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

jalapeno sauce

I impulse bought the advent calendar for dogs lol
It was 99 cents! Couldn’t resist.

If anyone sees a jar of the maple butter I will buy it from you. That stuff was AMAZING and disappeared rather quickly.

I got the ginger lemon hard kombucha (6.5% abv!) and it smells kind of like bratwurst. That has not stopped me from working my way through the six pack.

thai lime chili almonds w/ kefir lime leaves are interesting

i love those things. I also use the leftover debris in the bag on top of salmon when I bake it.

do you live in somewhere with a breezy, unencumbered open plan trader joe's

I've seen one of these once. In Laguna Hills, CA. It was magnificent.

I'm a fan of:
Pretzel bagels and rolls
Frozen, dark chocolate covered strawberries and bananas
Plumcots and apriums, which sadly recall the Mayostard/Mustardayonnaise sketch from Mr. Show.

Most Trader Joe's products are a lot like the better Sufjan Stevens records: Addicting at first but get I sick of them really quickly. And there have been some all-out disappointments.

Excellent username there Deflatormouse. Welcome to the I Love Everything annex.

i shopped at the first trader joes (pasadena ca) for a while last year. i've been in bigger bodegas. it was intense, but it was obviously less intense than the court st brooklyn store.

there's a newish one at the mid city/santa monica border. extremely chilled out vibes.

https://lh3.ggpht.com/p/AF1QipPaCwMKmCh-mvZu5Qwbx0Ru3Vbu0gZwdmEzfkUJ

i love those things. I also use the leftover debris in the bag on top of salmon when I bake it.

― Yerac, Saturday, January 25, 2020 2:45 PM (four hours ago)

i was going to comment on the huge amount of dust in the bag. this is genius!

Excellent username there Deflatormouse. Welcome to the I Love Everything annex.
― A is for (Aimless), Saturday, January 25, 2020 4:25 PM (two hours ago)

Aw, shucks. Thank you so much.

I love love love the pork gyoza (gyozas?)

xpost, yeah the thai chili lime almond dust is amazing on fish ( I think I did some fresh ginger, agave and butter underneath. I wonder what else it would be good on. They really should bottle it. They have something similar bottled but it's not really the same. It needs the bigger chunks.

night+market give simething similar with pad thai, and yeah, that's a great idea. use everything!

chili lime almond dust

Sounds like Tajin. Available at any hispanic grocer, and at any Walmart locally...

I couldn't find my beloved trusty superfood pilaf made of kale and sweet potato and quinoa the other week, and after one of my helpful local tj's sales associates had to consult The Computer System to verify it'd been discontinued ;_; they talked me into trying the frozen riced cauliflower seasoned with green onion and sesame oil as a side for salmon and I've been super into it but I am definitely always willing to try pouring dust from a chip bag onto my fish, so I'ma try that too

the Mayostard/Mustardayonnaise sketch

I like to think about this any opportunity I can, so thank you.

another tj's product I'm about lately is the mini sheet cake, specifically the chantilly cream vanilla bean one. it's the perfect size for overeating cake, which is the way I personally like to eat cake.

Tajin is a lot like the chili lime powder TJ's has. But tajin has bigger and drier? granules? I used to know a guy that would pour it into his hand to eat while drinking booze. The almond thing has these detritus of dry keffir lime leaves that really make it.

i don't know this mayostard Mr. Show sketch! It might be too close to home. I mix mustard and sriracha into too many other condiments. I only like ketchup if it has sriracha in it.

I never have good luck with the TJ's proper desserts. I should look up the sheet cake. I usually will only get ice cream or ice cream mochi sometimes but the mochi is often very dry/old.

i am looking at the new product page and they finally have furikake.

TJs has their own tajin too, it's just called chile lime seasoning

oh sorry yerac already addressed that

The two things I always keep stocked in the freezer since a TJ's opened up a block away from me:

Broccoli & Cheddar Quiche
Chicken Fried Rice (I find it needs like an extra half chicken breast added to it per serving)

hot & sweet jalapeños = yes

Did a big chopping trip to TJs yesterday. They now have various items flavored with the Everything But the Bagel seasoning including an almond and cashew mix and lox. Also trying out the Synergistically Seasoned Popcorn, which is tangy and spicy.

*shopping trip

I had an egg-and-cheese on TJ's Everything ciabatta this morning and it was worthy

I like the idea of a chopping trip to the grocery store, just whip out your knife & cutting board in the produce section and start going ham.

TJ's is the only place in our town to get brown basmati rice these days; the Asian and Indian shops haven't a grain.

So the Everything but the Bagel Nut Duo is ok, really needs more of the seasoning to pep it up a bit, but the Olive & Herbs Mixed Nuts is really good. Lots of nice olive flavor.

