8 Trader Joe's Products Customers Complain About Most

Trader Joe's has earned something of a cult following for fan-favorite items like the infamous kimbap, convenient freezer staples, and its impressive seasonal selection each year. The store often gets praised for providing unique grocery offerings at budget-friendly prices; however, when a TJ's product misses the mark, shoppers don't hold back. Customers are just as passionately vocal about the products that don't meet their expectations as they are about the ones they love.

Whether it's a frozen entrée with an off-putting taste, produce that goes bad within days, or meals that are simply not worth the price, shoppers are not afraid to take their gripes to the internet to express their discontent. While the store still has plenty of beloved bestsellers, not everything can be a Trader Joe's steal, and these eight products are the ones that receive the most complaints from shoppers. You might want to think twice before adding these items to your cart.

American shoppers don't mess around when it comes to their ranch dressing. As a creamy dressing favorite that can be used on burgers, as a dipping sauce, or to complete a salad, customers tend to have pretty high standards when it comes to the flavor and texture of this staple. Unfortunately, Trader Joe's namesake private-label Organic Ranch Dressing fails to meet expectations. Customers claim the ranch tastes like chemicals, with one comment on a TikTok video describing the flavor as "kind of sweet/vinegar all at once like that gross craft fake mayonnaise." One reviewer even detected a metallic taste.

The ranch does have a thick consistency, which gains favor with some ranch-dressing connoisseurs, but the overall consensus is that the flavor is severely lacking, despite claiming to be packed with a flavor profile of garlic, onion, ground mustard seed, black pepper, and parsley. As one Instagram commenter simply said, "The ranch is not hitting." However, if you're a ranch-lover, you need to try Trader Joe's buttermilk ranch dressing instead, which receives extremely high praise from customers online.

Trader Joe's has tons of frozen food staples that customers love to stock up on, and while the store is typically praised for its frozen selection, not every product is a winner with customers. One such letdown is the honey walnut shrimp, which one Reddit commenter described, saying, "I find it revolting, much too sweet." The main reason for the impassioned complaints towards this dish is the sauce that accompanies the shrimp. Trader Joe's claims the sauce is a "sweet, creamy concoction that's finished with a hint of pineapple to give the flavor a bright boost." However, the customer experience tells quite a different story, describing the sauce as sickly sweet and even smelling of vomit.

Another commenter on Reddit said, "That sauce is diabolical! It is grainy and overly sweet," especially in comparison to the popular honey walnut shrimp from Panda Express. Another reviewer laments the inconsistency with this dish. At Become Betty, she explains, "the quality is all over the place," and while some shrimp crisped up nicely in the air fryer, she mentions that others have a "fishy, off-putting flavor that hits you like a tidal wave." With so many other fantastic frozen foods to choose from, you're probably better off avoiding this dish.

TJ's customers do not expect a frozen pad thai to live up to the fresh restaurant-grade version from your local Thai eatery, but they find the Trader Joe's vegetable pad thai to be particularly problematic, with one Reddit commenter going so far as to describe it as "the worst frozen meal I've ever had from Trader Joe's." The biggest complaints related to this frozen meal are that it's overwhelmingly filled with bean sprouts and is far too garlicky. Photos of the meal, shared online, have shown that bean sprouts made up about half of the dish, making shoppers feel like they were slightly misled.

Customers plead for the store to add more tofu and cool it on the bean sprouts to make this dish worth the purchase. Even garlic-lovers claim the store overdoes it in this dish. One person on Reddit explains, "dishes like this should only be an accent and not override the other flavors," to which many others agree. Despite the alluringly low price tag of $3.49 for a plant-based meal, dissatisfied customers urge others not to waste their money on this one.

Trader Joe's has an enormous selection of bread products in its bakery section, including things like sourdough, bagels, brioche, and gluten-free bread options. However, the bread from the store has a reputation among customers for molding much faster than homemade bread or bread from other grocery stores. The joke among customers is that everything at TJ's expires the day after you purchase. As it turns out, though, there's actually a good reason the bread from TJ's has a shorter shelf life than its competitors.

