Miami Food Blog

Penny-pincher! Cheapo! This kind of name-calling is welcomed by Teresa Mears. Caught in the Miami Herald downsizing crossfire last summer, she made lemonade out of lemons and launched a web destination for all things frugal: Miami FL on the Cheap. 

"Everyone -- including me -- is looking for deals now. I'm just trying to make it easy for people to find them," says Mears, a local of 30 years who has made it her job to help both residents and tourists alike find daily deals on things like dining, events and activities. "The national companies always do a better job about getting the word out, but it's harder to find out what local businesses are offering."

We follow her on Twitter @miamicheap, and if you like finding out about free stuff, fast, so should you!

"In South Florida, the winter is more about events," adds Mears, who also edits and publishes editions for Fort Lauderdale, Palm Beach, Florida Keys and Florida.  "Summer is all about the food discounts."

With that in mind, here are some ways to score free food over the next 24 hours, courtesy of our favorite mistress of thrift in town.

Twitter

Cheap tweet

When Hershey's revealed last year that it wasn't using real chocolate in its candy bars, Mars had a field day. Now, so can you. Claim your free chocolate Fridays from the Mars Real Chocolate Relief Act.

Don't you love when animals play dress-up? The folks at Chick-Fil-A want you to climb into a bovine get-up for its Cow Appreciation Day deal: Show up looking like you can moo from head to toe, and a combo meal (breakfast, lunch or dinner) is on the house. Wonder if dressing up your pet counts?

Today from 10 a.m. -  10 p.m., Dunkin' Donuts, the no. 9 most social media-savvy restaurant, is giving customers to three South Florida stores a free doughnut and small hot or iced coffee if they mention Twitter.