Hard-boiled eggs are delicious. Packed full of protein, and a versatile ingredient. They can be snacked upon, added to salads, sandwiches, etc. The problem? They are incredibly difficult to ‘get right’. Don’t time the cooking right, and you end up with a rather awful-tasting egg.
This is why many companies sell hard-boiled eggs. Just to make it easier for people to get that deliciousness. But, does Trader Joe’s sell hard-boiled eggs?
At one point, Trader Joe’s did sell hard-boiled eggs. However, they got exceedingly poor reviews. In mid-2023, they started to remove them from their shelves. They are no longer listed as for sale on their website. It is unknown whether Trader Joe’s will bring their hard-boiled eggs back into stock.
Overview of Trader Joe’s
Trader Joe’s is a grocery store chain that is very customer-focused. Trader Joe’s knows that it can’t compete with the big guns in the grocery store business, so it doesn’t attempt to do so. Instead, it aims to be the most unique grocery store chain in the United States.
Trader Joe’s does have a few basic foods, but not many of them. Instead, the company wants to be known for its unique flavors. It wants to offer products that people rave about online, and they do. There are plenty of online communities dedicated to sharing the best Trader Joe’s products.
Their customer-focused approach really works too. Trader Joe’s is not only known for the delicious food that it offers but the fact that it offers all that good stuff at an incredibly low price. It even listens to customer feedback on the products that it stocks.
There are always new products being added to the Trader Joe’s range (most of them are seasonal), and Trader Joe’s enjoys hearing what people want to see in their stores.
So, even if they don’t stock a particular product now, there is a good chance that they may if people keep talking about how much they want to see it.
Trader Joe’s Prepared Food Section
One of the highlights of shopping at Trader Joe’s is their prepared food section. The prepared food section is loaded with fantastic, freshly-made dishes.
All you need to do is put them in the oven and you are ready to roll. This is another demonstration of how important the customer is to Trader Joe’s. This is a company that tries to make customer life as easy as possible.
There are tons and tons of products in the prepared food section including fresh meatloaf, salads, turkey, pizza crusts, oats, and more. All are designed to help cut down cooking time for customers, while also ensuring that they get to eat fantastic meals!
Trader Joe’s gets a lot of praise for its prepared food section, because not only does most of the stuff taste delicious, but it is affordable. Probably far more affordable than if somebody made it from scratch.
Hard-Boiled Eggs and Their Appeal
You can eat eggs in a whole host of different ways, but going down the hard-boiled route is one of the most popular. Hard-boiled eggs are a great protein snack. Over 10% of an egg’s weight is protein. On top of that, you have a ton of nutrients inside the egg.
Honestly, it is one of the most nutritionally-dense foods. They are often eaten by those that want the best ‘gains’ at the gym due to all that protein content, but anybody that wants a healthier snack can always nibble on a hard-boiled egg. It’s much cheaper than protein shakes/bars.
Hard-boiled eggs are versatile too. While a lot of people will eat them straight, you can chop them up and add to salads. You can create deviled eggs, add to sandwiches and burgers, or even make the classic British dish Scotch egg.
The problem is that making hard-boiled eggs is quite tough. Well, most of the time. People struggle to get the timing right when cooking eggs. As a result, they end up with something that is overcooked (tastes rubbery), or undercooked (the yolk is runny). While the latter may still be good for some purposes (i.e. dipping toast into), you never, ever want an overcooked egg. They taste awful.
Researching Trader Joe’s Hard-Boiled Eggs Availability
The Trader Joe’s website (www.traderjoes.com) will always list the current product offerings at Trader Joe’s stores. It will even list the prices.
So, if you are looking for eggs, then you tap eggs into the Trader Joe’s search engine and it will tell you whether they are in stock. It is worth noting that Trader Joe’s calls their eggs hard-cooked eggs rather than hard-boiled.
The Trader Joe’s customer service team has a good amount of knowledge about the products they stock. So, if you are in a store, you can always ask one of the team whether they have hard-boiled eggs.
Finally, there are various online communities, especially around Reddit, that talk about products at Trader Joe’s, especially new additions.
Results: Does Trader Joe’s Sell Hard-Boiled Eggs?
At the time of writing (May 2023), Trader Joe’s no longer sells hard-boiled eggs at many of their locations.
It seems as if they were selling them up until the end of April 2023, but they removed them from the shelves. This isn’t surprising, really.
Their hard-boiled eggs were getting a lot of bad reviews. People claimed that they were too rubbery, had an awful taste, and almost tasted as if they were carbonated.
Since hard-boiled eggs are a popular product, we believe that Trader Joe’s will eventually bring them back into stock, but probably from another supplier. You will need to keep an eye on the Trader Joe’s website to see when this happens.
Alternatives to Trader Joe’s For Hard-Boiled Eggs Purchase
Stores like Walmart do sell hard-boiled eggs. At the time of writing, you can get hard-boiled eggs at $3 for 6. You may also find hard-boiled eggs at most smaller grocery stores too.
Honestly, it is probably much better to cook your own hard-boiled eggs. It is cheaper, and they tend to taste better.
This is because they don’t have to be put in preservatives so they can be kept on store shelves. Here is our preferred method for making hard-boiled eggs:
- Place eggs into a saucepan
- Fill the saucepan with cold water until the cold water is about an inch above the eggs. Old eggs may float.
- Turn the stove to a high heat and bring the saucepan to a rapid boil.
- As soon as the saucepan is at a rapid boil, remove it from the heat and put a lid on the saucepan.
- Time 10-12 minutes.
- While waiting for the eggs to cook, fill up a bowl with ice cold water.
- As soon as the timer goes off, remove the eggs from the saucepan with tongs. Place directly into the ice water. Leave in the water for 10 minutes.
Follow those instructions, and you should have perfect boiled eggs every time.
Final Thoughts
While it is a product they used to stock, Trader Joe’s no longer sells hard-boiled eggs. The option they had was not getting good reviews. It is currently unknown whether they will bring their hard-boiled eggs back.
Stores like Walmart will always have various options for hard-boiled eggs. Alternatively, you can make them yourself with not a whole lot of effort.
