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

made an iced coffee w/ my aeropress; it's v bright and has a good flavor. Not bad!

― siouxsan sarandon (Stevie D(eux)), Tuesday, April 30, 2013 4:27 PM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I'd never let you down with a coffee rec

not impressed w/ the Cowboy Caviar (overly sweet)

Gonna try a different coffee, too (I am learning that I prefer less bright/acidic stuff)

I will try either the Italian blend (dark) or the Bay Blend (ULTRA dark) which acc to stuff I've read are both full-bodied and rich w/o being too burny. Will report back!!

i bought some of their frozen Aloo Chat pocket thingys? omggggggg so yummy

Oh yeah those are great!! I eat them at work.

the the spicy thai fried rice is indeed spicy!

What's the protocol for taking something back when you didn't like it? This feels so shitty to do but the employees are CONSTANTLY hyping this up as a thing for me to do and I bought something and I really do not like it and want something else instead. I mean I guess I just go to customer service and be like "Hey I didn't like this very much, can I get something else?" and stuff but yeah, I am going to feel like such a jerk!

I would never do that.

I KNOW, STOP IT, STOP GUILTING ME

Like I said, I've never done it before, but I was super stoked abt this product (Everything Bread Twists) and it was more than I wanted to spend on bread and I really didn't need it, but I convinced myself it'd be worth the splurge (of like a whole $3 lol) and then it was more or less inedible and I was really crestfallen and I just want something that I'll love ;_;

it's their policy to accept it so go for it

I mean I totally understand how (on paper at least) it's super profitable to push things on ppl with this golden cushion of IF YOU DON'T LIKE IT WE WILL JUST TAKE IT BACK NO QUESTIONS!!!, so people are more likely to try new things, and then probably wind up not hating them most of the time, and a lot of the people that DO hate them probably won't bother to bring them back, and the few that actually do bring them back might go try something else new that they will wind up loving and buying again, etc.

Yeah I have no problem with that. Also if more folks did that then they would know which products are bunk and be able to stuff the shelves with more quality.

if you feel compelled you should do it!

It was probably some fucker who brought back chili mango fruit floes and said they were not good. NOW I CAN NEVER GET THEM AGAIN.

They figure out which products are bunk by people never buying them again.

I'm curious as to what was so bad about the bread, I haven't noticed those at my TJ's but it seems like bread would have to be really bad to fall into the "inedible" category for me.

I've taken stuff back because it was rotten -- mostly meat, pork more than 1x -- and they're always super cool about exchanging it. no one likes rotten meat afaik.

Oh, and I hated the dried Kiwis they had (too sweet, and I guess the Kiwi flavor doesn't survive the drying process very well). I didn't take them back, just chalked it up to experience.

Yeah, it looked really good in the package but it tasted like a doughy undercooked/untoasted everything bagel and my brain was just like "omg no"

I loooove everything bagels but they must be crisp and toasty

and I tried toasting these and they were still gross.

Beat me to the punch with the last comment.

I'd like to recommed the dried Mandarins. Some added sugar but still tart, with a fresh flavor.

I returned pine nuts when they gave me pine mouth.

I've always dreaded that. How long did it last?

i think a few days to a week? it was pretty annoying

christ

I don't get pine mouth but don't care much for pine nuts. Just thinking about that makes me want to barf.

i love pine nuts but pine mouth makes me reconsider my choices and praise jebus I haven't encountered it

it's annoying but not barf-worthy. i still eat pine nuts (bc they are delicious). it was a constant taste in my mouth like i had just eaten one of those zinc cold lozenges, metallic and bitter.

I'm happy that doesn't happen to me.

But I get spinach teeth, which is really annoying -- a chalky, gritty feeling on my teeth that brushing won't take away. I read it's some kind of acid in the spinach. Too bad b/c spinach is delicious.

i have to put in a good word for the refreshing and palate-cleansing frozen lemon squares.

(xp) You can neutralize some of the oxalic acid in spinach with a little baking soda - keeps it greener too when you cook it. Not a good idea for raw spinach though.

Tentative alert but I think they might be clearing out the in-shell almonds to discontinue them

been eating a lot of trader joe's citrus gumdrops this week tbh.
they are vegan, i guess, so there is that to recommend them. i almost wish some of them were more tart.. but they are still there and i eat them.

i am kind of annoyed that their smoky spicy peach salsa is not very much of either and tastes more like jam

Joe Joe's and Peanut Butter Tracks ice creams are AMAAAAAAAAZING btw

"Vegetable Patch" juice is not as good as V8. Bleh.

i like their siracha better than regular siracha

okay so the Carribean Fruit Floes are maybe the yummiest popsicles I've ever had. It's one of those products where you know you should try the other flavors but feel stupid buying them because you *know* that they cannot possibly be better or even nearly as good as the Carribean.

Still miss the chili mango floes every single day of my life.

they sell this at tj's. it's not bad.

http://www.fullsailbrewing.com/session-black.cfm

Short, Dark, and Drinkable

the way i like my men

http://traderjoesrecipes.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/trader-joes-corn-chile-tomato-less-salsa-1.jpg

minor complaint:
the coconut oil jar is too small to get my (rather small) hand inside after about 2/3 of the jar is gone. it's fine if you're using it for cooking (extracting with a spoon/kitchen implement) but if you're using it as a skin moisturizer
it's kind of a difft story. i'll keep buying it because i can scoop it into this other thing (talenti gelato container) but really i would rather not have to do that.

again, a minor complaint. it's $5.99 when a similar amt at a difft store is twice the cost. still, it's annoying.

I could not live with someone who moisturized with coconut oil - I'd be out all the time on macaroon and coconut cream pie runs.

haha

That doesn't seem to be the case here. I think it only smells coconutty for a little bit. It's a great moisturizer!

(talenti gelato container)

These things oughta have their own thread. So super useful.

Not only that but the logo is so small that you can tape something decorative over it and it +/- looks like it's intentional. So far I've used them for bath salts (for the bath, not drugs) and coconut oil. But I can see storing all kinds of stuff in there. AND you get to eat a bunch of gelato.

i thought hot salsa would be a safe bet but it tastes like sour assholes. thanks for nothing TJs