The Dollar Store Diet

As grocery prices keep climbing, more families are turning to dollar stores for everyday food needs — and surprisingly, that may not be as bad for diets as some might think.

A recent study published in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics looked at how much people rely on dollar stores for food, and whether it’s affecting the nutritional quality of their diets. The short answer: even though these stores are often filled with processed and packaged goods, many shoppers are still managing to build balanced diets by combining purchases from multiple sources.

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“People shop at different stores for different reasons — and dollar stores offer a clear price advantage,” said Dr. Wenhui Feng, lead author and health policy researcher at Tufts University. “Just because something is on the shelf doesn’t mean that’s what people are eating most.”

Feng and a team of researchers analyzed data from over 180,000 U.S. households between 2008 and 2020. They paired this information with USDA data tools to get a clearer picture of what people were really putting on their plates.

Here’s what they found:

• Food bought from dollar stores has nearly doubled, rising from 3.4% to 6.5% of household food purchases over the study period.

• Lower-income families and households led by people of color were more likely to rely on dollar stores for a larger share of their calories.

• In rural areas, where full grocery stores may be miles away, families often depended heavily on nearby dollar stores for food access.

Despite concerns over the lack of fresh produce or lean proteins at dollar stores, the study showed that many families buying snacks and packaged foods there were also sourcing healthier items from other retailers.

“Some shoppers use dollar stores very intentionally — they go there for shelf-stable goods and sweets, but buy fruits, vegetables, and other fresh foods elsewhere,” said Dr. Sean Cash, a co-author and professor of global nutrition policy at Tufts.

With more than 37,000 locations across the U.S., dollar stores have become the fastest-growing food retail segment — especially in Southern and rural communities. Yet their limited selection of fresh foods has led some policymakers to propose restrictions on new store openings.

But this study raises an important point: If dollar stores close or face tighter restrictions without affordable alternatives in place, low-income families could be left with even fewer options.

“We need better data on how dollar stores really impact nutrition before jumping to policy decisions,” Cash added. “Otherwise, we risk taking away a low-cost food option without providing something better in return.”