To save money on groceries most people turn to coupons, in-store specials or buying in bulk. But here's a place most people don't think of -- the local dollar store.

They have different names, but as a category dollar stores have cheap buys on party supplies and household gadgets. Many also carry food items, including fresh produce.

The Problem Solvers wanted to see if we could find food for an entire meal and how much money we could save.

Bargain hunter Yvonne Zaske of Seattle agreed to take our challenge: make a complete meal for at least four people with food from a dollar discount retailer.

"My main objective is creating a healthy meal," she said.

Right away, Yvonne saw a couple of possibilities -- Meat sauce over spaghetti squash for a total of $3, and stuffed cabbage.

"You could do stuffed cabbage leaves. I know there's rice. So you could do stuffed cabbage leaves with rice and tomato sauce and some of these veggies inside. That would be wonderful!" she said.

After considering a number of possibilities, she settled on a menu.

"What I've got in mind is a quiche with a potato crust, carrot salad," she said.

She got enough food for a four-course dinner, complete with dessert and beverage.

She found a gallon of apple cider for $1, and an 8-ounce pack of fresh mushrooms for $2. She got two bell peppers for $1, two onions priced at three for $3, which came to 67 cents.

The six potatoes for the quiche crust cost $2, and six large eggs $1.

A quart of 2-percent milk was $1, as was the 2-pound bag of carrots and the can of pineapple for the carrot salad.

Yvonne could not find raisins for the salad. At overstock discounters, the inventory is constant changing. What you get on any give day is hit or miss. So she settled on a raisin nut mix for the salad.

And for dessert, she chose baked honey crisp apples. Four cost $2.

At the checkout stand, she made a last-minute addition -- a zucchini for the quiche that cost 34 cents.

I priced all the items at a traditional grocery store. The same products came to $31.15. Total bill at the dollar store? $13.50.

'Back at home, Yvonne got to work.

She was expecting two dinner guests, but she easily had enough food for eight with leftovers.

Eggs, milk peppers, onion and zucchini filled the quiche. Pureed vegetables and sliced mushrooms went into the mushroom soup.

Pineapple and raisin nut mix made a tasty carrot salad. And brown sugar already on hand was added to bake the cored apples for dessert.

There you have it -- a four-course, dollar store dinner for less than half what you'd pay at a regular grocery store.

In case you're wondering about quality, the milk and eggs were fresh, well within the sell-by dates. But that is something you have to watch. And don't expect a lot of top name brands.

We also found that some items, like the mushrooms, were the same price as in the grocery store.

But as a rule, you can reduce your food bill considerably by making a dollar store stop before you hit your regular grocery store.