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

thanks.

i actually did turn the oven on twice recently... for samosas.

the frozen pasta single meals are not bad either. froz mac & cheese p good too

quiches and tamales

TJ's frozen falafel is very bad and tastes like horrible chicken nuggets

all the salsas i have had from TJ have ranged from awful to mediocre

the double roasted one is probably the best of the lot, but yeah.

I like the salsa autentica bc its like your standard Mexican restaurant free table salsa but the spice level can vary pretty widely from jar to jar.

the sriracha bbq sauce would be amazing if it had about a third less sugar, but that's my complaint about most commercial bbq sauces. it wouldn't be too hard to make my own, though. it's tomato paste, sriracha, vinegar, sugar, and garlic, basically.

opened a package of those steamed lentils today and they freakin' rule. made KILLER tacos, but they're already lightly seasoned so perfect for salads too or whatever

turns out Partially Popped Popcorn is quite good. Not at all difficult to munch on.

hi what shd i buy tomorrow

so far I got:

Ice cream
Pot pie
Lunches
Quiche fixins (what kind of quiche shd i make tho)
Pizza fixins
Cream cheese
Dessert mix
Focaccia

super grandma of me but i dig their fig bars

Quiche is good for using up leftover vegetables but of you don't have any of those, bacon, spinach, mushroom, and Swiss cheese is always good IMO.

omfg

crispy cookies filled w/ belgian chocolate are m/l fancy high-end milanos and they taste stunning

Most of what I buy from Trader Joe's are either bottles of wine or minimally processed items that I can use as ingredients in meals, such as cheese, nuts, or olive oil. But of their convenience foods I can recommend:

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/31Qleo1KVNL._AC_UL160_SR160,160_.jpg

Several other similar varieties of Indian food in pouches are also good (nb: Punjab eggplant), but this one seems the best of the lot.

We eat those pouches at least once a week. Sometimes twice.

i ate them too often for a while and got sick of them. so i don't like them anymore, which sucks, they're madly convenient and i used to love them.

They are fantastic for camping. No refrigeration needed and much better tasting than anything that comes out of a can.

I like the Punjab Cholley variety, actually has some heat.

Liked their new pickle-flavored popcorn, though I actually wish the pickle-flavor was a bit more intense.

They brought some discontinued products back...veggie burritos and black bean and corn enchiladas. Veggie burritos are good although they have a surprising amount of fat...also they have really elaborate instructions for microwave burritos imo (you have to run them underwater, and puncture them which is really hard to do w a frozen burrito at least for me).

Black bean and corn enchiladas are pretty basic and healthy but are tasty w some hot sauce.

The 'heat and serve' roasted rack of lamb was on sale so I'm giving it a shot tonight. I don't think I've ever had re-heated lamb but I'm not expecting brilliance.

i will pray for u

it sounds...not good

Green plumcots.

The rack of lamb was... okay. Very garlicky, which was a bonus. Maybe lamb is just so damn mild I need it to be spicy to really enjoy.

xp YOU'RE green plumcots

I wish. I would devour myself.

Is this Green Dragon sauce a new thing? Tomatillo/jalapeño in a squeeze bottle, loving it.

it's not bad! it has a tartness that's not just vinegary. tomatillo, there you have it

FUUUUCK I went to TJs yesterday and forgot to buy the Milano cookies noooooooooooooo

Where IS that Green Dragon sauce? I couldn't find it yesterday and they were busy, didn't want to bother an employee.

Is it refrigerated, I mean, because I didn't see it in the hot sauce section.

it was on an aisle end cap when I was there, as a new product

wasn't refrigerated here, just in w/ other assorted hot sauces in addition to end cap

give a big miss to their "mango ginger chutney," putting that in quotation marks because it tastes EXACTLY like sweet chili sauce, don't let the orange color fool you. which is fine, i like sweet chili sauce, but they are definitely not interchangable.

i sampled the sriracha ranch dressing recently, it's wayy too spicy to use as a dressing imo unless you are a spicy field but it would probably make a good dip.

Intriguing. I already mix sriracha and ranch dressing together to dip tater tots into (I AM A DISGUSTING SAVAGE AMA). This could save me minutes per year of mixing things!

Obligatory

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mRntutn8udw

i've also been on a trader joe's salad kick so i can heartily recommend the arugula chicken salad, the mexicali salad, the chicken and roasted beets salad and the butternut squash/quinoa/wheatberry salad. all really tasty.

right now i'm eating the kale and cauliflower curry salad...it's weird. the kale in it wasn't cut from the stems (and these are thick stems, about 1cm in diameter) which i thought was a universal requirement for pre-made kale salads?

I had an interview at Trader Joe's world HQ two weeks ago and it was kinda nuts. Every single person in that office aside from the CEO has a cubicle.. And yes, they wear hawaiian shirts.

would it kill them to make more prepared dishes with fake meat in them? Every goddamn thing is chicken chicken chicken.

and not good chicken, either, always tastes kind of gross. I just pick it out. Sorry, chickens.

Also yeah the kale and cauliflower salad is like eating a chopped up umbrella with some cauliflower and sultanas.

lol @ chopped up umbrella

"I had an interview at Trader Joe's world HQ two weeks ago..."

Is this still in So Cal? (Monrovia?)

btw I'm completely reversing my recommendation of the mexicali salad...I just bought one and it's definitely changed since I last had one a year or so ago, yuck.

Finally found the Green Dragon sauce to be told that they're going to stop having it. So I hope I like it. But not too much.

http://i.imgur.com/tsxccnS.jpg ??

HOLY SMOKES the black bean and cheese taquitos are AMAAAAZING

Did they get rid of the vegetarian chili? Motherfuckers.

yes that is a baffling move