LPT: If you can't afford to take a girl out to dinner for a date, ask her on a picnic.

Offer to cook her favorite meal from home (much cheaper than going out), and take her to a park/river/any natural area with other people around for a picnic. This will eliminate the vast majority of gold diggers on dating sites and a lot of girls who are on dating sites for the right reasons will find this idea very cute :) good luck!

Edit: I'm a woman (with a gf of 5 yrs and a good job, lol everyone thinks I'm a broke guy who can't get a date) - and to explain the gold digger thing, it's better to just eliminate it before you waste your money anyway. If you're not well off, why potentially put yourself in a toxic relationship on top of that?

Edit 2: I live in an area with (relatively) nice weather year round. Sorry, I didn't consider that some of you have extreme weather 🤣 a picnic in a snowstorm is not a good idea.

Edit 3: maybe I've used the term "gold digger" incorrectly. I mean people who ghost after a $50 dinner. Also, gold-diggers wasn't really the point of my post. It's mostly just a cheap date idea for people who don't plan on drugging their date (in front of other people?). Usually, if you don't give someone a reason to believe you'd do such a thing, it's not assumed that those are your intentions. I've also realized that assuming Redditors can cook was not the smartest idea.