10 Grocery Store Bakery Items You Should Avoid Buying

The grocery store is the convenient one-stop-shop for all the foods you need. Meat? Check. Tortillas? Check. Bakery goods? Check. But, that doesn't mean all of the baked goods at your local store are worth buying.

That being said, I've found myself in the bakery section of the grocery store quite frequently. While I do consider myself to be a prolific home baker, I'm also someone who doesn't want to reinvent the wheel and spend hours on desserts and sweets that are just easier to buy pre-made. And unfortunately, I've come to realize that the local grocery store bakery section isn't what it's cracked up to be. After all, the sheer number of products that the bakery needs to turn out for customers really limits how much time the store can put into baking, decorating, and more — which means you can be sacrificing freshness and quality on certain products. 

The fact of the matter is that there are some items in the bakery section that you're just better off making on your own, or turning to a specialty baker, to make, rather than taking the gamble of buying them from your local grocery store. These are the ones that you should always think twice about. 

I have to ask, has anyone ever been impressed with a store-bought bagel? That being said, there's a clear difference between the multi-packs of bagels that can be found in the bread aisle and the ones in the designated bakery. For the most part, the bagels I've found in most grocery stores bakery sections tend to have that clear shine and boiled coating, while the ones in the bread aisle are pale and more bread-like. But once you crack the surface of a bagel from the bakery bin, you'll find that the inside is just a plain, thick bread that, for the most part, lacks flavor. 

Besides being a weak bagel in terms of flavor, it's also difficult to tell how fresh the bagels you're getting from the bakery section actually are. If you don't get the bagels fresh the day they're baked (notice I said "baked" and not "fresh" here, as the bagels at your store may have been just frozen ahead of time and re-baked before they're put in the displays), you risk a bready, sad bagel without anything going for it. And that's not even something that a broad schmear of cream cheese can fix. 

The better solution? Take a trip to the best bagel shop near you and stock up. Or, if you're feeling adventurous, try your hand at homemade bagels. 

There's nothing that can replace the sugary flavor and perfect fresh sheen of a glazed donut. But, don't make the mistake of confusing the donuts that you'd find at your grocery store bakery and the ones you'd find at a designated donut shop. The grocery store donuts could, frankly, never compare. 

The issue with store-bought donuts is that their consistency tends to be dry, sad, and, overall, lackluster. This may be a matter of freshness in that your donuts are sitting out longer than what you would have wanted. Or, it can be a matter of the fact that your store-bought donuts probably aren't freshly-fried. The key to getting a satisfying donut, unless you're talking about a variety that is specifically baked (like an old fashioned), is to drop it in the deep fryer and eat it while it's still fresh. If the oil has a chance to permeate the donut as it sits under the florescent-lit bakery case, it will quickly become soggy and stodgy — which is the opposite of satisfying.

If you're not keen on frying up your own batch, you can always turn to canned ingredients to help upgrade your store-bought donuts. Repurposing them for a breakfast sandwich or stuffing them with fruit filling can make them taste a little bit more novel. Or, you can always hide a bad donut by submerging it in a cup of coffee. 

We've all been in the situation where you need to get a cake for a special celebration, but don't have a ton of time. Or, there's always the chance that you forgot about ordering the cake entirely — it happens. 

So, it seems like the easy solution would be to go to the grocery store and get one of the expensive, pre-decorated cakes. You know, the ones with the beautiful buttercream roses, delicate piping work, and copious amounts of frosting. But, you might be paying a premium price for a cake that you could, honestly, design yourself at home.

Transforming a plain store-bought cake, rather than buying a more expensive cake with some decorations and garnishes is quite simple and affordable. For one, you can make store-bought cake look like you went the extra mile by removing the frosting, slicing the cake into small rounds using a biscuit cutter or glass rim, and adding your own, less sweet, frosting. Or, add jams, florals, or unique decorations to give your cake some pizazz without having to pay a ridiculous amount of money for it.  

Scones and biscuits, unfortunately, are just not the same on day two. There's no way to preserve that same structure and softness that you'll get if you eat these baked goods the day that they're baked. Like so many of the other goods in the bakery section of your grocery store, you won't always know how long those treats have been sitting out. And while the "best buy" date will give you some indication as to when you should toss your scones and biscuits in the trash, what you really need to know is if they're in the narrow window of peak freshness — which is something a grocery store bakery can't always provide, let alone adhere to. 

Making homemade biscuits is not many folks' idea of a fun time, especially when you're craving those tall, layered, and buttery biscuits. My solution? Crank out a couple of store-bought biscuits using a can from the grocery store. You may also find really good scones from a local bakery or coffee shop. Just don't forget the side of jam and cream. 

