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

how???

Same here. My toaster oven has a setting for frozen has browns! it makes them 90% perfect

salt the oil

Really dig the European style yogurt, esp with the small frozen blueberries mixed in.

SALT THE OIL

To each their own I guess

Uh what oil

vegetable oil

the oil within

Oh ok now I understand

OH you mean the patty hash browns!! I was thinking the shredded taters and was like "ok i salt the oil but what do i do with all of these potato shreds?????"

hah yeah the patties!

i cook them that way & then chop them up and put them in breakfast burritos

sassy! I want to do that

ooh

eating JUST mandarin orange chicken w/ rice feels excessive and decadent, what are your favorite add-ins besides broccoli??

scallions

w o w

http://www.delish.com/cooking/recipe-ideas/recipes/a46152/trader-joes-mandarin-orange-chicken-rice-bowls-recipe/

https://media.giphy.com/media/26ufdipQqU2lhNA4g/giphy.gif

What if you took that and put it in a burrito

chicken AND rice? get the fuck outta here

I mix either spinach or the "cruciferous crunch" bagged blend into anything I deem vegetable-deficient.

Did Trader Joe's discontinue their all time goat mvp, crushed garlic in a jar? Last two times I've gone they've only had diced garlic which isn't nearly as good.

Answer seems to be: yes, they discontinued it.

Visit any Indian grocer. Great big jars of crushed garlic, crushed ginger, or both for much less than the fresh forms. It loses some pungency from the processing, but its easy enough to compensate.

Christopher Ranch brand crushed garlic is the best and is sold in major US supermarkets. Dunno if TJ's is US garlic or Chinese (which is possible).

It was missing from ours for awhile, but eventually it returned, but in a different jar.

Luckily I still have some garlic left but I'll check out the supermarket brands when I run out. The new garlic tj's has is diced rather than crushed, imo it's not as flavorful.

The coconut cold brew coffee concentrate makes a nice iced coffee with some coconut milk and coconut water. Maybe serve it in a coconut.

The "refried" black beans (really just puréed) are bland, the soy chorizo too spicy and greasy by itself, but mix them (4 oz chorizo/can), and they make an excellent vegan taco filler.

the soy chorizo is... too spicy?!?

As a standalone taco filling, yes, and heavier than Mexican pork chorizo in chile, garlic, cumin, oregano, etc. It's probably great in soups, scrambled eggs/breakfast burritos, etc.

soy chorizo is great in scrambled eggs but it is not spicy

i always mix it with rice and vegetables, much more palatable that way. i have stuffed poblano chiles with this mixture and it's pretty good. not great, but passable. not too picante-spicy for me but i can see how it would be too overwhelming/one note

spicy like too much spice, or spicy like hot?

The former. It's basicaly TVP and soybean oil, drowning in salt, chile & garlic powder, cumin & oregano, squirted into a plastic casing.

I grow and eat habaneros recreationally. Too much capsaicin never bothered me.

I made chorizo breakfast burritos for a camping trip one time, and the next time since we were taking mostly vegetarians I used the Trader Joe's soy chorizo instead. No one could really tell the difference. That seemed like the perfect application for it, where texture is not even an issue.

ah, overseasoned. I get that.

yeah a little goes a long way. i decant it into tupperware on purchase, then put like a teaspoon per person in eggs. i would never eat it on its own.

related: i just moved from the east coast to the west coast and i feel like i must be doing something wrong because the TJs handmade flour tortillas here are awful compared to the ones i got in new york.

There's at least 3 recipes/suppliers from the GIS evidence:

Handmade Flour Tortillas:
unbleached enriched flour, water, high oleic sunflower oil, honey, wheat gluten, salt, soy lecithin, sodium acid pyrophosphate, sodium bicarbonate, citric acid
Handmade Flour Tortillas:
unbleached enriched flour, water, olive oil, salt, distilled vinegar
Truly Handmade Flour Tortillas:
high gluten enriched flour, safflower oil, honey, baking powder, sea salt

Tastewise, I can't imagine any of them compare favorably with Hispanic grocer tortillas made with lard or tallow.

i used to buy the smoked andouille chicken sausage on occasion and that's fairly spicy

yeah, that's a decent sausage.

good toofpaste

all of the tjs tortillas i've bought have been terrible. they taste fine but fall apart if you put anything in them.

actually i'm not crazy about most of their bread products.

TJs corn tortillas are generally retrograded and brittle out of the package. Toast them in a flat pan and they become usable, and much tastier. However, the TJs still more geared to tacos than other Latin dishes. I find non TJs corn tortillas (like the La Providencia brand) much better.

The TJ's baked good I buy most trips is their Lavash bread. Good ingredients, and great for hummus + salad wraps.

I think the bread products vary by location -- I think some is made by local bakeries and then packed as TJ's brand?

I like their California style sprouted wheat bread.

that's what i get usually

i switch it up sometimes and get the flourless whole wheat berry one or another orange label one similar to the sprouted wheat bread one

i decided to try the organic bolivian blend coffee and it's pretty disappointing. I've heard decent things about a couple of the other ones, but not decent enough that I necessarily want to give them a shot. i agree w/what was said upthread by dayo about TJ's leaning too much on the darker roasts at the expense of lighter ones. if they could get a solid light roast that's not too floral, maybe even skewing towards the more smooth, nutty, chocolately side of things i'd definitely try it.