Trader Joe’s vs. Name Brand Taste Test

Can we solve the mystery of who really makes. Trader Joe's foods? Let's talk about that. Good mythical morning. Let's face it, there are some mysteries in life that. simply cannot be solved. Like what happened to Atlantis, who. built stone hinge. Why won't Kevin Costner just come back to Yellowstone? Well, the answer to all those questions is aliens, but what about this mystery?

Mm-hmm. Who really makes the products at Trader Joe's? It's a good question. If you've ever been to a Trader Joe's, you know that. instead of brand names, their shelves are stocked. with their own Trader Joe's versions of everything from. frozen pizzas to cereal and everything in between. The thing is, Trader Joe doesn't actually manufacture their. own foods, so who does? Well, if you believe the conspiracy theorists. out there, it may be big brands in disguise. Mm. And luckily, two of the Internet's most brilliant.

detectives are on the case. Who's that? You and me. It's time for Masquerader Joe, finding out who really. makes Trader Joe's snacks. Okay, boys, in front of you, we have chocolate sunflower. seed butter cups, on Rhett's side. are Trader Joe's cups for $1.29 and on Link's side are. free 2B's cups for $2.49 and several online publications. have theorized that. Free 2b provides their products to Trader Joe's for.

some likely profit sharing, but no one has done the. dirty work to determine if this is actually true. So you're going to use your. Um, pipe. Yep. And stuff to determine, uh, whether these snacks are. a perfect match or theory. scrap, rock-- cro, scro, scro. That's actually kind of nice. I'm tasting the chocolate through the pipe. The packaging is the exact same dimensions.

Well, different colors. The, uh, the calories. One 70 calories, 180 calories, but for the same. serving of three pieces. But Link, but that could not mean anything because I did a. little reading about this in preparation for this episode. Okay. Occasionally I do that and the whatever organization, you know, like government thing that like lets you. does the standards for the.

Calories, you know, I didn't read that closely. Maybe the FDA or something. Um, they, there's wiggle room and so that. discrepancy is actually within the wiggle room. That would be like legally allowed. Okay? So they may do it on purpose to throw us off. The investigation continues. So if I look at the dimensions of the actual. whoop, look at that. Like caliper it. I have the caliper here. Well, now look, you, you can't take any too, because look, these are poured into this thing.

They're not all the same. Look, they're poured. Look. Right. So that one, this one's at 10, whatever 10 is, look, look at the difference between two that come. from the same box though. Well, they're, it's all, this is all relative, man. Now I've mixed these two up, so I gotta get rid of them. Look, there's no two from the same place. that are even the same. 'cause it's poured. Well, that's a good point, right? It's not just a height thing. It's the exact same cups, I'll tell you that. No, they're slightly different colors. Look at that. See that? Look at the light. This one's a little bit lighter Brown.

Unless I just, maybe there's discrepancy. I don't know. I trying to, I keep, I keep wondering if. I've moved hands, but. These aren't the same man. Let's taste them and prove it. Y'all wrong about this one. I've never had a sunflower seed, buttercup. I mean, they are so close. That they're probably the same. The colors. Do you not see the color difference? It, I mean, no.

Not in these two. Look what? No, I mean, no, no, no. It's like phone home. You know what own, they're just not consistent. You seem like you really don't want 'em to be the same. Why? What's your bias? I just wanna be right, man. Well, well remove your bias. I'm just saying you've glossed over a few differences. You even said the beginning, you know.

No, you said that they were different sizes. and I was like, no. Yes. Right. I you there, there, I'm being objective within the thing, but then when we started putting 'em next to each. other, these were consistently shorter than those and. you just glossed over it. Look. Here's three of these. Okay? Three of those. Three of those. And then look, I'm gonna put it right in front. Slightly taller. Slightly taller.

All of them are slightly taller. Like get a closeup of that. You know what they're doing. Get a closeup of that. I'm an industrial engineer by degree. That means that I design the. methods and the process by which things are made. You designed, with an ed. And I will tell you right now that what they've done. is the same plant--. He has ed. What's telling you is he has ed. If I did, that would be okay. There's, yeah, there's lots of treatments for it.

