Welcome to the Discount Food Review. If you've never been to a "discount" store, I don't blame you. A lot of these places are small, mom 'n pop eyesores that sell absolute crap, and inspire that "there goes the neighborhood" feeling. (Unless your neighborhood already sucks, in which case they inspire that "so much for gentrification" feeling...am I right, Los Angeles?)

The two big discount chains in Southern California, 99 Cents Only Stores and Dollar Tree, however, are a different story and can actually be fun places to shop. This is because only about half of the stuff they sell is total crap. The other half are good quality products; many of them domestic name-brands that are marketed in other regions of the country. Also, with an ever-changing inventory, you'll never know what you'll find (on the flip-side of that, you can't exactly rely on their inventory either...there's been plenty of times when they didn't have the one thing I was actually looking for).

In today's economy, you gotta save a buck whenever you can...but can you really trust discount store food? Well that's what we're here to find out!