Trader Joe's Most Overrated Item - Mashed Exclusive Survey
Your average Trader Joe's supermarket carries about 4,000 products (per Eat This, Not That). Sounds like a lot, right? Not when you consider that the average grocery store carries something more like 50,000. So how does the beloved brand keep things fresh with such a limited stock? You might have noticed there's a lot of product turnover. TJ's drops new products every week (yes, really), so in order to make room for those exciting new things, some products are forced to take a hike on a weekly basis.
With that kind of turnover, you know the things that stick around long term are probably pretty good. Or are they just pretty hyped up? Even though some people believe that Trader Joe's food items have cult followings, Mashed asked nearly 600 of the chain's shoppers what they thought the most overrated item was — and you may be surprised at the answer.
Survey Says
A surprising 67 people were over Trader Joe's long-time sweet treat, Speculoos Cookie Butter. Fans might be surprised to find the next item on the list at all since it's ranked as the best frozen orange chicken brand, but coming in second from last is Trader Ming's Mandarin Orange Chicken, with 69 votes. Next up: Disappointing roughly 12% of respondents were Joe-Joe's Sandwich Cookies, totting up 71 votes.
Filling the top three slots of most overrated items at Trader Joe's are vegan-friendly TJ's Peanut Butter Filled Pretzel Nuggets (103 votes), which, according to the chain are ranked among the favorites of TJ's managers. Taking nearly 20% of the vote (116 nods) is the infinitely Instagrammed Everything but the Bagel Seasoning Blend. But, coming in at number one as the most overrated item found at Trader Joe's is the famous Cauliflower Gnocchi. This item raked up 156 votes or 26.8% of the total survey.
This hyped-up dish has been the subject of articles from the Food Network, Buzzfeed, and Women's Health, but the gluten-free, vegan pasta substitute is also pretty polarizing. "Don't understand the cauliflower gnocchi hype," says one Redditor, who described the dumplings as "too gummy." "They are disgusting!!!" says another.