Fresh food
Not many people choose dollar stores for buying their groceries, so products like dairy and protein sources might not be as fresh as you may think. Some products don’t get replaced as often as in the supermarkets.
“The turnover is really good on fresh food” at grocery stores, says Shelton. “It has a longer shelf life and is going to be a higher quality brand you can trust.”
However, if you have to buy some of the products I’ve mentioned before, make sure to check the expiration date before heading to the register.
13 thoughts on “15 Things You Shouldn’t Buy at a Dollar Store”
You are correct on most of the items. I have bought batteries they are name brand but if used a lot will die in 24 hours. The cereal is only enough for 1 or 2 bowls of cereal, and the packages are getting smaller too.
Some times or should I say once in a blue moon you can get a regular size small box of cereal.
Vegetables in a regular store you can get your 1can a lot cheaper then dollar tree. I love the small pkgs of Cheetos that use to cost 2.00 in a store. The stores raised the price to 2.29 and reduced the pkg size. Dollar tree has a snack Cheetos which was a good deal for a 1.00 now that package has shrunk to 1/2 the size. Some candies the pkgs have shrunk as well. The glass dishes are an excellent buy. Be aware and look at your package and price check. You can get deals, but the quality isn’t there.
I have not noticed that about batteries I have bought at Dollar Store.
Anyone taking your advice is a fool
you are absolutely right about everything. the price, the size and the quality arent what you get!
don’t buy perishables, we find allot of good buys, just use some common sense
totally disagree..I make $11 Grand a Year. Extreme Poverty..Can’t afford to pay triple the price of things at regular store. Batteries are not good, tho..We can read, if something is expired WE DO NOT BUY IT. Sheesh..
Like some old guy said a thousand years ago — caveat emptor. True then, true today, true forever.
Expiration dates should be checked at all stores. Not everything at a 99 is cheaper, but some items are a lot cheaper. As the Supremes sang…’You gotta shop around’. in 20 years in Las Vegas, l saved a lot of $, mostly at the 99 cent plus store.
Who knew there is an expiration date on laundry detergent????
Good information!
I guess there is not much left you can buy at the dollar stores most people who don’t have that kind of money so they buy from them is very sad fro them .
I believe that the bottom line here is that if to go to a true dollar store and find brand name items, think about whether you could get them for a dollar (or now $1.25 at Dollar Tree) if you were to go to another store. For example, I’ve seen name brand yellow mustard for less at a standard grocery store, as well as facial tissues when on sale. Of course the advice about off-brand vitamins and medicine and checking expiration dates is sound. Take everything else with a few grains of salt, though. Nothing wrong with comparison shopping!
I have never bought any of these things at that store.