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

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

yeah no stove sadly - toaster oven or nukerowave

the green chile and cheese tamales are delicious

"reduced guilt" http://www.toffeetalk.com/public/style_emoticons/default/shaking%20fist.png

i like the fett alfredo - you could add some steamed veggies/roasted chicken to it

mmm yum guys! I've got a list going

one of my other favorite things is the nitrate-free pastrami, which has a very beefy/briny flavor.

― NYSE:JAH (get bent), Wednesday, March 11, 2009 3:56 AM (3 years ago) Bookmark

this is really good pastrami

the pastas that come in the cardboard trays have been consistently underwhleming for me; they're not BAD, they'll do, they're decent for the price but they're not zomg amazing. Brie + asparagus sounds incredible though. I haven't fucked w/ the reduced guilt mac but the regular mac is craaaaaazy good

reduced guilt mac tastes just like regular mac, is v cheesy and delicious.

like I don't feel like I'm being denied anything by having reduced guilt - honestly I just bought it because it was cheap

they charge more for guilt?!

The reduced guilt mac and cheese is just like, half the mac and cheese than what you get in the regular box. If all I'm eating for a meal is mac and cheese, I prefer the larger serving.

I like the various frozen lasagnas, although I burned out on them a little, and I second the burritos recommendation, especially the verde chicken burrito. The enchiladas are pretty good, too, although I really miss the chicken enchiladas verdes.

reduced guilt is $1 less