Not all date nights need to involve dinner. Eat at home, then go out for dessert. Or plan a formal dinner once a month and keep the other dates simple.
There's a local website I used to look at based around spending less than $20 a date. A lot of the ideas involved stopping at multiple spots. So a free wine tasting at one spot, followed by a couple slices of pizza and a beer while watching a band at another spot. Food trucks, renting bikes, ice cream, local festivals, breakfast and a sunrise, etc...
