Dollar Tree is famous for its baseline price of $1.25 (formerly $1) for most items. Even the store’s grocery aisles are filled with food items at that affordable price.
I try to live frugally, so I headed to my local Dollar Tree store, curious to find which grocery items might become cheap cupboard staples for me and which foods aren’t worth the rock-bottom price.
I found a number of foods and drinks I’d honestly buy again, as I detail in “9 of My Favorite Groceries to Buy at the Dollar Store.” But I also found some products that will never again see the inside of my shopping cart, even if they only cost $1.25.
Keeping in mind that taste is subjective, here are the Dollar Tree groceries I’ll never buy again and what turned me off about each item.
Macaroni and cheese
Price: $1.25 for a 10-ounce box
I love macaroni and cheese, especially when it’s simple to prepare. So, I bought Dollar Tree’s Premier Pantry Premium Shells & Cheese, which contains shell macaroni and a packet of cheese sauce.
I’ve tried name brands such as Kraft and other discount-store brands, and they all taste about the same to me. However, this mac-and-cheese product leaves a lot to be desired.
The cheese sauce was watery and lacked a cheesy flavor. I can put away an entire box of macaroni and cheese when I’m hungry. Unfortunately, I couldn’t finish even half of this product.
This mac-and-cheese product was underwhelming. I won’t buy it again, especially since Dollar Tree offers Kraft Macaroni & Cheese for the same price, albeit in a smaller box (about 7 ounces instead of 10).
Tortillas
Price: $1.25 for a bag of 10 tortillas
I eat tortillas all the time — for Mexican dishes, breakfast burritos and other foods I prepare at home. I’ve tried several brands, including those sold at discount grocery stores. It’s hard to go wrong with tortillas, so I was optimistic when I tossed a bag of these Del Barrio Flour Tortillas into my Dollar Tree shopping cart.
When I opened the package, however, I was disappointed. These tortillas stuck together like glue, and parts of them peeled off when I tried to separate them. Tortillas should have at least some flavor, but I found these tortillas tasteless, too.
You may be able to enjoy these tortillas when they’re soaked with taco meat and toppings. As for me, I’ll pay a dollar or two more for soft tortillas that taste and feel like they’re freshly made, not stale and bland like these.
Jasmine rice
Price: $1.25 for an 8.8-ounce packet
If there’s one thing I love, it’s a 90-seconds-in-the-microwave rice packet, so I’ve tried all kinds of brands. I purchased a package of Eat Regal Jasmine Rice at Dollar Tree with high hopes. After tearing the package to vent, I microwaved it for 90 seconds, waited for one minute, poured the rice into a bowl and fluffed it with a fork.
It seemed to fluff OK, but some clumps were still hard to separate into fluffy rice. It was also gummy and had no flavor. So, this easy-to-prepare rice failed my semi-picky standards.
This jasmine rice may be OK when smothered with sauce and meat or veggies. But I’ll pass on this product the next time I need a rice fix.
Grated topping
Price: $1.25 for an 8-ounce shaker bottle
It’s never a good sign when Parmesan cheese is listed as the 12th ingredient on the label of a container of grated topping.
I compared Dollar Tree’s Risparmio Grated Topping with Parmesan to the Aldi brand of Parmesan cheese I had in my refrigerator.
The Aldi brand had the crumbly texture of grated Parmesan, but Risparmio had the consistency of fine sand or powdered artificial sweetener. The latter didn’t taste anything like cheese, either.
This tasteless powder won’t be topping my pasta anytime soon.
Chocolate syrup
Price: $1.25 for an 11.4-ounce squeeze bottle
A 22-ounce bottle of Hershey’s chocolate syrup can cost a few bucks, so I tried Kent Boringer Chocolate Syrup from Dollar Tree. Is this chocolate syrup as good as the Hershey brand? It depends on who you ask.
Product reviews are mixed, with some reviewers loving this chocolate syrup and others giving it a big thumbs-down. So, I mixed some of this chocolate syrup with my milk to draw my own conclusion.
To start off, I downed a teaspoon of this chocolate syrup, which tasted a little like chocolate with a lot of sugar.
But when I mixed this syrup with milk, I didn’t think it tasted much like chocolate. Instead, it had a weird, semi-chocolate flavor that left an aftertaste, much like I notice when I have a beverage that contains an artificial sweetener (even though this product uses glucose syrup and sugar instead of artificial sweeteners).
This syrup may do for little kids who won’t know the difference. But I won’t buy this product again.
