I Finally Tried That Infamous Dollar Tree $1 Ribeye Steak...

Discussion in Food & Drink started by ohiotom76 • Jul 26, 2015.

  1. ohiotom76

    ohiotom76Well-Known Member

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    I honestly wasn't expecting much going into this, since I'm fairly certain I've glanced over these a number of times when hitting up Dollar Tree and wasn't interested. But in the spirit of all the hype over these that I've been hearing about recently, I figured I should give them a try.

    I'll cut to the chase - I wouldn't pay a buck for these let alone 25 cents, or 10 cents. They're that bad. I was under the impression that they were going to be at least about 1/4" thick based on their initial appearance, but when I got home with them and took them out of the package, most of that was just ice and frozen marinade. They're literally about as thick as a slice of lunch meat once thawed. The marinade itself tastes like it's just some soy sauce and brown sugar. In all honesty, you could go out and buy a fresh piece of fresh boneless ribeye roast, and slice it into a hundred or so (or even more to be honest) thin slices like this, and have a much better product for the same price.

    In fact, this same company also sells a few other similar atrocities - they also sell paper thin $1 pork chops, $1 frozen individual chicken drumsticks, and a few other questionable items.

    It was all in good fun - but that's not to say that Dollar Tree still doesn't have some great bargains in their freezer section. In fact, I would have much rather had one of their $1 frozen cheeseburgers, chicken sandwiches, or fish sandwiches than this. They also had large bags of crinkle cut or skin on straight cut frozen fries, a decent size portion of veggie potstickers, a double portion of frozen penne in marinara, bags of frozen peppers and onions, and other great stuff for the same low price.
     
  2. Jessi

    Jessi<a href="http://www.quirkycookery.com">QuirkyCooke

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    Oh my.

    I was intrigued when I saw your title because I had never seen the ribeyes at Dollar Tree before. I don't usually even look at their food section but occasionally find something decent there.

    I will definitely NOT be trying these out, though. Thanks for being our guinea pig for this one and warning us all away!
     
  3. sazzydan

    sazzydanMember

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    That sounds just awful. Meat is one of them things I would go out my way to get quality on, regardless of the price. I have seen some of the videos on how the cheap meats are formed and made, and it is truly revolting, so i would not even eat this stuff if i was starving!
    It is not regulated as much as I would like it to be and think only premium meats should be available to buy, the rest can go to the dogs!
     
  4. Ke Gordon

    Ke GordonWell-Known Member

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    Well that defintely sounds like one to put in the "Skip column" I do like to buy certain foods at Dollar Tree. Their bagged vegetables and large loaf of garlic bread are a bargain as are a few of their other items like frozen steak fries and others. I was really happy last time I was there as I found a loaf of rye bread that was a dollar. The Rye flavor wasn't very prounced, and the loaf was small...but hey it was a buck right??:)
     
  5. Pat

    PatWell-Known Member

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    I ws very curious when I saw your title because I could not image the $1 Ribeye Steak being a very good item to eat. It was a very good review and I can image you had fun writing it. Dollar Tree doeozen s have some good value items. I have purchased a few frozen food items but no meat items. I usually get oatmeal, beans and snacks from the Dollar Tree.
     
  6. ACSAPA

    ACSAPAWell-Known Member

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    I read an article by a food writer who made a steak sandwich with the Dollar Tree steak and said it was her best sandwich ever. Here's the link. The sandwich looks pretty good.

    Log In

     
  7. Diane Lane

    Diane LaneWell-Known Member

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    I'm glad someone tried then and reported back. I've also bought their other frozen goods, but not the rib eyes. I like their frozen egg rolls, and the hash browns and sweet potato curly fries are good, as well. I've gotten the frozen flounder fillets and they're decent, not nearly as thin as you described, and they hit the spot during Lent.
     
  8. ohiotom76

    ohiotom76Well-Known Member

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    One thing to take note of, the packaging says 3.5 oz *net* - which I can only interpret as including the marinade liquid, which makes up at least half of that total weight once thawed, so the actual amount of meat you are getting is more like 1.75 oz if that.

    In comparison, you could buy a large ribeye roast (around 15lbs) on sale at places like Costco from time to time for under $100. If you consider 100 / 15 = about $7 a pound and there's 16 oz in a pound, that comes out to about 50 cents an ounce. So a *true* 3.5 oz ribeye steak would come to about $1.75. But as I mentioned above, you're getting even less meat than that - and on top of it all it's not a fresh steak, it's been pre-seasoned/marinated in who knows what chemicals.

    That sandwich does look good, but I would have eaten it without the steak, lol.
     
  9. Lushlala

    LushlalaWell-Known Member

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    Oh dear, I'm not sure what they are hoping to achieve with that! I mean, I would've been suspicious anyway that a whole ribeye steak would cost $1. Word's going to get around and people will start to shun it, so I'm not sure why they'd want to go there at all!
     
  10. Sunshine703

    Sunshine703Active Member

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    Haha, I laughed when I read $1 ribeye because I could imagine how bad they probably would.

    I try my best to save money on anything else but food because what you eat is really important and it sucks when you buy food that legitimately taste horrible. I never buy $1 meals because it's not even like those household items that you use, YOU HAVE TO EAT THAT! And I'm not too comfortable eating something that was made so cheap in the first place. Cheap food lead to cheap health? No idea but not gonna find out.

    Basically, I don't buy cheap foods like the $1 ribeye at Dollar Tree because it's not something I look forward to cutting costs on. Eat healthy and I'll have a healthy body to earn more income, that's how I see it. I like buying brands cheap from grocery stores but when they're as cheap as pennies... It becomes a little questionable on whether it's edible or not.
     
  11. Corzhens

    CorzhensWell-Known Member

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    This reminds me of the best steak in town which we go to on occasions only. The restaurant's name is La Copa and our favorite steak there is the Charlemagne which comes with baked potatoes and vegetable garnishings. It has a different taste and the texture of the beef is great. Just the right cooking for medium well and just the right side dish of that Caesar's salad.