dollar store meal
/ˈdɒlər stɔːr miːl/
CommonA meal assembled entirely from dollar store ingredients, usually cheap packaged food with minimal nutrition.
Carries more weight than 'broke meal' because the dollar store as a grocery source signals genuine food insecurity for many people. Can be reclaimed humorously or discussed seriously.
Real-world examples4 examples
| # | Example | What it means | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | dollar store canned soup, dollar store crackers. full dollar store meal. it was fine. | The entire meal came from the dollar store and it got the job done. | x, 2023 |
| 02 | did a dollar store meal challenge and honestly some of it was not bad at all | The experiment with all-dollar-store food produced better results than expected. | tiktok, 2024 |
| 03 | grew up on dollar store meals before it was a tiktok trend | Pointing out that this was real food insecurity, not content. | x, 2023 |
| 04 | between rent and bills the dollar store meal is the move this week. not complaining. | After expenses, the dollar store is the only realistic grocery option. | reddit, 2022 |
Use it when
- You bought all your food from a dollar store because of financial constraints.
- Describing a meal assembled from the cheapest possible packaged items.
- Sharing content about budget eating that uses dollar store products.
Do not use it when
- You just bought one or two cheap items from a dollar store.
- You bought quality items at a dollar store.
Origin and context
Grew from budget cooking content on TikTok and YouTube. Dollar store challenge videos became a popular format, though the term also resonates with people for whom dollar stores are a genuine necessity rather than a content premise.
- First seen
- 2020s
- Confidence
- low
Cite this page
Use this stable URL to reference the entry.
https://slang.fyi/dollar-store-mealUpdated: 2026-08-29License: CC BY 4.0