Do not buy the V8 knockoff. Vile

I keep thinking about stopping my TJ patronage because of their labor practices not protecting their workers and their IMO dumb decision to not support online ordering, but when I get non-dairy milk from other places, it often tastes gross as hell. TJ's soy milk really is no-fuss goodness.

In normal times I shop at TJs once a week along with a couple other stores, but I'd only buy some wine and maybe six or eight other pantry items. Today I shopped there for the first time since early March and came away with $240 of stuff, mostly pantry stuff, 10 bottles of wine, some freezer items, and a bit of produce thrown in for good measure.

I went in today at lunch at what is traditionally the busiest TJs in the city I live in and it was a ghost town. Maybe 20 other shoppers? No line to get in, no line to check out.

Both times I'd driven by post-SIP, there had been lines of 50+ people winding down about a block and a half so this was a welcome surprise.

Also, iirc TJs is one of the most employee-friendly chains to work for so if you have beef with them, perhaps stick to your local co-op or family-owned+operated grocery store.

Not sure what things TJs did that were unsafe, but the one I go to seemed to have an extremely rigorous process in place for limiting the number of people in the store and keeping them well away from their employees. Much more so than any other store I've been to.

same -- people are waiting in line around the parking lot to get into TJs whereas you can waltz right in anywhere else
we do have to wear masks in any public place in my area though so that's not up for negotiation

my boyfriend called their baby bananas "dehydrated and reconstituted cat turds" the other day and i lost it. you're welcome

How do their bags of peeled hard boiled eggs have use-by dates 2 weeks out?? There’s no info on the packaging and this has been on my mind for longer than I’d like to admit.

TJs is significantly cheaper than our other supermarket options but it also has the best array of snacks so I end up spending more (cookies and candy are way better than elsewhere).

i get their current policy on online ordering/shipping. Especially with all the 3rd party sellers. who knows, it may change in the future.

Do you think the use by date is too far out? I usually thought hardboiled eggs have a week date you should eat them by. but I think there is also some weird thing about whether they are in the shell or not.

i am out of my TJs stash here except for a pink h salt, ghost pepper grinder and 5 more E.B.T. Bagel sprinkle. Oh, I might still have tea too.

I’m pretty sure unpeeled keep longer but still only for 7 days max. These TJs ones def do last the 2 weeks though. That’s what’s weird. The packaging just says “eggs”, no preservatives or anything. Why is this bugging me so much.

minds are built to find orderly patterns and those eggs don't fit the expected pattern

it's true, we don't even know if anything preceded them or if they came first

I think this article is the one I saw that gave me pause about TJ: https://www.eater.com/2020/4/10/21216678/trader-joes-employees-fight-for-protections-union-amid-coronavirus-pandemic

What are the other online-ordering places that you are considering defecting to?

Nothing that's available so far! It's one reason why cutting ties has been so hard for me.

We have a good friend who likes Trader Joe's so much she works at Trader Joe's *by choice.* That is, she doesn't need the money, she just likes the environment, benefits, management style and how it gets her out of the house, lets her socialize a little, etc. She was happy as a clam when I saw her this morning, where, fwiw, there was no line (despite limiting the number of people inside), they were wiping down carts by the front of the store (and retrieving them to be cleaned later at a different spot), everyone was wearing a mask and gloves, everyone was perky as usual (might be a self-selecting pool of those folks working at TJs), more or less everything I wanted was in stock (I didn't need them but they even had TP and hand sanitizer), and so on. Inside the store they were calm and organized, helped people check out safely (with marked spots to wait in line but also marked spots to wait while they bag your stuff; no self bagging right now) and so on. I've got no complaints.

On the other hand, I've lately heard all sorts of horror stories about conventional supermarkets, with inconsistent (or no) policies, chaotic enforcement and other questionable practices. I have a friend who had to be escorted to her car out of fear a fellow shopper was going to kick her ass. (He was drunk/stoned, not wearing a mask and invading her space at checkout; in response to her concerns he threatened her). I've also heard stories of a lot of chaos being *caused* by Instacart shoppers and the like, who are racing around like scavenger hunters with long lists in search of items they don't know where to find.

Dolmas stuffed with quinoa taste good but the texture is like gruel.

one time I drove from buttfucknowhere Iowa to the Chicago burbs in one go and those dolmas saved my life (I was v. hungover)

i think the quinoa ones are new.

i posted that after eating two, but after that i ate the rest of the tin so i guess they are good.

Omg I need to try those.

Trader joes version of impossible burgers: pretty good!

Where are the quinoa dolmas? In the refrigerated section?

Near the canned beans/fish section.