The Only Produce That’s Worth Buying at Trader Joe’s
Trader Joe’s is an amazing store for so many reasons, but one consistent complaint from shoppers is that the produce spoils quickly and isn’t necessarily as good as produce from other grocery stores. (See: Why Is the Produce at Trader Joe’s So Freaking Disappointing?) For these reasons, many people pick up their bagged salads (which we totally support!) and then move right through the produce section to shop for snacks, wine, and frozen goodies.
There is one piece of produce, however, that is, for lack of a better word, famous for it’s good value and quality. The item: the 19-cent banana.
While bananas aren’t notorious for being particularly expensive, this price — which is consistent across all Trader Joe’s stores — puts the price per pound at about half of the average cost.
And it’s especially good news if you’re not a big banana-eater, have a small household, or are just trying to grab something to bring to work. While you can absolutely separate bananas at other grocery stores, it’s not exactly encouraged. At Trader Joe’s, though, you can totally pick off one banana and get in line.
Plus, this way, you can really pick out what you want. Too many times I’ve gotten a bunch that’s either all ripe (so you need to eat them ASAP) or all unripe, so you’re waiting way past your original banana craving to eat the darn things. Then you have like two days to eat all the bananas. It’s tricky!
The banana pricing at Trader Joe’s is noteworthy enough to have developed a vigorous debate on the message board Reddit about the value of buying bananas by the unit — and, boy, do people have strong feelings about this!
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Do you have your own feelings on the matter? Leave them in the comments below!