Trader Joe's On My Shit List

Is there a more overrated grocery store than Trader Joe's? This place is good for about four items: cheap/good cheese, super cheap wine, cheap water crackers, and single serve frozen dishes.

The good cheese isn't consistent. I can tell when the market is oversaturated, Trader Joe's gets the leftovers of Saint Andres brie or this one triple cream brie or various other high quality cheeses. Not all Trader Joe's cheese is high quality at a cheap price. But there are some. Sure, you can get 2 buck chuck and a few other cheap wines.

But the meat at Trader Joe's sucks and isn't even cheap. Yesterday, to continue my pork tenderloin tear, I got a pre-marinated loin from Trader Joe's and fired up the barby. First off, I thought it cost $5.99 and thought - what an incredible deal. It turns out it was $5.99 a pound and cost $9 for the whole loin. I got two tenderloins from Bob's Market for $15 - so those were cheaper. Granted, they were not marinated, so I had to do it myself. But anyhow, I cook it up and taste it. GROSS! It tasted like pork jerky. They put so much salt on this loin it was almost uneatable. The meat was tough. I couldn't believe it. I can get a great loin for cheaper at Bob's down the street than Trader Joe's.

Grocery stores work like this - they offer a few items at a better rate than their competition. Only a few items. They count on getting you in the store because of these items. Then, they figure correctly, you do not want to make multiple grocery store trips and will overpay for their other higher-margin items to avoid the time and travel costs it takes to go to another store.

All stores work this exact same way, whether it's Albertsons or Trader Joes or Bob's or Whole Foods. They try to sell it different, but it's all the same. Trader Joe's offers cheese, generic pasta, wine and snacks for cheap and tries to make up the margin on meat, veggies, etc, which they sell in smaller portions/less quality at higher rates. Albertsons offers things like soda, meat, veggies, and brand name grocery goods like cereal, spices, etc all at competitive prices. They try to make back their money on beer, liquor, high quality/gourmet items, and other non-sale items. Whole Foods offers higher quality produce at marginally higher prices and all other "high quality" stuff at completely ridiculous are-you-kidding me prices. And I'm no longer convinced the quality is there. Bob's meat counter is incredible. Good prices, Great Quality, but everything else is overpriced like most small grocery stores. There is no solution this for the smart customer. It will never be worth making 2-3 trips to different stores for different items. You are stuck overpaying or under buying.