Trader Joe's Products (2017–)

[rotuts]

@FauxPas

 

Im going to have to look into the TJ's HB's

 

we are going to have a couple days of serious ice here

 

but Ill look into them soon

 

how do you ' cook ' them ?

[blue_dolphin]

48 minutes ago, FauxPas said:

 

That pile-o-bacon looks pretty good, too!

[FauxPas]

1 hour ago, rotuts said:

@FauxPas

Im going to have to look into the TJ's HB's

we are going to have a couple days of serious ice here

but Ill look into them soon

 

how do you ' cook ' them ?

 

I follow the conventional oven directions, though you can also do them in the microwave. The oven instructions are 400F for 20 to 25 mins. I do them in the CSO for about 22 mins at 375F usually. 

 

51 minutes ago, blue_dolphin said:

That pile-o-bacon looks pretty good, too!

 

Ha, it looks quite a bit bigger than it was because of the camera angle or something. 😄

 

Edited January 20, 2019 by FauxPas (log)

[FrogPrincesse]

Saint Illtyd cheddar. Super garlicky - like Boursin in cheddar form with a fine, crumbly texture.

 

 

[gfweb]

On 1/18/2019 at 5:10 PM, rotuts said:

check very carefully w TJ's

 

it seem unusual that these bars are made in a ' nut free ' environment 

 

that being said

 

I follow a British show , ' Food Unwrapped '

 

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2968902/

 

one recent show went into a production facility that had two production lines 

 

for this sort of thing :  peanuts and no peanuts

 

they rigorously excluded people from one unit to the other

 

each set of employees wore  completely different colored cover alls , hair nets etc.

 

boots were washed and your cars tires etc before you were allowed into either facility

 

just check carefully

Hard to imagine they make money with this set up. 

[rotuts]

the show mentioned these issues tangentially 

 

it seems more people than we think want peanut free items

 

that's not to say significant peanut allergies are that high.

 

sort of like a reverse-non-vaccination.

[chromedome]

Schools here in Atlantic Canada have a zero-peanut policy, so peanut-free snacks are a must regardless of your own child's allergy status. I expect it's the same in other provinces.

 

Halloween candy is uniformly made in peanut-free facilities, presumably for similar reasons.

[MelissaH]

2 hours ago, chromedome said:

Schools here in Atlantic Canada have a zero-peanut policy, so peanut-free snacks are a must regardless of your own child's allergy status. I expect it's the same in other provinces.

 

Halloween candy is uniformly made in peanut-free facilities, presumably for similar reasons.

This. The market for stuff to be eaten in schools is enormous.

 

Halloween candy in the U.S. is not uniformly made in peanut-free facilities. I know people who wish it were!

[rotuts]

 

thank you eG' enablers !  esp. Kudos to those on the TJ's thread

 

Ill be trying these , via the CSO later this morning.   I didn't even bother to check the NaCl content !

[rotuts]

results here:

 

 

comments here :

 

https://forums.egullet.org/topic/157786-breakfast-2019/?page=6&tab=comments#comment-2187145

 

nice product.

 

 

[Alex]

To help get us prepared for Super Bowl, Wirecutter did a Trader Joe's vs. Whole Foods 365 "snackdown."

 

Quote

After consuming 16 bags each of tortilla chips and popcorn, 12 jars of salsa, 20 tubs of hummus, eight boxes of crackers, 15 pounds of trail mix, 20 bars of dark chocolate, a mountain of chocolate chip cookies, and getting a lot of strange looks in the checkout line, we found that our staff preferred more Trader Joe’s snacks than Whole Foods 365—but it was a close race.

 

[FauxPas]

Every time I go to TJ's I am struck by the range of East Indian meals, especially in the frozen section. I have tried the Butter Chicken, Channa Masala, Chicken Tikka Masala, Vegetable Biryani, Naan, Samosas, Aloo Chat Kati and their Mango-Ginger chutney. The only one we didn't really like was the Aloo Chat Kati and I'm not sure why. At first the pockets tasted good, but then there was a bit of an aftertaste that I found unpleasant. 

 

Have not tried the garlic Naan bread, Vegan Tikka Masala, Palak Paneer, the eggplant curry (Baincan Bharta), or the Korma Fish Curry. I have Lamb Vindaloo in the freezer now. Who else has tried these and am I missing any others?

 

I put off trying their frozen meals because I liked making my own Indian food, but I've since found they are a nice option to have on hand for days when things are rushed or just not feeling up to cooking. 

 

Photo from one of the local Trader Joe's freezer sections.

 

 

Edited February 4, 2019 by FauxPas (log)

[Hassouni]

1 hour ago, FauxPas said:

Every time I go to TJ's I am struck by the range of East Indian meals, especially in the frozen section. I have tried the Butter Chicken, Channa Masala, Chicken Tikka Masala, Vegetable Biryani, Naan, Samosas, Aloo Chat Kati and their Mango-Ginger chutney. The only one we didn't really like was the Aloo Chat Kati and I'm not sure why. At first the pockets tasted good, but then there was a bit of an aftertaste that I found unpleasant. 

 

Have not tried the garlic Naan bread, Vegan Tikka Masala, Palak Paneer, the eggplant curry (Baincan Bharta), or the Korma Fish Curry. I have Lamb Vindaloo in the freezer now. Who else has tried these and am I missing any others?

