HEALTHIEST FOODS AT DOLLAR TREE || MY TOP HEALTHY PICKS

hey everybody it's jamie from no getting off this train and today i am taking you through my local dollar tree to show you the healthiest items i can find if you are new here thank you so much for joining me i do dollar tree meal videos once a month so i will link that playlist in the description for you guys to check out but once a month i go through my dollar tree and try to find three healthiest meals that i can make typically for five dollars or less and some people get kind of confused they're like wait you can find healthy foods at dollar tree you really can you just have to know where to look so i thought i would take you through my local dollar tree and show you around the whole store and kind of show you some of the foods that i think are the healthiest that you can find there so your dollar tree may differ my store has a frozen food section it also has a refrigerated section not every store has that and a lot of you have told me this um but i also have a huge like grocery section in there as well so hopefully a few of the things in my store will also be at your store they also get in like really random things at times like things from the grocery store that are either like the limited edition things that are going out of season or maybe things that are just a little bit close to your expiration date things like that so you might have some really awesome finds that i don't so before i take you to my store i wanted to tell you my definition of what i'm looking for in a healthy food so first of all what i'm looking for needs to be as close to a whole food as possible so for example a bag of just plain dried brown rice as opposed to a bag of like the nor pasta sides that have like all the extra out of ingredients and the sugar and artificial stuff things like that that's kind of what i'm aiming for here and then my second criteria is just lower in sugar either low sugar or even no sugar and that is really hard to find depending on what you're looking for you're going to be surprised when you see some of the things that i find here in this video so let me take you to the first section of the store and show you what is there so the first section i'm going to take you into is the frozen section and like i said not many of you have a frozen section in your dollar tree so i know your stores may definitely differ but there's not really a whole lot of whole food options in the frozen section we've got a few key items here the first thing i found was frozen fish i found tilapia for example like a frozen package of just one tilapia and if you look at the back of the ingredients it's really just the fish that's all it is so you cook it up like regular fish and then you serve it however i will say that cost wise this is probably not the best option but if a dollar tree is all you have around maybe just like a single serving is a good option for you i also found frozen cod and frozen salmon i have to be honest with you i have not tried any of those i really need to and i need to let you guys know how it is but if you guys have tried the fish there please let me know but i think those are really good options just because there's no extra added ingredients in them i also found a pork loin chop and i don't know i mean maybe it's a good option i looked at the ingredients just a couple like little fillers and things like that but it really just seems like a frozen chunk of meat that you can cook up and use in different ways once again if you guys have used this let me know as well the one actual process kind of food that i really enjoy are these spring rolls right here i use them in a previous dollar tree video and oh my goodness they are so good i think i made them in my air fryer actually they turned out amazing and it has completely good ingredients there is nothing artificial added to it um there'd be a really good option and super cheap i mean for a dollar you get a few servings out of it next let's go over to the frozen vegetables and to be honest with you the vegetables are really hit or miss i've tried a few different kinds mostly like the broccoli and the stir-fry veggies i don't know the quality of that is just not all that great you get some really huge pieces of broccoli and a lot of it is the broccoli cuts instead of the broccoli florets so it's not my particular favorite so i try to stay away from those but some of the other ones are okay like the frozen spinach the frozen okra i haven't tried the asparagus yet so let me know if you guys have there's also like the bags of the frozen peas and carrots and like the the other one with the corn in it as well those would also be good options and then i've also bought the frozen peppers and onions and those have turned out to be really good in different mexican dishes i don't know if you caught that but there's also a bag of rice veggies i think that one was cauliflower and broccoli so for a dollar holy cow that is a super good deal i have not yet tried it but i'm gonna probably buy one for one of my other videos pretty soon and then the last thing in the frozen section is the fruit and the fruit is really not a bad deal i found strawberries there a one pound bag for only a dollar you cannot get it at that price at the regular grocery store like even when the strawberries are out of season like i go here sometimes to buy those strawberries to use like on my yogurts and sometimes in smoothies the one thing i did notice i didn't like the blueberries quite as much just because there was one time i bought like three bags of them they must have all been from the same batch because all three of them had a ton of the stems both attached to the blueberries and just like randomly laying around so whenever i wanted to make something i had to take my measuring cup and get out whatever and then put it in