Wednesday, Apr. 02, 2008

A full tummy on dollars

More shoppers are finding gourmet groceries at the local dollar store.

By JOE STUMPE
McClatchy Newspapers

You may be surprised by foods you'll find at local dollar stores - and what you can make using $1 ingredients.

When I bumped into a great cook I know in the food aisle of a Dollar Tree store recently, she gave me an enigmatic smile.

Was she embarrassed to be caught in this one-price-buys-all emporium? Or signaling that we shared a valuable secret?

Soon I had my answer.

"I cut my grocery bill in half by coming here first," she confided before rolling her rapidly filling cart away.

I can't claim to have saved that much, but after weeks of visits to Dollar Tree and a rival, Dollar General, I see their appeal.

With food prices climbing higher, more grocery shoppers may give dollar stores a look.

Here are a few common perceptions about dollar stores and what I actually found:

Perception: Dollar stores are only good for bulk goods and pantry basics such as pasta and canned tomatoes.

Truth: This was the happiest surprise, as I found sun-dried tomatoes, roasted red peppers and other "gourmet" products for great prices.

Perception: Dollar stores sell products that are damaged or have reached their expiration dates.

Truth: I found no evidence of the latter. It did seem as if there were a few more dented cans than you'd find in a supermarket.

Perception: Dollar stores sell only obscure "off" brands.

Truth: In fact, the products are a pretty good mix of national name brands and others you probably won't recognize. Some of the latter are regional brands or come from other countries, but all that we sampled passed the taste test.

Dollar stores say they can sell at low prices by using their bulk buying power, taking advantage of product overruns by other vendors and keeping their own costs low, according to the stores Web sites.

"Our buying power is not to be taken lightly," Dollar Tree spokeswoman Shelley Davis said of the Virginia-based chain, which boasts more than 3,200 stores in 48 states.

About 40 percent of the chain's food products come from outside the United States, which is why you might find brands of sweet pickles from India or roasted red peppers from Turkey. But other imports, such as Barilla pasta from Italy, are well known.

Dollar store drawbacks

What drawbacks to dollar stores did I find?

Not everything is actually a dollar and/or a good deal.

Of the big four chains -- Dollar Tree, Dollar General, Family Dollar and Big Lots -- only the first still sells everything for a dollar or less. About two-thirds of the products sold in Dollar General, for example, cost more than a dollar.

One dollar for a can of tuna, as some dollar stores charge, is actually more expensive than the supermarket.

Organization and cleanliness also vary from store to store, even within the same chain.

Products are limited and not always available.

Dollar stores sell packaged products with long shelf lives. There are no fresh sources of protein or produce (at least not for a dollar). As for packaged goods, that great deal you found last week may not be on the shelves today.

Good deals

Here are some products we found for $1 at Dollar Tree and Dollar General stores:

12-oz. jar roasted red peppers

12-oz. jar sun-dried tomatoes packed in water

2.5-lb. bag long-grain rice

1-lb. box Barilla pasta

9-oz. jar pimento-stuffed green olives

1 bag (15 count) flour fajita-size tortillas

7-oz. box Carr's stoned wheat crackers

10-oz. jar marinated mushrooms

1 can (20 oz.) pie filling (chocolate, key lime and other flavors)

8-oz. jar minced garlic

3.5-oz. bag dry-roasted almonds

Graham cracker piecrust

Dried herbs and spices, 50 cents to $1 each per bottle

1 box (18.25 oz.) Duncan Hines yellow cake mix