Cupcakes tend to be a more party-friendly, grab-and-go item from the grocery store. But let's be real: The only way you genuinely enjoy the brightly-colored frosting on these cupcakes is if you have a particular affinity for plastic-tasting things. These cupcakes only have one flavor: sweet. The cupcakes, whether you select a chocolate or a vanilla batch, taste nearly the exact same, and the frosting leaves something to be desired. 

While the mini cupcake tin may satisfy eaters under the age of 10, the little cakes don't hit the spot for an adult palate. Considering the sheer number of cake mixes at the grocery store, and the ease of whipping up butter and powdered sugar for a simple buttercream, you really have no reason not to try your hand at making homemade mini cupcakes. You could potentially even bake and freeze the cupcakes ahead of time and prepare your frosting when you're ready to serve the dessert. 

Don't worry; I, too, have enjoyed my fair share of Lofthouse sugar cookies from my local grocery store over the years — as well as those cookie bin cookies. The sweet bites satisfied my cravings in between classes at horse and livestock shows all the time as a kid. But were they ever really good cookies? Me thinks not. 

Lofthouse cookies (the soft sugar ones with the colorful icing) taste like plastic — there's no way around it. They're not the best that you can do when it comes to a tasty cookie for your next celebration or event. And even if you can manage to get past the lackluster flavor of these mass-produced cookies, you may not be able to stomach the stale, sad cookies on day two because of how dry they get. 

If you don't have the time to whip up a delicious batch of chocolate chip or sugar cookies, you can always turn to a local bakery to do the work for you. Your cookies are always best the day they're baked and served, so try not to buy them too far ahead of time, either. 

Frozen items stay fresh for longer than the stuff exposed to air, right? Not necessarily. When your bakery goods, including single-serve slices of cake or cheesecake, sit in the freezer, they can quickly lose moisture and become very dry and stale. Will these cakes be better than the stuff that's been sitting out for who-knows-how-long on the shelf? Not necessarily, but you should still take a pause before adding a frozen cheesecake to your cart. 

Like other types of cake, the preferable option to buying the selections from the cooler is to, of course, make your own. But not everyone has the time or availability to do so. If you find yourself in this boat, consider ordering dessert from a local bakery. Or, you can check out some of the options available on nationwide websites like Goldbelly. For one, you can try New York City's iconic eats, like a challah from Zabar's or William Greenburg Dessert's black and white cookies shipped straight to your doorstep. These vendors are of higher quality than your local grocery store and will offer a unique, tasty experience that you can't get without booking a plane ticket. 

If you're the next person in the bring-a-snack-day rotation at the office, you might be inclined to pick up a package of muffins from your local grocery store. Granted, it's so convenient to grab a four or six-pack of corn, chocolate chip, or blueberry muffins and let folks descend on them like hungry vultures. But while they might be easy to grab and use, there's one thing that they're not: tasty. 

Grocery store muffins just taste stale and dry, and are obviously not worthy of your time. Like many of the other baked goods on this list, it's possible that muffins are pre-baked and warmed up ahead of time, which means that you're not getting the highest quality muffin that you (or your office-mates) deserve. While a quick trip in the microwave or a schmear of butter might make these a little more palatable, they're still not at the top of my list of the things I would buy from the bakery section of my grocery store. Homemade or bust! 

There is something that is so pleasurable and delicious about a cinnamon roll, freshly baked and straight from the oven. Maybe it's something about the contrast between the crisp outer rings and the soft molten center. Or, maybe it's that delicious, sweet vanilla icing schmeared on top. And the cinnamon roll that I'm describing? It's probably not the thing you're going to find in the case of your local grocery store's bakery section. 

Make no mistake, grocery store cinnamon rolls are dry, stale, and not brimming with those fresh, bright, spicy notes that make the cinnamon roll such an iconic breakfast pastry. And if your roll has been sitting in the pastry case or a clamshell container for too long, it might come out with an especially dry texture, too. As someone who makes cinnamon rolls frequently, I can tell you that these are not an easy pastry to perfect. But if you need a plate of them on the table in a pinch, you might as well just turn to the refrigerated, canned cinnamon roll dough instead. 

As a kid, I have very distinct memories of store-bought fruit pies. I remember sitting at the table and piecing through the filling and remarking that it didn't even come close to resembling the soft, fragrant, and juicy apple filling of a homemade pie. In hindsight, I realize that these store-bought attempts at pie were likely made with canned or pre-made filling, which only had a sweet flavor — with none of the floral, honey-like notes of a quality apple pie filling. The crust also tends to be rubbery and soft, with a peculiar sheen that really makes you second-guess how true the "freshly baked pie" label could possibly be. 

Fruit pies, cream pies, and tarts tend to fall into this same category of poor quality and poor execution. A pie is really only as good as its crust and its filling, and when both of those things miss the mark, you're clearly setting yourself up for disappointment. Luckily, you won't have to try your hand at pie crust to improve this dessert; buy a frozen pie crust or tart shell and make your own filling. This will allow you to have some creative license over the flavor and quality of your dessert.