a bowl and pick out all the stems and stuff it was kind of gross but like i said not all of them are like that they also have frozen mango pineapple and peaches i have not tried those just yet but i will definitely pick them up for a future video and now let's get into the refrigerated section there's not a whole lot in here either that's considered like more of a whole food i did see the p3 portable snacks while i was there and you know that's an okay option for a snack there's maybe a couple of little artificial ingredients in there but not too bad for what it is i know they have milk as well like little tiny individual things of milk but they also have cheese now you really have to be careful with the cheese i did find the frigo brand string cheese and that one is really good that's the kind i buy at sam's club for really cheap but you get three of these string cheese for a dollar so i would definitely stick with those and also look out for the sliced cheese because really it's not cheese at all but also with the shredded cheese you will notice it does not say cheese it says like mozzarella shreds there's not any cheese in them so what you're looking for is the blocks of cheese so they had the pepper jack they had some cheddar as well it's not a not a good deal like for the price the size wise but it is real cheese and if you need cheese at dollar tree that's the kind to pick up they also have little things of grated parmesan cheese now i found this one in the refrigerated section but it used to be like on the shelves as well however you want the little one because that one actually says parmesan cheese and then the bigger one the one that you would typically find or the same size of the grocery store it says like grated oh no it just doesn't say cheese on it so that's not real parmesan so just be on the lookout for that so let's get to the drinks section so on one side of the aisle i've got all the bottled waters so i mean bottle of water it's water so it's okay right they also have like little tiny water bottles you could stick in your kids lunch boxes there's like a six pack so that would be a good option as well but most of the drinks they have in this section are just like sodas a bunch of juices with all sorts of added sugar i think i did see like some 100 apple juice in there so that would be okay they also had bags of tea which i have not tried yet i'm not really a tea drinker so if you guys like the tea let me know but they also have coffee so bags of like ground coffee they even have the instant coffee the nest cafe taster's choice like the box is a little packet i've had those before and i actually put them in my smoothies sometimes to make kind of like a frappe sometimes they'll have the decaf version but i think mine just had like the regular this time as well so the grocery section is where it's at when it comes to the healthier foods i've got like a huge list of them so we are going to start with the pasta so my dollar tree does not sell any kind of whole wheat pasta but in a pinch regular pasta will do i prefer the whole wheat just because of all the extra fiber a little bit of extra protein but this kind is okay too as you can see there are plenty of different options so there's like the penne there's rotini they also have lasagna noodles and for a dollar this is not a bad deal they also have this huge section right underneath it of a bunch of egg noodles and it's a really good price for the huge bag that you get they also sell bags of dried beans and this is perfect because they are one pound bags for a dollar it's actually a really good price my store had pinto beans and black beans they also had dried lentils and lentils are really good like in soups and with like lentil salads and things like that super easy to cook i make my beans in the instant pot and gosh in less than an hour i've got perfectly cooked beans no need to soak them it's amazing but i think the holy grail in this grocery section is this bag of brown rice a two pound bag for one dollar i try to buy one every time i go just so i at least have some rice in the pantry but brown rice two pound bag one dollar if you don't if you go to dollar tree for nothing else you need to get this over on the other side of the aisle is all of the canned vegetables so really canned veggies are still a good option if you don't have any fresh vegetables or even frozen in your area the cans of vegetables do sometimes have some extra salt added to it so all you have to do is just rinse them drain them it's not a big deal so they have all your typical standard canned vegetables they also have canned beans so chickpeas is a really good option as well they also had black beans and i think pinto beans maybe even kidney beans as well but those are all really good options in case you can't use dried beans now i really wanted to find you guys a good pasta sauce option they had like two or three different brands so i looked at the back of every single one of them and they all had added sugar so in the long run it's not a huge deal if it has a little bit of added sugar to it but one of my criteria for pasta sauce is that it doesn't have any at all i would rather make my own but if i can't make my own i try to find one that has no added sugar i couldn't find in a dollar tree and i'm sorry i tried i did find a big can of refried beans that had fairly good ingredients and right next to it i also found the tortillas they have corn tortillas and regular flour tortillas i have used both at different points including the refried beans actually and they are all really good and pretty good ingredients too they also have canned tuna and canned chicken now tuna i don't know i usually pay like 65 or 69 cents at aldi so it's not a great price but if you're at dollar tree and have nowhere else to go then that would be an okay option the canned chicken