You CAN Eat Well With Food From the Dollar Store - Part One

Many people still consider all dollar store food unhealthy. Why? It could be that the poor quality foods of early discount stores lingers on or it could be that people perceive food sold for less as being past its best before date but that hasn't been my experience.

It's my belief that you can eat well with food from the dollar store. Here's why.Today's dollar stores are full of great food options from North America and around the world. Grocery shopping, like any other kind of shopping, is largely a matter of choice. You can buy stuff loaded with salt, sugar and additives in a grocery store just as easily as you can at a dollar store.

Here are just a few of the items I've found at Dollarama and Dollar Tree that can be used to create healthy meals for breakfast, lunch and dinner. I've enjoyed many of them. For the sake of argument, I've excluded foods from China.

Breakfast

Dollarama sells a four-pack of Maple and brown sugar Quaker instant oatmeal or you can buy quick cooking oatmeal that's made in Canada.

You can get a small jar of strawberry or raspberry jam or orange marmalade from Egypt for your morning toast at Dollarama. They also have small jars of honey from India.

On the weekends, make your French toast using raisin bread from Dollarama. It's made in Canada and is very tasty.

Lunch

Both Dollarama and Dollar Tree stock fresh breads baked either in Canada or the U.S. Dollarama has 9 Grain bread, whole wheat bread or white bread as well as hamburger and hot dog buns and Dollar tree stocks wheat and white bread along with hamburger and hot dog buns.

Lunch might include a sandwich using Burns canned tuna, chicken or turkey or Admiral Tuna in water, available at Dollar Tree. Dollarama stocks canned chicken breast that's packed in the U.S. and canned tuna from Thailand.

As a kid I loved baked beans with some bread and butter. Dollarama has Stokely beans in tomato sauce and Dollar Tree stocks Clark beans. You can also use baked beans as a side with dinner.

Both stores have a variety of brand name soups. Dollarama has Stokely less salt chicken soup,
Heinz tomato soup and Aylmer chicken noodle or vegetable soup. Dollar Tree stocks Heinz mushroom, vegetable and chicken noodle soups and Clark chicken noodle soup.

Kids love Chef Boyardee canned pastas and I've seen different varieties of these at both stores.

Dinner

Pasta is a favorite with kids and adults alike. Dollar Tree has ItalPasta in five varieties as well as ItalPasta sauce. And you can get pasta from Italy and Primo Thick and Zesty spaghetti sauce at Dollarama, as well.

How about a tuna casserole using tuna and pasta from the dollar store?

You can get a ready-made pizza crust with tomato sauce at Dollarama. It's made in Canada. If you want extra tomato sauce for your pizza, they also have Hunts tomato Sauce.

If a recipe calls for canned tomatoes, you can get Primo canned tomatoes with herbs and spices at Dollarama.

Dollar tree stocks Libby canned vegetables including peas, corn, green beans and mixed vegetables. Dollarama has Aylmer canned corn.

Could you live solely on dollar store food and stay healthy? That may still be open to debate but I'm certainly not worried about including the food I've mentioned here in my own diet.


Read Part Two of You CAN Eat Well With Food from the Dollar Store here.


Marlene Alexander is a freelance writer and Dollar Store Diva. She writes tips and ideas for finding and using the best that dollar stores have to offer.


RELATED LINKS
You Can Eat Well With Food From the Dollar Store - Part Two
Kid-Friendly Lunches From the Dollar Store
The Truth About Dollar Stores
Dollarama's Expanding Selection of Foods Worth a Try
Keep Food Fresh in the Fridge

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Marlene Alexander is a freelance writer and Dollar Store Diva. She writes ideas and tips for finding and using the best the dollar store has to offer.