A California family recently shared a viral image showing their giant Trader Joe’s receipt and now there is more of a buzz about how affordable various grocery stores really are for families after the revelation.
A father of six shows his sister a video that has been watched nearly 20 million times on X in which he pans over an “absurd” $444 Trader Joe’s receipt from the Westlake Village, California location.
“Here’s what it takes to feed six kids [for] about a week and a half,” the man is heard saying in the video. Most of the items on the massive receipt cost between $2.99 and $3.99.
The family is seen buying fresh produce such as strawberries ($4.49 a pound), a bag of four avocados ($4.99) and cucumbers ($2.49 each) on their grocery trip.
The receipt listed many other frozen items too, including Trader Joe’s chicken and cheese tamales ($3.99 each), along with the soup dumplings that Houck loves so much ($3.49) as well as a margherita pizza ($4.79).
At $13.99 each, the highest-priced items on her receipt were two packs of frozen Korean-style beef short ribs. More expensive items also appeared, including breaded chicken tenderloins at $8.99 and a rib-eye steak for $7.27
There are some comments on the video, particularly highlighting the grocery store Aldi and complaining about the price of food at Trader Joe’s.
“Would cost 1/3 that at Aldi,” one person said.
“Aldi’s got you for like $125,” another chimed in.
Other X users asserted that Trader Joe’s prepared food products are not designed to feed large families at a low price.
“Shopping at trader joes [sic] instead of costco [sic] with 6 kids is insane,” one tweet, which accrued 22,000 likes, read.
“Trader Joe’s isn’t meant for a large family,” another user wrote.
Others on social media told the family to opt for less expensive food items so as not to pay such a high price in grocery bills.
“Trader Joe’s is cheap, but this person didn’t buy anything to cook, it’s all prepared stuff which is always more,” a commentator wrote. “Buy ingredients and make food.”
“Nearly half of everything on the list is organic, which is a luxury. Also things like Gnocci Alla Sorrentina, surfine capers, and Brazil nut body wash (!)?” another argued. “If he’s going to cry about prices, at least have some buying discipline.”