6 Fresh Produce Must-Buys At Trader Joe's And 6 To Skip

Ah, the Trader Joe's produce section. Some customers rave about the delicious fresh fruits and vegetables they regularly buy from the beloved grocery store chain, while others stare in horror at their carts full of mushy fruits and underripe vegetables. Sure, Aldi might be a better deal than Trader Joe's for produce in general, but what if you're set on navigating Trader Joe's produce aisle no matter what?

Before you head into your local Trader Joe's with a shopping list in hand, you need to know about the must-buy produce items and the produce you need to skip. Using personal Trader Joe's shopping experience, other shoppers' reviews, and price comparisons, we rounded up all of the very best (and very worst) produce at Trader Joe's. That way, you'll never have to face the disappointment of accidentally buying a bag of moldy fruit again. We'll start with the must-buys before getting into TJ's best-avoided fruits and veggies. 

Bananas at Trader Joe's are known for being relatively cheap, and consistently priced, too. In fact, the bananas have made headlines for how rarely their price changes. You can purchase a single banana for just over 20 cents — and that's not even the best part of the deal. You could say there's a whole bunch of things to love about Trader Joe's bananas (sorry).

The banana section is the largest selection of single-item produce you'll find at any Trader Joe's. This means that Trader Joe's truly has the best variety when it comes to bananas. Want super green bananas that will last a long time? Done. What about almost-brown ones that are perfect for making banana bread? Trader Joe's has those, too.

There's no produce section horror worse than walking up to the bananas and realizing that there are literally no ripe bananas to choose from. Trader Joe's has so many, that's pretty much never a problem. Plus, unlike its other produce, the bananas aren't bagged — you can take just one or a full bunch. Convenience, quality, and a low price — there's no sweeter deal than that.

Stone fruit is a big hit at Trader Joe's, and for good reason. In the summer, you can find seasonal stone fruits (like peaches, nectarines, and plums) at low prices. It's true that these fruits are typically only available in large cartons or bags (typically about seven or eight fruits per container), but they're usually reasonably priced for such a large assortment.

The only downside to the seasonal stone fruit is that they don't always come perfectly ripe. However, Trader Joe's stone fruit at least errs on the side of being unripe rather than too ripe or rotten. As long as you're okay with waiting a few days for them to ripen up, you'll be met with the most delicious assortment of seasonal fruits in town. Skip Trader Joe's if you're desperately hunting down peaches for a last-minute classic peach cobbler, but as long as you have an extra day or two to spare, you're in business.

The convenience and value usually make Trader Joe's stone fruit worth the wait. Prices will vary depending on your region, but you can often find several fruits for around $3 per bag or carton, and they taste delicious and are of a good size to boot. Some lucky customers have even found deals for as little as $2 per pound. Depending on the region you're in, you might also find that Trader Joe's stone fruit can be purchased at its ripest — but customers rarely have any complaints about receiving rotten or mushy stone fruit.

Trader Joe's bagged green beans are a superb deal. Usually, when you're working with grocery store green beans, you'll want to choose them yourself. That's because you're aiming for the youngest, greenest, freshest green beans in the whole pile. Most stores will have at least a few wrinkly, dark green beans that need to be dodged (you know, the ones that turn all stringy and chewy when you cook them).

Despite the lack of choice when it comes to each individual green bean at Trader Joe's, I've never had any issues with the brand's bagged green beans. They're all consistently ripe, well-cleaned, and have never had any mold, mush, or spotting. They're crunchy and have that fresh, summery taste that any good green bean should be able to boast.

Realistically, you're also not paying much more for the convenience of having your green beans picked, cleaned, and bagged. 24 ounces of green beans can cost as little as $2 in some areas. For comparison, your average 20-ounce bag is going to cost around $4 at other grocery stores. Unlike bagged lettuce, Trader Joe's green beans don't go bad faster than regular green beans, either. I've had some last for up to a week without any signs of spoilage — an impressive run, to say the least.

Trader Joe's special produce offerings are some of the most fun snacks the store has to offer. If you've ever tried the delightfully smaller-than-bite-size teeny tiny tomatoes, you know exactly what I mean. These are always fresh, always ripe, and last for a long time — the perfect snack to keep on your counter or in the fridge.

