I Turned Dollar Store Food Gourmet 

The stores we went to were: Dollar Tree, 99 cent Store (that’s where we got the fresh vegetables), and Family Dollar. This was a fun challenge but it also shows that it always come down to heart and technique not fancy ingredients. :)

He coulda just microwaved the ramen and given it to me without telling me and I woulda been like wow you’re a master chef

i really like this series of cheap cooking without all the fancy equipment

I grew up with my family shopping from the dollar store for anything they can and the fresh meat and veggies would be through a really cheap grocery store. This brought me back to how crafty my grandma would be with cheap ingredients to feed 10 people at a time.

It's inconceivable to many, but so many people live in food deserts. Many people are forced to eat only from stores like this because it's what they have access to. Nice to see Papa giving folks like this some love!

From a public health standpoint, this is exceptional! It may not be the healthiest of options, but it gives people inspiration to work with the food that they have access to!

Josh, I have to thank you for remembering to think of all the people who are struggling so badly financially right now. Your (but cheaper) videos have actually been really helping my in household. Thank you so much for helping those of us who don’t really have money to waste on failed attempts at recipes. I love cooking, but I really don’t get to experiment as much as I would like. I can’t afford to have something turned out so bad it’s inedible. I know if it’s something you’re cooking it’s always going to turn out good. While I do have to tweak some of your recipes to deal with my food allergies, your videos are absolutely a lifesaver in my house. My family as a whole is so grateful for these videos.

As a Thai, glad to see Tao Kae Noi on here! The story of how the brand came to be is very interesting and famous here and they even made a movie about it once!

The thing you did with the lemon is a fab tip. Also the jalapeño pineapple relish was genius.

Kendrick is the best at describing the way Josh’s cooking/baking turns out. He’s awesome 😎

That one store using trash bags instead of standard retail plastic bags actually makes a lot of sense. The bag will get another use, and it helps save money as trash bags can be expensive.

I don’t think the video editor gets enough credit. Seriously talented

sometimes you can find canned/boxed items cheaper at walmart instead of the dollar store. i know it's a lot of work, but you gotta shop around to compare prices! if you're looking for fresh produce like fruits/veggies then sometimes it's cheaper at walmart, meijer, or ethnic grocery stores compared to other places

Its always a hit or miss as to whats available at a dollar store but I've seen fresh garlic and radish microgreens there before

This is the standard budget for most families. I would like to see more of these since most people don't know how or believe not much can be made with dollar store food.

Most dollar stores do sell actual dairy butter, just generally in smaller sizes than it's sold at supermarkets. Something I do find odd is that you basically had no side dish--just the relish with your pork. Almost every dollar store will sell bags of mixed greens, which could be easily doctored up into a nice salad.

I love Joshua caring about not adding too much salt, for our heart health, just after adding an obscene amount of butter to those noodles (looked yummy tho ngl)

Orange juice from concentrate is arguably better than orange juice sold 'not from concentrate'. Concentrated juice is stored by removing the water, and freezing it. Turning it back into juice just requires water. But 'not from concentrate' juice is stored by removing oxygen, which also removes all flavor. In order to bring that flavor back, 'flavor packs' are added; the flavor packs are not listed as ingredients because the chemical compounds they use, such as ethyl butyrate or valencine, are derived from 'natural' orange byproducts like the peels and leaves.

I AM A FOOD ACCOUNT

this is my first video ive ever seen from yall & i sat through ever single minute. amazing structure and execution, the editors did an amazing job

Absolutely crazy that it ended up costing $46. Guess it goes to show that even low prices add up if you’re using lots of different ingredients. Great video! Scary to think there are some places in the US where stores like these are the only option.

the main ingredient is papa's love, which is priceless

I can see a new cheap skate loading....

The videos and content creators that are creative and purposely try to do a kindness in every video are the ones I love. I appreciate the work that went into this video.

“I made these meals so you peasants can eat like me” 😂😂😂

❤Kendrick ❤ The man knows what he likes. I remember when he looked at Josh and said “ Boy you can cook.” Kendrick rocks!!!

This was one of the best challenges yet, and I'd love to see more of these 'Limitation but Gourmet' syle challenges.

It would be nice to see a video of like $20 3-course meal cause at the dollar store it’s easy to rack up a lot of money in the total cost of what you are buying lol

If I learned one thing from this video, it’s that Josh would absolutely slay in an episode of Chopped. ❤

I love the fact that Kendrick is basically a wizard in these videos

Thank you Josh, I have access to Whole Foods and am grateful for that, but I wasn’t always able to afford it. I started off cooking using a lot of 99c and dollar tree ingredients. It brought back good memories and a sense of appreciation. I hope you make more videos that cater to families and have a focus on affordability.

