12 Must-Have Kitchen Cleaning Products Available at Trader Joe’s

If you’re like many savvy shoppers, you might regularly stop by Trader Joe’s. The grocer is known for its reasonably priced and top-quality food items. From its snack options to its wide assortment of frozen meals to Trader Joe’s Reserve wines, the retailer offers all the elements you need to enjoy a delicious meal. However, what many people might not realize is that food isn’t the only thing you can buy at Trader Joe’s. You can also find kitchen tools and supplies, personal care products, and even cleaning essentials for the kitchen.

Maintaining a clean kitchen is hard enough. If you shop at TJ’s for other staples, you don’t need to plan a separate trip to another retailer to pick up cleaning supplies. With its selection of multipurpose sprays, sponges, soaps, and pantry ingredients that will degrease your cabinets, stovetop, and other surfaces, you’ll be ready to tackle your chore list right at Trader Joe’s.

There’s a big food safety difference between cleaning and sanitizing a kitchen. While cleaning involves using soap or other products to remove loose debris or dirt from a surface, sanitizing is a specific process that uses chemicals to kill any bacteria on the surface, while disinfecting kills both bacteria and viruses. To disinfect the surfaces in your kitchen, you need a cleaner that is specifically formulated to do so, such as the all-purpose disinfectant cleaner from Trader Joe’s. It says that it effectively kills 99.9% of bacteria and viruses in the kitchen, leaving you confident in your ability to cook safely in the space.

One key difference between this disinfectant cleaner from Trader Joe’s and other name-brand options that you’ll find in other stores is its formula. While bleach, sodium lauryl sulfate, and other chemicals that you might not be keen on using in your kitchen are commonly found in other formulations, Trader Joe’s uses a 2.4% hydrogen peroxide solution in its spray. 

In order to truly sanitize countertops and other kitchen surfaces, be sure to follow the directions on the packaging — you’ll need to let the spray sit for 20 minutes before wiping it off. This cleaning spray offers a fresh citrus scent, which customers seem to have some mixed opinions about. While some find it pleasant, others complain that it’s overpowering.

Every kitchen should have a good multi-purpose cleaner. Pick up the cedarwood and sage-scented multi-purpose cleaner from TJ’s during your next shopping trip to your favorite grocer. Multi-purpose cleaners are important for removing gunk and grime from countertops and other surfaces in the kitchen. Even if you’re going to follow up by using the Trader Joe’s all-purpose disinfectant or other similar product, cleaning the surface first is important. Otherwise, the disinfectant won’t be able to properly do its job with any debris in its way of making direct contact with the surface.

This biodegradable all-purpose cleaning spray from Trader Joe’s offers a refreshing scent to help your kitchen smell clean and fresh once you’ve finished wiping down surfaces. The formula doesn’t contain ingredients such as synthetic dye and methylisothiazolinone. In addition to using this spray in your kitchen, it can also be used to clean water-safe surfaces in other rooms.

The dishwasher is one kitchen workhorse that’s easy to take for granted. But as soon as we have any issue with it, we quickly realize just how much it simplifies our lives and are grateful once it’s back to working properly. What would your dishwasher be, though, without a good detergent to ensure each dish, glass, or piece of silverware comes out clean and ready to be used again? Consider picking up a container of the automatic dishwasher detergent packs next time you’re shopping at Trader Joe’s.

The free and clear dishwasher packs are made without any dyes, fragrances, or chlorine bleach. Each container includes 20 single-use packs. And, as an added selling point, they are sold in a box, not the plastic bin that many name-brand products come in. If you’re looking to cut back on plastic waste, this is another option to consider grabbing from Trader Joe’s. You can simply toss the cardboard packaging in the recycling bin.

The Trader Joe’s liquid dish soap is another kitchen cleaning essential you might want to pick up on your next grocery run. Unlike some harsher dish soaps that may dry your hand out or irritate your skin, this option features a hypoallergenic formula. It’s also biodegradable and even listed as a USDA Certified Biobased Product.

Trader Joe’s also left out many of the additives that are present in other dish soaps, such as synthetic fragrances and artificial colors. You should notice this almost immediately, as the soap is clear. It does come in two scent options — citrus and lavender tea tree — but both of those fragrances are created using only essential oils. Despite its gentler formula, the soap still offers efficacious properties to help it suds up when you’re cleaning. However, while some customers have a very positive opinion of this product, others found that they had to use more of it when doing a load of dishes in the sink. That could negate some of the money you’ll save from its low retail price (only $2.99 for a 25-ounce bottle).

These pop-up sponges from Trader Joe’s offer a unique design. If you were to look at them without reading the label on the packaging, you probably wouldn’t ever guess that they were indeed sponges. Instead of the moist, rectangular product that most of us are used to seeing, these look like small, thin, dried-out rectangles. However, that’s by design. They are made from vegetable cellulose, which is then dried and compressed, making it possible to fit 12 sponges into each small bag.

But don’t let the odd appearance fool you. All it takes is a quick soak in some water, and the sponges will expand and be ready for use. In fact, they expand to be around 4 ¼ inches wide, 3 inches long, and 1 inch high, which is about the same size, or even slightly larger, than many other sponges. With their compact, non-expanded size, you won’t need to worry about taking up precious storage space under your kitchen sink. The vegetable cellulose material these sponges are made from also means that you can toss them in your compost bin or pile after use.

The reusable sponge cloths are another item you might want to add to your kitchen-cleaning arsenal. They offer a unique design, blending together some of the most valuable characteristics of a standard kitchen sponge with those of a dish towel or cleaning rag. Absorbent like a sponge with a larger surface area, they can be a real asset when wiping down surfaces in the kitchen. You’ll cover more area with each pass, and the cloth will also effectively sop up any spilled liquids in the way.