But the slightly less exciting tomatoes are a good Trader Joe's purchase, too. Trader Joe's vine tomatoes tend to have that sweet, ripened aroma hovering around them whenever I visit a store. That's a great sign — it means that they're fresh and ripe, but aren't yet on their way to spoiling. A firm yet juicy tomato is perfect for soups, salads, sandwiches, and pasta, and it's a great Trader Joe's produce staple that you can always rely on. And yes, this definitely applies to Trader Joe's other tomatoes, too — like cherry tomatoes and beefsteak (the best tomato for slicing) tomatoes, for example. I've had all of these (and more) relaxing in my fruit bowl for about a week before they've started to show any signs of wrinkling. Does this mean I should be getting through my produce faster? Absolutely. Is it also a sign of a great produce product? Of course.

There's really nothing to complain about with Trader Joe's garlic. It's a basic staple, it lasts around three weeks every time you buy, and pretty much everyone at Trader Joe's can agree that the garlic is reliable. It's priced similarly to other brands — maybe a bit cheaper depending on where you're buying from — and it's also one of just a few Trader Joe's produce items that don't come in bags or boxes, meaning you get to choose the exact quantity you want to buy.

Buy it, take it home, stash it in a garlic jar, and forget about it (well, don't actually forget about it — you should probably use it to make some chef-approved cheesy garlic bread instead). It doesn't mold, it doesn't turn to mush, and it should stay fresh for weeks – as long as you're storing your garlic properly, of course.

If you're sensing a theme here with the miniature produce at Trader Joe's, you're not wrong. Trader Joe's mini peppers are even better than its regular peppers (especially if you're into snacking). They're sweeter than your average pepper, super crunchy, and have a lot of juice in them, too.

Since they are bagged peppers, they won't last forever, but I find that they can last for at least five days as long as they're properly refrigerated. Pair them with some Trader Joe's restaurant-worthy garlic hummus or cheese dip, or just devour them all on their own. They're also a fun inclusion for recipes that call for fresh peppers, especially if you're looking to add a little bit of herbaceous sweetness.

Generally, there does seem to be better quality control amongst the bagged peppers than there are other kinds of Trader Joe's produce. I have admittedly had one problematic mini pepper purchase in the past, although that seemed to be an outlier. Most other mini pepper fans can agree with me on that.

Some people will find this to be controversial, but fresh-cut fruit isn't an automatic skip for me. When you buy fresh-cut fruit, you're paying for a fruit that you can see is perfectly ripe — plus, it's conveniently already cut up. For fruits like melons, mangos, or pomegranates, the convenience might be worth the extra cost.

At Trader Joe's, however, the opposite is true. It's rare that you'll find a carton of ripe cut fruit — and because it's already been cut, there's no taking it home and waiting for it to ripen. I find that Trader Joe's cut mangoes are often light yellow (instead of the juicy golden orange that signifies a perfect mango), have no juice, and are super stiff. Pineapple is usually subject to the same. The brand's fresh-cut watermelon will sometimes be a little riper, though you're likely to still suffer rock-hard, white cubes of watermelon from the carton every once in a while. Additionally, I tend to find that Trader Joe's watermelon cubes go bad much faster than other brands I've tried (such as Whole Foods, for example). They start turning mushy within just one day, and sometimes will already have hidden mold inside the carton before you even take it home. Spare yourself the disappointment.

Strawberries at Trader Joe's are notorious for being underripe or already moldy. Underripe strawberries are a tricky buy because they don't ripen the same way that other fruits do. If you bought strawberries that are white, they shall remain until the end of their days. Even if you purchase Trader Joe's strawberries right at the peak of strawberry season, you'll still feel like it's the dead of winter with their unripe taste.

There's another side to Trader Joe's strawberries, too. They're quite polarizing — you either get an underripe strawberry or an overripe one. There's no in-between. Have you ever had a strawberry that tastes oddly like nail polish remover? Don't worry, we're not getting off track here — that's actually a sign that you're eating a strawberry that has gone bad. Essentially, when some fruits start to spoil, they can develop an acetone taste reminiscent of nail polish remover. If you've never had a strawberry that tastes like acetone before and are curious to try one, well, just go to Trader Joe's.

