dollar store dinner.

Back when I was in San Diego, I was a thrifty shopper. At the time, I was living with both my sister and my best friend. My paycheck had to stretch between paying the bills, covering a third of the rent, and grocery shopping. Suddenly, the dollar stores around me became an important resource and discounted groceries quickly lost its bougie stigma.

Luckily for me, I lived in California. Latin and Ethnic stores were aplenty and the discount dollar stores were surprisingly stocked with decent ingredients. My all time favorites would probably be the 99 Cent Only Store and Grocery Outlet.
 

Pan-Seared Chicken Drumsticks with Mushroom Gravy,
Cheesy Garlic Grits, and Pan-Roasted Asparagus

While Latin groceries like Northgate Market and Poncho Villa Farmer's Market were excellent places to pick up some cheap produce, I loved going to the 99 Cent Only Store for other produce that these markets didn't carry. Asparagus, shallots, garlic, and even surprisingly organic products could be found here along with a multitude of different spices. These stores were always clean, if a little overstocked, but never disgusting. And what other place could I stock up on candy and chocolates to my heart's content?

Grocery Outlet is probably my favorite out of the two. These stores almost always carried the "fancier" stuff. Cheeses galore, organic products, great produce section, fantastic frozen items, and wines and beers. I'd pick up my cheese tray stuffs here along with a couple of cornish hens, a bag of frozen salmon fillets, fancy bread, and flax milk (to name a few). They also had household items like bedding and a vast array of personal hygiene products, often brand names.

Here in Georgia, cheap produce is better at the local farmer's markets in Jacksonville and, at times, Walmart. I've only got a couple of discount stores in my area but I'm finding that I miss the selection that I was privileged to have when I was back in San Diego. With that being said, the Dollar Tree by my house isn't too bad. No produce but their frozen section has some interesting items in it.

The main thing that caught my eye were the frozen chicken drumsticks. Now, I have a perfectly fantastic butcher that I go to for all my meat-eating needs. However, I thought that it would be a fun experiment to see what kind of dish I could come up with by just using dollar store items. With a little browsing, I found most of the items I wanted to use for my "Dollar Store Dinner":
 
      - chicken drumsticks
      - white sliced button mushrooms
      - shallots
      - asparagus
      - polenta or grits
      - shredded cheese
      - fresh thyme
      - minced bottled garlic
      - low-sodium chicken broth
      - paprika
      - parsley
      - kosher salt
      - ground pepper
 
So what's my Dollar Store Dinner? It consisted of scoring and pan-searing the chicken legs with some thyme. I finished it in the oven then made a mushroom gravy with shallots and the drippings. For the side, I made some cheesy garlic grits and I ended up roasting the asparagus in order to attempt to salvage the fact that it was previously frozen. Note to self: NEVER buy frozen asparagus. Lol, too bad there isn't a 99 Cent Only Store around here! I definitely would've been able to get that fresh!

So, can you make a healthy meal from the dollar store? Oh, hell yeah! Enhanced with just a few fridge and pantry staples and you can get one rockin' dinner that's as good as any restaurant dish. Mmmm!

So, for this experiment: Successful!

Want more recipes like this? Check out The 99 Cent Chef whose whole blog is dedicated to taking the "haute out of cuisine" using ingredients that cost around 99 cents each, or 99 cents per pound. :)