is actually pretty good i bought it before and i think a dollar is a pretty good price for canned chicken so you can use that like in like macaroni and cheese or like alfredo pasta or something if you're trying to make a dollar tree dish they also have a lot of canned fruit but if you notice they all say like they're in light syrup or heavy syrup or some kind of syrup when i buy canned fruit i try to look for 100 juice just because you don't have all that added sugar in it with the syrup not a big deal again if you if you don't drink the juice from it i mean it's fine if you want to rinse it off it's not a big deal they also have a really good selection of condiments and spices i usually get all my spices at dollar tree because you get a really huge container for a whole dollar and aldi only has the little ones for like the same price so whenever i'm at dollar tree i make sure to stock up on the spices i'm out of they also have good condiments like mustard and hot sauce that sort of thing and then they don't have much in the way of breakfast options that are particularly healthy but down there at the bottom i did find a container of quick oats and it's just regular oats you use it to make oatmeal you can probably even make some like energy bites out of it or something but that was the only breakfast option i could find and the last place we are going to stop today is the snack section i had to look high and low for any kind of healthy-ish snack i actually ended up finding a few the first one i saw were those saufer's animal crackers and yeah i mean it's got some sugar in it but as far as like cookies go that's not really a bad option i also found this packet of quakers simply granola looking at the back of the package it has 300 calories which is quite a bit for a snack i try to keep mine around 200 um there's also 11 grams of added sugar in it so maybe you could split it in half and have it on like a parfait or something that would be okay but as far as like trail mixes and things like that go that was one of the better options that i saw so i also found bags of the boom chicka pop popcorn and right below it i found some skinny pop popcorn which really good deals actually for a bag that size for a dollar that's really not too bad and is a slightly healthier option compared to some of the other things you can find at dollar tree and speaking of popcorn way up at the top of the snacks aisle they have bags of unpopped popcorn kernels that's where i go to buy all my popcorn because for a dollar you get this really huge bag i actually have a popcorn maker i'll link that in the description it's an affiliate link just a little like microwavable popcorn popper put in like two or three tablespoons and you put it in the microwave for a couple minutes you got freshly popped popcorn super delicious they do have the seasonings of like the butter popcorn stuff but not quite whole food materials so i don't typically buy that another good option for healthy snacks is this dried fruit here in this package you have to be careful because a couple of them do have some added sugar in it but the apples i've had the dried apples before and man they are so good um it does serve one so one package for a dollar i mean it can get kind of pricey if you're buying some to last you the entire week but it's a good option for like if you're on the road or something and just need something really quick to snack on then the very last place i visited was like a little snack bar area they have so many different snack bars they also have like cakes and stuff which they didn't have before so kind of surprising but i did find the cliff bars those are more for people who are like long distance hikers or bikers someone who's doing some sort of exercise and needs like that quick burst of energy because it has like 20 something grams of sugar but also has like 10 grams of protein a bunch of carbs in it so like i said it's more for like the the athletes the long distance people but that is one of the better options when it comes to like the snack bars and things like that okay so like i said your dollar tree may not have all the same things that mine does you may even have things that i don't have so if you have found anything that you like that's particularly healthy leave me a comment and let me know because i would love to see it i also have another dollar tree in my area and they don't always have the same things either so i might go to the other one and see what else they have and some of you may know this but i'm a nutrition coach and that means that i help people figure out what is healthy for them whether they want to lose weight whether they just want to kind of clean up their eating a little bit whether they're just really busy and have no idea how to meal plan or meal prep for the week i can help you either through one-on-one sessions or through group coaching so if this is something that you think you need i'm leaving a link in the description to book a free discovery call with me and in that call we'll just kind of find out like hey what what are you looking to do what are your goals what kind of healthy living are you trying to accomplish and we can figure out whether coaching is right for you so if you liked this video please let me know if you want to hear more if you want to see healthy finds from other grocery stores i'd be happy to do that for you just make sure you subscribe to this youtube channel like this video and ring that bell so you can be notified when any more of these kind of videos come out or all my grocery hauls my recipes and my meal planning tips thank you all so much for watching and i will see you later

Channel: No Getting Off This Train

Views: 8,582

Rating: 4.96 out of 5

Keywords: dollar tree, healthy food, healthy

Id: EqCbBUmEIIE

Length: 17min 19sec (1039 seconds)

Published: Thu Oct 08 2020