Trader Joe's Products (2002–2011)

[Tkrup]

Had to chime in on this topic. I've been going to TJ's for years now, in different cities around the country. My experience is that it's not a place to do all of your grocery shopping, however there are things that I go there specifically for, rather than walking the two blocks to the local (and overpriced) whole foods market. Just to put it into perspective, I won't buy produce at whole foods unless I absolutely have to. Rather, I opt to drive fifteen minutes to the Han Ah Rheum Korean market where the produce is half the price and twice as fresh. TJ's has utility in certain areas like cereal, coffee, mineral water, dried fruit and nuts, energy bars, cottage cheese and yogurt, and frozen seafood, chicken and vegetables. There are definately places to get unfrozen seafood in my town, however my schedule is such that I can't always stop by the store to get a piece of fish or some shrimp that doesn't smell "suspect". TJ's frozen salmon has never done me wrong, and as long as you pick a vaccuum pack that doesn't seem compromised, you can make just about anything with it successfully. I also buy some ecclectic things there like olive oil and canola oil spray, truffle oil, 70% dark chocolate, tortilla chips with flax seeds, and pitas that have just as much soy protein as a small serving of edamame. Bottom line is the store is great for some things, but it's produce selection is generally small and overpriced, and it has no fresh carne to speak of. Also, I live in a state that does not support alcohol sales in regular grocery stores, but my experience with TJ's wine sales in the other states I've lived in is such that you can get inexpensive and acceptable wines, ports and sherries there, but they're not the ones you're going to want to serve if you've got Bourdain coming over for dinner.

[michaeldauphinais]

current TJ's addiction: "Mayan Mix" - found in the snacky snack section.

[stephenc]

What I like from them:

Anne's green garlic dressing

Tiramisu

Hummos

Pistachios

Trail Mix

Clif Bars

Le Bus bread loaves

Apple juice

Tortillas

Frozen seafood

Pitas

Tea

What I don't like from them:

Most of their salad dressings

Their tomatoes and limes

[Toliver]

Wow, it's just not my day.

I tried looking for the Tamari Cashews but it seems they're either all sold out or they've stopped carrying them.

I got the Wasabi Cashews instead and I'm not impressed. They could be peanuts for all I can taste. There is a little cashew aftertaste but it's pushed way into the background by the crunchy Wasabi coating (the same they use for peanuts). Live and learn!

Since I was going there on my lunch break I grabbed a salad-to-go thinking I got the Chinese Chicken Salad and discovered when I got back to my office I had the Caesar Chicken Salad instead. You know how you get your tastebuds primed for one thing only to get something else? I am batting 0 for 2 today!

I did get their Roasted Garlic & Shallots butter. It'll give me something to compare against when I try to make my own compound butter.

I hoped to find cream cheese, too (getting ready for the SuperBowl), but it wasn't in their dairy case and in hindsight I bet it was over with their cheeses which I bypassed completely.

Yikes...I need to go home.

[tamiam]

They seem to only carry it in season, and it may be too late for this year, but their Pumpkin Butter is totally addictive. I found a jar, fell in love, and when I went back for more they were gone. When I saw them again after a long absence, I bought six jars.

I ljust ove that stuff!!

[Laughing Goddess]

Tamiam, I saw the pumpkin butter in my local TJs this evening (Boston area). BTW, what do you do with pumpkin butter?

And, two of my own TJs addictions: the dark chocolate covered pretzels -- fabulous when pre-menstrual, heehee! -- and the have-to-eat-the-whole-bag-in-one-sitting toasted coconut cashews. Un-be-fucking-leivable.

[percyn]

...

BTW, what do you do with pumpkin butter?

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Butter some pumpkin

[tamiam]

They were all out of pumpkin butter at the TJs in Kirkland WA yesterday. Boo hoo.

I use it like apple butter--schmear it on toast and waffles, put it inside of muffins where the jam would go. The can says to use it as a soup base, but it seems too sweet to do that for my taste.

Any other ideas?

[MarketStEl]

What I like from them:

[...]

