Whether you are feeling the pinch and need a cheap meal for your family or you want to enjoy the treat of a meal out with your children there is a great range of restaurants with offers on over the school holidays. ASDA continues to have the best deal with children's meals costing £1 each and no adult purchase. Most other restaurants require an adult meal to be purchased for every free or reduced price children's meal. 

I have searched through all the restaurants offering holiday discount meal deals to find the ones that have branches in Essex and are running the offer over Essex Summer holiday dates. Below you can find the conditions of the offers and I have listed the locations you can find them in Essex. 

Eat out for less in Essex this half term

If you know of any small businesses with special offers on please let me know (you can email or add a comment to this post).

Many of the offers below are exclusive to the school holidays some of them are ongoing so you can save money eating out all year. 

 

What To Check Before Eating Out On Kids Eat Cheap Offers

• Check the days and hours of the offer as these all vary.
• Some restaurants require you to order via an app, sign up to their loyalty scheme, pre-book or have a voucher. Make sure you give yourself enough time to do this before visiting. 
• The maximum age of children ranges from 10 to 16. If your child is 10 or over it might be worth bringing their passport in case you are asked to prove their age,
• Check how many children can eat on the offer if you have multiple children as most are only one meal for every one adult eating.
• Check what the qualifying adult meal or spend needs to be.

Where possible I have included this information below, but it can vary between locations and is subject to change. It is always worth calling the restaurant and checking before you order to make sure you don't get an unexpected surprise when it's time to pay. 

Where Can Kids Eat For Free In Essex This Summer?

Bella Italia

Kids eat free every Thursday and for £1 between 4-6pm Sunday to Wednesday.
Dates: This is an ongoing offer.
Food: Italian, mainly pasta and pizza. Adult mains cost roughly £12 to £17.
Conditions: One free child offer per adult main meal ordered. Children get 3 courses and a drink, with different portion sizes available depending on appetite. Suitable for children age 2 to 11.
Where to find them in Essex: Basildon, Lakeside.
More info here.

Bill’s Restaurants 

Up to 2 kids eat free from children’s menu if an adult orders a main dish (breakfast, lunch, dinner)
Dates: Running Monday 22nd July - Friday 30th August (excluding Saturday and Sunday)
Food: Cafe food like pasta, burger and fish fingers. Adult meals cost roughly £15 to £20.
Conditions: Up to 2 children can order if an adult orders a main dish. Child must be 10 or under. Drinks not included. Not running on weekends.
Where to find them in Essex: Braintree, Chelmsford and Colchester
More info here.

Dunelm- Pausa Cafe

Up to 2 kids eat free from children’s menu if an adult orders a main dish (breakfast, lunch, dinner)
Dates: Running Monday 22nd July - Friday 30th August (excluding Saturday and Sunday)
Food: Cafe food like pasta, burger and fish fingers. Adult meals cost roughly £15 to £20.
Conditions: Up to 2 children can order if an adult orders a main dish. Child must be 10 or under. Drinks not included. Not running on weekends.
Where to find them in Essex: Braintree, Chelmsford and Colchester
More info here.

Franco Manca 

Under 12s get a free kids pizza for every full price adult meal.
Dates: No dates mentioned, looks like it's ongoing.
Food: Franco Manca is a pizza restaurant. The free kids meal is a small pizza from a choice of 4. Doesn't include drink or dessert. Adults main meals (which are pizza or salad) are £9 to £14
Conditions: One free pizza per full price adults main meal. Children must be 12 or under.
Where to find in Essex: Bishops Stortford (arguably Hertfordshire I appreciate).
More info here.

Las Iguanas

Free kid's meal if you join My Iguanas loyalty programme.
Dates: Ongoing (no end date stated).
Food: Latin American food like fajitas, burritos as well as burgers and Brazillian curries. Kids meals include tacos, chilli, fish fingers and nuggets with rice, fries, salad or vegetables and ice cream, churros or brownie for dessert. Adult main meals range from £14 to £27.
Conditions: When you join My Iguanas (via the app or website) you can get "perks" including free kids meals. You can get one kid's meal with each adult ordering a main course from the a la carte menu. Kids meals includes main, 2 sides and dessert. Under 12s only
Where to find in Essex: Chelmsford and Lakeside.
More info here. 