Kendrick is the best at describing the way Josh’s cooking/baking turns out. He’s awesome

I love Kendrick, he’s always my favorite part of your videos 😂🫶🏼

I so wish I could be at the bakery with you tomorrow! I’m a big fan, but I live a little too far away. I hope lots of people turn out for it and that the event is a raging success! Even when you’re making something I don’t particularly care for, I find you one of the most watchable men on RU-vid, so please keep doing what you do because nobody does it quite the same way.

I enjoy seeing you challenge yourself like this, like you did in the video where you cooked outside. I think it's inspiring to those of us who are perhaps a little intimidated by cooking to know that you don't need fancy ingredients or equipment to make things gourmet. Well done!

Loved the video. I got to say, whoever is editing these videos I absolutely enjoy the random sounds added. The sounds make me giggle at the perfect time and keeps me interested. Props to the editor

Canned pineapple can be roasted. Also, you can make a pineapple and prunes sauce, with onions and Coke. It’s delicious and goes perfectly well with the pork. The pork dish needed a few extras, though, like a cabbage salad or roasted veggies and maybe mashed potatoes.

Honestly what I like about this kind of video is this. I see a lot of videos of "omg we're making the most expensive [whatever] ever!!!!" and I'm like, sure, go flex your subscribers and money, noone is ever going to make that or be able to afford to. We're in the middle of a massive recession and we've been there since 2007... but making stuff like But Cheaper and showing how to make good food with cheap ingredients and little equipment is just nicer.

As a Mexican adding any salsa to a dish- it is never redundant 😅 but you definitely cooked a great version of this recipe

Videos like this really go to show how a good knife can make anything look fancy

I appreciate this video Josh, the line you gave at the end about how it’s the technique and care is spot on. Anyone can cook! Even if you don’t have access to the best ingredients or all the most useful equipment.

Finally a video where Joshua isn't dissing my favorite fast food brand's

i would love to see another dollar store video in the future. these are great!

This was incredible to watch! So much fun. 💕

Would love to see more challenges with limited ingredients etc.!

Kendrick going the extra distance to edit his own flashy exit-frames is such a great meta joke on this channel lmao

Josh is the definition of CHOPPED. He never has to go on the show because he literally just proved himself right here lol. I mean come on…dollar tree ingredients!? Make more of these pls!!❤

a chopped style subscriber picked episode would be so dope

I love that you did this for people that can't afford the most expensive ingredients!

I've been making meals from Dollar Tree and the 99 cent stores for years. Since, the mid 90s. I will say some of their products have gotten better. I thought the meal looked great.

Speaking as someone who has attempted to can peaches when I overbought at the farmer's market, store bought is actually better than DIY. No way my crappy kitchen skills/set up can complete with an industrial set up. I loved this. And I learned how to cook country style pork ribs...

one of my favorite episodes! everything looks DELICIOUS!!!

You could've also used 24 little Debbie snack cakes and 3 packages of frosting to make a 3 tier cake Edit: I swear papi Josh better pin this

Once again you impress. I love the trick with the egg yolk and butter to enrich the ramen. Going to definitely try that. The dessert looked amazing no matter where you bought your ingredients. Now I can't wait to get my Georgia peaches this year from the Peach Truck Tour. Wish I could be there tomorrow but alas, miles prohibit it. I am looking forward to cookbook dos. It better be better than uno and that's going to be hard to beat.

I always try your recipes giving them a twist with the cheap local ingredients I find at my local stores in Aguascalientes, Mexico 🇲🇽 now I feel like I can exactly replicate this one 😂 good one, Josh

For the peach dessert! Could also make apricot jam syrup! ✨

KENDRICK'S "YAY 😄" LITERALLY MADE MY DAY

BASED, nicely done. Definitely gonna try the egg yolk and butter thing with ramen from now on.

I think you should totally go on next level chef because you legitimately make anything and everything next level

You are the most, fun and entertaining cook RU-vid Fr 😅

This video just goes to show cooking is a lot more skill & technique than anything else lol good video josh , i like cooking gourmet meals on a budget

I would love to see this made into a series! My favorite dollar store dish is Creamy Pesto Pasta! Made with the cream cheese style product 😂

I love this series 🔥

amazing! As a fellow professional chef, this is an inspiration! it shows a passionate cook can do so much with so little! honestly amazing

Our local 99c store does have (chinese) garlic fresh, so depending on location you might get lucky. The stock of fresh ingredients in 99c stores varies wildly - so you may see things one week that are not there the next week.

