16 Trader Joe's Bargains Smart Shoppers Should Never Skip

I absolutely adore my job as a food writer. Why? Well, aside from the fact that I get to try new foods and bevvies on an almost daily basis, I also regularly get to wax poetic about my favorite grocery store on the planet: Trader Joe's. Seriously, I could spend hours gushing over the store — its one-of-a-kind products and deals make it a subject worthy of much adoration, IMO.

Trader Joe's differentiates itself from the competition in plenty of ways, but it may particularly surprise TJ's newbies to learn that the store never discounts its products. The reason is simple: Trader Joe's already offers stellar prices on its myriad of offerings. As a long-time Trader Joe's shopper, there are some products I'll never buy anywhere else because TJ's has such excellent deals. Here are some of my favorite bargain buys at the fan-favorite grocer.

Prices are as of the date of publication and may vary based on region.

If you haven't already become well-versed in Trader Joe's extensive array of seasoning blends, you have some work ahead of you. But don't worry: Sampling all of them won't break the bank. TJ's has remarkably good deals on meal-enhancing seasoning blends, and I always have at least a few on hand.

Most of the store's seasoning blends sit at a sub-$3 price point, and it usually takes me several months to get through a bottle. The store's Everything but the Bagel Sesame Seasoning blend sits at $1.99 for 2.3 ounces and is perhaps its most famous. It's my go-to blend for avocado toast, and I often sprinkle it on homemade bagels. For comparison, Target's Everything Seasoning Blend comes in a 2.5-ounce container for $2.59.

Trader Joe's 21 Seasoning Salute is my go-to when I need to quickly season some chicken or a sheet pan bake. I also always have a bottle of its Mushroom & Company Umami Seasoning for the same purpose. Take this as your sign to try the store's full seasoning blend lineup; you won't be disappointed.

Any goat cheese lovers in the house? I don't know about you, but I can't get enough of the stuff, and I always go to Trader Joe's to buy it. Not only does the store have the yummiest offerings (its chèvre with herbs and cranberry chèvre logs are my personal favorites), but it also sells them at wicked good prices. 

The cranberry chèvre log is a seasonal item, but when it's available, it sits at about $5 for an 8-ounce log (a steal, in my opinion). If you prefer plain goat cheese or just want to season it yourself, you can score 5-ounce logs of plain goat cheese for just $2.99. The store also sells crumbled goat cheese (a great, flavorful replacement for feta) for $2.99 for a 4-ounce container. In comparison, a 4-ounce log of store-brand plain goat cheese from my local Fred Meyer sells for $4.99. 

Not only does Trader Joe's have an impressive variety of chips (my current obsession is the store's ketchup-flavored chips), but it also sells them at pretty darn good prices. To start with the basics, the store's ridge-cut chips come in a 16-ounce bag for $3.99, and I can confirm they're pretty delicious. An 8.5-ounce bag of Ruffles, on the other hand, would run me $5.49 at my local Fred Meyer. 

The same goes for pita chips. A 6-ounce bag of pita chips costs $2.49 at Trader Joe's, while a 7.33-ounce bag of Stacy's pita chips goes for $4.99. A 7.5-ounce bag of vegetable root chips costs $3.29 at TJ's; my local store's brand costs the same for a 6-ounce bag, while name-brand alternative (Terra) costs $5.49 for a 6.8-ounce bag. An 8-ounce bag of classic Lay's goes for $3.99, while TJ's Ode to the Classic Potato Chip retails at $2.99 for a 10-ounce bag — I could go on, but you get the picture. 

I'll forever thank Trader Joe's for making its salmon affordable, so I can actually indulge in it regularly. Both its fresh and smoked salmon are sold at pretty good prices, and I get both quite often. My preferred cut is boneless, skin-on Atlantic salmon, which typically goes for $9.99 per pound at Trader Joe's. The same cut costs $12 per pound at my local Fred Meyer. 

The margins on smoked salmon are slimmer, but still notable enough to mention here. A 4-ounce package of wild sockeye smoked salmon will run you $7.99 at Trader Joe's; on the other hand, 4 ounces of sockeye salmon from Fred Meyer costs $9.99. Other 4-ounce packages of smoked salmon are sold at a sub-$7 price point at Trader Joe's, but the best deal I could find at Fred Meyer was $6.99 for some seasoned smoked salmon fillets. 

I'll only ever get salad kits from Trader Joe's, unless they happen to be on sale at another store. My go-to non-Trader Joe's salad kit brand is Taylor Farms, and while I can occasionally find good deals on that brand at Fred Meyer, its salad kits cost $4.59 a pop when not on sale (sizes range from 8- to 12-ounce bags). I price-checked Dole's salad kits as well, and they cost just as much. 

The vast majority of Trader Joe's salad kits cost $3.99, and most of its bags are between 9 and 12 ounces, making them a better bet if you don't want to keep track of sale prices. Plus, TJ's has some incredible salad kits. My personal favorite is the Southwestern Chopped Salad Kit, which makes a great three-ingredient meal when paired with breaded fish fillets and mini tortillas. If you're looking for some new salad kits at stellar prices, you can't beat Trader Joe's. 

