How Cheap is the Dollar Tree? || Is It Still the Most Affordable in Today’s Economy?

Added: 2026-05-13

[00:00:00]Prices on everything, groceries, gas, everything, all the above still going up. One of the biggest suggestions I always get on my videos and one of the biggest questions is, "Why don't you go to the Dollar Tree, Emily?" Well, guys, we're going to try that out today, and we're going to see, is the Dollar Tree worth it or not?

[00:00:23]Well, hello everybody. Welcome back to my beautiful chaos. Welcome back over here where we do budget cooking, quick meals, all the things. And I have got I don't know if I want to make this a series or what I'm going to do um with this, but we are testing out Dollar Tree prices today. We are seeing if Dollar Tree prices hold up next to places like Walmart or Aldi. And I'm just naming those two because I know most of those are around everybody. Everybody's got a Walmart and most everybody's got an Aldi. So, we are going to test these Dollar Tree prices to see if the Dollar Tree is really cheaper than the abovementioned names. One of the biggest suggestions and the biggest questions I get on any grocery video, any $5 meal video, any budget cooking video is, why don't I go to the Dollar Tree?

[00:01:15]Well, let me just tell you that I have found that I don't think the Dollar Tree is exactly cheaper. But, we're going to test that theory out today. I have got a meal that we are going to throw together. I went for just a basic little theme. We're doing a nacho night from the Dollar Tree. And at the end of the video, we are going to compare prices to Walmart and we are going to compare prices to Aldi. And we are going to see which one would get the better bang for our buck. We are also going to talk about what supply. Did they have something to choose from as well? Um different brands, things that are could make it cheaper. We're going to talk about all of that at the end of this video and then we are going to decide what is cheaper, Dollar Tree or any of the other grocery stores. Are we ready? Okay, we're going to cook our meal first. Let me show you what I got. Um, wait, no. First, we're going to go shopping and then I want to show you what I got. Hold on.

[00:02:15]We're at the Dollar Tree.

[00:02:19]Okay.

[00:02:23]I'm thinking a nacho night.

[00:02:28]>> Do you want to get a can of black beans?

[00:02:30]>> Mhm.

[00:02:34]>> Black beans.

[00:02:36]Okay, let's see what else we can see.

[00:02:41]There's some rice, cilantro, lime.

[00:02:47]They also have this for $1.50.

[00:02:54]Let's see what else they have.

[00:03:05]This is a good find.

[00:03:10]Okay, so they have ready to go pasta. That's kind of cool.

[00:03:17]Yeah. So, this Dollar Tree that we're at does not have cold sections. So, I'm wondering for like cheese for our nacho night, should we do this and kind of improvise or play it safe and use this?

[00:03:36]I'm thinking we do this and try to improvise and come up with something.

[00:03:40]You think, Riley?

[00:03:41]>> Yeah.

[00:03:41]>> Okay, that's what I'm going with for right now. now. Anyway, okay. So far, thanks for helping. You've got chocolate ice cream on your shirt.

[00:03:54]Oh, man.

[00:03:58]I'm going to have to get two of these.

[00:04:03]Let's look and see if we can find anything else.

[00:04:06]I feel like I need to notate that this is the only aisle of actual food that my Dollar Tree has. Like, this is it.

[00:04:14]There's no cold section in this Dollar Tree. There's only one aisle of food.

[00:04:18]There's another aisle and it's got some like chips and candy in it. Like literally a whole aisle of candy.

[00:04:23]Nothing but candy. But this is the only aisle for food. I did find like a taco kit. I thought that was kind of cool.

[00:04:29]But it was breakfast tacos. Um and then Riley found this weird iced coffee. Um but as far as food goes, there's not a lot of options. Okay, we have two options for taco seasoning. We have that.

[00:04:42]And then we have this.

[00:04:45]Just for this purpose, I think I'm going to go with this one.

[00:04:50]So, with there only being one aisle of food and not a lot of options, I'm trying to find a vegetable. And honestly, it's um kind of pointless. The only vegetables they had were canned vegetables. Um I looked all over the place just to see if they had anything like new, different, something that I had missed. But really and honestly and truly, the only option for a vegetable was canned vegetables. Um, which really potatoes, carrots, corn, and that was it. Okay, Riley has our nacho night basket.

