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

LL, could you possibly buy those ingredients separately in bulk, and put them in a grinder of your own?

I mean, I know legwork etc but it seems p simple to put together if you have the resources

I know but I didn't really want to make a big project of my pepper, yknow? I just wanted to buy/eat it.

i feel you :/

My all-time favorite pre-processed food from TJ's was tuna in thai curry sauce, either red or green, packaged in a foil pouch. It was great for camping trips! Sadly, it seems to come and go, and is currently not available at all locally.

I haven't seen it at mine in a couple months. I don't recall seeing a space for it, even. But that happened before and it came back. Probably should taste just as good to put pre-made curry on canned tuna, but the magic just isn't there.

I liked that stuff too, although after a while I realized it was actually too sweet and I was added extra salt to compensate when it could have just had less sugar. I think it may have been discontinued because of...tuna overfishing? For some reason that comes to mind.

back on the subject of TJ's food that is actually in stock - pumpkin cream cheese is back

the chicken pot pie bites are pretty damn delicious
the beef chili is surprisingly healthy - like significantly lower in fat than the veggie, chicken or turkey chili

That green curry tuna was so popular though!! Will have to peep the chk pot pie bites and pump cc; those both sound like heaven.

Most of TJ's bagels are sub-par but something about the sesame ones is really great; v much into it w/ cream cheese most mornings.

Also that 1.5lb (!!) box of maple + brown sug mini-wheats for, what, like $2.99?!? How is that even real.

Have just recently started shopping at TJ's, since moving to Manhattan and learning to my surprise that, at least for packaged junk food products and staples they are cheaper than anywhere else I can shop. Baffling! The produce irritates the hell out of me and the meat all seems real expensive but they've been super great for things like bread, TV dinners (been leaning on the cheapo palak paneer), milk, OJ, cereal...etc. And the beer! The cheap, cheap beer! Favorite right now is the Oatmeal Stout. mmmmmm.

Anyway, this is just me saying "hi" to this thread, I suspect I will be a regular lurker/contributor in the future...

all of that is otm: super-cheap and also tasty, shitty produce, expensive meat.

it really takes some sort of psychotic genius to pre-wrap a head of lettuce or a green pepper in two distinct layers of plastic, and yet still have it go back immediately. (Doesn't help that you actually can't see or feel the produce through all that wrapping so good luck picking out a good one, not that there are any.) Humongous dud on that.

Only "product" I've been disappointed in so far is the Irish Breakfast tea, which is ... meh on all levels. Irish Breakfast was my favorite Twinings blend so maybe I'm just judging it against that.

yeah I remember getting the fearless flyer when I first moved here, and being all wow I can't wait to go to this wonderland of great food...and then seeing all the hermetically sealed produce and being like, WTF O_o

they are king of snacks, definitely

peanut-butter-filled-pretzels i love u

does your TJ's have no non-packaged produce? Mine has a mix of packaged and un-packaged

So does mine. I admit to buying a fair amount of produce at TJ's because of convenience and lack of accessible, better options (I in no way live in a food desert but my other options are the much maligned neighborhood market four blocks east of TJ's or the Jewel supermarket 1.5 miles in the opposite direction and neither of them are going to win any produce awards) but I am often very annoyed by it. I don't love the excessive packaging (unless it also operates as a storage bag) but what really gets to me is the tendency for it to spoil so quickly.

Yeah, TJ's is pretty bad on the produce front although I think they've gotten slightly better. They have been offering more non-packaged produce, I've noticed. Mostly we buy staples and packaged products there and get our produce and meat at Costco, which just means you have to be like "Ok, this week the ONLY fruit we are eating is apples and pears, because we have to buy a case of each." And you have to be willing to buy a bunch of steaks at once and freeze some.

hurting otm, it's not as bad as it used to be, packaging wise. but yeah, the quality of the produce is still not great.

I never look at TJ's produce section with one exception; right around this time of year, for a week, maybe two, our TJs gets brussels sprouts on the stalk and sells them cheap: $3 for a stalk with almost 2 lbs of sprouts. It is the only TJ produce ever worth considering.

hahah i saw those and almost bought them but said "nahhh, it's TJ, they'll probably go bad by the time i get them home"...oops.

The more processed and handled something is, the faster it will spoil. It gets cut, bruised, processing opens up lots of ways for air & bacteria to get in...unhandled food is way better for long-term usefulness, preferably still wrapped in its leaves or husk or whatever if it grew in one. On the stalk is perfect! All those little individual sprouts are not cut open to the air, only the main stalk is, so that's where decay will start, which keeps it pretty far away from the edible bits.

