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Shopping at Trader Joe’s
For the longest time, everyone had been telling us to check out Trader Joe’s. The only reason it took us a while to getting around to it was that it was pretty far out of our way (about 30 minutes away, and in a direction we don’t usually go). But with Isabelle’s food allergies and Celiac/Coeliac disease, we knew we would need to make the trip eventually because of all of the good things we’d heard about shopping gluten-free at Trader Joe’s.
When we did finally go, we realized that there are a lot of options for us. Not only were the prices pretty good, but we found that it’s pretty easy to shop gluten-free at Trader Joe’s.
How does it compare to other stores?
We generally tend to like Trader Joe’s for the items that we can’t find elsewhere (which we’ll get to in a moment), especially because they are often at the same price as any other grocery store—if not lower. Last time we went there we were surprised to realize that nothing we bought was over $4.
If you’ve ever tried to buy gluten-free food, then you know how hard it is to buy food for a lower cost. For example, we used to make occasional trips to Whole Foods. We would look at sauces, cheeses, baking supplies, and so on. These kinds of stores have a big selection (and often much bigger stores), but it felt like it took nothing to hit $100 every shopping trip.
If you’re on a budget (like us), then it’s a good idea to shop gluten-free at Trader Joe’s. However, these stores tend to be pretty small so we can never find everything that we need. On top of that, the location that we go to is so busy that we usually cannot park. The first time we went, it took us about 30 minutes to find a spot. Since then, we always make sure to go together so that one person can shop and the other can do drop-offs/pick-ups.
Tips for Shopping Gluten-Free at Trader Joe’s
1. Shop the store brand
One of our favorite tips for shopping gluten-free at Trader Joe’s is by shopping for store-brand items. Not only is this more cost-effective, but these items are always very clearly labeled at “gluten-free.”
There are a lot of store-brand foods that are gluten-free at Trader Joe’s, so there’s usually a pretty good selection. This includes seasonal items (like Pumpkin Spice baked goods), as well as year-round essentials.
2. Stock up on pasta
We actually found our favorite gluten-free pasta at Trader Joe’s a while back. For anyone else who’s tried to find gluten-free pasta, you know how difficult it can be to find one that tastes like regular pasta, cooks like regular pasta, and isn’t crazy expensive.
We like their brown rice and quinoa pasta so much more than any other gluten-free pasta that it’s hard to have any other kind. This is definitely worth picking up a couple of bags.
Gluten-free Trader Joe’s pasta.
3. Breakfast essentials
When it comes to shopping gluten-free at Trader Joe’s, we always check out some of our favorite breakfast essentials. This includes their store brand coffee, store-brand gluten-free bagels, and store-brand gluten-free oats. Not only are these all gluten-free, but they are also all really good (especially those bagels).
Trader Joe’s also has some of their own cereals, but we usually avoid these. This is because their gluten-free cereals usually contain corn (one of Isabelle’s allergies), and we can find gluten-free cereal at a lower cost at other stores.
Trader Joe’s gluten-free pumpkin spice bagels.
4. Skip the baking supplies (for the most part)
Aside from the oats that we just mentioned, Trader Joe’s doesn’t have a ton of baking supplies —gluten-free or not. We’ve seen some box mixes that are gluten-free at Trader Joe’s, but those usually contain ingredients outside of Isabelle’s food allergies (like corn). But if you’re looking for gluten-free flour, you’ll probably want to look elsewhere.
5. Be selective when you shop for naturally gluten-free foods at Trader Joe’s
Outside of shopping the designated “gluten-free” items at Trader Joe’s, there are a few other worthwhile naturally gluten-free foods that we like to buy. For example, they have a great cheese selection (from vegan, to goat and sheep, to cow), and the prices aren’t as high as they are at most grocery stores. Additionally, we’ve found some interesting seasonal produce (like blood oranges) that we can’t find elsewhere, or that are far more expensive at other stores.
That being said, we wouldn’t go out of our way for most of the foods that are naturally gluten-free at Trader Joe’s. Sure, if we’re there then we might pick something up, but it’s usually a better bet to buy most of our naturally gluten-free foods when we shop at other stores. Between the smaller store size and smaller selection, we usually can’t find everything we need there.