Dollar Tree Valentine’s Dinner Ideas: Crab Rangoons, Teriyaki Salmon & More!
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 5 ก.พ. 2025
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The Menu:
Appetizer: Crab Rangoons with sweet chili sauce (Alternative: Crab Rangoon Dip with chips)
Main dish: Teriyaki Salmon with Stir fry veggies & rice (Alternative: Sushi bowl)
Dessert: Chocolate covered lemon shortbread cookies (Alternative: Chocolate covered strawberries)
Recipes referenced:
Cream cheese: www.biggerbold...
Wonton wrappers: biancazapatka....
I don't recall what recipe I originally referenced for the crab rangoon. I may have used multiple when I came up with my version.
Cost breakdown:
To make crab rangoon (Recipe makes 30 to 40)
Cream cheese $2.50
Crab $1.25 (I used 2 but I recommend only using one)
Sugar $1.25
Dried chives $1.25
Wonton wrapper (or chips) $1.25
Cost $7.50
You need oil for frying but as many of you know, I strain and reuse my oil multiple times. The oil I used in this video has been re-used 4 times already.
To make teriyaki Salmon
Salmon $5.00
Stir fry veggies $1.25
Teriyaki sauce $1.25
Rice $1.25
Cost $8.75
(or) To make sushi bowls:
Salmon $5.00 (DT)
Teriyaki sauce $1.25 (DT)
Rice $1.25 (DT)
Mayo $1.25 (DT)
Sriracha $1.25 (DT)
Seeweed snacks $1.00 (Grocery store)
Avocado $2.00 (Grocery store)
Cucumber $0.69 (Grocery store)
Total cost $13.69 but most of these ingredients are a one-time cost, so that's a little inflated as I always include the whole cost of every ingredient even if you only use a little bit.
To make chocolate covered lemon cookies
Lemon shortbread cookies $1.25
Chocolate chips $1.25
Cost $2.50
(or) to make covered strawberries!
Strawberries $3.99 (Grocery store)
Cute tin $1.25 (DT)
Cupcake liners $1.25 (DT)
Chocolate chips $2.50 (DT)
$8.99 (you can make about 2 to 3 tins from a single container of strawberries, but you'd have to buy extra tins if giving them as gifts)
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My Dollar Tree is next door to Walmart. I keep my Walmart app open while I shop at Dollar Tree to compare prices. Some items are less expensive at Walmart and some are better priced at Dollar Tree.
great idea!
I do the same and I make sure to double check the cost per ounce. Most people just look at overall price when sometimes it's worth spending an extra 50 cents to get more product.
I love that
My dollar tree ,Walmart and Aldi are right next to each other..
Something I’ve noticed is that if there’s a Walmart there’s almost 100% a dollar tree within eyesight. Whether that’s right next door or in my town they built a little plaza up above the Walmart, I’ve rarely if ever seen one without the other.
My god I’m impressed with those crab Rangoon, I can’t believe you made your own cream cheese! Giving people options when they may not have certain things available is SO cool, you’re such a valuable resource.
Using coconut oil in chocolate works because it re-solidifies the chocolate when it cools. You can make your own "chocolate shell" ice cream topping!
"Oh, do we have separation?" Rebecca, you're NASA ground control. I love it.
Haha I love that! You got it! :)
😂😂😂
Love the expeirimentation! Also loved when you quickly and delightfully proclaimed it was snowing. Made me smile.
I am so glad you liked it! It was unexpected, but it definitely brightened my day.
Making cream cheese at home would be a great science project for school kids!
It definitely would be!
I'm a homeschool mom and I was just thinking about that. We've made butter before!!!
@@laurencliff8185 making yeast bread and explaining about microorganisms would be a fun school project too
I make cream cheese or farmers cheese using powdered Nido milk. I make a gallon of the powdered milk, bring it up to about 175 degrees and then add 1/4 cup of white vinegar. Give it a stir and let it sit for about 20 mins. Strain out through a tea towel and let sit for about 20 mins to drain off the whey. After that 20 mins I pick up the tea towel and twist it to remove any additional whey. Place the cheese into a bowl and put a weight on top of it and cover and place in refrig. for at least 24 hours. Once you take it out pour off any additional whey and you have a block of spreadable cream cheese for your toast or bagel.
