Dollar general (no fresh foods)

piercekristy875

So my ride has a transmission go out and can't get me to a store. I'm stuck going to dg for a while... The one without a fresh food part of the store. Maybe a little meat but I don't eat that. What kinds of foods and recipes can i get that last long and are healthy ? No judgments please. This is sucky situation till I get my own car and liscense

piercekristy875

Also I can buy a few interesting things from Amazon if that can help too. Just can't be super expensive.

mbaker566

i highly recommend checking out budgetbytes.com
they will help with low cost recipes

and...http://myfridgefood.com/

tulips_and_tea

"Healthy" is defined differently from one person to the next so eat what you like and what fits with your calorie goal.

I'm assuming they have pasta, jarred sauces, tortillas, beans, bread, peanut butter, jelly, etc. Also canned vegetables can be added to pasta and burritos or quesadillas. Some of them are mushy or overly salty so you may need to try some and see what you like.

janejellyroll

Does your Dollar General have a frozen food section? I know people who have been able to get frozen vegetables and frozen meals there.

If no, you should still be able to get condiments, pasta/rice sides, canned vegetables, crackers, nuts, breakfast cereals, possibly some shelf stable milk/plant milk, coffee/tea, canned soups, peanut butter, and possibly some tortillas/bread.

If I was eating from Dollar General, I would probably focus on whatever frozen vegetables they had, combining them with soup, pasta, and rice to create my meals. I would also eat peanut butter sandwiches. I would use cereal, crackers, and nuts for snacks. If you aren't eating meat, protein is probably going to be the hardest thing to get (I'd guess), so I personally would be stocking up on whatever kinds of beans I could get there (baked beans? refried beans?) and ensure I was getting some each day.

For health, focus on your overall calorie goal. Figure out what you want to eat, caloriewise, and stay within that range. The thing with many shelf-stable foods like that is that sometimes people don't find them as filling, so temptation to eat more than you need may be a problem.

Good luck!

Crafty_camper123

Is there an affordable delivery service in your area? One where you can pay them a small fee to pick up your groceries for you? That could open up your options a bit more.

tcunbeliever

ok, I'm going to kick out some of my favorites, but you have to decide if they fit what you like to eat or what your food goals are...

Mac & cheese + can tuna or chicken + cream of mushroom or tomato soup
*bonus flavor if you make the mac with half and half and cheddar before stirring in the rest

can chicken is good as a meat in spaghetti

can biscuits squished flat make excellent mini-pizza crust (pizza sauce is usually canned, plus cheese, and any kind of pepperoni or canned meat like spam are pretty good on top)

mixed vegetables + spaghetti sauce + mozarella cheese, I don't even know why this is good but I guess it's like a veggie spaghetti, I like to use veg-all so you get the starchy potato flavor in there, not all mixed veg have potato

rice plus beans or any vegetable mix + soy sauce particularly with curry or tumeric/paprika/cumin seasonings and some sesame oil if they have it, makes a nice fried rice option and you can add canned meats here if you like, chicken or spam would work nicely

diced tomato + minestrone soup+ mixed vegetable + black beans + can mushrooms - dump them all in a pot and heat, makes a nice vegetable soup with better flavor than the plain minestrone, and this soup is fairly thin so you can add extra pasta if you want to make it more thick & hearty

Those are a few off the top of my head...good luck, hopefully you get transportation and better options soon!

urloved33

the women in my neighborhood take Ubers to the grocery store. cheap. 3 bucks.

FL_Hiker

I’m a kid at heart but the chef boyrdees with little meat balls in them are good... bonus if the pasta is in dinosaur shape, and it’s got tomato sauce so there’s your vegetables too. Put a little Parmesan cheese on top and have with a piece of bread and call it a meal.

piercekristy875

FL_Hiker wrote: »

I’m a kid at heart but the chef boyrdees with little meat balls in them are good... bonus if the pasta is in dinosaur shape, and it’s got tomato sauce so there’s your vegetables too. Put a little Parmesan cheese on top and have with a piece of bread and call it a meal.

I buy that too 😂😁

piercekristy875

Great ideas!! Keep them coming 😁

piercekristy875

Crafty_camper123 wrote: »

Is there an affordable delivery service in your area? One where you can pay them a small fee to pick up your groceries for you? That could open up your options a bit more.

