Dollar Tree Grocery Haul: Whole Food, Plant-Based On A Budget!

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MEET THE KROCKS: We are a married couple who started on a life-changing whole food, plant-based weight loss journey in June 2018. To date, we have lost over 300 pounds combined and we aren’t done yet! Read Our Story

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We get a lot of questions about how much we spend on groceries while following a whole food, plant-based diet. I’ll be the first to admit, I’m not the greatest at following a budget, but I do know that finding whole food, plant-based groceries does NOT have to break the bank. I’ve been wanting to do a “Plant-Based On A Budget” video series for a while now, and I’m excited to share this Dollar Tree Grocery Haul as the first video!

Normally I hit up Aldi, Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods, but many of you have told us that you find some great products at the Dollar Tree, so we thought it was time to check it out!

We went into the store and picked up everything we could find that followed the guidelines of a whole food, plant-based diet as closely as possible. This means not only vegan (no animal products), but also minimally processed and with no added salt, sugar or oil.

It took some digging, but I have to say I was very impressed with what we were able to find! Check out the video to see us walk through our haul and scroll down below to learn more.

Snacks

Up first, we checked out the “Snack Zone,” which is filled with a TON of very unhealthy processed products. I wasn’t expecting to find much, but after looking a lot of nutrition labels, here’s what we came up with:

– Freeze Dried Strawberry Fruit Crisps (0.26oz / 7.5g)
– Freeze Dried Fuji Apple Fruit Crisps (0.35oz / 10g)
– Freeze Dried Banana Fruit Crisps (0.59oz / 17g)
– Carrot Veggie Chips (0.7oz / 20g)
– Freeze Dried Apple Slices (0.6oz / 17g)
– Mango Fruit Chips (0.7oz / 20g)

I should note that some of their freeze dried fruit snacks do have added sugar, so don’t forget to check the labels! All of the ones above had just ONE ingredient.

– Whole Almonds (2oz / 57g)

They have a ton of nuts and trail mixes with added oil, salt, etc., but over in the baking section, I did find several varieties of raw nuts with no salt or oil added. I picked up some almonds, but they also had pecans and walnuts.

– Brown Rice Cakes with Himalayan Sea Salt (4.2oz / 120g)
– Brown Rice Cakes with 7 Super Seeds (4.2oz / 120g)

These brown rice cakes are a bit of a stretch when it comes to whole food, plant-based, but honestly the ingredient lists were so clean, we had to pick them up! They have no added oil and very little salt.

Spices

Brian’s favorite section of the store was definitely the spices! They have a really nice variety. Just be sure to check out the labels for added salt.

They had a lot to choose from and we didn’t get stuff we weren’t low on, but we picked up the following:

– Ground Paprika (3.17oz / 90g)
– Onion Powder (2oz / 56g)
– Chopped Chives (0.35oz / 10g)
– Salt Free Seasoning Blend (2.5oz / 71g)
– Italian Seasoning (1.23oz / 34g)

I was most excited to find a salt-free seasoning blend. I think it has some lemon oil in it, but we weren’t too worried about that.

Staples

Up next are a few pantry staples. I need to do some price comparisons and see if these are actually cheaper than the ones I normally buy at Aldi or Whole Foods, but don’t worry, that will be coming up in another video!

– Quick Oats x 2 (16oz / 454g each)

– Long Grain Brown Rice (32oz / 907g)

– Black Beans (16oz / 454g)
– Red Kidney Beans (16oz / 454g)
– Great Northern Beans (16oz / 454g)
– Pinto Beans (16oz / 454g)
– Lentils x 2 (16oz / 454g each)

We were happy they had a variety of dried beans and lentils since all of their canned beans have added salt. We usually pick up our no-salt added beans at Whole Foods for 79 cents a can. Dollar Tree won’t always be the cheapest option, but I’m looking forward to making a little comparison spreadsheet in the future!

– Apple Cider Vinegar with “Mother” (16 fl oz / 1 pint)
– Distilled White Vinegar (32 fl oz / 1 quart)
– Minced Garlic (8oz / 227g)

Frozen Fruit

I was most excited to check out the frozen section since so many of you have told us they have bags of frozen fruit and veggies.

For the fruit, we were able to find the following:

– Frozen Mangos (10oz / 283g)
– Frozen Strawberries (10oz / 283g)
– Frozen Blueberries (10oz / 283g)
– Frozen Pineapple Chunks (12oz / 340g)
– Frozen Mixed Berries (10oz / 283g)

I can’t wait to try these out and see how the quality compares to what I normally purchase at a much higher price!

Frozen Veggies

The frozen veggie selection was the most surprising part of our trip!

We picked up the following:

– Pepper Stir Fry (14oz / 397g)
– Winter Blend (16oz / 454g)
– California Blend (16oz / 454g)
– Stir Fry Blend (16oz / 454g)
– Broccoli Cuts (16oz / 454g)
– Mixed Vegetables (14oz / 397g)
– Cut Corn (14oz / 397g)
– Peas & Carrots (14oz / 397g)

– Riced Cauliflower (10oz / 283g)

We actually didn’t find riced cauliflower on our first shopping trip, but I knew they had it in some locations, so I went to another and they had it! We eat a lot of riced cauliflower, so I’ll be curious to see how this one stacks up.

– Asparagus (4.5oz / 128g)

Another surprising find was frozen asparagus. I know asparagus can be expensive, so it’ll be interesting to see how good this is!

– Veggie Spring Rolls (8.8oz / 250g)

Our friend Anthony loves these veggie spring rolls, so we HAD to try them out. They DO have added oil, so they are definitely not in line with our normally way of eating, but for ONE dollar, these make a nice little treat to cook up in your air fryer!

So How Much Did Everything Cost?

Well, at Dollar Tree, everything is a DOLLAR. Literally everything. Okay, they do have some greeting cards that are 2 for $1. But yeah, we had 42 items, so this haul cost us $42 (plus some tax).

So what is next? Now that we know what we can purchase at Dollar Tree, I thought it would be fun to challenge ourselves to a week of eating nothing but groceries from Dollar Tree.

This will give us a chance to really test out all of the products and compare the quality to what we are used to buying. We will report back with another video of how the week went and how the quality stacked up.

We have a few more videos planned for this “Plant-Based On A Budget” series, so be sure to comment on the video and let us know what you want to see!

More Grocery Haul Videos

Here are some other videos you might enjoy checking out:

More Information On A WFPB Diet

Check out these links for more information on a whole food plant based diet:

15 Minute Recap: Exactly How We Lost 335+ Pounds On A Plant-Based Diet
Back To Basics: Weight Loss 101
How We Lost 270 Pounds: Our Whole Food Plant Based Weight Loss Journey
Q&A Session: Our 290 Pound Weight Loss Journey
Q&A: Weight Loss Update, Loose Skin, Advice on Going Plant-Based + More!
Top Ten Tips For Switching To A Whole Food, Plant-Based Vegan Diet
Q&A with The Krocks: “Cheat” Foods, Fasting, Stress Eating, Going Organic, Children + More!

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