Trader Joe's frozen gyoza potstickers have been a staple in my freezer for over a decade. I love how multi-functional they are — I'll pan-fry some when the need for a hearty snack hits, boil some in homemade bone broth, and even add them to homemade curry dishes. You can choose between chicken and pork gyoza; both 16-ounce bags retail for just $3.99. 

There's no contest here — Trader Joe's easily beats the competition. The only comparable options at my local Fred Meyer come from the Wei-Chuan brand, which sells a 23.4-ounce bag of vegetable and pork gyoza for $10.79. More than twice the price for less than twice the amount? No, thanks. 

Target sells 12-ounce boxes of its Good & Gather brand's chicken and vegetable potstickers for $5.99 — a big markup compared to TJ's. Safeway sells its Signature Select potstickers at $8.99 for a 24-ounce bag — a better deal than its name-brand counterpart at Fred Meyer, but still not as good as Trader Joe's prices. 

Trying and ranking all of Trader Joe's ravioli gave me my introduction to the brand's refrigerated stuffed pasta, and I'm never going back — it's simply too good. The store's ravioli usually sits in the $3 to $4 range for 8-to 10-ounce packs, with the only exception being its gluten-free ravioli, priced at $4.49 for an 8-ounce serving. 

I see some frozen ravioli available at other stores for a slightly cheaper price, but for the sake of an accurate comparison, we're just going to look at what's available in the refrigerator section. Rana, another popular refrigerated ravioli brand, is available in 10-ounce packages for $5.99 each. Target's Good & Gather brand sells 9-ounce packages of its roasted chicken, garlic, and herb ravioli for $5.99. And price aside, I have to take a moment to applaud Trader Joe's different ravioli options — its goat cheese and caramelized onion ravioli is what dreams are made of. 

Before I can explain why Trader Joe's raw Argentinian red shrimp are a particularly good deal, I have to establish what makes this particular shrimp so special. The shrimp are ginormous and buttery, with a slight sweetness that resembles lobster. They're the most decadent store-bought frozen shrimp I've ever enjoyed, and they sell for $11.99 for a 16-ounce bag. 

When you can find Argentinian shrimp elsewhere, it's likely more expensive. My Fred Meyer sells the shrimp for $12.99 for a 16-ounce package, and its shrimp still have the tails (I prefer TJ's tailless version). Safeway sells them for $16.99 a pound, but those still have the whole shell on. However, those local to Sprouts can get as good a deal as TJ's — $11.99 for a 16-ounce bag of peeled shrimp. Unfortunately, I can't compare the quality of the two, but the availability and price are worth noting.

If you like snacking on nuts and have yet to try Trader Joe's ultra-expansive collection of seasoned nuts, I have a question: What have you been doing? The store's vast nut selection is nothing short of exemplary, and their prices are great. Honestly, I don't know why they don't get more widespread acclaim.

It's hard to do direct price comparisons, as many of Trader Joe's seasoned nut selections are sold in novel flavors. But I'll compare the seasoned nuts in general. An 8-ounce bag of ranch-seasoned cashews costs $4.49 at Trader Joe's, while an 8-ounce tin of everything bagel-seasoned cashews costs a whopping $10.49 at my local Fred Meyer. A 6-ounce package of roasted, salted, shelled pistachios goes for $6.49 at Fred Meyer; at Trader Joe's, however, I can get a 13-ounce package of garlic and onion pistachios for $6.99 (though these aren't shelled). 

You know when you want just a little bite of something sweet, but you can't bear the thought of having a whole cake in the house? Trader Joe's has a genius solution: mini sheet cakes. And, of course, being Trader Joe's, it can't just offer the standard flavors. You'll find mini sheet cakes in strawberry, carrot cake, cookies 'n cream, dark chocolate ganache, Chantilly cream vanilla bean, and more. And the best part? They're all under $6.

It's hard to do a direct price comparison, as most other grocery stores don't really offer equivalent products. However, my local Fred Meyer does offer single sheet cake slices, each of which weighs between 6 and 7 ounces for $3.99. All of Trader Joe's mini sheet cakes weigh 18 ounces and cost less than twice as much, for more than twice as much product. I'd call that a pretty good deal, especially if you need a quick solution to a pesky sweet tooth. 

Now, I won't call Trader Joe's frozen New York-style cheesecake the best cheesecake in the world — in a previous taste test between cheesecakes from Trader Joe's and Costco, I declared Costco to be the better pick. That said, Trader Joe's cheesecake is perfectly capable of scratching an itch (especially if you dress it up with your own toppings), and it's sold at an undeniably good deal: $7.99 for a 30-ounce cake. 

Comparison time! At Fred Meyer, a 40-ounce NY-style cheesecake goes for $19.99. A 24-ounce frozen Philadelphia cheesecake from the same store costs $12.99. You could also get a 3.5-ounce mini Chuckanut Bay Foods cheesecake for $3.99, or two 4-ounce, store-branded slices for $3.99. Even making your own will cost more than buying one from Trader Joe's when you factor in the cost of four blocks of cream cheese and eggs. Trader Joe's cheesecake is great to have around when you need a little dessert for hosting purposes.