Le Bus bread loaves

[...]

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You live where?

I didn't know LeBus had a national account.

--Sandy, who remembers when LeBus was still housed in a bus, in the 3400 block of Sansom Street on Penn's campus. They had a satellite bus in back of the Chemistry Building that dispensed a yummy pizza ("famous, gooey LeBus pizza") with an unusually sweet and airy crust. In the late 1980s, LeBus opened a cafeteria-style restaurant in the rowhouse next to where they had parked their bus; after a decade serving inexpensive, fresh food to hungry Penn students and visitors, owner David Braverman decided to throw all his energies into commercial baking. LeBus is now one of Philadelphia's best artisan bread bakers.

[NulloModo]

Good News for those of us in the NorthEast:

I went to my local TJs last week to pick up some Superbowl supplies, and ended up engaging the manager in a conversation about Total Greek Yogurt. Apparently the holdup is that the Northeast stores share a Mass. based distribution center, and Total just doesn't have certification to move the yogurt through Mass. Apparently, however, this is all almost cleared up, and we should start seeing the Total Yogurt on store shelves in this area sometime into March. Here's hoping...

[ludja]

my new tj addiction: the australian lamb racks: 8 ribs, frenched for like $10. i usually end up cutting them into chops and t hrowing them on the grill. great meat for a ridiculous price.

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I also noticed that they have Australian lamb loin chops for only $7 per lb. Has anyone tried these?

If someone has had TJ's lamb rack and lamb loin chops, care to share any observations or comparisons?

Thanks!

[winesonoma]

Great deal, I've been hooked for a year. Stock up on frozen cause TJ's is at least 30 min from here. Herbed racks on the BBQ.

[Majra]

It's been almost a year and half since I moved away from mine, but I still miss Trader Joe's A LOT. In the San Francisco Bay Area, we had great fresh produce at TJs. Things like bags of nice organic salad mixes for $1.89. And fresh beets that were peeled and chopped! I haven't made borscht since!

I also loved the nuts, cheeses, frozen fruits for smoothies, cereals (I'll never see big boxes of Puffins for $2.99 again!), chips, organic raw almond butter, apple butter, artichoke hearts, dairy products, teas, crackers, frozen fish, etc etc etc. Never cared much for the frozen entrees (sodium counts always seemed quite high). My kids (and ok, me too) loved their cornbread mix more than homemade. It is very sweet, the way we northerners like it, and has whole corn kernels in it.

Bottom line is that we eat less organic foods since losing access to Trader Joe's. We do have Wholier-Than-Thou Foods here in town, but I also have a budget to keep, and those two things are for the most part, mutually exclusive.

[Andrew Fenton]

I'm drinking a glass of TJ's Gala apple juice right now. This stuff isn't half bad: not too sweet, with a nice apple aftertaste.

[sassybat]

i bought the gala apple juice the last time i was there, too. it's definitely some of the best apple juice i've ever had. much better than the sour mott's my mom fed us as children.

[ludja]

my new tj addiction: the australian lamb racks: 8 ribs, frenched for like $10. i usually end up cutting them into chops and t hrowing them on the grill. great meat for a ridiculous price.

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I also noticed that they have Australian lamb loin chops for only $7 per lb. Has anyone tried these?

If someone has had TJ's lamb rack and lamb loin chops, care to share any observations or comparisons?

Thanks!

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Great deal, I've been hooked for a year. Stock up on frozen cause TJ's is at least 30 min from here. Herbed racks on the BBQ.

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My TJ's also had some fresh lamb loin chops for $10/lb--tried these and they were great. Need to try the frozen ones @ $7/lb next...

Another great thing at TJ's now (at least in CA) is their daffodils. They're from Canada, a bunch of 10, in buds and are sold out of water in baskets near the registers. 99 cents a bun! Bring home, trim ends and put in water. They open in 3-12 hours are absolutely gorgeous. What a deal, instant spring!

[Toliver]

Well, I am totally bummed.

I went to Trader Joe's yesterday and searched high and low for the addictive Tamari Cashews only to be told that they had been discontinued.