Very nice results, especially the treat turned out surprisingly well.

Love the videos man Can't wait for the new cookbook. You should add QR codes to your recepies that you have videos of or similar so you can cook along. You're welcome

Love the video! I'd love to see this done with only $1 equipment and fancy food

Josh, don't be so triggered by the haters. Be yourself dude. You do you. We're here for it.

I think this was really great from the stance of letting people see what you can make even with the limitation that food desserts can cause. If you want another challange, you could try figuring out ways to cook good meals for someone with severe and diverse food allergies. I've been spending a lot of time figuring out interesting ways to modify things for my mom, who has said allergies, to give he both more interesting, and nutritionally filling food.

Thank you so much. That meal, especially the dessert look inSANE🤩.

Yes, please. More of this

You had me at free baked goods.

Finally, all the memes can stop about using expensive ingredients 👏👏

Just found this channel, I love it!

Kendrick is a top tier taste tester 😄 I'd want him to eat all meals I make hahaha

I commend him for still making the cake from scratch, definitely could have made boxed cake lol Very nice 👍

Went to the dollar store, still spent more on the ingredients than I have recreating many of his recipes lmao.

How about a video where you make 2 versions of the same dish, one with budget ingredients and one with high quality ingredients to see if your techniques make up the difference? Love the vids Josh and team

I loved this. I think a really cool video that would be similar would be for Josh to hit up a discount grocery store (Aldi, Ruler, Save-a-Lot, etc) and plan out some nice/affordable weeknight meals.

can’t wait for book number 2!!

Dollar Tree is a great place to find good deals on food, even though they sadly do not sell fresh produce. Thankfully, Sav-A-Lot and ALDI do have nice produce at great prices.

Exactly THIS brand of ramen is my favorite. I once had the super spicy one.

this is the most Food Wars episode ever and I love it

Check the spices section. They might have dried Menced Garlic & Onion with the other spices. Otherwise you can use the powder ones.

Today we are shopping at dollar tree to do cheap cooking and limited equipment: then spend 47 dollars 😅

I've been using country ribs to make Carnitas. They crisp up real nice under the broiler.

99 cent only stores have came in so clutch for my family. honestly a great store

Great episode! Makes me think that in your But Better series that you should go after store brands like hamburger helper.

I felt so poor when he said he'd never heard of country-style ribs lol. That was a staple in my house growing up and now, just because they're a super cheap cut.

I’ve always wanted to do this, now I’m extra inspired !!

Magnol in Houston is insanely good. Close your eyes and you are in France. Chef Otto is a master and Kristen is doing an amazing job as well running it. Croissants to die for.

Interesting ! Looks better then most of the food videos dishing out dollar tree meals 🎉

I didn’t expect to see Tao Kae Noi (เถ้าแก่น้อย) in all the way to USA! this nori seaweed snack is originated from Thailand and I love it very much, it was my childhood snack! :)

Yo my man Josh I've got an idea for you Let your crew/subscribers pick the ingredients without you knowing what they are and you get to cook something out of it

Loving the gains Josh! :D

THANK YOU for finally doing a realistic challenge, seriously I'm sure you might never read this, but it actually meant a lot. There is still an issue with the fact that you had to travel to multiple stores and often some people don't have cars, or even if they do they only have one dollar store.. BUT it is highly likely that except for extreme food deserts, those people could at least find a wall mart and bring it to 2 store trips and a wee bit higher... but in comparison to a lot of your other videos saying "anyone can make this" when they legit can't.... this one is your Golden buzzer as far as i'm concerned. I hope you read this as the glowing praise I mean it to be, I think a lot of people just wanted to finally hear you acknowledge how hard cooking might be for some folks, and that they were wishing awfully hard for you to make something that thay could realistically try. AND you showed the entire grocery bill cost, which was the finely diced aprocots on the top of this ep

Joshua, what did you do with the Bagel Bites (But Better) video? I want to watch it. I had it saved to watch when I got home from work and then it was removed, don't do me like this. Give me that bagel bite recipe. I need it.

We need more of these

As a person who has used stuff from the Dollar Tree to repeat your recipes. Life has come to a full circle.😂😂😂