The 99 cent store recently made the headlines by stating that they can no longer carry items for only 99 cents. They will keep many items at 99 but will have to hike prices on others.

Here's my list of purchases:
-bags of ice
-David sunflower seeds (original)
-1 or 2 tins of smoked oysters
-RyKrisps
-Twin Dragon fortune cookies
-Bounty paper towels
-Softsoap and refills
-Palmolive dish soap
-Lime & Lemon juices (for cooking)
-Crystal Geyser Lemon water
-V8 juice
-Zacky Farms chicken hot dogs
-Guerrero tortillas
-Hunt's crushed tomatoes
-all kinds of spices
-Hot Tamales (for my son, of course!)
-Roma tomatoes, cucumbers, garlic, limes
-Herdez chile verde
-pinto beans and split peas
-different kinds of pastas

Often, a simple meal like pasta a la checca can be made for less than 2 bucks.

Some woman wrote a book on making gourmet meals using only ingredients from the 99 Cent Store. Unfortunately, it isn't sold for 99 cents! She was featured on ABC News a few months ago.