I've bought weird candies imported from Northern countries from dollar stores but they didn't leave a lasting impression. In some supermarkets they have a dollar/discount section which I used to peruse, but nothing looked good, not even rice or pasta. It's really made me try my hardest to not compromise on food, and to find other ways to save money (such as avoiding chips or drinks).

To better keep myself to a budget, I'm going back to the dollar store later to see what options there are for staples in the pantry. My goal isn't to completely replace my grocery list but to supplement it with most things, like rice and beans that I'm sure I'll find and hopefully grains and oatmeal so that I have most things to make basic dishes with besides eggs, meat, or fresh produce (that I'll still get at the grocery store). I'll report back soon.

>>1537 I'm scared of rice and beans from dollar stores. Could they be full of Chinese plastics, maybe heavy metal? At least more than regular ones.

>>1537 Update: no, I didn't die (yet). Things I did find: >Breadcrumbs >Pasta >Bags of beans >Egg noodles >Refried beans >Rice >Cooking and Olive Oil (though in very tiny bottles) >Flour >Sugar >Non dairy milks >(Cheap quality) Bagged & instant coffee >Basic spices & spice mixes So if you're looking for staples on a budget the average American dollar store is actually a decent place to go, though while they did have a lot of stuff to offer there wasn't really enough to build a lot of full meals out of. Mainly because the only things worth getting at a cheaper price were dry foodstuffs, and the few vegetables they had were almost all random canned items (mixed veggies, creamed corn, okra, plain crushed tomatoes) and I wouldn't really trust any frozen foods that aren't aren't already extremely processed. Also, a lot of the other grocery items offered were either smaller in size or comparable in price to what you can find at the average grocer (like tortillas, canned vegetables, soup) and so not worth buying. It's worth mentioning though that depending on your luck you can still find some name brand items too, mainly pasta and soup, so if quality is your biggest concern there are still a few things you can save on.

>>1547 Oh, and also I found some really decently sized packages of snacks like cheese balls and tortilla chips. So if you're going to waste any money on junk food, do it at the dollar store. Not on any of the single serving stuff like cheeze-its or candy though, that's actually a waste of money.

>>1547 Your sacrifice is appreciated. <(Cheap quality) Bagged & instant coffee This might be the scariest item on the list. Cheap coffee is the kind that'll tear a hole through your digestive tract and make everything that passes through a burning waterfall. Pasta, beans, sugar, flour, are the survivalist's staple foods (according to my mom) so it's nice to know they can still be found cheap.

>>1549 Yeah, I didn't buy any of the coffee. Considering how even name brand grocery store coffee is like 5 bucks at the cheapest, I don't want to know what they put in that mix to make a package half the usual size only $1.25.