaining Frisco, young ones dine at the Night Hawk diner for free, with the purchase of one adult entree, after 5 p.m. every day. For kids that stay up really late, or early, meals at all locations of Kerbey Lane are free for them on Tuesdays; at Westlake, it’s on Thursdays. Wednesday nights are for families at the pork-centric Slab BBQ, where everyone 12 years old and younger eat for free from 4-9 p.m.

Frisco. [Photo: Frisco/Facebook]

Buy one, get one free deals work well for cheap date nights, meeting up with friends, or just a really, really big individual meal. From 6-10 p.m. at Hut’s Hamburgers, get two-for-one vegetarian burgers on Mondays or beef burgers on Wednesdays. Jo’s Coffee in downtown has the same burger special on Mondays.

Make eating work to your advantage by using frequent buyer cards. Jo’s Coffee, Amy’s Ice Cream, and Pacha all have some variation of a punch card. There are also places with rewards cards, where users get bonus discounts or treats, like Alamo Drafthouse’s Victory program, Tacodeli’s VIP gold card, and Kerbey Lane’s enthusiasm card.

Though it’s not edible, for those unafraid of commitment, diners from Banger’s who bring their receipts to tattoo shop Platinum Ink can get the sausage house’s logo inked on their skin for free. True love. No word on if this means you’ll get a free sausage every time you visit.

Pacha

4618 Burnet Rd, Austin, TX 78756 (512) 420-8758

Brown's Bar-B-que

, Austin, TX 78704 (512) 517-8520

Contigo

2027 Anchor Lane, , TX 78723 (512) 614-2260 Visit Website

Banger's Sausage House & Beer Garden

79 Rainey Street, , TX 78701 (512) 386-1656 Visit Website

Hut's Hamburgers

807 West 6th Street, , TX 78703 (512) 472-0693 Visit Website

I Luv Video

4803 Airport Blvd, Austin, TX 78751 (512) 450-1966 Visit Website

Corner Bar

60 Canal Street, Manhattan, NY 10002 (646) 869-9310 Visit Website

Jo's Coffee [Downtown]

242 W 2nd St, Austin, TX 78701 (512) 469-9003 Visit Website

I Luv Video

2915 Guadalupe St, Austin, TX 78705 (512) 236-0759 Visit Website

Draught House Pub & Brewery

4112 Medical Parkway, , TX 78756 (512) 452-6258 Visit Website

Kerbey Lane Cafe [Campus]

2606 Guadalupe Street, Austin, TX 78705 512 447 5717

Italic

123 West 6th Street, , TX 78701 (512) 660-5390 Visit Website

Amy's Ice Creams

1301 South Congress Avenue, , TX 78704 (512) 440-7488

Alamo Drafthouse South Lamar

1120 South Lamar Boulevard, , TX 78704 (512) 861-7040 Visit Website

The Frisco

6801 Burnet Road, , TX 78757 (512) 459-6279 Visit Website

Slab BBQ

9012 Research Blvd, Austin, TX 78758 (512) 351-9977 Visit Website