Trader Joe’s Foods You Shouldn’t Buy, According To Customers
MIAMI BEACH, FL - APRIL 14: Customers wait in line to enter the Trader Joe's store in South Beach on April 14, 2020 in Miami Beach, Florida. The city of Miami Beach put in place an emergency measure requiring all customers and employees at grocery stores, restaurants and pharmacies to wear face coverings to help fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. (Photo by Cliff Hawkins/Getty Images)
People love Trader Joe’s for their unique, affordably priced products, but even this incredibly popular retailer puts out a few flops from time to time. TJ’s fans love to share their favorite finds from the store, but they also warn others about the items to avoid. These are some Trader Joe’s foods that have received a lot of customer complaints online over the years, so you might want to skip them on your next grocery run.
- Beef Pho Soup – The TJ’s frozen meal section has a lot of winners, including their beloved Mandarin Orange Chicken, but this isn’t one of them. While folks say the fragrant smell of the soup is enticing, they don’t like the crunchy noodles, bland broth and average beef it contains.
- Joe’s O’s Cereal – Their take on Cheerios isn’t a good one, apparently, after a recipe change last year. People say the cereal now tastes like “cardboard” and has very little flavor.
- Watermelon Jerky – It’s basically just dried watermelon and according to some online reviews, you have to dig through mounds of seeds to get to the fruit and that all the pieces often stick together, so you get one big chunk, and one reviewer had to cut it apart with meat scissors.
- Ranch Dressing – How bad could it be? “Trash” and “horrible” are two adjectives commonly used to describe this dressing.
- Bread – Some shoppers complain that fresh bread and tortillas from Trader Joe’s start to go bad and grow mold within days after buying them. A fix used by some is to store it in the fridge or freezer, but others just skip bread products altogether.
- Certain Pasta Sauces – There’s always a lineup to choose from, but customers say they’re not all great. The Truffle Piccante Spicy Pasta Sauce gets a lot of complaints, including a comparison to “lighter fluid.” The Cacio e Pepe Pasta Sauce has also been described as “underwhelming” and “too artificial.”
- Bell Peppers & Other Produce – Some have found moldy peppers, wilted lettuce, sprouting garlic and overly ripe avocados, so you may want to hit the farmer’s market for produce instead.
- Honey Walnut Shrimp – The less-than-flattering terms used to describe this dish include “rancid,” “sickening gloop,” “cloyingly sweet,” and “egregiously bad.” That’s enough to make you skip this and stick with the Mandarin Orange Chicken.
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