That’s a great way to make cream cheese. I love finding ways to do things on a budget!
I’m going to have to try this!
Rebecca, this was such a fun & interesting video to watch. I had just rewatched your Valentine's DT video from last year & this one outshines last year's. You are so creative, resourceful & best of all, you make meals on a tight budget made with rich with love. Doesn't get any better than that! Happy Valentine's Day to you & Michael & the rest of the viewers here who celebrate it. ❤️🥰
Look at you getting a sponsor! I am so happy for you!
I’m just having fun making videos! Thanks for the support!
I love your dedication to the cause by making your own cream cheese and wonton wrappers. I also love that your always honest about the results and the work it takes. Thanks for all the ideas and those strawberries looked wonderful. Happy Valentines day to everyone who has love and to everyone who just loves themselves, or tries to (like me) lol ❤🧡💛💜
Your videos are the perfect combination of affordable & creative meals meets Bill Nye the Science Guy 😂 I love it!
Haha I love Bill Nye! I try to be practical but sometimes it's fun to experiment and just see what I can come up with.
O girl I absolutely love these ideas . You're amazing . Thanks for always sharing . And now thanks to you me and my husband are shopping at a discount grocery store . Rebecca thanks again for always sharing very much appreciated ❤ from Baton Rouge
I’m so glad I could help! I love making things on a budget! 😊
Thank you for the rangoon tutorial! I can never find wontons even at the big grocery stores
You're welcome! It's a labor of love but you can make them and freeze them for so it's definitely worth trying!
I remember looking for them in Walmart and they ended up being in the refrigerator section near the salad. It was months later that we found them. If your store has a website, see if you can look for the Row number to get a head start.
i luv the view from your window! wow.. btw i live alone and i was so glad to pick up some great food prep ideas when you were cooking for the elderly woman..with individual servings. much better to a variety.
I’m so glad you got some good meal prep ideas from the video!
Watching this while at lunch at work. My dog’s nails also click on the floor when she walks, so hearing it in the background is so comforting 😊
aww that's sweet! my babies are due for a nail trim
Thank you for being willing to experiment for us! Also, I so appreciate your creativity!❤
More Dollar Tree desserts PLEASE!!! You are so amazing!! Thank you! ❤❤
Funny enough my next video was going to be some Valentine’s Day dessert ideas
That is how I make cheese for my pierogi. I use 1 gallon of whole milk and a half a cup of vinegar with the same process. I don’t blend it. I add
mashed potato and make potato and cheese pierogi. They are delicious. We call it farmers cheese or dry cottage cheese.
That sounds absolutely delicious!
I am literally addicted to the garlic bagel chips they are good with just plain cream cheese or any kind of dip you buy at the store I literally go through probably five bags a week😂😂
I love your idea of attempting to make your own cream cheese! Your wonton crabs look great!
I'm so glad you liked the cream cheese and the wonton crabs! 😊
I have also done chocolate covered clementine slices with a pinch of sea salt. Very tasty could do with the strawberries for variety
The two of you are absolutely adorable!!
Thank you!! I don’t think I’ll be making cream cheese but enjoyed your experiment. Happy Valentine’s Day
You’re welcome! I’m glad you enjoyed the experiment!
This was not a fail. because you tried. Looked good. Home you are enjoying your new part of the world.
I bet adding some sprinkles, shredded coconuts, or shaved white chocolate to those chocolate covered strawberries would make them look extra fancy.
You’re so right! Sprinkles or coconuts would look so cute! I haven’t seen white chocolate at dollar tree unfortunately. I check every so often
Thanks for sharing these delicious ideas with us! I want to try them very soon!
I hope you enjoy them!
Just like you go to the trouble of double frying for that great crunch, double coating cookies or strawberries in choc makes them extra luxurious. Use different chocolates or the same kind of chocolate twice, it’s pretty glorious. Or if you have edible glitter/sprinkles in the pantry, decorate a couple for visual contrast.
Out of the ball park! Grand slam! 😊
Rebecca, I like making cream cheese by making yogurt and straining it. It takes more time, but I love it!
