How to shop for groceries at the dollar store

99-cent Only Stores has always focused on providing its customers with fresh produce, deli, and other basic grocery items. Lately more independent dollar stores are adding food and medicinal items to their inventory in an attempt to draw cash-strapped shoppers into their stores. That's a good thing but, with this added value, come a few cautions.

Misspellings on labels may simply be mistakes, which could be part of the reason a product comes to a dollar store, but food and medications with unfamiliar labels slapped onto familiar products or weird spellings on labels, should be viewed with suspicion.

Some independent retailers have been known to remove expiration dates from packages by cutting boxes or blacking out information. I've never heard of a major dollar store chain resorting to these unethical practices, but you need to be aware that it does happen.