As we all know too damn well at this point, 2020 has been a wild ride. Ever since March, we’ve had to alter the way we go throughout our day-to-day. We’ve ditched the gym for at-home workouts, we’ve binged practically everything on our favorite streaming services and for the first time ever, consumers became much more comfortable ordering their necessities online. It’s even said that around 80% of the United States populated shopped online for groceries at least once since the COVID-19 outbreak, which is truly insane to think about. With that being said, for those of us ditching the supermarket as of late for online grocery services like Amazon Fresh, Instacart and FreshDirect, we’ve been missing some of our favorites. Especially some of the best of the best Trader Joe’s food products have to offer.
If you’ve had the chance to get to your local Trader Joe’s since March, you’ll know that it’s practically a hell house. And that’s a lot to say about Trader Joe’s, because even pre-coronavirus, the store was a jam-packed mess from the start.
In the beginning, Trader Joe’s was so out of stock that you couldn’t even find dried pasta or canned beans. The store had never seen so much foot traffic, and again, that’s a lot for Trader Joe’s considering the store is so popular on a regular basis. But, as the beginning of our new world started to become the norm, people that ditched TJs for online grocery sites attempted trickling back in to notice that they weren’t the only ones. Lines would wrap around entire shopping centers, passing Smash Burger’s, Chipotle’s and Starbucks’ in the process. And you better believe there is no way we’re waiting in a line that long just to find out the supermarket was out of stock on our favorite frozen butter chicken.
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Currently, in October, the rush has relaxed down a bit, but shopping at Trader Joe’s is still a nightmare. The line is consistently so damn long, and once you’re inside, there are so many people that you can’t help but wonder if a passerby might be infected with the virus. So, we’ve tried looking at other means to see if we could get some of our favorite foods from Trader Joe’s online somehow, and much to our surprise, there is *kind of* a way.
You already know damn well that Amazon has everything you can possibly think of. There’s no surprise in that. But, much to our surprise at least, we discovered that if you type in your favorite Trader Joe’s foods into Amazon’s search bar, you might find what you’re looking for. We didn’t know such a thing was possible. If we knew this months ago, we would have saved the hour-long wait to simply get inside our favorite hippie-dippie supermarket.
From their delicious Mandarin orange chicken to their frozen butter chicken to their southwest chicken quesadillas (can you tell we like chicken?), all of our favorites are right there, ready for purchase and delivery in just a few days. But, there’s a catch. You cannot buy one lone pack of your favorite frozen food from Trader Joe’s. Each of TJ’s frozen food listed on Amazon comes in packs of two, four, six and so on. Potentially as the worst part of all, the items are tremendously overpriced.
For example, you can get a six-pack of Trader Joe’s frozen siracha shrimp bowls delivered to your home in just a few days, but it will cost you $93. That’s $15.50 a box, making these frozen meals at least around $10 extra per box. The same goes for our beloved butter chicken. A six-pack of that goes for $98, meaning you’ll be paying about $16.33 a box when they’re, like, $3.50 in-store. This is because Trader Joe’s isn’t technically selling these products. Instead, these are being offered by third-party retailers that bump up the price to make it easier for you to get your favorites. So yes, the pricing is absolutely nuts, but for some, the no-contact aspect of getting their favorite comfort foods from Trader Joe’s delivered straight to their front door is worth the pretty penny.
Honestly, we don’t know how to feel about it. Are the prices outrageous? Yes, there’s no doubt. But, is it so damn convenient? Totally. Especially as we likely hit a second wave this winter, the convenience of getting TJ’s sent through Amazon right to your front door is something we don’t think true Trader Joe’s fans should pass up. So, the decision is entirely up to you.
Finding the best Trader Joe’s food on Amazon isn’t the easiest thing in the world, so in order to do your own research to see if any third-party seller is listing your favorite TJs foods, we suggest heading over to Amazon yourself and typing your favorite foods into the search bar. Some fan-favorites to get you started include the butter chicken, Mandarin orange chicken, stacked eggplant parm, chicken & veggie spring rolls, cauliflower gnocchi and more. You can even find some dried items and toiletries, like their “Everything But the Bagel” seasoning, mac & cheese, their all-in-one facial cleanser, and even their white truffle potato chips. Get searching and see for yourself!
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