I think I've actually noticed a big jump in the quality of produce. Maybe not intrinsically dubious things like year-round tomatoes, but the peaches and pears have been great, as have been the greens, and they seem to have switched to organic garlic. Cherry tomatoes have been good, apples have been good ... no probs.

the gluten free pizza is disgusting.

Was "gluten free" not warning enough for you?

Liking the Fig Butter. Not liking how things like sweetened condensed milk and baking powder (!) are considered "seasonal."

i've had good gluten free products (by choice/out of curiosity; i can handle gluten ok).

why no more plain non-fat frozen yogurt? That stuff was delicious w/fresh fruit

This just in: green curry tuna has been CANCELLED

it's so sad; they haven't had it at my local in ages.

Apparently there are 3 reasons why a product is discontinued:

1) not v popular; doesn't sell
2) too popular; sells too much and the supplier can't keep up w/ demand and there are constantly gaps on the shelves. They really do not like this
3) supplier pulls out for whatever reason

this was a #2

nobody goes there anymore; it's too crowded.

i really like their tuna wraps. i hope they keep those around, and i don't even like "wraps" very much as a rule. they got rid of my favorite sandwich -- the turkey and swiss on pretzel bread.

They got rid of my favorite sandwich, the reuben wrap RIP (btw do not buy the vietnamese wrap no matter how much you love bahn mi, it was foul)

I did buy the pumpkin macarons and they were guuuud. They aren't cheap and it's very easy to eat them all in one sitting but they are a treat.

Their pumpkin bread mix is stellar as well, everyone I've made it for adores it, I'm going to buy a bunch so I can make it throughout 2013. And it's idiot-proof, just add egg, oil and water.

Their pumpkin spice coffee is gross tho. Maybe it tastes better with sugar, when I have their samples I just add cream and it was awful. In general tho I'm nhf coffees that add funky flavorings (chai coffee, chocolate coffee...just stop)

On a non-pumpkin note their pita chips with cinnamon and sugar taste like delicious little crispy churros. I also bought their chicken tikka samosas...tasty enough but if no one told you there's no way you'd know that it was tikka-flavored.

produce is still inconsistent. E.g. I bought pears there a month ago and the things did not ripen. I mean I left them in the fruit bowl for like 5 days -- these were freakishly hard pears. But then the ones I bought recently ripened in a day and were delicious.

fwiw I got a refund for my salmonella-and-flax-seed peanut butters.

the "too popular" thing is p interesting. like it's more important to their customer experience to have people know what to expect, I guess?

has anyone made the chocolate peppermint loaf cake mix yet?

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-UrGaglO_Kw8/UEdb8fEy36I/AAAAAAAAAik/FazUSCcc5bQ/s320/TraderJoesOrganicStoneGroundChocolate1.JPG

The salt and pepper Mexican chocolate is bananas but really good.

Sounds good.

The panko crusted fish sticks are fabulous. I'm on a fish sticks kick though, so even Gortons are fabulous to me, but I'm pretty sure the TJ panko ones are extra-fab.

I've had the panko crusted tilapia filets. Are the fish sticks different?

Stick form.

Actually now that I think of it, they were the panko crusted tilapia filets, not sticks at all. It's been kind of a tempest of fish products around here, so I got confused.

I've been liking getting the "Pound Plus" chocolates -- if not my favorite chocolate they have, by FAR the best value and pretty damn good

pistachio white choco cookies--recommended.

The Unibroue er, broued, Holiday beer is back! (basically half-price Maudite/Trois Pistoles)

the one with the fancy Grolsch-like top?

I think it's a cork w/ wire holder like for champagne. Bought one a few days ago but haven't tried it yet. Isn't it slightly different each year? As in vary the recipe different, not random quality control different.

can I get a few rec's of frozen meals?

I love their reduced guilt mac & cheese, and from earlier updates I'm of the understanding that Vegetable Pakoras and Palak Paneer are good too. any other rec's. Kinda need to revamp my work-lunch game for days when I don't have leftovers.

the other pastas are good, esp. the fusilli one with spinach and the one with brie and asparagus (though that one's pretty heavy).

i really like their burritos :-/

tikka masala is good too

no shame in burritos. chin up, jord

i like the kung pao chicken as well but that requires a stove