I'd like to introduce you to the only noodles I'll ever buy: Trader Joe's organic papperdelle pasta nests. I love these little bundles of carb-loaded joy for a few reasons. Not only do they cook up thick and chewy (pro tip: for ultimate chew without being too al dente, cook the noodles in your sauce, not water), but they also come in little individually-sized nest portions. Guesswork, be gone — two or three nests gives me a perfectly filling meal without annoying leftover noodles. Best of all, though, a 17.64-ounce bag only costs $3.49. 

On the other hand, an 8.8-ounce package of De Cecco's pappardelle noodles (which don't come in nest form, BTW) costs $4.49. Target also sells pappardelle in non-nest form at $4.79 for a 16-ounce package. Given the convenience of Trader Joe's nest-style bag and their stellar price, I can't help but call them a great deal. 

Another great deal? Trader Joe's canned beans. Now, canned beans aren't an expensive pantry staple, so you won't necessarily find massive savings here; however, if you go through beans faster than you'd care to admit, the cents add up. Trader Joe's non-organic canned beans go for $0.99, while its organic counterparts are priced at $1.19.

Kroger's brand of non-organic beans sells for $1 at my Fred Meyer, and its organic canned beans sell for $1.25. Goya's beans are priced at $1.39 at my local Target (and they're not even organic). Again, the price gap here isn't massive, and where you get your beans from may just depend on where you happen to be shopping on a particular day. I wouldn't necessarily recommend going out of your way for TJ's canned beans, but if you're already at the store, they're definitely worth stocking up on. 

I always have prosciutto on hand in the summer, and I eat more of it than I care to admit (primarily on tomato and burrata sandwiches, or baguette slices slathered with goat cheese). Costco also has pretty good deals on prosciutto, but when I don't feel like going to the warehouse, I get mine at Trader Joe's. Its standard sliced prosciutto comes in a 4-ounce package and costs $4.29. 

The cheapest viable alternative I can find comes from the store brand at Fred Meyer. Its deli-sliced prosciutto comes in a 3-ounce package and costs $6.49. Another instance of more money for less product — no, thank you! Similarly, a 3-ounce package of prosciutto at Target costs $5.49. I'll vouch for Trader Joe's prosciutto, too. It never has too much fat, is flavorful and salty, and is cut to the perfect thickness — thick enough to hold its own, but not so thick that it will overwhelm whatever you're surrounding it with. 

It's a well-known secret that Trader Joe's offers some amazing deals on wine. And I'm not just talking about two-buck Chuck; you can find an impressive selection of wine at the store for under $5, and even more delicious options if you can stretch your budget a bit further. A personal favorite is the store's Espiral Vinho Verde, which costs $6.49. When not on sale, bottles of Vinho Verde at my local Fred Meyer start at $12.99. 

I've also found sub-$5 California sauvignon blancs at Trader Joe's, but the cheapest equivalent I can find at my local Fred Meyer is from the Barefoot brand and costs $10.99. Total Wine offers similar options for just under $10, but that's still about double what it would cost at Trader Joe's. Of course, not every TJ's wine will be a steal, and as much of the store's collection is private labeled by other distributors, and finding equivalents can be hard. But if you're looking for particularly good deals on wine, it would be foolish to skip Trader Joe's. 

Is extra-virgin olive oil (EVOO) a staple in your pantry? Of course it is — I never let myself run out of olive oil. Of course, it helps that I typically get mine from Trader Joe's — meaning I rarely run into instances where it's unaffordable. You'll find a few options of extra-virgin olive oil at Trader Joe's, ranging from $8.99 (for a 16.9-ounce bottle) to $12.49 for a 33-ounce bottle of "premium" EVOO. The best deal, however, is its 33.8-ounce bottle of EVOO, which goes for $10.99. 

Let's use the latter bottle as our standard for comparison. The olives that make up this oil come from Mediterranean countries, another requirement for adequate comparison. A 16.9-ounce bottle of Bertolli EVOO costs $10.49 at my local Fred Meyer. A 16.9-ounce bottle of Kroger's brand of EVOO sells for $6.99,  but it's not clear where the olives are sourced from. A 17-ounce bottle of Private Selection Italian EVOO costs $13.49. I also find particularly good deals on olive oil at Costco, but again, if you don't need a ton (or just don't feel like a warehouse trip), Trader Joe's would be my next-best pick. 

As a Trader Joe's enthusiast for over a decade, I've become pretty well-versed in the store's offerings and their value compared to their counterparts. To make as accurate a comparison of each product as possible, I looked at prices for similar items at Fred Meyer, which I find has pretty decent deals. I purposely didn't consider grocery discount stores, like Grocery Outlet. 

This isn't an exclusive list of all the best deals at Trader Joe's, and I'm also not claiming you'll never find better prices elsewhere. But one thing I love about shopping at Trader Joe's is that its prices are always reliably low. I never have to keep an eye on sales or clip coupons, which takes a lot of stress out of grocery shopping for the week.