Let me finish my point. My point is. They're different. They po-- if the only difference is the height. Then, and which ones are taller? These, right, because every single time they poured by a. little bit, they pour slightly more at the, on the same line. They pour it's, they pour --. That's crap, man. That's slightly more. That's bull crap. It, these are, it's negligible. Hold on, hold on. It's negligent. Hold on. If it was the same, here's what they would do.

They would make a bunch of 'em and there would be. a giant batch of 'em, and then they would be like, okay, these are going to Trader Joe's and these. are going to this company. They're not. Okay, so not--. You think they're taking the time to pour them differently? That's different, man. I'm just telling you. It's different. They're also a slightly different color. The, the, these are very slightly indifferent. A little bit whiter, and these are, and a little bit taller. These like one millimeter taller and I think there's. a slight taste difference. I think these are slightly better, but they. taste exactly the same.

These are a little bit smoother. He's got ED, don't listen to him. I don't have Ed. No, I don't have an ed. We figured it out. No. This is a near perfect match. So what are we saying? We're saying it's not the saying, hey, it's very good, but it's not a perfect match. It's theory scraps. It's so close though, but it's not the same. That's what we're trying to determine is if it is the. same thing, just repackaged.

Right? It's very much the same, but not the same. You know, almost the same. Doesn't count. So theory scrap. Yes. I'm not happy about it. Up next we have--. It's just so close. I mean that it, for it to be as close as it was. Okay. It, I'm just telling you that if it's that close, it's, it's, it's too close to, they can't match it that close.

Okay. Hold on. But like, I think we're talking about two different. things, like I'm saying if the theory is correct. It that they're the same. It would be, it is the same exact product in. a different package. I, I get that, but I'm saying to make it, if. they're trying to make it, to match it that close, oh, it's a great miraculous. It's a great dupe. You did a great job. But the theory is that's, I the think. they're capable of it. But the theory is that it's the same. There's no same thing that there's no difference. We found differences. If we find differences, the theory is scrapped. We have to be scientific about this.

Who wants sunflower seed? Butter in their chocolate anyway, right Stevie? This is if you're allergic, tomato and red pepper soup. Okay. On Rhett's side is Trader Joe's organic tomato and roasted. red pepper soup for a $3.49. And on Link's side is Pacific Foods for $5.59. Now to add to this theory here, Trader Joe's used to. sell Pacific Foods branded almond milk in their stores.

So. That's, you know, suggests a previous relationship between. the two companies and the fact that they have the exact. same packaging or about the ingredients, I don't think. is, I don't think that helps. Because you can source the packaging from the same place. Exactly. Yeah. Means nothing. Um, ingredients produce fat milk organic, reduce fat milk. Well, they both say organic on the outside. I think instead of repeating organic a bunch, they. just maybe took it out. It's the same, the ingredients are the same.

Let's just taste. Do they have a similar general? I mean, they're a different color, so yeah. Get 'em close. See, look. Oh, they're not, they're not a same, they're not the same. I mean, look, they, one might be older than. the other or something. Has one been out longer? Let's ta, let's taste. Has one been exposed to oxygen? Maybe. Maybe. That's very good. It's kind of thin. Look how much thicker this is.

Oh yeah. Y'all are wrong about this one. No, no chance. Oh, look at us. Agree. Hold. Let me get a look. Aren't you relieved? Lemme get a little bit with my pipe. Yeah. Does that even work? Yep. Went right through. Okay, now, now when you start to, at first you're. gonna get the old one, then you're gonna get the new one. And tell me when you tell the difference. Now. All right. I like this one better. It's thicker, it works better in a pipe.

