The Trader Joe's Product Discussion Thread (S/D)

1) otm
2) but it's tasty!

spice chai latte powdered (chai powders are so hit and miss, theirs is very very good)

yeah I luv this stuff, it was out the last time I went :(

they have a frozen pesto tortellini that's quite nice. yeah i know frozen food is not great for you but i keep some things around for nights when i don't feel like cooking.

1) How everything has so much packaging (like why do I need to buy two zuchinnis on a little tray with plastic wrap -- can't you just sell me zuchinnis?)

hey my trader joe's had a sign up that said they are going to start offering more individual fruits and vegetables in an effort to be more eco-friendly. the only problem w/ this is that they sell them individually, not by weight, which probably makes things more $. but maybe not. anyway, i think my store is about half and half now in terms of loose vs. prepackaged produce.

my TJs has gone in the other direction. kiwis in plastic trays! how am i supposed to tell how ripe they are?

i bought a tray of bran muffins from tj's a few days ago and just noticed the mold growing on them. serves me right for not checking the expiration date?

fucking obsessed with the "Soy Nuggets"

considering how incredibly busy our local TJs is, i'm always surprised by how often we buy stuff from there that is moldy.

classic: the frozen lava cakes

i bought some baaaad oranges the other day ;_;

i got some bad tomatoes a few weeks ago :(

This is why, although I like many of the things the sell, I find myself going there so infrequently; because I'd have to go to another food mart anywa to get fruit/veggies and some other staples.

yeah tj's produce has fucked me over on enough occasions that i only go there for about three things now

i'm guessing that it's a matter of location. when i lived in ny, the veggies were terrible, but in wa, they are pretty good. they are my go-to for zucchini, spinach, blackberries, apples, red peppers, artichokes (in summer). and their brussels sprouts are generally better looking and cheaper than safeway.

i dig their tomatoes tbh

I liked trader joe's a lot more before moving to ny.

I mean I still mostly only shop there, but the process has gone from 'annoying' to 'incredibly stressful'...maybe this will be better when they open the chelsea and uws shops

but yeah the overall variety of stuff + produce + shopping experience was way better in california

They have a new type of mustard with mustard seeds. I like it. I also like their multi-grain or whole wheat pretzels and their peaberry coffee and their cheap coffee filters and their low sodium whole wheat bread and their low sodium tongol tuna, which must be a unique Trader Joe's species. I bought some Granny Smith apples there last weekend and they are pretty good and not too bruised. However, their bagged oranges were much worse than the ones they have at Shaw's.

At the Trader Joe's in Irvine, I bought La Crema Pinot Noir, which was pretty good -- balanced, elegant -- but that is not a Trader Joe's brand.

Search: beer bread box mix. It's delicious and super easy!

there used to be excellent tom yam cashews <a href="http://leisureblogs.chicagotribune.com/thestew/2009/07/trader-joes-chewy-crisp-tom-yum-cashews-like-a-drug.html";>that were like this</a> but TJs discontinued them, for no good reason. anybody know where i can get more? those motherfuckers were incredible.

i bought those once! they were delicious. that's two delicious cashews that have been cancelled. the other were coconut cashews and they were DIVINE. RIP.

i'm addicted to those frozen lava cakes. so amazingly good.

i just discovered they have chipwiches! i used to freaking love chipwiches.

i had to buy ice cream sandwiches in honor of greenberg, which i saw today. i got white wine instead of whiskey, though.

UNGH I am soooooooooooo loving this Triple Berry-O's cereal. I am really excited about the Soy Chorizo in my fridge, too, and the Roasted Garlic Marinara I caved and bought (I haven't purchased jarred tomato sauce in abt 3 years but I have a hunch this one is rly rly good). I also have the Vegetable Masala burgers in my freezer which I already love.

oatmeal. raisin. cookies.

I live by one of these now, however it's too full to get IN THE DOOR most of the time. Is it worth my taking a couple of hours off work to try to do some shopping? Am on super-tight budget for a while longer, maybe I should be looking at TJ's...?

Triple Berry-O's cereal = yesss, I just restocked on this yesterday.

The best TJ's shopping experience Jeff and I had was when we went late on the Saturday adjacent to St. Patrick's day and in a snow storm. There was room to move around in there!

Is it worth my taking a couple of hours off work to try to do some shopping?

yes...unless you mostly buy produce

lol @ city folks, my average trader joes shopping trip from walking in to walking out is ~5 min

That TJs on Lincoln/Grace is expanding into the old CB2, fortunately.

I know! That's super exciting.

i meant to offer my support for the panang curry sticks. they're delicious and so quick in the toaster oven.

making their nitrate (etc) free hot dogs tonight, along with their chicken sundried tomato sausage.

me n the gf ate considerably more than half a box of ginger snaps yesterday night. I think that might be my POO: tj's answer

i still haven't kicked my tj's tikka masala habit and i've added their nan to the problem.

I've found a good time to go to TJs in order to beat the insanity is late on weekends. Like after 7 on Saturday or Sunday Nights. This requires you, like me, be super lame, however.

laurel, if you go by on friday night around 9pm, you'll be good! just plan a shopping trip before your friday night goings out since you never go out til like 11 or 12 anyway!

lol @ city folks, my average trader joes shopping trip from walking in to walking out is ~5 min

knew a guy who used to drive out of the city to CT, where TJs shopping was a whole other roomy aisled experience. i actually like getting to zone out in lines for a long while.

i actually like getting to zone out in lines for a long while.

you, sir/ma'am, are a masochist.

For real.

It's not even the lines that are the hassle. It's being unable to stand anywhere that is not in somebody else's way/not be able to go anywhere else because somebody else is in your way. Like, I want to compare the ingredients list on the ging carrot soup and the butternut squash soup, without having to grab a box of each and go huddle in the corner by the vitamins to read.

monday nights around 9pm are the best time to go to our local TJ's with a car -- we can actually find a parking space.

The checkout lines here can wrap all the way around the perimeter of the store and back out onto the sidewalk, but they actually move pretty fast. The even bigger problem is what Jenny said -- it takes probably 4x or 5x as long to do ANYTHING because you can't move until the person in front of you does, and she can't move until that man's cart moves, and so on.

i usually go on mondays around 11am and the place is literally crawling with children/mothers. many of these kids enjoy pushing their own carts and it's chaos sometimes trying to get ava/sophie/hank to move his cart, pls.

Pro tip to Chicago TJ's shoppers: I try to go in one of the far left lines, over by the beer. They're usually shorter.

ava/sophie/hank

Haha.

Pro tips to TJs shoppers: try to embrace serenity; think of the line as an extension of yourself, a spiritual family extending forward from your heartspace. The children are our future and learning to push miniature shopping carts is a valuable lyfe skill. Reward your own patience with free samples of mango lemonade.

i know i know
the shopping has to get done sometime

We are going to stop going to TJ and pay other ppl to do the shopping for us.

cool, more room for me and my kids ava, sophie, and hank