Trader Joe's Products (2012–2015)

[rotuts]

TJ's Bizzz model is for a certain number of stores in a particular Geo. area. Of Course Wine and if the Tarriffs argree Booze.

so there might be a few in your area for the Spread-Sheet Spread.

[rotuts]

Minding my own business recently at Tj's this started talking to me:

It keep saying 'Yum!' Being a student of a couple of the TJ's FZ 'pizza' esp. the ones from FR,

I decided to give it a chance. In my BV-XL-FB

on the good side it did come out Xactly as pictured. the top was nicely browned as was the bottom.

It did have a bit of 'Yum' to it. but the center was a bit underdone. And i burned my mouth of course.

so about a C+. if you have a smarter oven than I do, and need a single serving for the FootBallGame,

this might suit you better. Maybe it was my fault. Taste and Appearance were fine. just not that

middle bit. Nor burning my mouth.

[andiesenji]

I have one of the perforated pizza pans that work at lot better on the deep-dish pizzas than the standard pans. Much better crust (crisp) on the bottom and even heating.

[rotuts]

the instructions on this say to heat it on the rack itself, which I did.

Ill take the box back and see what the store buzzz is as it would be fine w a baked center.

[Shel_B]

Who Makes Trader Joe's Food: Here's an interesting article comparing some TJ's products with their equivalent name brand counterpart. I'm not sure I agree with all their conclusions and suppositions, but it makes for an interesting read.

I prefer Joe's O's to Cheerios based on taste and price, and have compared TJ's chili to Annie's and find them to be similar, preferring TJ's on the basis of price if nothing else.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/12/who-makes-trader-joes-food_n_2664899.html

[rotuts]

Excellent Pick-Up SB

now: whoo makes the stuff from FR:

some of this stuff is outstanding. no real need to find out the French Conneciton

this includes various FZ desserts but for me the 2 'pizza like' items really taste like FR to me:

One is a 'pizza' with ham and cheese, the other one mushroom. no red sauce.

once one understands how to cook them 'crispy' to me they are outstanding.

some of the cooking instructions are off a bit

they have Canadian rack of lamb w seasonings FZ. its outstanding if you like Lamb and cook it a bit differently to rare.

and oddly the seasonings are perfect for it, which is unusual.

over time its doubled in price, but still cheaper than anything else and Sooooooooooo delicious.

you either cook it whole in the over say, or cut it into double chops and get a nice sear on each on the BBQ then finish in the oven.

[Shel_B]

Excellent Pick-Up SB

now: whoo makes the stuff from FR:

Who or what is FR?

[rotuts]

sorry: FR = France they put this on their cars ti make sure everyone knows.

[heidih]

I bought the coconut pan spray. I realize that coconut oil hardens at room temp. So first squirt was a lovely fine mist and subsequent ones seem labored as if trying to come through a plugged hole. I tried wiping the nozzle but not much joy. Any experiences with this?

[rotuts]

take it back and get the Coconut in the jar. then you keep that in the refrig to get it really hard then nab a bit and quickly run it around your pan. put the rest back.

I use this to blossom the various prepared jared thai spices I have.

Edited November 9, 2013 by rotuts (log)

[Kerry Beal]

Looks like the Beehive Cheese company from Utah is making the Barely Buzzed cheese that is private labelled for Trader Joe's. They were sampling it today when I was checking out the new store opened in Buffalo.

[Shel_B]

Looks like TJ's has a couple of new items on their spice shelf. One is a small container of Mediterranean bay leaves and the other is sea salt in a small jar with a shaker top. Haven't seen them here before ...

Edited November 12, 2013 by Shel_B (log)

[chefmd]

Looks like the Beehive Cheese company from Utah is making the Barely Buzzed cheese that is private labelled for Trader Joe's. They were sampling it today when I was checking out the new store opened in Buffalo.

Utah company making anything Buzzed? Hmm. Oh, there, it is Barely Buzzed.

[Toliver]

Is the total weight significantly different?

How about that? I never thought to compare the weight of two boxes. I assumed the difference was more likely due to cost-of-ingredients. Never assume...

I stopped in my local Trader Joe's last night and compared the pork shu mai box to the chicken shu mai box. The pork shu mai (9 pieces) weighs 9 ounces. The chicken shu mai (a varied bunch of pieces) weighs 11 ounces. So back to square one figuring out why the number of pieces compared between the two types is so wildly different.

edited to add: Their holiday goods were in stock. The cans of French Fried Onion pieces were in stock as were the Iced Gingerbread Men, autumn spices (nutmeg, cinammon, etc), baking ietms (flours, sugars...) and so on.

In addition to the Cookie Butter and the Crunchy Cookie Butter, they had a new type I hadn't noticed before which was cookie butter with stripes of chocolate in the jar. They also sell the Speculoos (sp?) cookies that are used to make the Cookie Butter, which I never noticed before.

And I was blocked in every aisle and turn by two shoppers who hadn't seen each other in a while so they stopped wherever they were at in the store (which turned out to be usually in my way, thank you) to catch up. To say I was irked at them is putting it mildly.

While I am venting, can I please ask the Trader Joe's checkers to stop commenting on the items that I am purchasing? You don't need to upsell me on it. I am already buying it.

Edited November 15, 2013 by Toliver (log)

[andiesenji]

Looks like TJ's has a couple of new items on their spice shelf. One is a small container of Mediterranean bay leaves and the other is sea salt in a small jar with a shaker top. Haven't seen them here before ...

