5 Groceries I Will Never Buy At The Dollar Tree Again

Dollar Tree is famous for its starting price of $1.25 (previously $1) for many items. Even the grocery aisles are full of food at that affordable price.

I try to live frugally, so I headed to my local Dollar Tree store, curious to find out which grocery items would be staples in my closet and which foods wouldn’t be worth the low price.

I found a few foods and drinks that I will honestly buy again, as I explain in “9 of My Favorite Foods to Buy at the Dollar Store.” But I’ve also found some products that will never see the inside of my shopping cart again, even if they only cost $1.25.

Remembering that taste is subjective, here are the Dollar Tree groceries I will 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 easy to prepare. So, I bought Dollar Tree’s Premier Pantry Premium Shells & Cheese, which contains a shell macaroni and cheese sauce packet.

I’ve tried name brands like Kraft and other discount store brands, and they all taste the same to me. However, this mac-and-cheese product leaves a lot to be desired.

The cheese sauce was watery and had no cheesy taste. I can put down 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 unusual. 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 bag of 10 tortillas

I eat tortillas all the time – in Mexican dishes, breakfast burritos and other meals I prepare at home. I have tried several brands, including those sold at discount grocery stores. It’s hard to go wrong with tortillas, so I was optimistic when I threw a bag of these Del Barrio Flour Tortillas into my Dollar Tree shopping cart.

However, when I opened the package, I was disappointed. These tortillas stuck together like glue, and parts of them peeled off when I tried to separate them. Tortillas should at least have some flavor, but I found these tortillas tasteless, too.

You can enjoy these tortillas when dipped in taco meat and toppings. Me, I’ll pay a dollar or two more for soft tortillas that taste and feel like they’re freshly made, not old and raw like these.

Jasmine rice

Price: $1.25 for an 8.8 ounce package

If there’s one thing I love, it’s the 90-second rice packet, so I’ve tried all kinds of products. I bought a package of Eat Regal Jasmine Rice at Dollar Tree with high hopes. After tearing open the package to take it out, I put it in the microwave for 90 seconds, wait one minute, pour the rice into a bowl and mash it with a fork.

It looked like the fluff was OK, but some of the clumps were still hard to separate into fluffy rice. And it was gummy and tasteless. So, this easy-to-prepare rice failed my picky standards.

This jasmine rice would be great served with meat or vegetables. But I will pass on this product the next time I need a rice fix.

Minced 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 fridge.

The Aldi product had the coarse texture of grated Parmesan, but the Risparmio had the consistency of fine sand or powdered artificial sweetener. Even the latter tasted nothing like cheese.

This tasteless powder won’t be eating 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’s Chocolate Syrup from the 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 up. So, I mixed some of this chocolate syrup with my milk to reach my conclusion.

To start, I downed a spoonful of this chocolate syrup, which tastes a little like chocolate with a lot of sugar.

But when I mixed this syrup with milk, I didn’t think it tasted like chocolate. Instead, it had a weird, semi-chocolate flavor that left an aftertaste, just like I notice when I have a drink that contains an artificial sweetener (although this product uses glucose syrup and sugar instead of artificial sweeteners).

This syrup can work for small children who will not know the difference. But I will not buy this product again.