And when you're done, you just turn it upside down and glow. Oh God. Ah, look at you. Oh, look at you. Oh man. Look at you. I done, I done did it. I done squirted myself outta my pipe. Yep, yep, yep. So, okay. I'm relieved to say that we are in complete lockstep. Yeah. On this one. Theory scrapped! Hey, gotta remind you, we are in the middle.

of celibacy week. We are urging you to resist your urges and not conceive. a baby this week to make sure that no children wind. up with birthdays between Christmas and New Year's, and in order to help you keep it in your pants or. whatever you're wearing or whatever's in there, right? We need you to take a look at this. Uh huh. Okay. Don't look away. You still horny? That's a blob fish. I bet you aren't. Nope. Yeah. Look at. Look at what's coming outta the corner of its mouth. Yep.

If you need to. Okay. You're welcome. Mm-hmm. Okay, we have pita chips. Up next on Rhett's side are Trader Joe's for $2.49 and. on Link's side are Stacy's Simply Naked for $5.49. Simply Naked... In 2017, eater.com said that they had the exact same. ingredients, however. Uh, consumers have noticed a change. I'm gonna pour these right against you.

Don't mix 'em. I'm not gonna mix them. You didn't mix 'em. Oh, well that I It's actually fine. 'cause look, they're obviously different. They're not the look guys. They, these are not the same. Look these from Stacy. Stacy likes it rough. Okay. I don't know if you can see that, but Stacy likes it rough. Trader Joe likes it smooth. And I think it's time that we had a little talk with. y'all and I, when I say y'all, I'm talking about the. people who spend an inordinate amount of your time trying.

to propagate these theories out there, that these are. coming from the same place. They're not. Okay, look, you see how long I didn't even have. to get my pipe out in order to tell you that. These are not the same. We just looked at 'em used. Have you never done that? They used to be, but they're not now. Have you never done that? Have you never just opened them and looked at 'em. and been like, well, those aren't the same. Well, you need to find out something better. to do with your time. Like, you know, we're doing it. So they don't go research ed medications. They don't. They don't. They don't. No, we don't. They don't have to.

We're doing it so you don't have to, so I don't, I don't think you should. Okay. Okay. Okay. Yeah. Uh, these are more salty. They're better. Are they better enough to not get the other ones? Not really. 'cause it really matters what you dip 'em into. I think they're totally different. These are super thick. They're both good. Yeah. But definitely. Not the same. So yeah. Get a life. Is that what you're saying? Yeah. Get a life. Your theory is scrapped.

You know what you should do? You should head over to the Mythical Society to watch. Season two, episode five of Roll For Mythicality! That is our T-T-R-P-G series over there on. the Mythical Society. This time it's with Barbara Dunkelman. Yeah. Rollformythicality.com. Check it out. Okay, up next we have Almond Chipotle Dip. On Rhett's side is Trader Joe's for 3 49, and on Link's side. is [bleep] Sauce for $5.99. I'm a big fan of [bleep].

Yeah. Yeah. Yep. Not as much as you today. Today I'm in a [bleep] mood. Yeah, you are. Y'all put me in it. But the original [bleep] sauce, I mean, it, it. holds up to the name. We, we had some of that on a weekend trip one time, and there was three dips from Trader Joe's and then. there was [bleep] Sauce. We're gonna use these Trader Joe and I actually like. All the Trader Joe's dips more, but they. were different flavors. They were, you wanted the same. Same. That's the, that's the problem is that you gotta want the. well before you start dip. And this is not the one that, this is a special,

according to an article from the Kitchen, a former. Trader Joe's employees. Best guess is that these dips are the same. Now that gets me excited, but I'm gonna go ahead and tell you. right now they're not. First of all, I can look at 'em and tell you that they're. not, but I can also tell you. That they have similar ingredients lists, but. the Trader Joe's dip uses sunflower oil while the bitch. and sauce uses grape seed oil. That's different oils. Dude, what?

Whatever happened to due diligence? Yeah. You're out there like, oh, well my best guess your, your best guess sucks. They're not the same. You need to make better guesses. I'm sorry. I'm mad about this. No, no, no. Actually taste both of these and, and try not to be mad. I mean everything you said, but just taste it now. Taste the other one. And don't be mad. Try your best. I'm a little mad. Yeah. Try your best. Maybe you won't be mad. Don't be mad.

