15 Of The All-Time Worst Trader Joe's Items, According To Customers

Heading off on a shopping trip to Trader Joe's is pretty exciting. There's no denying that it's kind of like going on a modern-day adventure, especially if you're in range of a few different locations. Those in the know make it a point to visit different Trader Joe's stores in order to take advantage of things like location-specific items, and you never know what you're going to find. Honestly, that's the kind of excitement we get out of bed in the morning for.

As much of a fan favorite as this grocery chain is, it's far from perfect. Customers have a number of complaints about Trader Joe's that include things like the seemingly arbitrary discontinuing of beloved products and parking lots that seem to be modeled on the crayon drawings of a sleep-deprived toddler. Some products, too, have left customers regretting their TJ's-related life choices and wondering exactly what processes — or lack thereof — were behind some things making it to the shelves.

We wanted to know what products were nearly universally panned, so we headed out to social media and Reddit in particular. The great thing about Reddit is that users don't hold back, and we found that in a number of cases, they agreed that some Trader Joe's products would have been better off staying the fever dream they were apparently created during. From off tastes and bad textures to products that have a distinct aroma of death, let's take a look at the things that everyone skips.

The idea of a naturally flavored chewing gum is perfectly fine, but Trader Joe's version gets some serious hate right out of the gate. After all, customers have to come to terms with eating something described as looking like animal feed pellets, rabbit food, and what comes out of the other end of the rabbit. 

That would be excusable, but that's just the start of the complaints. The flavor is described as what you might expect cardboard or wall spackle to taste like, and as for the mint, it lasts just long enough that you might think you tasted something. Finally, customers warn that it's weirdly sticky — so sticky that you definitely shouldn't touch it with your fingers. One Reddit user got specific: "Not only does it have no flavor at all, it got stuck all over on my back teeth. Then when I tried to brush it out, it got stuck on my toothbrush! Had to spend 15 minutes picking gum out of my toothbrush ..."

If you saw the oddly named Truffley Soy Sauce on the shelves at Trader Joe's and gave it a bit of a side-eye, you're not alone. When it was announced on Reddit, it was met with skepticism. Reddit users wondered if the flavors of truffle and soy sauce work together. They definitely worked together, just not in the way anyone wanted or needed. One Reddit user succinctly summed up their experience with the product, writing, "Every time one broke the entire store would smell like a corpse for an hour."

That's both oddly specific and deeply unsettling, and it's not the only such opinion out there. Many said that the smell made it absolutely impossible to enjoy, and there are entire threads dedicated to coming up with ideas to use it up and avoid waste. It was also said to have a dash of acetone aroma, opening a bottle and telling some unsuspecting mark to take a big, deep whiff was the epitome of cruelty. Let's have a moment of silence for the poor people who didn't put the lid on right and ended up deep-cleaning their fridge and freezer to try to get rid of the stench.

Trader Joe's is proud of the fact it spent months developing its Organic Ranch Dressing, but the general consensus is that R&D probably should have stayed at the drawing board. We here at Tasting Table called it the absolute worst Trader Joe's bottled salad dressing on the shelves, and we're not the only ones. Tons of Reddit users also consider it the chain's worst dressing, calling it out for being weirdly thin, unpleasantly watery, and we can agree that we all love ranch dressing in general, right? Some say they'd swear off it forever if TJ's was their only option. 

The taste is a total swing-and-a-miss, too, condemned for being so sour that customers can't get past the idea that they're eating something well past its expiration date. This particular ranch isn't alone in getting hate, either, with the vegan coconut-based ranch getting called out for being something closer to Jell-O than salad dressing.

The holidays are a time when we can look forward to not only some seasonal treats of our own, but also getting some fun snacks for our furry, feathery, and scaly family members. However, this is where we stress you should definitely check the ingredients any time you're getting them something new. Trader Joe's Turkey & Cranberry Recipe Cat Treats look and sound perfectly fine, right? Take a look at the ingredients, though, and you'll find garlic on the list.

Garlic is incredibly toxic to cats in any amount, and experts stress that it should be absolutely and 100% off-limits. Garlic poisoning can cause a range of symptoms from stomach and gut problems to fatigue, difficulty breathing, jaundice, and could have potentially deadly consequences that can lead to not only a vet visit, but a prolonged stay and treatment that could include blood transfusions. By the time symptoms manifest, the compounds in the garlic have already reacted with red blood cells and can cause severe anemia, making Trader Joe's cat treats not only bad, but dangerous.