What kind would that be? I don't think I heard of them

piercekristy875

Any ideas on how to carry it if I walked yo dg? I was unprepared for this and didn't think about how to carry it all.

deannalfisher

Can you buy a cart on two wheels? My sister doesn’t drive and that’s what she uses when she goes grocery shopping

jgnatca

A backpack can help distribute the weight better.

estherdragonbat

piercekristy875 wrote: »

Any ideas on how to carry it if I walked yo dg? I was unprepared for this and didn't think about how to carry it all.

I don't drive. I have one of these for the shopping:

https://www.canadiantire.ca/en/pdp/easy-wheels-super-shopping-cart-1427008p.html

Wal-Mart carries them and some luggage stores do too. Used to be my supermarket did, but no longer.

P.S. I'm vegetarian. It may be cliche, but you can do quite a bit with rice/corn, beans, canned veg, maybe some tomato product (sauce, diced, crushed, salsa, paste... even ketchup in moderation) and seasonings. If you're using salsa, you might not need to add seasoning.

FL_Hiker

piercekristy875 wrote: »

Any ideas on how to carry it if I walked yo dg? I was unprepared for this and didn't think about how to carry it all.

Put it in a back pack and strap on a pair of roller blades, who needs a car??
https://youtu.be/gvpT8huOdf0

piercekristy875

deannalfisher wrote: »

Can you buy a cart on two wheels? My sister doesn’t drive and that’s what she uses when she goes grocery shopping

We used to have one. Might need to invest. I might try the back pack for a few things

Crafty_camper123

piercekristy875 wrote: »

Crafty_camper123 wrote: »

Is there an affordable delivery service in your area? One where you can pay them a small fee to pick up your groceries for you? That could open up your options a bit more.

What kind would that be? I don't think I heard of them

You might just have to google it (grocery deliver in my area) , or ask around. We have one in my small town that just started up not too long ago. But it's a local business and not a chain. So I can't help too much there as far as company names go. But he picks up online grocery orders and delivers from resturaunts for people.

ritzvin

Most have a freezer section, so there should be some dairy (yogurt and/or cottage cheese) for some higher concentration protein sources (since you don't eat meat). I don't remember if they have frozen veggies or not, but most seem to have a sizable shelf-stable section, so probably some canned vegetables, and of course all the usual staple items. So protein & vitamins are covered. As for carbs & fat, finding those in shelf-stable foods should be easy. And yes- you'll want to take a backpack. If your area doesn't snow and you want to pick up a larger volume of food, then maybe pick up a trolley/cart if they sell them there.

tcunbeliever

Can't you just go to the store every day? Or every couple days so you don't have to buy a bunch of groceries all at once?

I like using the reusable grocery bags, if you can find the more sturdy, thicker ones with longer straps so they fit over your shoulder. I'm usually only walking about 7 blocks to the grocery, so it's not too far, and I go every day or every other day so I'm not getting bags and bags of stuff, just whatever I need now or in the immediate future. If I had to walk a longer distance, I would probably use a backpack so the weight would be more evenly distributed across the shoulders and then maybe just a reusable grocery bag for things that I don't want squished like bread or chips or whatever is light.

tcunbeliever

fyi...if you are looking for someone to bring you groceries, look for community sites/webpages/community centers designed for the elderly in your area...a lot of older folks are housebound and that's frequently the easiest way to find local people who will run those kinds of errands for you or you might even be able to just negotiate a ride.

piercekristy875

tcunbeliever wrote: »

Can't you just go to the store every day? Or every couple days so you don't have to buy a bunch of groceries all at once?

I like using the reusable grocery bags, if you can find the more sturdy, thicker ones with longer straps so they fit over your shoulder. I'm usually only walking about 7 blocks to the grocery, so it's not too far, and I go every day or every other day so I'm not getting bags and bags of stuff, just whatever I need now or in the immediate future. If I had to walk a longer distance, I would probably use a backpack so the weight would be more evenly distributed across the shoulders and then maybe just a reusable grocery bag for things that I don't want squished like bread or chips or whatever is light.

It would be a 30 minute walk there and back which I'm not very in shape to do, although that's a goal. I might have to go to dg more which is just a 20 minute walk total.

kami3006

tcunbeliever wrote: »

fyi...if you are looking for someone to bring you groceries, look for community sites/webpages/community centers designed for the elderly in your area...a lot of older folks are housebound and that's frequently the easiest way to find local people who will run those kinds of errands for you or you might even be able to just negotiate a ride.

^ this is definitely a good thing to look for. I shop for a couple elderly neighbors when the weather is particularly hot or cold or hostile and would be happy to do it for anyone else who needed it. I do it to be neighborly but some folks charge a small fee. Either way, it's a possibility for you.