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

like the California one too, and it is now back in stock at my local store

I didn't buy them, but the crispy jalapeño pieces looked intriguing

^^^^spouse is in love with the crispy jalapenos. He puts them on everything. And eats them straight.

Getting tired of TJs eliminating useful staples.

Locally, the whole wheat lavash disappeared 2 years ago. Now I have to make another trip for salad wraps. In the past 2-3 months, the vegan meatballs.

The vegan meatballs were great, one of the best items in the store. The vegan meat lover's pizza they introduced is repellant, too salty by 120%.

RIP vegan meatballs!

A lot of stuff is missing because of supply chain issues

Scotch Bonnet cheddar is great i just housed a whole block

From what I can surmise, TJ's business model is unusually vulnerable to the current disruptions in the global supply chain. It seems like they seek out smaller-scale providers in numerous countries, give them the opportunity for rapid growth by signing a big contract, and beat them down mercilessly on the unit price as the cost for that opportunity. With all the pandemic disruptions, those smaller providers that were operating near the margins are getting crushed between the big dogs who can absorb higher commodity and transport costs, and their low-margin contract with TJ's.

the vegan meatballs were fine and convenient, but it's so easy to ball up and saute impossiballs

xxp

a few days ago I bought a couple of bunches of peonies (they have just come in over the last week). I chose two different red varieties, since they are the most scarce. I was worried that they all wouldn't open up, but my god, they just grew and grew in front of my eyes, they are so beautiful

huge flowers

Also got peonies this weekend. Absolute bangers.

I look for flowers that have buds that are not too tight and that have big thick stems. When I get them I cut the ends to the right length for my vase and cut off any leaves that would be submerged in the water

The leaves of peonies are particularly beautiful, so that's a big feature

they have a slightly floral but also animalic scent

The ube mochi pancake/waffle mix is back!! Strongly recommend if you enjoy mochi and pancakes.

Apparently they finally stopped carrying the Italian Sausage Tofurky packs (which were significantly cheaper than anywhere else in town), which was like the primary source of protein in our diet, lol.

We put those in everything, RIP.

still enjoying the peonies. over the last month they have had many different hybrids, all beautiful

Key lime pie is back!

I've recently discovered that it will slice even when completely frozen, so you can keep it in the freezer and cut a piece at a time, rather than defrost the whole thing at once.

hm

I’ve been saying this pic.twitter.com/d7AOkLqji0

— cancela lansbury (@gossipbabies) June 30, 2022

haters gonna hate

never trust anyone who says "i wouldn't even feed that to my twink"

the kind of person who says that also likely does not do their own regular food preparation and cooking other than for instagrammable moments every other weekend.

I went through a phase where I thought that way about Trader Joe's. It was before I knew how to cook good food efficiently, and I was also (more entirely) an asshole.

Has anyone in NYC or the Northeast US been to Trader Joe's lately and bought a flat box of peaches? Could you post the specific kind that is available? It should be printed on the side of the box.

the strawberry & jalapeno crisps are... complicated. they are NOT good on their own the way the raisin & rosemary ones are, like unpleasantly spicy. but they're a lot better with a piece of cheese on them I guess.

xpost Obviously not the east coast, but we just bought a flat box of peaches at TJs, and the packaging was different. Don't have it handy, but there was a big "Hollywood"-something ad on the back, so I would guess ... California?

Our friend who works at TJs currently recommends the house brand Bomb Pops.

I have this nagging feeling that there’s a horrific expose just waiting to be written about Trader Joe’s but nobody actually wants to write it and make themselves and all their friends feel bad about shopping there. Anyway I’ll keep buying that garbage!

by garbage I assume you mean the gimmicky processed foods/snacks that are talked about here. otherwise it's a whole store full of good stuff at low cost that is fresh and that you can use to cook great meals! at least that's my experience with my local store

xp i'm not sure if you consider unfair labor practices and union busting to be "horrific" but that stuff is already out there if you look for it - your mainstream news channels aren't going to cover that unsurprisingly. it's also no secret that their model saves costs by inserting "gig economy" structures into the grocery store business. of course i'm going to keep shopping there, where the hell else am i going to get food that good, easy and cheap?

the thing that baffles me about tj's is the uniformly chipper attitudes of the checkers while they bag your stuff at 5x the speed of anywhere else. i'm pretty sure that it's some kind of company policy that they are encouraged to ask you about your day or comment about how delicious something you're purchasing is or w/e. i think most of the people they hire genuinely like doing what they do, and i have heard that the pay is "not terrible" (don't know details), though i can tell that the occasional checker is tired of it. i'm fucking grateful that they're so good at bagging and i don't have to do it myself, but at the same time, it's a little disorienting tbh, like somehow tj's has magically solved some previously unachievable neoliberal equilibrium between customer, employee, and management happiness. like, something doesn't add up here lol.