Each sponge cloth is made from a blend of cellulose and cotton. With this mix, they hold their shape well but are still soft. One additional benefit of using these cloths is that you don’t need to debate the best ways to clean your kitchen sponge. Instead, you can simply toss them in the washing machine for a refresh and then allow them to air dry. These sponge cloths are a good deal, too. While prices may vary slightly, they cost about $4 for a pack of five. That means that the cost of each cloth is less than $1.

When you need to dry the pot or pan that you just hand-washed, quickly wipe up a spill on the counter, or dry your hands before you start cooking dinner, a good kitchen towel is a must. These waffle weave cotton kitchen towels from Trader Joe’s are a pretty great deal at $7.99 for a set of three. Beyond simply being reasonably priced, they’re certain to impress you once you open up the pack and start using them in your kitchen. 

Each towel is made from 100% cotton and is woven on a loom in Tunisia. What makes them different from many other regular kitchen towels is the waffle weave design. This tiny grid pattern gives the fabric a greater surface area, leaving more fabric available to absorb moisture when you wipe something with the towels. Customers seem satisfied with their decision to give these kitchen towels a try, citing them as a high-quality product available for a reasonable price. Others also note that they feel soft, especially after the first wash.

Don’t forget to add these slim size paper towels to your cart the next time you go shopping at TJ’s. Paper towels are a necessity for a variety of kitchen cleaning tasks. They can be used for wiping down your appliances, sopping up spills on the counter, or even cleaning the windows. Paper towels will come in handy for other non-cleaning related tasks in a kitchen, too. For example, you should start adding paper towels to your produce drawer to absorb excess moisture. You can also use them to absorb excess grease from bacon or burgers.

The pack from Trader Joe’s comes with three rolls, each of which is made using 100% recycled materials to limit the impact on the environment. Each towel is also “slim-sized,” meaning they’re about half the size of a standard paper towel sheet (11 inches long by 5 ½ inches wide). This size helps minimize waste — you won’t have to use a full-sized sheet when you only need to wipe up a small spill.

It should go without saying but don’t overlook hand soap when you’re thinking about the cleaning products that every kitchen must have. Whether you’re washing your hands before cooking dinner, need to clean them after handling raw meat, or just stepped in from bringing the dogs outside, soap is essential. Trader Joe’s has you covered with three different fragrances, including one that is specifically designed for use in the kitchen.

You can choose from pink pomelo grapefruit, lavender chamomile, or lemon, which is the kitchen hand soap. Lemon is a popular scent for kitchen soaps and cleaners; it brings such a sense of freshness to mind. Consider picking up a few bottles to have some extra ready for use under the sink — or to make sure that your bathrooms are stocked as well.

Just because you’ve reached the end of the cleaning aisle at Trader Joe’s doesn’t mean you’ve seen all the products it has to offer to help you keep your kitchen clean. Wander down the baking aisle next, and you’ll find the baking soda. While it may be a bit surprising, there are several genius ways to clean your kitchen with baking soda. Baking soda offers a range of properties that make it an effective cleaner for a variety of surfaces and situations.

It is mildly abrasive, so it can help remove stuck-on gunk and grime on different surfaces, such as countertops, ovens, or the kitchen sink. The white powder also offers excellent odor absorption properties. You can use it to clean a trash can by mixing it with some water, or you could just sprinkle a little baking soda under the trash bag each time you change it. If you’ve ever tried mixing baking soda with vinegar, then you’ve seen the bubbly reaction that occurs. This reaction can actually help you clean a variety of surfaces (such as a grimy oven), or it may even help you unclog the kitchen sink. Baking soda retails for just under $1 at Trader Joe’s, so pick up a few boxes on your next trip. Keep one in the pantry for baking cakes, cookies, and other goods, and stash the others in your cleaning closet.

You know that fizzy reaction that we just described using baking soda? Well, the other ingredient you’ll need is vinegar. The organic raw apple cider vinegar is one product from Trader Joe’s that can help you spark this reaction to keep a variety of surfaces in your kitchen clean.

However, there are several more vinegar hacks for a cleaner kitchen that don’t involve using baking soda. You can mix apple cider vinegar with some water (in equal parts) in a spray bottle to make an all-purpose cleaner. Use this cleaner on your kitchen countertops, in the sink, or on the refrigerator shelves. You can use the mixture of vinegar and water to shine up any kitchen windows or sliding glass doors.

Vinegar cleaning hacks also exist for the dishwasher. If your machine has hard water buildup or just too much grime hanging out, it could benefit from a deep cleaning. With the dishwasher empty, you simply need to use about ¼-cup of apple cider vinegar before starting a wash cycle. The vinegar, combined with the hot and steamy water, will release stains and loosen gunk.

No, you won’t find the TJ’s organic 100% Sicilian lemon juice with the other cleaning products. However, that doesn’t make it any less useful when you’re trying to freshen up your living space. Made from 100% Sicilian lemons — with no preservatives or additives — the pure lemon juice’s acidity makes it an asset in the kitchen.

One of the top cleaning uses for lemons and lemon juice in the kitchen is cleaning the microwave. When all the gunk gets caked on the sides, it can be nearly impossible to remove. However, when you add a little lemon juice to a microwave-safe bowl of water and heat it in the microwave, the resulting steam will come to your aid. Those hard-to-remove stains will wipe off much more easily, and your microwave will be clean in no time. A little bit of lemon juice mixed with some dish soap can also help you clean and deodorize pots and pans, your blender, the countertops, and more.