If you need any bay leaves, send me a PM. I have two trees with very nice aroma and flavor - I'll dry them for you and you can put them in a sealed container - they will keep for a year with no loss of flavor. They are the true Laurel Nobilis/sweet bay.

[Pierogi]

Let me preface this by saying I haven't made a pilgrimage to TJs in several weeks, and, as notorious as they are for having products that are "here today, gone tomorrow", this may not still be available......

However. When last there, I found a delightful, scrumptious, delicious little delight in the goodie aisle called, IIRC, "Spicy Ginger Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting". I was happy to see it, because, at that point, all the sweets were all pumpkin, all the time, and I'm not a huge fan. This was a nice, warm, seasonal treat that was a great change from the pumpkin whatever.

It's a loaf cake....about the size of a loaf of banana bread. The cake is dark....likely got a decent amount of molasses and/or dark corn syrup, but not dense like you'd expect a "gingerbread" type thing to be. A definite "cake" texture. Some good, autumnal spices, but not overwhelming of anything. A good ginger hit.

The frosting also had ginger in it, and there were slices of crystallized ginger scattered over the top. The frosting didn't cover the whole loaf. It also wasn't overly cloyingly sweet like some cream cheese frostings can be. It was a nice counter punch to the cake.

All I can say is, I hope they still have it when I visit the altar of the Trader again this week. Try it if you can find it, absolutely a 2 thumbs up.

[rotuts]

stopped my my Local, to pick up the usual ...

remembered the discussion on Cookie Spread ...

and got this to try out:

only got two as they seemed they might be pretty dangerous to have around.

the Cognescenti on the staff assured me these were designed to scoop up the Cookie Spread itself.

[huiray]

To each their own. Does not excite me.

In the whole I simply don't find TJ to be especially thrilling. As I said, TETO.

Edited November 17, 2013 by huiray (log)

[rotuts]

tried on of the bars above. very rich. this is the type of chocolate i enjoy. about 5 segments with the filling in each one.

the filling was sweet and rich. it has tiny bits of crunch in it, which i didn't care for. a bit like sweet fine grit. so small it seemed like it could have been a error to have that in it.

if this 'bar' had different types of 'truffle' in each seg, Id gain a lot of weight. by truffle I mean smooth textures of different flavors.

not just chocolate,but maple, etc

the type of different smooth rich fillings you get in say, See's level candy.

Edited November 18, 2013 by rotuts (log)

[MelissaH]

For those who are into a little heresy and laziness now and then, the muffins I made from the pumpkin bread mix were pretty good. I mixed it up just as the package instructed, and added about a cup of chocolate chips. I got 12 muffins from one package. They held up well for about three days, until my friends and I finished them. We preferred them slightly warm over completely cooled. The pumpkin flavor was there, not overwhelmed by spices as is often the case.

[Toliver]

I tried the TJ's Mini Gingerbread Men iced with "white fudge" last night.

It's a very crispy/crunchy cookie which makes me think it'd go well with a nice cup of coffee or tea. They have a ginger "bite" to them, very assertive and almost hot. The "white fudge" reminds me of the icing on the Mother's Iced Raisin Cookies...not really chocolate-y but just a sweet glaze on the flat side of the cookie.

Thumbs up!

[GlorifiedRice]

Hey they have a cute Chocolate Passport near the check out that perfect for gifts

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/91BFq7muqgL._SX425_.jpg

[rotuts]

around this time of the year Tj's has been selling boxed truffles. I used to get a bunch of these and send them to friends that lived

you know, in the 'Sticks' they loved them

got one the other day:

i tried one: very little choc. flavor. very very firm, not what Id expect w a Truffle. After dissolving in

the Mouth, very little choc. flavor, just an oily-ness.

looked at the box more carefully: first ingredient is Palm Oil. that's what you taste. totally

@#$(%*^@#$%(_^(_@$^(+^&@#%&_(*^%@#T$^_&@#Q

looked even more carefully at the box: not from France as the ones I remember were.

Form Canada, EH ?

and Not from the Choc.Doc either !

FD: the truffle standard for me is: See's. From the Store. Not the Box.

took the box back to TJ's.

Avoid as if These were the Plague !

[Shel_B]

Trader Joe's Rice Medley: I don't know if this product's been mentioned before. It's a frozen blend of red and two brown rices and black barley. First, I love the convenience of the product, and have been using TJ's frozen brown rice to supplement the rice I make and freeze. The ingredients are simple - just the rice and barley. There are three ten ounce packages in each box, and we find that makes for two or three nice-sized servings - YMMV The medley has a nice, earthy, nutty taste and a nice chew and mouth feel.

The rice cooks up, or rather, defrosts quickly - three minutes or less on high in the microwave and it's ready. Unlike TJ's frozen organic brown rice, the Rice Medley is not labeled as such. Give it a try if you've not already.

Sorry, no pics as my cameras are in the shop.

http://www.cooktj.com/node/4148

Edited December 9, 2013 by Shel_B (log)

[heidih]

I am about to take back a product for the first time since I became a loyal customer at their first store in Pasadena in the early 80's. I am not a returner but the coconut oil pan spray just ticks me off. I know coconut oil is solid at room temp - so why did I think this would work? I go to spray and it is clogged solid. Have you experienced this?