Pickles are delicious, and so are peanuts. Flavored peanuts are an ideal snack, and we imagine that was the start of the thought process behind Trader Joe's Peanuts in a Pickle. It started to go a little off the rails after that, and it's safe to say that this is one of the chain's most reviled products. There are way too many people who say they taste like vomit, with a little bit of moldy attic, public bathroom, and well-worn gym socks thrown in for good measure. 

Even the few that say they like them admit that it took them a while to adjust to the taste and come to accept it for the unholy marriage that it is, while others add that the aftertaste is off-putting and oh-so-long-lasting, and suggest perhaps the target audience is around 10 years old. One reviewer wrote, "[They] tasted like kissing someone who hadn't brushed their teeth in a week. It was like licking the floor of an abandoned single-wide. They tasted like sucking on a musty sponge that had been sitting on the kitchen sink for days. ... I'm sorry Trader Joe's, but... it's a no for me."

Making restaurant-quality pho is something of an art form, so the idea that you'd find it in a ready-to-heat-and-eat form that comes in a box is a bit of a hard sell. Trader Joe's promises to deliver on flavor and texture, and honestly, we live in such a weird world that anything's possible, right? Unfortunately, we also live in a world that's also frequently disappointing in a way that seems almost impossible to achieve, and you'll see plenty of Reddit users marveling at the fact that TJ's somehow succeeded in achieving perfectly flavorless pho broth. 

It somehow manages to be both bland and awful, unable to be saved by adding any number of ingredients — so many it's an entirely different soup. One Reddit user dedicated several paragraphs to what we're calling The Unfortunate Pho Incident of 2022, summing things up by writing, "We never spoke of the horrors of that soup again and I can't imagine who in their right mind would ever think to repurchase it. There should be some kind of warning label on the shelves, 'Our most hated produce, purchase at your own risk.'"

There are a lot of creative ways to use sriracha, but if we're talking about Trader Joe's version, it's widely believed that the only way to use it is not at all. Anyone who loves sriracha knows that it's perfectly balanced spicy heat, but that's not what you'll find here. Reddit users who do use it note that they use it more like ketchup: It's sweet, not spicy, and if there were a worldwide shortage of all other kinds of sriracha, then it might be an option. Maybe. 

One Reddit user who called this the worst thing they've ever bought from Trader Joe's explained: "Tastes salty ... does not have that pepper taste whatsoever. Almost a fish sauce quality to it even though there isn't any in the ingredients." If you're wondering how different it can be, consider this: Huy Fong's version doesn't have to be kept in the fridge thanks to the vinegar and chiles, but Trader Joe's does. Unless you're looking for a sweet and garlic sort of ketchup... thing, maybe give this one a miss.

Trader Joe's gets a lot of flak for its store brand overnight oats, and that only starts with people who loathe the idea of the plastics and packaging that go into making these single-serving breakfasts that are really easy to make at home in glass jars. Others hate being charged a premium for what should be an extremely affordable breakfast, and the taste and texture are widely panned, too.

Some say that it's a bit like eating Play-Doh, and it's been said to have wild inconsistency and sometimes taste like spoiled milk, baby spit up, incredibly sour, and a bit like there's some fermentation going on. As for the flavors, those get hate for being way too strong and artificial-tasting. One Reddit user took aim at the pumpkin, writing, "It was like a pumpkin just threw up an unnecessary amount of pumpkin spice into my soggy bowl of oatmeal."

The bread at Trader Joe's is — to put it mildly — very hit-or-miss. When we here at Tasting Table ranked 13 different types of Trader Joe's breads, there were some great ones. There were also some that were the polar opposite of great. We're not alone in thinking that, as there are a ton of complaints from Reddit users who find so many of the chain's bread options to be dry, stale-tasting, and for some — like the Organic Whole Wheat — allow for the unique experience of being able to close your eyes and imagine you're actually eating a piece of cardboard. 

The other big beef people have is that across the board, there's a lot of mold going on. While that's often blamed on a lack of preservatives — which isn't a bad thing in itself — it's pretty inconvenient if you can't find the time for a daily shopping trip, or room in the freezer for a few loaves of bread. Even tortillas tend to go bad quickly, and there's one more complaint that we found funnier than we probably should have. Just so you know, the brioche might have a layer of paper on it. For best results: Remove paper first. You heard it here first, folks.

You'd be hard-pressed to find someone who hasn't had the lunchtime of an ultra-busy day saved by a pack of instant ramen, swooping in like a tiny, salt-filled superhero. It's the perfect lunch when you don't have time for anything else, and here's where Trader Joe's falls short. There are plenty of Reddit users who say the only way these are any good is if you add your own noodles, meats, potatoes, egg, and/or seasonings, and at that point, that's like adding a whole homemade soup to the soup you bought.