 

I put off trying their frozen meals because I liked making my own, but I've since found they are a nice option to have on hand for days when things are rushed or just not feeling up to cooking. 

 

Photo from one of the local Trader Joe's freezer sections.

 

 

 

Just had the palak paneer and garlic naan a couple nights ago and they were very good

[rotuts]

now I know this is going to seem odd :

 

I like the TJ's indian for an occasional IndianHit.

 

Ive noted that the Butter Chicken is very similar to the Chicken Tikka Masala.

 

I have not had both at the same time.  who really remembers tastes so similar if you don't taste them at the same time >

 

however , of interest only to me ,  one is significantly more expensive than the other.

 

the Tikka ?

 

they hide that difference by ' meeting the price point '  but giving you significantly less.

 

sometimes , days are slow here 

 

I I go to Tj's when its not busy .

 

[rotuts]

it seems on a recent visit TJ's was out of ' Pancake loaf cake '

 

 

so I looked around and got this :

 

 

some time ago I got a similar ' sheet cake ' and it was dry as a bone, and I reluctantly took it back

 

who doesn't love a bit of chocolate cake ?  [ed.: no response necessary ]

 

this now was moist enough , w a thick layer of frosting.

 

isn't it about the frosting ?

 

the frosting is a bit ' thick ' , then I noticed its not butter-cream , but cream-cheese F.

 

a long time ago , when I first started cooking for myself , I used to bake a chocolate cake some times

 

on week ends.  BettyCrocker was not the co-pilot , but the pilot herself !

 

Id carefully split the dry ingredients of Betty's chocolate cake mix in 1/2

 

and bake a single layer.

 

back then , Betty also had chocolate frosting in a box.  it was possibly flavored powdered sugar ?

 

all I needed to do to make a thick frosting was to add the PS-frosting mix to a bowl , a little water

 

and some soft butter :  Butter Cream !

 

and Im still alive !

 

now there only seems to be tubs of ' frosting' on the shelves.

 

so thick w saturated who-knows-what-cheap fats   etc

 

i wonder why this changed ?

 

did powdered sugar become so expensive ( and its about Price when you go into the supermarket )

 

thats  SetConcreteFrosting became the norm ?

 

any way , this is OK

 

Ill get some TJ's iceCream for the rest

 

and might try the Vanilla :

 

[rotuts]

I had to try the vanilla version after the chic. :

 

 

as you can see a lot is missing before I was able to take a pic.

 

this cake is much more flavorful than the chocolate and might not be as dense.

 

prefer it.

[patris]

My weekly TJs pilgrimage usually nets little more than a few routine items - mostly certain veg, cheeses, eggs and nuts - but this evening a couple things caught my eye and made their way into my cart.

 

 

I was surprised to see ruby chocolate - somehow I thought it would take longer to be available, and TJs would not have been the first place I looked. I like the faint fruitiness, but can’t see it becoming a big part of any chocolate projects in my future. Not to say I didn’t buy several packages, though...

 

The grapes are quite tasty - I love fd fruit, so they were bound to appeal to me regardless. Wouldn’t have thought of grapes as something to freeze dry, though, especially sliced. They’re mostly in little clusters; individual slices are few and far between.

[Kerry Beal]

Interesting!

 

I'm also very surprised that Ruby would be released through TJ's at all - let alone not in the form of something like a Kit Kat. It's not available to suppliers yet I didn't think. 

 

Slicing the grapes makes sense - my attempts to freeze dry grapes whole was not very successful. The sublimating water needs to escape.

[FauxPas]

33 minutes ago, patris said:

I was surprised to see ruby chocolate - somehow I thought it would take longer to be available, and TJs would not have been the first place I looked. I like the faint fruitiness, but can’t see it becoming a big part of any chocolate projects in my future.

 

I'd never heard of ruby chocolate before. I wonder if the local TJs have this product! 

[patris]

7 minutes ago, Kerry Beal said:

Interesting!

 

I'm also very surprised that Ruby would be released through TJ's at all - let alone not in the form of something like a Kit Kat. It's not available to suppliers yet I didn't think. 

 

 

That was my thinking as well!

[patris]

3 minutes ago, FauxPas said:

 

I'd never heard of ruby chocolate before. I wonder if the local TJs have this product! 

 

It’s featured on their website, so my guess is it’s everywhere. Limited time only though.

[Kerry Beal]

7 minutes ago, patris said:

 

It’s featured on their website, so my guess is it’s everywhere. Limited time only though.

What does it work out to a pound?

 

 

[patris]

 

3 minutes ago, Kerry Beal said:

What does it work out to a pound?

 

 

 

In the $10 neighborhood - the 5 oz pouches are $3 each.

[MelissaH]

OK, I'll be planning my slate of next week's Syracuse errands to include a TJ's stop. I'm way too intrigued by the freeze-dried grape idea. (As long as they don't resemble evil raisins in any way?)

[patris]

4 hours ago, MelissaH said:

OK, I'll be planning my slate of next week's Syracuse errands to include a TJ's stop. I'm way too intrigued by the freeze-dried grape idea. (As long as they don't resemble evil raisins in any way?)

 

Not unless your raisins are crunchy!