I like to engage with the checkers about the products they're selling, mostly to talk them up, and have had many interesting responses

i generally don't (though i try and be polite about it), but i certainly understand the desire to.

lately i've had a few who have been good at dealing with the fact that i don't want to talk, which is impressive! one asked me if i was up to anything fun, i said "not really, no" and laughed, and she said "i understand" and was quiet through the rest of the interaction. people who "get" that you're not a talker up front are so damn impressive to me.

another time the checker, i don't know, just said the right things which got me talking a little bit. that almost never happens lol.

I like all of the people who work at my local store - the checkers, stockers, and people looking at inventory for me. They are all knowledgeable, sincere and forthcoming and have offered their preferences. That has meant a lot to me. I've learned a lot from them

I've seen TJs folks literally let people open one of their products to try them before they buy them.

We've talked about this before at home. I think part of it may be a particular work culture (whatever that is), but it's also a self selecting crew (for lack of a better word). Like that actor that made the news for working part time at Trader Joe's, when people sort of poked fun at him he said he did it because he liked it. My friend who works at Trader Joe's, same for her. She doesn't have to work, but she really enjoys the experience.

The other day the check out person asked me if I had any plans this 4th, and I literally responded "fuck this country." And she kind of smiled behind her mask and said "you know, I've been asking the same thing of a lot of people today, and I've been getting a lot of the same exact anger." Then she went through all the many things we all have seen happen, and she ended with a deflated sort of "who can celebrate that?" But she did it in the most friendly manner possible.

I can attest that it is company policy that you talk to customers while bagging, tho there isn't necessarily a policy negging on the sorts of interactions Josh just described— I've talked about some wild shit with TJs cashiers.

One thing that the company *definitely* does as a matter of unofficial policy is either move people to different nearby stores (mid-lvel and upper level store managers) or fire people (regular workers) after three years. It keeps organizing to a minimum.

I also do wonder which Trader Joes y'all are getting fresh produce at. I can't stand to look at most of the produce at my locals TJs locations, it's awful!

The fresh produce typically *isn't* particularly good, especially the vegetables (hardy stuff like carrots aside). But it's still a good place for apples, oranges, pears, melons, lemons, limes, peaches, etc., and also good for onions, avocados, greenhouse tomatoes, garlic, and so on. So, most of the stuff I need, honestly. The salad greens and berries are the weak link, but they tend to turn pretty fast no matter where I buy them.

agree about the greens going bad pretty fast, and I think TJ's limes are bad, just hard little balls with no juice, but I like a lot of the other produce

I think I got really spoiled in California and now only buy seasonally at the local produce wholesaler or the farmers market— The heartier things (like root vegetables) are fine at TJs, but anything that grows on a bush or a tree tastes like a pale imitation of the actual thing afaic, at least in Philly area TJs.

Yeah, I can see that. Here we're kind of beholden to the Michigan growing season, because most of the year we're SOL when it comes to fresh produce. Having recently spent a week in California just renewed my jealousy on that front. It's only a little bit better in PA/NJ/NY, iirc. From October to May or so there are just not a lot of local options, though I've noticed more and more clamshells of hydroponically or otherwise indoor-grown greens year 'round here.

California peaches can be musky. Eastern peaches are bright. Peaches from Georgia or the South seem to be closer to Eastern peaches. I think mangos have a trajectory for ripeness that can be used to represent peaches, with California peaches on the ripe end. (I miss California peaches.) I imagine TJ's may have changed its sourcing, but they used to print the specific varietal on the side of the box. I guess I'll just have to drive to one and find out.

Purchased yesterday to replace the box we used up in a crumble:
https://i.imgur.com/3hk6Urp.jpg

I think Moonlight be a company rather than a varietal. It will be a shame if peach varietals lose their distinctiveness. I am glad you had them for a crumble and will have more after that.

TJ's has good prices on a reasonable amount of fresh herbs. I buy their produce if I'm eating it soon. The prices are usually good compared to my other fancypants options. A bag of persian cukes, for example.

I really loved their pasture raised eggs for a week, but the consistency ain't at Vital Farms level.

and they tend to play pretty good music in tj's

― hyperstudio (skeletor), Thursday, October 8, 2009 7:52 PM (twelve years ago) bookmarkflaglink

Is it just my regular TJ (Glover Park, DC) that is always playing 80s college rock (NOT alt rock) whenever I'm shopping there? Is it a general corporate vibe, or an assessment of the customers of my location?

based on nothing i feel like it's up to each store tho legally it has to be radio (i.e. pandora) of some kind i think? my regular tj's does not usually play good music. seems like a lot of the time it's smash mouth-y stuff. one day it was disney songs. the kind of thing white suburbanites in utah remember fondly i guess.

the music that stores and restaurants play is something i've always wanted to know more about. i wonder if there's some kind of inside industry survey about it that goes into all the details.

The Korean Beefless Bulgogi is just a good as early reports on other forums: one of the best faux meat products one can buy.

But like the others, its wildly overpriced. I think I'll try my hand with some textured soy protein chunks and Wang Bulgogi marinade soon.

Banana pudding flavored ice cream is good.

When I bought that a couple of weeks ago the register person held it up, looked me in the eye and said "this is the Devil."