The amount of noodles is laughable and results in countless Reddit posts of people wondering if this was a normal amount of noodles or if the manufacturer forgot to put most of them in. Add in complaints about the texture, noodles that taste wrong and don't cook right, and you have the product that some say you're better off not having ramen at all.

Cold brew coffee isn't just trendy, it's downright delicious. Trader Joe's concentrated cold brew is great in theory, but plenty of customers say that it doesn't deliver. Some Reddit users say that they've had an impossible time getting the dilution right — and the instructions are no help whatsoever — and it's only resulted in a disappointing cup every time. Others say that it's way too sour, and those who agree say it tastes lemon-flavored. 

It's been denounced as being way too far into the bitter side of things, while others complain it's so acidic that it — and the amount of milk needed to make it palatable — results in some uncomfortable gut issues. Some suggest trying the coconut, but not all the flavors have a ton of fans. One Reddit user voiced disgust over the pumpkin spice, writing, "Doesn't taste like coffee at all but rather like sour cinnamon ginger water. ... It tastes like a Fireball whiskey hangover to me."

Watermelon is 92% water, so we can't even begin to fathom the leap of logic required to think it's a good food to dehydrate. That's thinking so far outside the box that you can't even see the box anymore, and it's safe to say that Trader Joe's didn't stick the landing on this one. One Reddit user explained that it has a lot of seeds, dries the mouth, and overall tastes bitter and unlike watermelon.

Some suggested that the only way it makes sense that this seed-filled bag of weirdness made it to the shelves was if someone at Trader Joe's had a family member who's a watermelon farmer, while others kind of felt they deserved to experience that level of disappointment for being gullible enough to buy it. Trader Joe's has since tried again with Crispy Dried Watermelon, opinions are still mixed. Maybe stop trying to dehydrate a fruit that has water in the name?

Trader Joe's advertises Jingle Jangle as limited, but head to Reddit, and you'll find posts of leftover candy being hawked as perfect for spring cleaning treats and Easter. Employees show plenty of post-Christmas piles of it and say they look forward to seeing how stores are going to spin it as a St. Patrick's Day item because absolutely no one wants it for Valentine's Day.

The biggest problem Reddit users have with it is that it's overpriced, especially for chocolate that definitely doesn't taste like any kind of quality (except bad). If you're wondering whether Reddit users have separated and counted pieces of candy, the answer to that is, "Of course." One found that of the 247 pieces in the 2024 vintage, 87 pieces were popcorn and 55 were milk chocolate candies. Some note that stale popcorn adds insult to injury, and it's pretty easy to buy the components and make chocolate-covered goodness at home. Also? It's impossible to open gracefully.

Trader Joe's Mandarin Orange Chicken has been so widely lauded that it almost feels sacrilegious to say anything bad about it, but we just call them as we see them, folks. Reddit is full of complaints about the quality of the chicken in this one-time fan favorite, with many saying that the meat has become unpleasantly chewy, full of weird gristle, and too tough to easily even eat. And that's what little chicken there is: Customers say it's more breading than meat now, with one Reddit user saying, "It was very disappointing to have maybe 10 pieces of actual chicken and then what was essentially the fried bits you'd get at Long John's."

Plenty of disillusioned customers note a strange chemical taste, that it doesn't cook up as crispy as it used to, and some are convinced that they got a bad bag ... until they get another and it's just as disappointing. First-timers are especially sad, like the Reddit user who wrote, "Had it for the first time the other day and felt sick after. Not like food poisoning sick, but poor life choices sick."

If you'd like to make restaurant-quality pad Thai at home, one of the best tips we can give you is to skip the Trader Joe's version. It's widely panned by Reddit users who are shocked to find it has something of a single flavor, and that's garlic. One Reddit user explained, "I finally tried it today and I think eating an entire bulb of garlic would have been less garlicky somehow...?"

For others, it's the texture that's the dealbreaker: Some say the noodles are weirdly crunchy, and the bean sprouts — of which there are entirely too many — become mushy and spread their unpleasant texture throughout the entire dish. It's lacking in the tofu department and has broccoli that gives off weird asparagus vibes, and some say the entire flavor profile is repulsive. One Reddit user wrote, "Remember eating dirt when you were a kid? Relive that experience with 'Trader Joe's Pad Thai.'"

In order to get a wide range of options on products from across the Trader Joe's footprint, we headed to Reddit. There, we looked for products (past and present) that were widely disliked by scores of customers who advised others not to make the same mistakes they did, and spend their hard-earned dollars on products that aren't going to leave you feeling some serious regret.