The clerk suggested I try the sesame cashews.

Okay, does anyone have a corporate email for them?

[menton1]

Well, I am totally bummed.

I went to Trader Joe's yesterday and searched high and low for the addictive Tamari Cashews only to be told that they had been discontinued.

The clerk suggested I try the sesame cashews.

Okay, does anyone have a corporate email for them?

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From the Trader Joe's Website:

Why do we frequently discontinue products?

Our mission is to bring you the best quality products at the best prices. To do this, we have to manage our store space well. Each of our products must "stand on its own," meaning it must pay its own way. We don't have loss leaders or deep promotional discount programs. Each product must meet certain sales criteria in order to earn its way onto our shelves. If it doesn't sell well, we know our customers haven't embraced it. You see, we introduce about 10 - 15 new items a week. So products that aren't selling well need to gang way! to make room for new and exciting products we hope our customers will love. We also have limited quantities of some items such as wines, nuts or dried fruits, which change vintages each year.

There are some recipes online for coating your cashews with Tamari...

[chezcherie]

just found kurobuta (sp?) pork loin. looks gorgeous...tonight's dinner.

[kitwilliams]

ChezCherie: I love the kurobata (Berkshire) pork. Keep it simple. Just salt and pepper. And oh, the pork fat!

But my new Trader Joe's love is the Devon Double Cream Butter. I just made a sandwich of ciabatta with the above-mentioned butter and pont l'eveque. Pure, simple pleasure. Bread and butter alone, with this butter, is magic.

[honeye22]

I live in lower Manhattan, and I do not own a car.  (This is important.)

When I used to read about Whole Foods, I got really jealous.  We didn't have any here, and it sounded like Mecca.  Then we got one.  It's not Mecca.

Now I read about Trader Joe's.  I feel jealous again.  It sounds like Mecca.

.  .  .

You get my point?  It's not that I believe I have every wonder of the food world available to me; I'm just trying to rationalize away my jealousy. 

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Okay, let me break it down for you....Whole Foods is awesome in its own rite, but it is so gawd-awful expensive that I don't go in there often. I will say that they have an awesome beer selection, which is generally how I rate a place....based on the booze. Now, Trader Joe's is in a totally different league. Trader Joes I could not live without. They have Charles Shaw wine for $3/bottle and it's really good wine! The assortments of wines, cheeses, pastry, oils, jams, sauces and all. the. BREAD. makes it heaven for me. I could go and putz there for hours, and my new fave is chocolate dipped pineapple pieces. HEAVEN. So, in this instance I would say that yes you should be jealous. I live in DC...take the train down and I will GLADLY take you to Trader Joe's with me. I swear, you will fall in love!!

[honeye22]

Unfortunately in Washington the liquor laws prohibit the sell of liquor in grocery stores. 

You're not the only one who lives in a state with stupid liquor laws. I was a little baffled to hear everone talking about booze at TJ's because there's no such thing here in Maryland.

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The TJ's in VA have alcohol. There's one in Old Town on King street I think and the one I go to is on Leesburg Pike.

[Andrew Fenton]

I tried a bag of TJ's goat cheese and fines herbes potato chips recently. Nasty stuff: sweet (which chips just shouldn't be), not particularly goat-cheesy flavor. Can't win 'em all, I guess.

But I do love, love, love the triple-ginger cookies. Those may be my favorite store-bought cookies EVAH.

[dockhl]

The frozen green beans, are, so help me, from France! Slim, green, beautiful, tasty.

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These are fantastic tossed with garlic oil (also a TJ item) and kosher salt and roasted.........finger food while you make dinner ala Anna Thomas!

And, how about the caramel waffles (struppwaffles) in the microwave for 30 sec with a glass of Wilson creek Almond Champagne? (Or Lismore Scotch?)

[dockhl]

I recall some threads about good wine values at Trader Joes and Costco, but I haven't been able to find them.  Anyone?

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Frequently Costco will do local wines. For example, if you are in Santa Barbara/Santa Maria look for Central Coast wines........great selection, good values !