Why You Should Never Buy Organic Milk At Trader Joe's
It's hard not to love Trader Joe's for its relatively-inexpensive, high-quality groceries, especially because the packaging and marketing is just so appealing. And while the quirky, budget-friendly grocery store is great for odd, original, and expertly-sourced items, there are some staples that you are just better off not buying there. Things that you might eat daily, like cereal, fall into this category, but organic milk does, too (via CNBC).
It isn't that the milk is poor quality, but you will end up paying more for it at Trader Joe's than you would at other grocery stores where you could use a member discount, or coupons to get a lower price. However, if you do want to buy milk from Trader Joe's, you can stick to almond or soy milk without over-paying. At $2.99, it is cheaper at Trader Joe's than at competitor's stores, and it might even be better for you (via Cheat Sheet).
You can get milk for less elsewhere
According to Lauren Greutman, who evaluated the cost of organic milk at Trader Joe's for CNBC, "it's not terribly priced, but you can find it for a lot cheaper other places." Apparently a half gallon of 2 percent organic Trader Joe's milk costs about $3.29, but you could get the same size of the same kind of milk from Aldi for $2.69. At Walmart, the same half gallon of 2 percent organic milk would cost $3, so it's worth shopping around if you really want to save some money.
Keep in mind that a gallon of Trader Joe's organic milk is more than $2 more expensive than the equivalent sold at Whole Foods, according to Cheat Sheet. So, even at what we perceive to be very expensive, high-end grocery stores, you could get milk that's ultimately cheaper than Trader Joe's. Even lactose-free milk is more expensive at Trader Joe's. It's 83 cents cheaper at Walmart (via Reader's Digest).
So, unless you are looking for non-dairy milk, save this staple for your grocery run to another store.