Bagged lettuce is the hallmark of a bad deal, and Trader Joe's is no exception to that rule. Basically, the reason why you want to avoid bagged lettuce is because it spoils a whole lot faster than a full head of lettuce since it's been precut. Generally, because you're paying for the labor that goes into cutting and bagging lettuce, the price of bagged lettuce will also be more expensive than just purchasing a whole head of lettuce and cutting it yourself.

Bagged lettuce can go bad within just a day or two of buying it, whereas fresh lettuce can last for at least five days when stored properly. While it's true that Trader Joe's salads are absolutely delicious, the bagged lettuce on its own really isn't worth the money. Unlike with cut fruit, lettuce is pretty easy to pick out, and even easier to cut up — and you'll rarely find moldy or spoiled lettuce that isn't obvious from the produce aisle.

You can skip every kind of bagged lettuce in Trader Joe's produce aisle — save your cash for the salads instead. I will freely admit that the bagged coleslaw — which isn't technically lettuce nor a salad — holds a special place in my heart, however, and has neither the overpriced or quick-to-spoil problems of its bagged lettuce brethren.

Some people love the fact that TJ's offers avocados for a little cheaper than (some) other retailers — however, there's a reason they're so inexpensive. TJ's bagged avocados are always rock-hard. They don't ripen up for many, many days — so you need to buy your avocados well ahead of time if you actually want to use them for a particular recipe. They're just not worth it, and you can sometimes only find them bagged, so you can't even choose an avocado that's ripe enough to use.

So, why are the avocados on the 'don't buy' list when (slightly) unripe stone fruit made it on the 'buy' list? There are a few reasons. First, avocados are generally easy to buy elsewhere. There are plenty of other retailers that will offer fresher, riper avocados than Trader Joe's. Additionally, you tend to get more seasonal stone fruit in a carton than you will avocados, making the bagged avocados a worse deal for the price. Lastly, avocados are finicky. If you're buying them to use right away, you want them to be perfectly ripe when you purchase them. But when you buy unripe avocados, you have to watch them like a hawk to make sure you don't miss the point where they ripen — and you might still risk cutting into a brown, mushy avocado. Generally, it's better to buy avocados that give you the choice of choosing their ripeness stage.

Did you know that when onions rot, they often do so from the inside out? If you shop at Trader Joe's, you probably did. Mushy onions are a horrifying shopping cart surprise because you're unlikely to notice that there's a problem with your onion until you get home and cut it open. Nobody wants to be right in the middle of making dinner only to have to forgo an essential ingredient (and unleash mold spores all over the counter). To avoid this issue at Trader Joe's, the only option is to skip the onions entirely.

While you might feel safe cutting away the moldy part of the onion and saving what's left, you probably shouldn't bother. Mold growth might be visible to the naked eye, but the tiny roots that infest the rest of your produce aren't. By the time you spot visible mold on one portion of your onion, it's probably already secretly grown roots throughout the rest of it, too. It may or may not make you sick, but why take that risk?

Most people who made the poor choice of purchasing Trader Joe's sliced mushrooms know that pre-sliced mushrooms go bad much, much faster compared to whole, unsliced mushrooms. Like the bagged lettuce fiasco, you're paying more for the convenience of not having to cut your own mushrooms, but you're also accepting the fact that you won't have long to use them before they start to spoil.

Because mushrooms are so incredibly easy to cut, there's not much worth in Trader Joe's pre-cut mushrooms. Unless you're purchasing them specifically for the cut they already come in — rather than dicing, mincing, or cubing them — then you'll still have to do some work when you get home. In fact, just because they're pre-cut doesn't mean you can throw them right into the pan. Trader Joe's doesn't wash its pre-cut mushrooms (because that would make them spoil faster), so you'll still need to scrub off the dirt yourself when you're done shopping. At that point, you'll probably save yourself time at the sink if you just buy the mushrooms whole.