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

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.

I have one like that but it's not from TJs alas.

https://www.coffeebeandirect.com/sinful-delight.html

i think we can all agree the soy chorizo is v v spiced and you can't use much, it almost feels more like a seasoning vehicle than an actual ingredient?

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

― na (NA), Wednesday, July 5, 2017 2:43 PM (five hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

sry not to be a dick but you're heating them up in like a skillet or something first, right?

these are still the best tortillas I've had from a grocery store but they're hard to track down but damn if you can find them....

http://www.seriouseats.com/2014/09/best-flour-tortillas-tortillaland.html

All my local stores carry those, they're fantastic. Downside is that you'll eat half of them warming them in the skillet.

frozen korma fish curry: it's good!

test

I really like Trader Joe's cornichons. I'm oddly opinionated about cornichons.

Most of the rest of TJ's I can do without tbrr

The Giant Peruvian Inca Corn tastes exactly like Fritos. Still satisfying and convenient for taking to parades/fireworks.

In the salad section there's a curried cauliflower and potato salad which is basically just cold aloo gobi with chickpeas; I forgot about mine until a couple of days after it's sell-by date so I cooked it with some butter and threw it on some rice, it basically tastes like Indian restaurant leftovers. Which I mean as a high compliment.

the herbal flavored water is practically identical to other similarly flavored waters that cost at least twice as much

honey butter chips are weird and not good and taste like sweet sour cream & onion chips

Is it just my local TJ or has corporate pulled back on the overfriendliness mandate? It's been so much less oppressive a shopping experience in recent months.

Now that you mention it, I have noticed less "SO ANY PLANS FOR TONIGHT?!?!" interactions there.

I finally tried the frozen beef tamales and they are really tasty - I had previously just tried the sweet corn/chili/cheese one and found it was a bit bland, the beef one has nice flavorful red sauce. The refrigerated ones are good too but I think these are a better deal.

Is it just my local TJ or has corporate pulled back on the overfriendliness mandate? It's been so much less oppressive a shopping experience in recent months.

― Chock Full of Love and Sexy Feeling (Old Lunch), Friday, July 28, 2017 4:06 PM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Now that you mention it, I have noticed less "SO ANY PLANS FOR TONIGHT?!?!" interactions there.

― The Man Who Saw The Midwife (GOTT PUNCH II HAWKWINDZ), Saturday, July 29, 2017 12:56 AM (eighteen hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

it has been awhile since i've heard "ohh someone's having a party!" because I bought a bottle of wine and some cheese.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VsNq3nQ612c

the cucumber watermelon cooler is an amazing drink and even amazinger mixer

Costco had a cucumber mint lemonade that was great. The TJs jalapeno lemonade was screaming for tequila.

i've been buying their coffee concentrate and using that instead of buying iced coffee from pret or wherever, it ends up costing about $1 per large glass of iced coffee which is obviously much cheaper. they also have a new french roast coffee concentrate but i haven't tried it yet, and coconut coffee concentrate which i will not be trying.

i tried the french roast conc. it was a bit more intense than the regular cold brew. nothing to write home abt, but solid. i like the vegetarian chilli but not as much as the kind they carried a couple years ago. gonna make veggie chilli cheese dogs tonight w/ their veg. dogs which can be kinda plastic-y, but split and cast-ironed they're actually much much better

I now smell of the tea tree tingle bath soap. I've smelled worse.

There are new sparkling water flavors - grapefruit, pineapple, "Island Colada," and (iirc) cranberry clementine.

Also I am fairly obsessed with their gluten free cranberry maple granola, which is pretty much a $2 cheaper copy of the kind made by Bakery on Main.

Oh and I bought a little succulent in a magnetized vase for my fridge yesterday.

I go to Trader Joe's once a week, usually, if not more. It's right by my therapist's office and it's my favorite place to decompress.

that sounds beautiful

the only TJ's here for the time being is in the strip mall-heavy suburban retail development area, so the traffic is obnoxious and I almost sprint through there

does TJ's not have some kind of Gatorade knockoff?

Traderade?

I don't remember seeing anything like that, just fruit juice and coconut water.

ok full disclosure I usually buy fussy coffee (locally roasted single origin stuff) but I bought some cheap TJ's coffee for cold brew and made hot coffee with it and it is TERRIBLE

It's the Select Harvest Curated Coffee which is such a dumb name but it's a 50/50 blend of a light Colombian and medium Ethiopian and tbh I would rather drink Folgers or work keurig coffee than this, it is so bitter.

Seriously, does TJ's make ANY decent coffee? I have had so much over the years and it's all super dark, even the medium-light roasts.

I just finished a can of that and I thought it was OK for TJ's. I only rarely buy the higher-end coffees, though.

god if that's OK for TJ's...