Excellent video. Love these simple recipes.
❤❤❤
love the ideas, Happy Valentines Day!!
Hi Rebecca! Love your content. I don't live in the US but is always fun to watch for inspiration for different recipes. Regarding the coconut oil into the chocolate dipping or coating is because coconut oil solidifies at room temperature and so is a quick way of creating a chocolate coating that has a nice snap with oit having to temper the chocolate.
I love learning new tricks. Dollar tree does sell coconut oil! 😀
I have a couple of packs of the crab meat and hadn’t used it because I didn’t know how it would be but seeing you use it makes me wanna make some Rangoon now!! I make it for my grandkids but use the imitation crab from the refrigerator section. Just the little snack stick version for .99 and they always turn out great!! I put just a bit of Worcestershire sauce in them❤ happy Valentine’s Day sweet Rebecca!!!
That sounds great! glad I gave you a use for the crab! just be sure to rinse it well :)
It's amazing that you made your own cream cheese! That's amazing!
You two are adorable!! I loved how you said happy Valentine's day to him. I'm happy for both of you! You also have inspired me to make crab Rangoon!!
I'd use plain pita chips for the dip. ❤
My partner is so excited that I don’t like celebrating with dinners out during times where everyone is going out, like Valentine’s Day. We plan on just picking a meal that takes more than the usual effort and doing that.
Even for Mother’s Day for his mom, I said we should just bring the ingredients and make stuffed shells with her because she brought them up at Christmas as something she always loved doing with him. The look on his face when I said we should do dinner with her and for a second he thought I meant going out 😂
Love the ideas and thank you for doing the desserts. Everything looks delicious
You’re welcome! I’m so glad you liked it!
Great video! Ironic: I made crab rangoon on Monday; all ingredients from Aldi (love their fresh imitation crab; $3.69/lb., leg style [or chunk], and it's not fishy). Also, I love making fried rice using those DT 90 sec Jasmine packs when I forget to plan ahead and make my rice the day b4. Bravo, Rebecca!
Aww, what a cutie you have to test taste your V-Day treats! thanks Rebecca, and Happy Valentine's Day Everyone!
Love Gemma thanks for mentioning her 💖
The complete surprise on face when you realized it was snowing was fantastic! Those are great ideas to make Valentines special ❤ Great Job
Yay top 136 comments. Love this channel. Best to you and your family. Thanks for making this video. Happy holidays
Whoot, whoot! 🎉 Love these ideas.
Thanks, I’m glad you liked it!
My Dollar Tree is very simple, no freezer section. If it did have a freezer section I would for sure buy the salmon because it is so expensive any place else. You could still put together some meals with shelf stable food but as a gluten free person, that must be gluten free there really is not much there to feed people like me. I shop Walmart, Aldi, Save a Lot, and sometimes Price Chopper. But only because those are the stores available to me in a smaller town. That likes to call it's self a city, when it clearly is not. Our Sign says Welcome to Fulton the city with a future...ha ha more like a ghost or sleeper town.
I buy Dollar Tree Milk all the time. I always have 6-8 cartons of Whole Milk on the shelf. My son has been making us Tuna Sushi with Starkist E.V.O.O. Tuna in Oive oil. It is so very good. We get 4-5 rolls for the price of one from a sushi style restaurant. Can't wait to try that sushi dip with the seaweed chips from Dollar Tree. Well done.
Your Dollat Tree mascarpone might be great for use in a Tiramisu, a Cannoli or any of the other mascarpone based Italian desserts. Yum!
i like making crab rangoon. i've never tried making my own cream cheese or wonton wrappers and that sounds like fun. for my filling i also add a couple dashes of worcestershire and a teaspoon-ish of soy sauce and some minced garlic. for the chocolate covered strawberries; you can put some of the chocolate in a ziplock, trim a tiny corner off and drizzle chocolate on top of the covered strawberries. it looks fancy and hides the unevenness of the strawberries.
Love watching you and your hubby and girls
Coconut oil gives chocolate that Magic Shell snap.