[00:05:22]Let's see. Do you think we can make a whole meal?

[00:05:25]>> Yeah.

[00:05:25]>> Okay. Okay. Let's go pay. So, every Dollar Tree is different. In my area, we have three. Two have um cold freezer food sections. One does not. I just so happened to go to the one that does not because honestly I get them mixed up and this was closer.

[00:05:43]But we're just going to keep it basic because you all might have dollar trees that don't have those sections either and you still might need to make something from there or you might be wondering is it cheaper? Is it worth my money?

[00:05:55]So we are doing nacho night. I had to get a little bit creative with the ingredients and here's what I've got.

[00:06:07]We got two bags of nachos, tortilla chips, and because there's not a lot in there. For toppings, we have repro beans.

[00:06:18]We have some cilantro lime rice.

[00:06:22]We have some black beans that are going to take place of our taco meat. So, I'm going to season these up like I would ground beef or ground turkey or chicken.

[00:06:33]We also have some I have a plan for this. I wanted to get a vegetable, but I was pretty limited. So, I grabbed a can of corn. Not sure if I'm going to use it to be honest, but I did grab this. If I don't end up using it, if nobody wants it, we're just going to take that out of the equation completely.

[00:06:52]So, they had no cheese. There was no cold section. There was no other kind of cheese. So, what I ended up grabbing to try to make a nacho cheese sauce. We got this.

[00:07:03]It is a ragu double cheddar sauce. And I got a can of petite diced tomatoes with green chilies. And I'm going to season it a little bit. And we're going to try to make our own nacho cheese sauce out of this cuz we got to get creative cuz there wasn't an option for that. And I also got a little bit of taco seasoning just for the purposes of this video. I wanted to buy everything that we're using just so we can have an idea of is it cheaper or not. But yeah, I grabbed this. Don't know if we're going to use it, but we're going to get started and go from there. Are we ready? Let's hit it. I guess the first thing we are going to do because these are going to be some oven baked nachos and we don't have to do a lot of like stove top countertop cooking. We are going to try to throw together a nacho cheese sauce based on what we were able to find at the Dollar Tree.

[00:07:58]Is this going to turn out okay? I don't know. We're going to see though.

[00:08:04]And I'm going to put a little bit of milk in here and shake it up so we can get the good out of the can.

[00:08:11]Right. Going to pour that milk in here.

[00:08:14]See?

[00:08:19]I have strained the excess liquid from this rolled gold pretty much rotail.

[00:08:25]And we are going to use about half of the can. We are going to give this a stir. I'm going for like a little bit of a Rotel dip vibe.

[00:08:35]And you guys are probably asking, Emily, why not just get jalapenos to try to make it taste like nacho cheese? They didn't have any unlooked.

[00:08:43]because if they did, that would have been a really good option to make it more of the nacho cheese flavor type thing. We are going to go in with some taco night seasoning.

[00:08:59]Just give her a stir.

[00:09:06]This is going to be something that we have to taste test and it's going to have to be to your preference and to your liking how much of that taco flavor you want in your cheese.

[00:09:22]I'm going to give it a little bit of a taste test.

[00:09:29]We're going to go in with just a little bit more.

[00:09:36]Honestly, this taste I don't know if anybody has gotten a can of like the cheddar sauce that's in next to like the Vita. Um I've mistaken it for nacho cheese before and have have accidentally bought the cheddar sauce. This tastes pretty similar to that.

[00:09:57]But you know when you're in a pinch and you don't have any option, you got to get a little bit creative.

[00:10:03]Clean spoon. Taste test again.

[00:10:08]Okay, that's better. It has flavor. It has that taco flavor. We're going to call this good for nacho cheese sauce. I think I ended up maybe a tablespoon and a half to two tablespoons.

[00:10:20]Actually, I don't know if I did that much because there's only this much gone out of the bottle. Um, so maybe a tablespoon. Okay, we're going to turn this off and then set this aside until we're ready to assemble.

[00:10:31]Now, the next things we have are just purely microwavable. You just throw them in the microwave in this little plastic and it heats up. Um, I will tell you guys and say that this is a great option if you don't have um a stove, if you're needing something that's, you know, shelf stable, not perishable, don't have a refrigerator, anything like that, or just some emergency meals, these are really great options to have on hand.