Morrisons Café

Kids under 16 eat free when an adult spends £5.00 or more in cafés in Morrisons Supermarkets.
Dates: No end date given, offer available all day, every day. 
Food: Cafe food.  Hot kid's meals include chicken nuggets and chips, bangers and mash or beans on toast. Or there are kids sandwich meal deals which consist of a sandwich, snack and a drink  (fruit shoot, water or chocolate milk.)
Conditions: One child under 16 eats free from the kids menu with one adults meal £5.00  and over. Adult must order from The Breakfasts, The Classics or The Chippy section of the menu.
Where to find them in Essex: Benfleet, Canvey Island, Grays, Hadleigh, Harwich, Maldon, Witham.
More info here.

Preto 

Kids eat free evenings and weekends
Dates: Every weekday from 4pm and all weekend (appears to be ongoing).
Food: This is a Brazilian Steakhouse where you can help yourself to unlimited salad and hot buffet dishes from the food bar and waiters come round and serve barbecued meat. Adults meal costs £21.95 for just buffet or £26.95 for grilled meats too.
Conditions: Children up to 10 years. Maximum of one child per full paying adult. You need to download and show a voucher. Children under 3 free at all times. 
Where to find in Essex: Colchester
More info here.  

Prezzo

Kids eat free at Prezzo with the purchase of an adult meal
Dates: From the 4th July until Sunday 1st September 2024. It runs most half terms and holidays so sign up to their mailing list and they should let you know when new dates are announced.
Food: Italian style food eg pizza and pasta. Adult main meals range from about £13 to £20.
Conditions: One adult meal purchased equals one free kids meal (up to 12 customers per table). 3 course meal for children, but drinks are not included. To claim you need to sign up here and get a code. The kids menu is for children "up to 11 years old" so it can be expected the offer will be for the same age range.
Where to find them in Essex:  Braintree Village, Bishop Stortford, Chelmsford, Clacton, Hornchurch, Lakeside,  Rayleigh, Upminster and Witham.
More info here.

The Real Greek 

Dates: There is an ongoing promotion where Kids eat free on Sundays, but they also have additional dates in holidays.
Food: Greek style food, offer includes meal from kids menu, drink and ice cream/ sorbet. The kids menu choices are a wrap or a selection of meze like houmous, halloumi, chips, chicken or flatbread.
Conditions: A free kids meal for every £10 spent by an adult. Each adult to spend £10 or more to qualify. Not valid with the lunch menu or various other menus so make sure they give you the right menu.  Available to children under 12.
Where to find them in Essex: Braintree
More info here.

Tesco Café 

Where the Tesco Supermarkets have cafés they are running Kids Eat free with any cafe purchase.
Dates: Weekdays only, but this runs every school holiday.  Running from 22 July until 30th August 2024.
Food: Kids' breakfasts, sandwich meal deal or hot lunch meal deals- such as fish fingers and chips or sausages, mash and peas.
Conditions: One free Kids Hot Meal Deal, Kids Breakfast or Kids Pick ‘n’ Mix deal per item purchased by an adult in The Café for dine-in only, a child must be present. Clubcard/ app required. Multiple children can eat if multiple items are bought by an adult/ adults. Not running on weekends.
Where to find them in Essex: Basildon Pitsea Extra, Harlow Church Langley Superstore, Goodmayes Extra, Lakeside Extra, Maldon Extra, Mayflower Retail Park, Romford Gallows Corner Extra, Rainham Extra, and Southend Extra
More info here.

