Slash your party's food budget with dollar-store deals

The Dallas Morning News (MCT) - Faced with slashing your party budget? Don't despair. It's an opportunity to apply creativity and a trip to a dollar store to stretch your holiday entertaining bucks.

We asked culinary instructor Anne Legg, who teaches area cooking classes on entertaining, to take us along to the Dollar Tree and show us how to shop cheaply without being cheapskates.

She had great ideas, from using the store's spicy Mexican seasoning on jicama slices to starting your own dip with some Land O Lakes sour cream. "It's always better to make them yourself," Legg says.

Dollar Tree is one of the stores where most things really are $1. We met at the Josey-Frankford, Texas, location, which also has refrigerator and freezer cases. (Not all do.)

Besides our finds, the Dollar Tree was also a good source for items such as chips (Cape Cod potato chips), Funyuns (original and ersatz), surprisingly good fresh corn and flour tortillas, disposable salt and pepper grinders, staples such as canned tomatoes and stock, soft drinks, bottled water, nuts and trail mixes, Duncan Hines baking mixes (cupcakes, small-batch brownies and cookies), spices and seasonings.

You have to watch expiration dates: While nothing was expired when we bought it, some dates were within a month.

Most dollar stores also stock disposable foil bakeware, pretty good wine glasses (at $1 apiece, you won't cry if you break one, Ms. Legg says), disposable paper goods (including tablecloths), plastic cutlery and, best of all, plastic serving dishes designed to look like cut glass.

Rebecca Kracke Gordon of Southern Living magazine's test kitchen said on a recent trip to Dallas that she relies on dollar stores for basics, including cleansers, sponges, scrub brushes and the like. Go there first, she says, and get what you can for the party, then finish up at the regular store.

On party day, you'll end up adding the fresh stuff (the carrots, the celery, the Italian meats, the wings), and no one will be the wiser about what you found on the cheap.

The stock fluctuates at these stores, so not everything will be in available at every Dollar Tree. Even so, the shopping strategy remains the same: Check out what's in the store first, says Ms. Legg, and build out your menu from there.

A note on stores: We shopped at Dollar Tree, which has multiple area locations. The 99 Cents Only Store also has many locations, but the company has announced it will be leaving the Dallas market. Big Lots and Dollar General, while not true dollar stores, also have deals on party supplies and food. There are also many independent dollar stores around your town. Mainstream supermarkets have also started offering dollar deals occasionally.

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CHICKEN WINGS

Find: Louisiana Supreme Chicken Wing Sauce, 17 ounces

Try this: You don't have to fry your wings, Legg says. Bake them instead at 375 F for 30 to 45 minutes (depending on whether they are true wings or drumettes), long enough to brown. Then toss them with the sauce.

Don't cook them in the sauce, she says, "because chile peppers get hotter when they cook."

NACHOS AND DIP

Four finds:

Tostitos All Natural Picante Sauce (mild), 16 ounces

Sargento Mild Cheddar (grated), 4 ounces

Casa Ricardo Tortilla Chips, 10 ounces

Land O Lakes Sour Cream, 8 ounces

Try this: Melt the cheese on the tortilla rounds; top with a jalapeno slice, if desired. For dipping, add the picante (cut this mild one with a hotter sauce or jalapenos) and sour cream in separate bowls, plus guacamole and bean dip that you add.

You could also turn the dips into a single, layered dip: Start with the bean dip, followed by the guacamole, sour cream and picante, in that order.

ANTIPASTI PLATTER

Seres Gourmet Fire-Roasted Red Peppers, 15 ounces

Festival Marinated Mushrooms (Garlic-Italian Style), 9.88 ounces

Try this: The red peppers and mushrooms make a great start for an antipasti platter, says Legg. You add some sliced Italian meats, marinated artichoke hearts, olives or whatever suits you. You could also use them simply to start a relish tray. There were lots of jarred choices on this aisle.

JICAMA SALAD

Find: Pico de Gallo's Pico Piquin, 4 ounces

Try this: Peel some jicama (a round, tan root in the produce section), says Ms. Legg. Cut into french-fry slices. Drizzle with fresh lime juice, then sprinkle with Pico Piquin. The jar suggests it's good on fresh mango and cucumber, too.

OYSTER SPREAD

Three finds:

Pacific Pride Smoked Oysters in Sunflower Oil, 3 ounces

American Heritage Cream Cheese, 8 ounces

Monet Original Entertainer Crackers, 7 ounces

Try this: Make a tasty cracker spread with the oysters and cream cheese, says Legg. "People will never know it's oysters." She's right: The oysters provide smokiness and rich undergirding, like anchovies in the best Caesar salad dressings. Soften the cream cheese with a little milk. Make a slurry of the oysters with their liquid using a hand-held mixer or a small blender. Finely mince half a small red bell pepper (you don't need a lot). Finely mince some parsley to make about Ľ cup. Mix together the cream cheese, oysters, red bell pepper and half the parsley. Garnish with remaining parsley and serve with crackers.

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© 2008, The Dallas Morning News.