There’s been a rather tired refrain on Twitter over the last couple years declaring that Trader Joe’s is “not a real grocery store.” As with any hot take, this particular assessment speaks much more to the person making it than the reality.
Trader Joe’s is an American grocery store. Americans are used to an embarrassment of choices for nearly every product in their supermarkets. By comparison, Trader Joe’s has, generally, only one kind of any given item. It also lacks a full deli counter, fish market, and bakery. It is not a supermarket — just a grocery store. But it is very much a grocery store, and a terrific one at that.
Because of their business model, Trader Joe’s is able to offer high quality products at notably low prices. By sourcing directly from suppliers, they are able to buy in massive bulk quantities while cutting out middleman markups. More than 80% of their items are procured and sold through this private label process. The result is that while supermarkets often have to track and manage 30,000 individual products, Trader Joe’s averages just 4,000.
While the value is perhaps best known via Two Buck Chuck, the pop culture label for their cheap (though no longer $2), Charles Shaw wine brand, there are deals all over the store. Those Meyer lemons and artichokes cost a fraction of the same product at Whole Foods, with no drop-off in quality. The in-house pasta varieties are as cheap as 99 cents per pound bag. A loaf of fresh sliced brioche is $3.99, less than half the cost at BezosMart.
Ten or 15 years ago, the produce quality was often lacking and many items were sold in environmentally disastrous plastic clamshell casings. This has been, perhaps, the area of the chain’s greatest strides over the years. Even on the east coast, I can now regularly find ruby red grapefruits, softball-sized California artichokes, and bags of Meyer lemons, when in season. Again, these things should only be available generally when in season, at any store. The inability to get a ripe lemon in June or a ripe tomato in January has little to do with the quality of your grocery store and much more to do with the way seasons work. They’ve also done away with much of the unnecessary plastic waste, which is no small thing.
I used to supplement my Trader Joe’s trips with Whole Foods runs for produce, meat, fish, and specialty ingredients. Now, we still get our milk at a local dairy and will visit our butcher and fishmonger for certain items (it helps that all three are within about 100 feet at the same market), and will also hit up our farmers market for seasonal veggies and eggs, but we largely wouldn’t have to do that, and some weeks we won’t. The result is that, despite cooking at home 5-6 nights a week, we can often do a full week’s grocery run at TJ’s for $100 or less.
As you’ve noticed, today isn’t Friday. My schedule has gotten decidedly looser on publishing these, but I’m still aiming for once a week. And while it wasn’t exactly planned this way, I held this one for Monday morning, because I have an additional piece of advice on grocery shopping — especially at Trader Joe’s — if you’re able to swing it: Do it on a weekday morning.
Now, many of us work regular business hours, making this impractical. But the benefits are immeasurable, if you’re able to do so. The often treacherous parking lots are a breeze to navigate. The aisles aren’t crowded and the register lines are tidy and short. Most importantly, though, the shelves are freshly stocked, ensuring you get the best pick of every item, and that even the most popular items — breakfast burritos and burrata (another steal, at $4.99 for two large balls), for us — are available.
When it comes to shopping strategy, some people like to have a structured list, while others enjoy winging it, figuring out what to make that week on the fly. The smaller quantity of items make the latter approach much less overwhelming at TJ’s, though we often go in with a mostly planned out dinner list, at the least. But another thing that makes Trader Joe’s an excellent store is its huge collection of quality frozen items, anything from pizza, to shepherd’s pie, to soup dumplings, to Indian staples like garlic naan or lamb vindaloo, any of which can be brightened up with a dash of fresh veggies or herbs.
It is true that if you want a specific cut of meat or fish, you may be out of luck. While TJ’s carries both leg of lamb and rack of lamb, for instance, to get any of my favorite cuts (shoulder, shanks, even ground lamb) I need to go elsewhere. Of course, the same can be said for many other grocery stores. And when it comes to popular cuts of chicken, beef, even salmon, Trader Joe’s generally covers the bases well.
While the purpose of this is to show the store’s versatility and ability to fill most all of your grocery needs, it wouldn’t be complete without a list of some of my favorite products. So here are some items that make Trader Joe’s not just a perfectly capable grocery store, but what I believe to be the best one in America.
Roasted garlic hummus — 8 oz. | $2.29
Hummus options have proliferated in grocery stores in recent years, but as a fan of everything garlic, this will remain my staple. And though I’ve tried a number of different brand options, none achieve the consistency or the garlic punch of the TJ’s house brand, which is also significantly cheaper.
Burrata — 2 4 oz. balls | $4.99
Try to find half this much burrata anywhere for anywhere close to this price. Go ahead. Do it. That’s what I thought.
Green onions — 6 oz. | $1.49
This might seem like a strange one. But these green onions are sealed in an airtight bag and are 2-3 times the quantity of a normal bunch. They are always fresh, rarely have any slimy/rotten bits that need to be removed, and will last you for dishes all week long.
Coconut cashews — Discontinued
Consider this a plea. One issue with Trader Joe’s is that they will, sometimes, discontinue an item. This can happen for any number of reasons on the supply side, I’m sure, but it’s really disappointing when a seemingly popular (and excellent) item disappears from the shelves, as this one has. Salty, slightly sweet, entirely addictive, America needs these back. I need them back. Mr. Joe. Trader. I’m begging you.
Pork & ginger soup dumplings — 6 for $3.49
A perfect stop-gap meal or appetizer that you can pop in the microwave while you’re preparing dinner, these are legitimately great and something of a miracle of science. They don’t burst until you eat them, and come contained in a dimpled tray that makes them easy to dress with soy sauce and attack without dropping them.
Sea salted saddled potato crisps — 5.2 oz. | $1.69
Trader Joe’s has many great snacking options. Their pita chips are excellent, as are their Everything but the Bagel potato chips. But these Pringles-esque offerings are both highly addictive and great for entertaining, as you can balance and stack any number of dips and toppings on them, as we did with creme fraiche and salmon roe for New Years.
Dark chocolate peanut butter cups — 3.5 oz. | $0.99
These also come in a larger container, but they’re a perfect pre-register impulse buy at this size, just a handful of goodness to keep on hand and pop a couple when you don’t really want dessert, or just need a midday pick-me-up.
Speaking of which…
If you’ve made it this far, I’ll leave you with a treat just as good as those dark chocolate peanut butter cups, if not better. This is comedian Paul F. Tompkins impersonating Werner Herzog reading a Yelp! Review of a Los Angeles Trader Joe’s. It’s one of my favorite things on the internet.
Happy shopping.