TGI Fridays 

Kids can eat for free at TGI Fridays when an adult meal is purchased.
Dates: "All day, every day including school holidays".
Food: American diner style food like burgers, pasta and hot dogs.   Adult main meals are mostly between £18 and £30.
Conditions: To be eligible for this offer you need to download the TGI Friday app and sign up as a Stripes Reward Members.  A free Little League or Major League meal with purchase of any full price adult main meal. Available for children age 12 and younger. Doesn't include dessert. "Limited to one redemption per full price adult course purchased" which I assume means one child meal per adult meal bought, so multiple adult meals means multiple free ones if you are visiting with more than one child. Clarify with your restaurant before purchase though. 
Where to find them in Essex: Basildon, Braintree, Chelmsford, Lakeside, Romford
More info here.

Where Can Kids Eat for £1 (or less) in Essex Summer?

ASDA cafe

Kids eat for £1 with no adult purchase required where the ASDA supermarkets have a café.
Dates: ongoing until further notice.
Food: Café style food. ASDA's Kids Eat for £1 without any purchase required, options include pasta, meatballs and all day breakfast. There is also a cold pick and mix selection including a sandwich, drink, piece of fruit and treats. You can also get a free Ella's baby food pouch for under 18 months with any purchase.
Conditions: Children must be under 16.
Where to find them in Essex: Basildon, Colchester, Tilbury.  
More info here

Harvester

Dates: Monday to Friday until 30th August 2024
Food: Wide ranging menu including grills, skewers and burgers.
Conditions: Download their app to get a voucher, offer excludes bank holidays.
Where to find them in Essex:  Harvester have loads of restaurants in Essex including Grays, Stanway, Basildon, Chelmsford, Rayleigh, Shoeburyness, South Benfleet, Brentwood, North Weald.
More info here.

IKEA

With an IKEA family card children's meals are always low cost and every Friday all food in the restaurant is half price.
Dates: ongoing.
Food: Children's meals include meatballs or pasta, on a Friday the kids pasta costs only 45p and you can get adult meatballs and mash for £2.45.
Conditions: You need to sign up for a free IKEA family card. The half price offer is on Fridays only, but even full price the kids meals are £1.50 or less.
Where to find them in Essex: Lakeside
More info here.

Sainsburys cafés 

Children can eat for £1 with an adult meal.
Dates: July 15th to September 3rd.
Food: They can choose from a hot meal such as chicken nuggets or pizza or a sandwich meal deal.
Conditions: Children eat for £1 with an adult hot mail meal which cost from £5.50. From 11.30 every day.  purchase over £5.20 (after 11.30am)  All kids meals come with a drink and a piece of fruit. More information about the offer can be found here. 
Where to find them in Essex: Check your nearest cafe here, but it seems to only be Chelmsford and Colchester (Stanway), 

Sizzling Inns

Monday to Friday kids eat for £1 with every adult main meal purchased.
Dates: ongoing, after midday Monday to Friday only.
Food: pub food like burgers, nuggets, curry with a choice of sides. Adults meals from £7 to £15.
Conditions: 1 kids main meal for £1 with the purchase of every 1 adult main meal brought in the same transaction. Available as a walk in offer (no voucher required) Monday to Friday from 3pm.
Where to find them in Essex: Hadleigh (closed until 9th August), Grays. Romford, Ilford
More info here.

Also worth checking out.

Dobbies is running an offer in their restaurants where children can have a free breakfast, a hot meal or a lunch box with an adults equivalent meal (eg adult needs to buy a traditional or full breakfast or an adult main course). This offer runs everyday and includes a free child’s drink. Children's Sunday roast is £1 under the offer. The nearest Dobbies restaurants seem to be Royston (near Cambridge) or Woodbridge (near Ipswich).

Yo Sushi is confirmed as running an offer where Kids eat free on weekdays 1st July - 30th August 2024, however they no longer have any Yo Sushi restaurants in Essex (the nearest is Bluewater, Cambridge or Westfield Stratford).  If you are near a Yo Sushi though the offer is: Kids eat free all day when dining with a full paying adult (minimum £10 spend). Offer is for a free meal deal bento box. One child per £10 adult spend. Up to 3 kids per booking. Monday to Friday. Children age 12 or under.