Today seemed like a great day to start a blog. The idea came to me in a flash as Dana and I were making pizza for the first time on our pizza stone. I realized that all the ingredients had come from Dollar Tree, except for the sauce, which was minced garlic paste and olive oil. "Wouldn't it be cool," I thought, "if I could show people the things I cook at home where the entire recipe costs about $5 to make!" I am definitely going to have a lot of product placement going on, but only because Dollar Tree does have some things every week, but a lot of what they sell is overstock from other stores. I will especially have pictures of those things so that you know what you're looking for when you shop. I chose Dollar Tree as my dollar store of choice because it is one of the few belonging to a national chain. However, that does not mean that these ingredients cannot be found at other dollar stores, like 99 Cents Only, etc. This blog is not about being loyal to one store, but being able to widen my community of readers because there's usually a Dollar Tree in most cities.
With so many cooking/food blogs already out there, I had to decide what would make mine different and exciting. For me, different and exciting means "cheap." Never would I advocate a product where "cheap" meant poorly made, or worse, the product being good because it's cheap, but cannot stand on any other merit. I am out to get the most food for my money without sacrificing taste at all. This is important, because like many other families, this recession is hitting Dana and me where it hurts- our wallets. What's exciting is still being able to make the gourmet food that I made when Dana was working for an extremely high-end grocery store, even though our paychecks are quite different.
More good news- all of the food items at Dollar Tree can be purchased with the Oregon Trail debit card, which is even more cause to celebrate amazing cooking, Dollar Tree-style.
There will be so much more to come- please stay tuned.
Sounds great! I'm wondering about fresh stuff. Maybe you could use the Sunday grocery circular, as the arbiter of "in season & therefore least expensive".
ReplyDeleteI'm all for seasonal fruits and vegetables, but Dana and I don't buy them that often because of our hectic schedule. Most of it ends up going bad before we even get a chance to open the bag. Most of the fruits and vegetables that I use come out of the frozen case. My favorite thing right now is making adult smoothies from Dollar Tree frozen fruit. Gin or vodka has been my favorite so far, but anything would work, I'm sure. Then add strawberries, blueberries, and peaches. For something extra, I serve it with whipped cream or half and half drizzled over the top. Delicious.
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