7 Gourmet Foods You May Find At HomeGoods

With both groceries and gas getting more expensive lately, shopping on a budget is arguably more important than it's been in years. As a discount department store, HomeGoods might seem on its face like a collection of stuff nobody else wanted. But there are gems hidden within, and shoppers have found some surprisingly high-quality groceries at low prices.

Discount department stores are often a popular place to get unusual snacks. And HomeGoods typically has a treasure trove of them, including silky-smooth European chocolates, prized for a cleaner taste than American-made chocolate. But there's also plenty for a full meal.

Every store's inventory varies, but anyone who's been to a HomeGoods before has probably seen a large collection of pasta, which is not a section to sleep on, nor are the jarred pasta sauces. Or, keeping the effort to a minimum, a variety of rare and high-quality instant noodles, dressable with an assortment of gourmet kitchen oils, hot sauces, and fancy seasonings. Some, none, or all of these may be at your local HomeGoods at any given time; there's only one way to find out.

Many of HomeGoods' numerous pasta options are imported from Italy, with brand names like Livera and La Fabbrica Della Pasta. And the best pastas are bronze-cut, and many of these discount pastas are.

Bronze-cut pasta is the best type of pasta because the microscopic engravings on certain machines' bronze pasta molds (also known as dies) result in slightly coarser pasta. These tiny grooves hold sauce much better than pasta from modern, nonstick machines. And HomeGoods can help you cook with the best on a budget.

HomeGoods has a lot more in the oil department than no-name bottles of canola oil. You can often find an array of fancier cooking or finishing oils, including avocado oil and cold-pressed olive oil. Another thing to look out for is infused olive oils. Their additional flavors may not make them suitable for cooking, but they can be fantastic on salads, breads, pastas, or sandwiches.

Pasta without sauce is almost like a salad without dressing. And just as HomeGoods carries pasta worth your time, you can also find some pretty good jarred sauces you may not find in grocery stores. The ephemeral nature of the store's inventory can leave shoppers longing to rediscover a great jar they got long ago, or you might find more recognizable names, as at least one consumer did when they found an Emeril Lagasse-brand pasta sauce.

Dry pasta isn't exactly difficult to cook, but instant noodles are even more convenient, and you'll often find a lot more variety at HomeGoods than at your typical grocery chain. Shoppers have seen a plethora of uncommon-in-America brands, but also a premium company Americans are more familiar with, Momofuku.

Momofuku instant noodles are dried instead of fried, for a delightful springiness and cleaner taste to the noodles than most other brands. This high-end instant ramen tends to be pricey too, so finding it at HomeGoods is a big deal.

Stores like HomeGoods commonly sell a vast range of European chocolates, often from brands you may not have heard of. But don't let the unrecognizable dissuade you: Chocolates from European countries like Switzerland, Germany, and Belgium typically contain fattier dairy ingredients and real cocoa butter, in addition to more refined techniques. This is a big part of why Aldi chocolate tastes so good, for instance, but also some HomeGoods chocolates.

Among the variety of HomeGoods' grocery products, you can often find an array of interesting seasonings. Again, the brands may be unfamiliar to you, but the flavors inside are just as good, if not better. You may also be able to find good deals on high-end staples, like large amounts of Himalayan pink sea salt. A few lucky shoppers have even seen saffron at HomeGoods, an unusually premium ingredient for stores like this.

Sometimes a meal just needs a little hot sauce to set things off right, and once again, HomeGoods can have some brands or flavors you may not have seen before. This can range from staples like sriracha, sweet chili, or roasted jalapeño sauces to more interesting hot sauces flavored like masala or lemon drops. Everyone has different preferences, and not every sauce is going to be a slam dunk, but you'd be hard-pressed to find many selections more varied.