Trader Joe's bread is made with fewer preservatives than many other bagged grocery store breads. Preservatives are often added to bread to increase its shelf life, so it'll last longer in your pantry before molding. As one Facebook commenter explained, "Real homemade bread molds quickly. All the store-bought processed stuff doesn't because of the horrible chemicals they put in it to make it shelf stable." Customers on Reddit recommend that if you do buy the bread from TJ's you should immediately put it in the fridge or freezer, to keep it fresh.

Many American shoppers have turned to overnight oats as a high-protein breakfast, instead of plain old eggs. Packed with fiber, protein, and antioxidants, these oats can be customized with all kinds of delicious flavors, mix-ins, and toppings to fit your particular taste. So, it comes as no surprise that TJ's would hop on the trend with its own prepackaged overnight oats for $1.99 per pot. Unfortunately, customers are not too pleased with this ready-to-eat breakfast offering.

The store offers vanilla, peanut butter, and pumpkin flavor overnight oats, and shoppers aren't happy with any of them. Despite boasting a short and sweet ingredient list, Redditors claim the oats taste like chemicals. One Reddit poster described their experience, saying, "The vanilla flavoring tastes so fake and slaps you across the face with the first bite," adding that, "the oats themselves are a little too thick for my liking." Between the fake flavor and poor texture, customers claim the only real purpose for these oats is as baby food. Instead, you can easily make your own overnight oats right at home, using your favorite ingredients and getting exactly the consistency you prefer.

What's a plate of pasta without a heaping pile of Parmesan to go on top? For only $2.99, Trader Joe's namesake private-label Parmesan cheese is a tempting purchase, but customers have unfortunately found mold issues with this product. Several customers share that they have bought several bottles of this grated Parmesan cheese only to find mold in it. One customer on Reddit explained that their "first purchase got moldy in 5 calendar days from purchase, 5 days prior to sell by date." After returning the offending container, the same thing happened to their replacement, even though both had been in sealed containers.

Some Reddit posters suggest that the problem is the container, because the lid does not fit tightly. Others prefer to stick to block cheese and grate it themselves, to avoid the mold issues, but others have turned to competing grocery stores for their grated Parm, instead.

Seafood boils have gained popularity on social media recently, with seafood fans sharing their deliciously messy meals online. But customers seem to be clear on one thing: Whether you follow a seafood boil recipe at home or enjoy it hot and fresh out of the bag at a restaurant, seafood boils have no place in the frozen section of the grocery store. One Reddit commenter from Louisiana summed this up by saying, "A frozen, boxed 'seafood boil' is an abomination. And it's downright offensive to me."

The TJ's seafood boil claims to come packed with classic Cajun goodness, including shrimp, tilapia, clams, sausage, corn on the cob, and miniature potatoes, all soaked in a spicy garlic butter sauce. However, according to one unhappy customer on Reddit, "the seafood had very little flavor and the flavor that was there was very off, horrible texture." Others take issue with the portion size, highlighting how expensive the box is for such a small portion size. At $9.99, it's worth spending your money on a real seafood boil instead.

Trader Joe's customers tend to have issues with the produce being overpriced and going bad quickly. Even an employee admitted on Reddit that they and their coworkers avoid the produce section at TJ's, "because they're overpriced and expire so fast." And one produce item that shoppers find consistent issues with is the berries. Customers share stories online about their experience buying berries at TJ's just to find them moldy within days and sometimes hours of bringing them home. One customer even claims to have seen mold on strawberries as they were being unpacked at their local Trader Joe's store.

One woman on Facebook shared her moldy strawberries, saying, "Every time I buy fresh produce from Trader Joe's, they get moldy within three days, maybe a day." As it turns out, there's a simple scientific explanation for why berries tend to grow mold more quickly, and it has everything to do with the plastic packaging. Much of TJ's produce is wrapped in lots of plastic bags and containers, which can trap moisture and prevent circulation. This speeds up the ripening process and causes the fruit to go bad faster.