[00:10:56]They're also really great like if you're doing some emergency meals to maybe take to some food pantries or things of that nature. These are really great options to have. They are great to have on hand.

[00:11:08]But we're going to just throw these in the microwave. Okay, these are all done.

[00:11:11]Also, be careful because these are hotter than fire. Oh my gosh. But they're all done and we're going to set them aside until we're ready to assemble onto our beans. Now, I'm just going to season these up in a bowl real quick. I have rinsed them with cold water and drained them. I'm just going to season them up with our taco seasoning in this bowl because they are going to heat through in the oven.

[00:11:41]And we're ready to assemble oven baked nachos. We're going to take our tortilla chips.

[00:11:54]These look like the tortilla chips you get at a football game, like in nachos and cheese.

[00:12:11]Okay, spread these babies out and let's start layering.

[00:12:19]We're going to go in. Oh, that's hot.

[00:12:23]Cilantro lime rice is first.

[00:12:37]Let's do our seasoned black beans next.

[00:12:50]Okay, these did need stirred up just a little bit.

[00:12:54]And you know what?

[00:12:58]I think we're just going to blop them on.

[00:13:11]And I'm just going to put it on half just in case nobody wants the reffried beans, which might just be a couple of them.

[00:13:23]And I've decided against the corn because honestly, I just I don't think it's going to go. So, we're just going to go ahead and pour in our cheese sauce.

[00:13:32]And sometimes I just I know corn is an easy addition to add to like Mexican food night, but sometimes I just don't like it.

[00:13:41]And there was no other veggie option. I did save some of the uh ro red gold just in case anybody wants to top with some tomatoes.

[00:13:55]And we are just going to pour that cheese.

[00:14:07]And this is going to go into the oven for about probably like 10 to 15 minutes and we're going to be done. Our oven baked nachos are done.

[00:14:17]They smell good. These smell like football stadium nachos. I swear I think it's the chips, but it smells like nachos you get at a football game. But we're going to plate it up and then we're going to try it and then we're going to go through everything. Are we ready? So, okay. Say hey. Hey. Hey.

[00:14:34]>> Hey. Hey.

[00:14:35]We are going to try out our oven baked nachos. Okay, Haddie, are you ready to try our Dollar Tree meal? Go for it, sister.

[00:14:46]>> That's really good.

[00:14:47]>> Is that really good?

[00:14:49]>> Mhm.

[00:14:50]>> All right. Would you change anything about it?

[00:14:53]>> Honestly, no.

[00:14:55]>> No. Haddie loves beans, though. So, this has two kinds of beans, so she loves it.

[00:14:59]Um, what would you give it?

[00:15:01]>> I would give it about a 10 out of 10. a 10 out of 10. I think I would give it probably like a seven out of 10. That's just me. I think everything's pretty good, but I'm just missing that ground beef or like chicken or turkey or something like that kind of protein that comes with it.

[00:15:22]>> Yeah, I think this is a really good alternative though.

[00:15:24]>> Try it at home.

[00:15:25]>> Try it at home. Haddie said so.

[00:15:29]Kenny wants to try it too. Okay. And she's going to probably give us her own salt.

[00:15:35]She's not as much like Hattie with the beans.

[00:15:41]Pretty good.

[00:15:42]>> Mhm.

[00:15:43]>> I'm going to try it with the beans.

[00:15:45]>> Oh, she's going to be brave and try with the bean.

[00:15:49]>> Is it pretty good?

[00:15:50]>> Are you surprised?

[00:15:51]>> 80 out of 80.

[00:15:52]>> 80 out of 80. I'll take it. Did you know that the noncho cheese sauce I had to make out of like a pasta sauce?

[00:16:00]Does that sound crazy? I had to. We just had to make it work. So, pretty solid.

[00:16:07]All right. High five. Boom, baby. Okay, so we tried it. Everybody liked it. It's a pretty solid meal. So, let's talk about it. The grand total, I wish I'd kept my receipt, but our Dollar Tree never gives receipts unless you ask and I always forget. But grand total, drum roll, was $14.80.