They're not even close. They're not even in the same universe. You're doing good though. You're keeping it there. I'm okay about it. I'm okay. This is so much better than this. This, this is just a, this is a poor excuse for [bleep]. If you want, you'll know [bleep] when you hear it, and this is it right here. This is a good dip. The theory of scrapped here is the main thing that. we're, that we're taking away the whole theory, and it's.

not his favorite, but the whole theory is scrapped. You've been wrong every time, except for. the first time maybe. No, they were wrong. They were wrong then. They've been wrong all along, but they got one more chance. And finally, we have pistachios on Rhett's. Side, our Trader Joe's pistachios for 6.99. And on Link's side, our wonderful brand. pistachios for $8.99. Okay, $2 difference. I mean, nuts. Or nuts, right? Yeah. I was gonna measure him and then I realized. that like, I mean.

There's nothing, well, most of the nuts or most of. the pistachios in America come from the San Joaquin. Valley in California. I've driven through there many times and I've. seen just pistachio tree after pistachio tree. And I've seen a lot of the wonderful, like you go. past the farms and you see the wonderful branding. Never seen the Trader Joe's branding out there, but it does say that both of these are sourced from. the San Joaquin Valley. Where weather conditions are ideal for the production. of California's finest quality pistachios.

So this, this might be where they make pistachios, um, but are they, are they like shaking the same trees? Like are they shaking the trees, get the big pile. of nuts, dividing them up and sending them to these. two different places? If that's true, then your theory is correct. Well, also the roasting process and like. The seasoning, you know? Well, the se I'm about to talk about the seasoning and. I'm, that I am detecting a saltier experience from the.

Trader Joe's salt than, oh, they're totally different. The wonderful, which are also salted, but not as salted. Yeah. And it, and it's like not just a salt level. But the taste of the salt. The taste of the salt. Now you're on your high horse. I'm just, I'm just going, I gotta ring. you in a little bit. No, I'm saying the taste of the nuts is different. You're saying salt, their salt tastes different.

The way the salt interacts with the nuts different. That's 'cause there's not as much over here. Sodium one 30, I will say five milligram sodium, sodium pistachio is a little bit different. You know how that happens. It says that, yeah. Also you can have different salt. It's the same amount of sodium. There are different salts out there. You know, lots of salts. Okay. Alright. Get back on your high horse. Well, you are right. These are salted more. They don't taste the same. So we're saying that we're scrapping this theory too. I thought this one had a chance, y'all. I know because it seems I was almost pulling for you.

It's, it's as easy as just doing what we're doing. I think that you could alter the manufacturer, it could. go down the same line and then be branded in different. ways and be slightly altered. Today we're doing the Trader Joe's salting, or. tomorrow we're doing the wonderful salting with. the, with those cups from, from round one, I think. I think it's something like that. Okay. Because I mean, they are just, they're so close. You just can't look, look, you can't get any closer and. it not be a perfect match.

It's an imperfect match. You might be right about this. Okay, so there's some wrinkles in this. So is, and we just wanna acknowledge those is the. theory before we let you go. Made it the same place because Okay. Maybe they're like, okay, I need that. Trader Joe's doesn't manufacture their own stuff. Yes. So they gotta use the wonderful pistachio, but. they alter it to save money. But it's a Trader Joe's day and it's a completely. different recipe. That's not the same. That's the same company. But that's not the same thing.

I don't, I don't, I don't think that's. happening with these. Well, how do you know that? I don't know. Maybe they use cheaper salt and use, bring in. the Trader Joe's salt. It's cheaper. Uh, he's, uh, but, but we're sure of everything. except round one, I'm sure of round one. Thanks for commenting and sharing this video. You know what time is. I'm Jason. And I'm Donna. And we drove over an hour to our nearest Trader. Joe's to run out and buy what Mythical told us to. And now its, it's time to spin the wheel.

Mythical it. Myth. You don't have to obey us. We told him to. Click the top link to watch us react. to history's oldest jokes in Good Mythical More. And to find out where the Wheel of Mythicality's gonna land. Watch season two, episode five of Roll For Mythicality, now rollformythicality.com.