Thank you for the real time cream cheese experiment. Now I'm eager to try this with soy milk! It is pretty hard to find mock cream cheese and with the current economy changes it will only go up in price. Really appreciated seeing how it played out.
A tablespoonful of vegetable shortening helps when melting chocolate chips
Ooh! Fry the homemade wontons to use as chips!
Yep! That’s a great option!
❤ the video ! Now I’m hungry for chocolate covered strawberries ❤
Good morning, my dear! Love the intro (little song and your channel emblem)! So excited for some Vanetine ideas! It's just me and my two kiddos but I want to make them feel special. My 10 yr old told me last night he needs to find a Valentine before the 14th and I told him I'd be his Valentine. We can guess how that went 😂😂❤❤
I am so glad you liked it! You are going to love the recipes in this one. 😊
@DollarTreeDinners You're right! They look delicious and I'm excited to try them with my kiddos. I love how you took one meal and turned it into multiple variations. What a great idea to build scenarios into a set of ingredients (you've always been super conscious about people's options and ways they can make your meals in every scenario). I love your annual holiday dinners 🥳
Crab Rangoon idea: Can you do the prep like this? Day one cream cheese and wrappers Day 2 make rangoons and do first fry Day 3 do 2nd fry before serving? Or put in oven to crisp and only fry once? For one person doing this it is a true labor of love. Reminds me of our family getting together to make Vietnamese eggrolls. And we did NOT make the wrappers with our group of 6 people!
You can totally prep them in advance, and even freeze them! That’s what a lot of restaurants do. Then fry them fresh when you are ready to eat them
Well done 👏 ❤ Not for my pallet but....well wait there was those cookies an strawberries 😋 😂
Glad you found something you liked! 😊
We appreciate you 😊
Cool idea making your own ingredients
I have picked up the sweet and spicy tuna packet, then add mayo. Then I do basically the same as your sushi bowl.
Our local grocery store does extra large chocolate covered strawberries, a dozen is $15.00 this year.
Yay! New vid!
We like our crab rangoon dip with tortilla chips...we have some allergies in our family so we can't use wonton wrappers so we just make a dip (we also use dairy free cream cheese).
How is it with tortilla chips? I was thinking that the corn flavor wouldn’t jive with the crab flavor, I didn’t think about tortilla chips being a gluten free option at the time
@@DollarTreeDinners It's actually pretty good! It adds a slightly salty roasted corn flavor to it, but we have found that flavor pairs really well with any savory cream cheese dip (especially, if garlic is also involved). :)
thanks for clarifying! I hope my saying that I chuckle a bit when I see corn chips paired with crab rangoon dip wasn't offensive.
@@DollarTreeDinners 😄 I can definitely see it sounding a bit strange! We live in the southwest so we do tend to pair tortilla chips with a lot of things that might sound strange (but they really do sub well for our gluten allergy relatives and they are pretty cost effective). 😝
Great job! My DT sells 2 oz triangles of cheddar cheese and also sells yogurt. Plain yogurt works best, just check out some yo-chee recipes; I sub it for cream cheese all the time.
Hello guys, Whenever I do some dippin' I find there's always a bit of chocolate left over so why not a bit of hot chocolate for the hardworking chef....hehehe. $50 bucks for chocolate covered strawberries.....I'd rather dip some nice farmer's market berries in godiva chocolate for less money 🍫🍓 Here in Mexico February is the Month of Love and Friendship. (El Mes de Amor y Amistad) so lovely friends have a loveful month (and then some) be well Jacques
Hello 👋., I enjoyed the video. Thank you for sharing. You've convinced me to try DTs salmon and teriyaki sauce. Blessings 🙌
You're so welcome! I hope you enjoy it!
Good morning Rebecca ❤
Good morning Jami!
Dollar Tree seems to be taking advantage of the fact that their customers often don't have other options so are removing the low cost items (ie the cream cheese nlend) and that sucks.
I feel like the amount of grit in the crab rangoon might be reduced by using powdered sugar instead. You might still have the grit from the cream cheese itself, but I don't think the granulated sugar helps matters in that respect.
I get that inflation’s gonna inflate so I don’t begrudge them raising their prices, but if they’re gonna do that at some point they’re gonna have to change their name because it’s no longer a dollar store. A cheaper store, yes, but not a dollar store.