[00:16:29]So, feel like that was a little expensive for what I got to be quite honest. I am going to put I cannot remember the exact prices of each, but I'm going to put Walmart's price right here. It was a little over $9. And I'm going to put Aldi's price right here. It was a little over $9, but came in a little cheaper than Walmart.

[00:16:51]So, do we think that the Dollar Tree is still worth it with all of this inflation, all of this price increase across the board for literally everything? Is Dollar Tree still worth it? So, what I noticed at Dollar Tree, it's hit or miss whether you're going to find a Dollar Tree that has a cold food section. So, that's number one. There's not a ton of options.

[00:17:16]Dollar Tree does not have sales. Um I my Dollar Tree I have never seen have clearance unless it's on holiday stuff.

[00:17:23]So like Valentine's Day, Easter, Christmas stuff. As far as food, unless it's going out of date, I don't even think I've seen it have a clearance or sale then. So Dollar Tree does not have sales. You cannot use coupons or you can't as at mine. And another thing about Dollar Tree, they only carry my Dollar Tree only carries name brand or um something of that sort. So there's no cheaper option. For example, um the only canned food they have is Delonte or like for the canned tomatoes was Red Gold, which is a name brand. Um there's there's no other options. So lack of options, lack of like cold food availability.

[00:18:08]Um, and overall price, Walmart and Aldi beat it out by close, was it $5? Yeah, around $5. And that's I mean, you could do so much with that $5.

[00:18:22]I was thinking like you could add, if you go to Walmart or Aldi, you could do ground turkey. You could add a vegetable in there. You could do maybe like some lettuce, some extra veggie, like a fajita type veggie, and still have money to play with. $5 is so much that you can do with at Walmart or Aldi. You could do even go bigger, do like a rotisserie chicken for your protein. I think at Aldi you can even find a little tube of ground beef for less than that. So maybe not now, but in the past you have been ground beef prices are going insane. But I feel like that $5 is something that you can do so much with. So is Dollar Tree worth it? That is really up to you to decide.

[00:19:06]I do think Dollar Tree is a great option if as far as their they have a great selection of non-p perishable foods. Can you find them cheaper elsewhere? Yes, you can. But if the Dollar Tree is the only option that you have um as far as, you know, transportation wise, if it's closest to you, if that makes all the difference in the world, too. I have more options than the Dollar Tree. Some other people may not. And that makes a huge difference too is what you have available to you as far as stores. If the Dollar Tree is the only thing that you have, then yes, absolutely you can make it work. Is it going to cost a little bit more? Yes, absolutely. But you can still make it work. This just proves that I have been right for myself all along thinking that Dollar Tree is a little bit more expensive, especially with the price increases. I don't know about y'all's Dollar Tree, but our Dollar Tree, anything ranges from $1.25 to$5 to $10 depending on what you want.

[00:20:01]Even food right now is not $1.25 or $150. Some things are $3, but some things are $4. Some things are up to $10, just depending. Just think there's better options out there price-wise for Dollar Tree for me. That's something, like I said, you have to decide for yourself. But this was just kind of to help compare because I do get the question a lot, Emily, why don't you go to Dollar Tree? that would have been so much cheaper. Or how about you go to Dollar Tree for your next $5 video and it just does not work for me. And this video just kind of helps prove that because I can get canned food sometimes from 50 to 70 at Walmart or Aldi. Um I have the option for like fresh produce that I can get on the cheaper side. I um there's cold sections. There's just more variety and it's all relatively cheaper.

[00:20:53]I mean, this was a huge difference. I feel like a $15 that should not have been a $15 meal. It had beans, chips, cheese. There was not a veggie included.

[00:21:02]There was not like a a good decent hefty protein in it. I mean, even the beans themselves, a can of beans was $1.50.

[00:21:10]They're half the price at Walmart and Aldi. So, I can just rattle about this, rattle on about this for hours if I wanted to. But the bottom line is this is why I don't typically shop at Dollar Tree unless it's for something special and I'm trying to do something new or I think I can get it for a better price at Dollar Tree. So, yeah, that I feel like I should say welcome to my TED talk after talking about this.

[00:21:36]But anyway, that is all I've got for you guys for this video. I hope you enjoyed it. Um yeah, like, subscribe, and comment. Do all the fun things. And I will see you guys next time. Embrace the chaos. I love you guys. Bye.