![](\"https:\/\/www.simplyrecipes.com\/thmb\/28JH_2kx7Ufe92ykFCSWOovWcpE=\/6098x4065\/Simply-Recipes-Trader-Joes-Storefront-Sarah-Crowder-3-b5ff26f6dcb5467da1778d407f21db30.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Despite how much we gush about Trader Joe\u2019s at Simply Recipes, it pains us to say that the grocery store has let us down on occasion. The freezer section is famous for countless hits like Mandarin orange chicken and cauliflower gnocchi, and our editorial team has fallen hard for the mini cheeseburgers and soup dumplings too. However, the options aren\u2019t all winners.\u00a0These seven items disappointed us so much that we\u2019ll never buy them again.\n<\/p>\n Simply Recipes \/ Photo Illustration by Wanda Abraham \/ Retailers below<\/p>\n <\/span> <\/p>\n Two of our editors immediately called out Trader Joe\u2019s frozen pad Thai. \u201cOof! For how much sodium this has, it\u2019s surprisingly tasteless,\u201d says Associate Editorial Director Myo Quinn.\u00a0“It also contains so many bean sprouts, which make the whole dish wet, not in a good way. You\u2019d be better off doing takeout!\u201d\u00a0\n<\/p>\n Senior Editor Laurel Randolph agrees: \u201cAs much as I want the magic of frozen, prepared noodles, they just don’t capture the goodness of a fresh noodle dish most of the time. TJ’s pad Thai is no exception\u2014the textures aren’t quite right, and will leave you feeling like you’re eating leftover takeout.\u201d\n<\/p>\n Simply Recipes \/ Photo Illustration by Wanda Abraham \/ Retailers below<\/p>\n <\/span> <\/p>\n Laurel has also learned to skip the frozen bags of breaded cheese curds at Trader Joe\u2019s. \u201cCheese curds are meant to be freshly fried and immediately shoved into your mouth. Case in point, this frozen version. They’re not bad<\/em>, but they’re not good. They lack the crunch and molten cheesiness of fresh fried cheese curds that make them so delicious.\u201d\n<\/p>\n Simply Recipes \/ Photo Illustration by Wanda Abraham \/ Retailers below<\/p>\n <\/span> <\/p>\n Here\u2019s a case where our editors don\u2019t necessarily agree. While Laurel is a fan, General Manager Emma Christensen says that the frozen meatballs are “the only product I will truly never buy again. I want to love them because they’re so convenient, but I find the texture rubbery and the flavor weirdly bitter.\u201d\n<\/p>\n Simply Recipes \/ Photo Illustration by Wanda Abraham \/ Retailers below<\/p>\n <\/span> <\/p>\n This Japanese-style fried chicken just doesn\u2019t deliver for Myo. \u201cThese are okay as fried chicken bites, but I wouldn\u2019t call them karaage, which are supposed to be light, crispy, and tender. These aren\u2019t that. The breading is chewy, tough, and too thick in some parts.\u201d\n<\/p>\n Simply Recipes \/ Photo Illustration by Wanda Abraham \/ Retailers below<\/p>\n <\/span> <\/p>\n If these fiocchetti\u2014cheese-filled pasta bundles\u2014had been packaged without the pink sauce, I\u2019d be singing a different tune, as the pasta itself is just right. Unfortunately, the sauce totally ruins them. The tomato cream sauce is indeed pink, almost unnaturally so, and the flavor veers way too sweet and cloying. Plus, the ratio of sauce to pasta is all wrong, with the pasta swimming in the cream sauce, making the whole dish soup-like.\n<\/p>\n Simply Recipes \/ Photo Illustration by Wanda Abraham \/ Retailers below<\/p>\n <\/span> <\/p>\n \u201cWhile everyone has tried to crack the code on convenient mashed potatoes, from frozen dinners to boxed flakes to TJ’s pucks, no one has really succeeded,\u201d says Laurel. \u201cSomething unfortunate happens to the texture of potatoes when they’re frozen like this, creating a watery, less-than-satisfying result.\u201d\n<\/p>\n Simply Recipes \/ Photo Illustration by Wanda Abraham \/ Retailers below<\/p>\n <\/span> <\/p>\n The party where my friends introduced me to Trader Joe\u2019s frozen mac and cheese bites was the first and last time I ate them. While breaded balls of carbs and cheese should be easy to like, the texture of these bites is far too mushy. They\u2019re also pretty flavorless and greasy, despite them being plenty cheesy.\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n #Trader #Joes #Frozen #Foods #Buy #Food #Editors<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Despite how much we gush about Trader Joe\u2019s at Simply Recipes, it pains us to say that the grocery store has let us down on occasion. The freezer section is famous for countless hits like Mandarin orange chicken and cauliflower gnocchi, and our editorial team has fallen hard for the mini cheeseburgers and soup dumplings […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":820,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[156,708,168,684,546,133,157],"class_list":["post-819","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dinner","tag-buy","tag-editors","tag-food","tag-foods","tag-frozen","tag-joes","tag-trader"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/artoz.xyz\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/819","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/artoz.xyz\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/artoz.xyz\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artoz.xyz\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artoz.xyz\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=819"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/artoz.xyz\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/819\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artoz.xyz\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/820"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/artoz.xyz\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=819"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artoz.xyz\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=819"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artoz.xyz\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=819"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n 1. True Thai Vegetable Pad Thai <\/span> <\/h2>\n
\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n 2. Breaded Cheddar Cheese Curds <\/span> <\/h2>\n
\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n 3. Italian Style Meatballs <\/span> <\/h2>\n
\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n 4. Chicken Karaage\u00a0 <\/span> <\/h2>\n
\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n 5. Cheese Filled Fiocchetti with Pink Sauce <\/span> <\/h2>\n
\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n 6. Mashed Potatoes <\/span> <\/h2>\n
\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n 7. Mac and Cheese Bites <\/span> <\/h2>\n