Dollar Store Grocery Shopping Can Be Healthy

Whenever and wherever you are, there’s usually some sort of discount store around. Maybe you still remember shopping at your local five-and-dime store or maybe you’re a dollar store person—either way, you’ve probably shopped for household items at reasonable prices. 

Today’s dollar stores have expanded their inventory to include shelf-stable, frozen and refrigerated food items, helping to make food shopping more affordable for many families. But selection at these stores can vary, making it hard to know if you can rely on them for healthy eating.

Researchers from Tufts, Harvard and the USDA set out to get a better sense of eating healthy while grocery shopping at dollar stores. Specifically, they wanted to determine the healthfulness and energy content of foods purchased in dollar stores compared to those in other retail outlets. They also wanted to assess the diet quality of households that shop at dollar stores. They published their findings in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. Let’s break down what they found.

How Was This Study Conducted?

Researchers drew data from the Circana Consumer Network, a yearly nationwide panel of approximately 50,000 households that provide a detailed account of their retail food purchases, including from dollar stores. Participating households either downloaded a mobile app or were provided with a handheld barcode scanner, allowing them to scan every purchase.

This study was broken down into two parts. The first analyzed calorie calculations, both total and from various food outlets, and included over 183,000 households from 2008 to 2020. The other part of the study evaluated the diets of over 76,500 households from 2017 to 2018, using the Healthy Eating Index 2015 (HEI-2015). The HEI-2015 is a tool to measure diet quality. It’s based on 13 components, with 100 possible total points.

Participants also provided demographic information, including whether the primary food shopper in the household was male or female, household size, child status, income, race, ethnicity and zip code of residence. 

What Did This Study Find?

After statistical analyses were run, researchers found that the average household purchased about 2% of its total calories from dollar stores between 2008 and 2020. Those foods scored just over 38 on the HEI-2015. The research team determined an average HEI score for groceries purchased at four main types of retail stores. They found that:

• Club store purchases were the healthiest, with an average HEI score of 51.
• Grocery store purchases averaged a score of 50.
• Dollar store purchases scored 38.4.
• Drug store purchases scored 37.9.

Comparing 2020 data to 2008 data, the researchers also observed that people are getting more of their calories from dollar stores and club stores—like Costco or Sam’s Club—and fewer of their calories from grocery stores. The percentage of calories purchased at dollar stores has nearly doubled, going from 3.5% in 2008 to 6.5% in 2020.

Because the Circana Consumer Network data only includes food bought to prepare at home, it doesn’t take into account food eaten out, which may limit the accuracy of the study. Researchers also note that certain food purchases, including fresh produce, eggs, fish and seafood, may be underreported. Lastly, because participation in the study is self-selected by responding to advertisements, it may limit the type of households included in the study sample.

How Does This Apply to Real Life?

This study set out to test two hypotheses: The first, that the healthfulness of foods purchased at dollar stores is less than that of foods purchased at grocery stores, and the second, that households with a higher share of expenditures at dollar stores have less healthy overall food purchases at home. This study supports both hypotheses as being true. 

But the study also found that dollar store-shopping households didn’t score much differently on the HEI than those who don’t shop at dollar stores as much. Researchers feel this implies that dollar stores may be stretching household budgets, allowing for more money to be spent on healthier food purchases at other outlets, like grocery and club stores. 

If you regularly shop at dollar stores—or even if you don’t but need something in a pinch—there are some healthy grab-and-go finds. For example, most have yogurt, which, when combined with a handful of nuts (which they also sell), can be a good high-protein snack. You might even be able to find greens for tonight’s salad, tuna bowls for tomorrow’s lunch and trail mix and protein shakes for this week’s snacks. 

If you like including anti-inflammatory foods in your line-up, you don’t have to look any further than your local dollar store. From canned salmon and frozen berries and veggies to oats, walnuts and canned beans, healthy eating is possible from a dollar store. And as the researchers suggest, you can always supplement with a handful of items from the produce department at the grocery store or a cup from the big bag of brown rice you bought at Costco.

Our Expert Take

While dollar stores do sell a lot of ultra-processed foods, there are also some healthy gems to be found on their shelves. Dollar stores can also save money and help stretch a budget, allowing you to use the savings to purchase healthier options at other stores. Take the time to scan the shelves for the healthy options you typically purchase, as the dollar store can save you money in the long run if you know what to look for.