How often do you shop at Dollar stores?

[Ryan314]

Or stores like Big Lots?

I find myself stopping in at these stores more often these days because you can really get some good deals and get quite a bit of stuff for little money. How do you guys an gals feel about these places? Especially purchasing food items. Sometimes I wonder why some of the items are so cheap.

[PerpetualMotion]

I don't buy any food items from them but I'll buy a lot of inedible stuff, especially kitchen supplies I might only use once. I bought funnels to make skittles vodka and I was a happy camper.

[foodpr0n]

No. You cheap bastard :D

[Ryan314]

Full time college student living off campus.... it's pretty appealing lol.

[SideSteal]

I could see it being appealing for a college student, definitely. I tend to only go in there when I specifically need something and there's no other place nearby to get it. Believe it or not, as big as the Mall of America is, the Dollar Store in the MoA is the most convenient place for a few things.

I will also go in there to LOL at some of the off-brand stuff you can find.

The other thing I noticed about dollar stores that I find funny, is the complete chaos that is the shelves. You'll see pencils right next to deodorant which is also right next to raisins and a lampshade.

EDIT: LOL LOL OLOL BIG LOTS!!!

That store is so baller. When I was just finishing college and broke, I went to Big Lots to buy some gifts around the holidays. So bad. I seriously spent $72 and walked out of there with trash bags full of random shyt. I was giving toasters and shyt as gifts.... LOLOLOL

[Ion26]

OP, what kind of food items did you find good deals on?

[MarkVI]

Full time college student living off campus.... it's pretty appealing lol.

I'm right there with you. I just moved out of the area of all those kinds of stores though

[Ryan314]

OP, what kind of food items did you find good deals on?

Cereal, sauces, marinades, canned stuff, nuts, jerky, random food items you don't normally see elsewhere lol.

Save a lot on cleaning supplies too.

[trance__dreamer]

dollar store FTW. errethang.

frugal__trance__dreamer. haha.

[AnnieOlson]

i used to buy my pasta and tortillas at the dollar store. now i'm an even bigger cheaper bastard, so i buy them at aldi. plus, the dollar store pasta gave me...uh...'digestive problems'

[Ajaro]

In Japan, all the time. Not for food tho

[etali]

I won't buy anything to eat, or anything to put on my skin (e.g. cosmetics, deodorants, soaps), from those stores. I do buy other stuff though. I'm an arts and crafts junkie and I'm always picking up card, paper, fabrics, etc. from those places.

[thecodgod]

Used to work at the 99 cent only stores that sell produce. I saw some of the most grotesque produce i've ever seen and many times found expired items(some up to like 2 years old), found a few mice hanging out in our bread aisle, also some in the candy isle, and our bathrooms were vile. I NEVER bought fresh produce or bread, but sometimes we would get some killer food deals that were actually safe. Those include;

Wylers lights and crystal light(20 packs for a dollar, or the 50 serving powder tubs)
sometimes we got cottage cheese(6-8 servings tubs)
2 liter Pepsi
regrigerated quick bake cookies
ham/turkey slices
cream cheese/ Butter
Quality Toiletries(Garnier Shampoos, soaps, toothpastes, etc.)

i only bought these because i had a killer discount and because i'm a poor college student, JUST DONT BUY THE PRODUCE AND MAKE SURE TO CHECK EXPIRATION DATES

[Matturbator]

i buy a fat box of oats at biglots. and i buy random things at dollar tree every week.