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

At Trader Joe's though I feel like there was also a new St Marcellin like cheese that didn't have an AOC but was french.

it's JinGLE JANGLE time

Oh, I got some egg nog greek yogurt too.

Although I was with L last night and we met up at Murrays.

lol by "L" do you mean "f."?

(Thanks, I'll see what we get over here and compare notes.)

L auren.

<3

the frozen bag of gnocchi w tomoato sauce and mozz is so fucking bad

lol steve that seems like exactly the kind of thing you would KNOW would be bad!

sometimes i think i miss tj's but i honestly can't think of anything they had that was that great

i did, you're right, i knew it wouldn't be great but i was hoping it'd at least be passable

the gnocchi had zero flavor and was the texture of like.... a cross btwn play doh and bubble tea tapioca??? it was so bizarre

can't think of anything they had that was that great

They have good prices for low- and mid-range wines. They are a good source for nuts and dried fruits. There's some other stuff they're good at. but ime, "great" is either very expensive, or else it's what you can make for yourself at home from good ingredients. that goes for every store, not just tj's.

ew xp

i do miss their nuts -- good and cheap.

Case in point: tried the black bean and red lentil dried pasta. Both terrible. But I recognize its the concept of legume based pasta that's at fault.

I dig the Brussels sprouts on the stalk available of late. Maybe 20% less expensive than the bagged fresh sprouts, but no more time consuming, as those require trimming. Slice halfwise, toss in EVOO salt & pepper in your baking pan, arrange cut down w/o crowding, roast at 425 F for 20 mins. You can toss on some garlic cloves in skin if you want fancy.

I kind of like that frozen gnocchi in a bag. But I also fried the shit out of it and put a ton of hot pepper into it.

When I come back to the US one entire suitcase is almost full of trader joes stuff to bring back. I probably posted somewhere upthread on what I bring back but it's just 40% cheaper than anything I could find similar to here. It's comfort. When I was living in NY someone from chile came to visit and she totally bought like 8 pink himalayan salt, 4 green dragon sauce, rice crackers and tons of yogi tea to take back.

xpost i saw some purple brussel sprouts in a bag that I wanted to try but figured I didn't have time to make them.

Also do you toss them in seasoning before baking? I go back and forth between whether it's better to do it before or after. I was making it a weekly habit to roast ~1-2 kilo of brussels for the week to snack on or use as salad toppings, mix in with rice or quinoa, other stuff as a quick meal. I do a lot of balsamic/ garlic but have also recently been doing lemon zest, garlic and nutritional yeast

Roasted brussels sprouts don't really need much seasoning besides salt & pepper, I think. I put that on before roasting, with the olive oil. I like the TJ's Traditional French Brie. It's got a nice, slightly funky flavor. It's good with their Multigrain Crackers (the ones with a hint of onion powder).

wait so should i try the frozen gnocchi again and fry the shit out of it? bcz i just followed the instructions which basically just reheated them but did not cook them at all

I like my pastas to be really al dente or baked (crisp edges), and on the dryer side, that is the reason I fry the gnocchi to get a crisp on them. Gnocchi is so hit or miss when you buy it because of the texture.

But I have bought the tomato and sweet potato gnocchi from TJs a bunch of times and liked them both ( I always add more seasoning though). Oddly enough I really really like the cheap monoprix brand of gnocchi a lot because it is super firm..

they currently have a "cauliflower gnocchi", in keeping with the cauliflower everything that's out there at present (pancakes, pizza dough, rice)

hello everyone...the crispy crunchy salted toffee cookies are amazing (and gluten free if you're into that kind of thing). apparently they've had a chocolate chip version of this cookie for a while that I've been sleeping on too. i generally dislike pastries made with rice flour but these cookies make it work, A++ will buy again

Mentioning alternatives to wheat, I will never ever buy lentil or chickpea flour based pasta again. These TJ products turned out inedibly mealy no matter how carefully cooked.

Also, I'm a stopped clock. Looks like I vented on this in December.

you wouldn't be a stopped clock if you ate more lentils!

this fucking place

1) stopped carrying hansen's black cherry soda
2) then stopped carrying hansen's soda completey

zhoug sauce is great!!! i am only posting this here because i don't think anyone here shops at the same TJs store I do, so if y'all stock up on zhoug sauce there will still be plenty left for me. also, i was disappointed the last time i went (Sunday) and they didn't have the almond milk egg nog.

The brown rice pasta is very good for brown rice pasta. The black bean pasta was super weird. It tasted like mexican food.

The Almond Butter Cocoa bars are AMAZING. I wish I were eating one right now.

They have semi-(sun???)dried tomatoes in evoo now for $2.99. So great. I had these once with burrata and a balsamic reduction and still remember.

Anyone tried the refrigerated pickles they have near the salads and salsas?

Yes, they are pretty crispy but not as flavorful as I was hoping

My jam lately has been those parmesan crisps they usually keep on that shelf over the frozen section for whatever reason. Crush those up in a bowl of stew = manna from heaven

The ghost pepper fresh salsa is very addictive.

Seconded.
Also been on a harissa kick this week once I realized it can be a sauce for noodles

They have a new mushroom umami seasoning blend that I got. I haven't used it on anything yet but I tasted a little and it tastes a lot like the packets in instant ramen. I brought back seven Everything But the Bagels back to chile in different suitcases because I was soooooo worried customs would take them because of the sesame/poppy seeds.

Impressive they managed that with no yeast extract or MSG, though as with all salt "seasonings" I really would prefer trying the individual ingredients rather than pay for expensive salt. Now seeking inexpensive porcini powder, everthing is is in the cupboard.

kosher salt, dried onions, ground mustard seed, porcini mushroom powder, white button mushroom powder, crushed red pepper, black pepper, dried thyme

else is in the cupboard. Late onset dyslexia seems to make me ignore the words at the end of each line...

I really should start making my own blends of things especially for indian foods that I make a lot. It would save a little time from me having to open a thousand jars of things with my grubby hands.

I do really like TJs chili lime powder thing too.

Indian themselves commonly pick a garam masala they happen to like, and then tweak it with more common spices (cumin, coriander, mustard, cayenne/dried pepper). I don't see much point in collecting all the components of garam masala (mace, cloves, cardamom) for most Western dilettantes.

I end up using the same basic things for my indian mixtures: tumeric, cumin, chili, mango powder, fenugreek, coriander, garam masala. I should just make a blend and then tweek it after.

asafoetida gets thrown in if I don't know what else to add.

Really its main place is in Gujarati cuisine, due to the Jain influence (garlic and onions is pratibandhita/forbidden).

Oh, good to know. I stayed with some Jains when I was in India. We went to a lot of Jain temples too (which were beautiful).

I find it a little weird that TJs doesn't have any dry indian spices ( I think I've seen some curry pastes).

I saw a shakshuka package in the frozen section so I thought I'd buy it, after seeing so much talk about it (shakshuka in general) on ILX. You have to add 2 eggs after it's mostly cooked. I haven't made it yet, but from the the looks of it it'll be at least OK.

Also bought some jerk spice plantain chips, these are good, definite heat but not crazily so.

Saw the latter, considered it, saw the former, bought it but haven't made it. TJs used to carry dukka spice mix, but it seems that was a one-off.