Whenever you’re shopping at a budget retailer, it can feel like the jackpot when you’ve come across a name-brand product for a heavily discounted price. Maybe this is a gene carried on over from our species’ hunter-gatherer era when we located a raspberry in a field mostly known for grapes, but folks almost always seem jazzed when this happens—like when this TikToker found Beyond Meat at the Dollar Tree.
Now, another user expressed their own excitement at locating known company offerings in the discount chain’s “plus” section, including footage of a fully-stocked freezer packed with Ben & Jerry’s ice cream.
The TikTok account Dollar Tree Dinners (@dollartreedinners) has been regularly posting content centered around the savings customers can enjoy while shopping for groceries at the brand’s locations. Popularity in this type of content has more than likely spiked after steep inflation increases, which have recently occurred in the United States since 2021, putting the cost of food-away-from-home and supermarket prices on an upward trajectory, according to the USDA.
Dollar Tree Dinners has uploaded several helpful videos showing folks examples of budget grocery runs—like preparing 4 dinners for just $20 or getting a week’s worth of grub for only $35.
Oftentimes, these hauls feature products from brands that don’t have sizable marketing budgets, but during a recent visit outside her local area, TikToker Dollar Tree Dinners managed to locate products you’d find on shelves in other stores.
@dollartreedinners Going on a Dollar Tree Road Trip! Shopping at 4 different Dollar Trees #dollartreedinners #dollartreegroceries #shopwithme #shopwithmeatdollartree #dollartreehaul #dollartreefinds #dollartreeplus #dollartreegroceryhaul #dollartreefood #dollartreefoodfinds ♬ original sound – Dollar Tree Dinners
In her latest video, she records herself walking into a Dollar Tree and ambling through its aisle, while narrating, “Let’s take a Dollar Tree road trip together. I had to take a friend to the airport which is two hours away and on my way back I stopped in every Dollar Tree I could find to look for things that I can’t buy normally at my store.”
She shared the results of “Dollar Tree number 1” in Centerville, Virginia where she nabbed herself frozen proteins you probably wouldn’t expect to find at the store.
“I spent $22 and this was my first time shopping a Dollar Tree with a ‘plus’ section. At this Dollar Tree, I picked up some salmon filets, some shrimp, some pork dumplings, a ribeye steak, some Campbell’s garlic honey mustard cooking sauce, two boxes of loaded potato sticks and a 2 lb box of beef patties,” she said.
Not a bad haul, but then she posted what she picked up at the second Dollar Tree, which also yielded some surprising results.
“Dollar Tree #2 is in Gainesville, Virginia this one had a much more stocked plus section,” the creator continued. “I spent $13.50 I got some on the Cinnamon Toast Crunch spread, a bag of sea salt caramels, a big box of hot chicken fries, a box of Steak-umms, and a box of these steamable pork and vegetable dumplings.”
At a third store, they didn’t have as stalwart of a selection as the two previous stores she visited.
“I only spent $8.75 I got some of this cooked salad shrimp, supreme pizza sticks, some cajun cooking sauce, and some canned chicken with gravy,” she said.
The fourth Dollar Tree was where she ultimately ended up finding Ben & Jerry’s ice cream along with some other goodies, even if she didn’t buy the dessert.
“And lastly Dollar Tree #4 was in Fredericksburg, Virginia, at this point, I wasn’t expecting to find anything new,” she said. “I spent $8.75 I was surprised to find boneless pork chops at this one, I did pick up one of these Tony’s pepperoni pizzas and lastly I got some buffalo chicken mac and cheese.”
One viewer seemed shocked that their beloved dumplings brand was being offered at Dollar Tree, writing, “OMG they have those dumplings at dollar tree?!?! Those are my favorites?”
Another couldn’t believe that the store was carrying the popular Vermont-based ice cream brand, too, sharing, “Ben and Jerry’s at a dollar tree ?”
And then there was someone who couldn’t wrap their head around a Dollar Tree that had a freezer section.
“Wait, y’all have freezers in y’all’s dollar trees?!!?” they said.
With an uptick in shoppers purchasing food at budget stores, Dollar Tree has recently committed itself to expanding its supermarket selection.
The Daily Dot has reached out to Dollar Tree via email and Dollar Tree Dinners via TikTok comment.