I think ultrapasturized milk (which is what that shelf stable milk is) is more difficult for making this type of cheese. I've tried it but had to add more vinegar and it yielded less.
For sure, worth a shot though!
Good morning!
Sweet!
FYI Seaweed sheets: I have started noticing the California hazard warning showing up on almost all seaweed products, so it might be of interest for folks to read the back label to make sure the version they are buying doesn't have that listing...(I have been seeing this on ground spices, too.)
I would love to see a dollar tree challenge with gluten free recipes! I am not gluten free, but my partner is. Recipes on a budget can be a challege with these restiections 😣
I was thinking the dollar tree pizza crust cut into squares and spray with oil, season, and bake.
It maybe a product from concentrate. The milk is shelf stable and less lactose.
Hi Rebecca 👋🏻
Win
Good morning darlin.... great way to start my day 😘....my anniversary with my daughter's father is on this day; I'd love to make him something special. He's still my very good friend 😊❤️😄.
Good Morning
Good morning Teresa!
Dang fab fit fun is now 70 every 3 months?? The last time I had it, it was 50. That was a few years ago now tho.
🎉
I love crab ragoons, I just can't eat the pollack that the imitation crab is made out of. I have an allergic reaction; my tongue and throat get numb..
Oh no! You can use canned crab (the real stuff) for a few extra dollars. A 6 ounce tin of crab is $3.99 at my grocery store which could be a safe way for you to enjoy crab Rangoons
btw, luv the intro
🥰🥰🥰
sorry Rebecca. My vote is epic fail.
😮
I think the dip would work best with a plain potato chip, you'd get the lightness of the wonton plus a little saltiness.
That is a great idea!
I thought your crab Rangoon would work especially if a sweet or spicy dipping sauce was used.
just a FYI you have been hacked on your Facebook shorts by a Ed Sheradon???? your voice his name
Not hacked, he just takes my content and reposts it. I don’t know who he is or why he does it
You should also be able to add a bit of coffee to thin out the chocolate. Which could flavorwise work out nice with some cookies.
coffee is water based, adding water to chocolate will cause it to seize up. I can't recall the exact terms but you can add a lot of water to chocolate but not just a little bit of water. For example, you can add water based liquids like cream when making liquid versions of chocolate like ganaches, but for solid chocolate you typically need to add oil.
OFF TOPIC: After seeing your prep for the wedding (whoa, you looked great btw), I believe I am not alone in asking: Please do a gwrm doing your make up. I am not very proficient so am always looking for folks I can relate to doing things I'd like to do better. ie. doing make up. Hope you consider this! TIA
I don’t think the crab rangoons be an epic fail or a win, I think they’ll be good but definitely not good enough to put in this amount of effort again
Challenge going forward : No nuts, No seafood.
I usually like your ideas, but way too much time, effort and money spent on the crab dishes!
The cost breakdown is in the description, the crab Rangoon was $7.50 to make up to 40 of them (it’s the same price for the dip if you chose to make that) and as I mentioned a few times this was just me experimenting for fun and I strongly recommend to just buy the ingredients if you can.
Sometimes I just like to have some fun and try new things. Doesn’t mean you have to though :)
hey Rebecca,
please edit the cost of the sushi style bowls. it came out to $13.69 but the number in the description is $23.69. would be a shame if someone passed it up because they think it costs more than it actually does!
You’re absolutely right! I’ll get that fixed. Thanks for letting me know!
@@DollarTreeDinners you're very welcome! 😇
Gurl! I love your videos. As someone that lives alone that used to cook for a lot of people it's quote refreshing to see smaller meals and new ideas.
BUT! Watching you cook drives me crazy lol. I couldn't let me hair stay down like that. I'd get so angry I'd end up ripping it all out. Only thing I could focus on is how she not getting pissed at her hair!? I'd have none left. Lol I love you! No hate, Hope you're enjoying it here in Washington! 😊❤
LOL it's a challenge because it looks more presentable sometimes for my hair to be down on camera. But it does drive me crazy sometimes too and I just want to throw it up in a bun.
Win