How I Like to Spend $100 at Trader Joe's

[MULTIZ321]

How I Like to Spend $100 at Trader Joe's
By Lindsay-Jean Hard/ Lifestyle/ Food52/ msn.com

"I willingly make grocery shopping harder on myself by visiting at least four different places every week: the farmers market (for local, seasonal produce), Zingerman's (for cheese and bread and coffee), a higher-end grocery store (for any non-seasonal produce needs or specialty ingredients), and Trader Joe’s (for dairy products, pantry staples, and, well, you’ll see).

I do this not out of a love for running errands, but rather to support my local economy; to shop at places I enjoy (sorry big-box grocery stores, but your never-ending aisles and fluorescent lighting are soul-sucking, not joy-inducing); to buy food I feel good about eating; and to balance my love of luxury ingredients with reasonably-priced (but high-quality!) ones. And that last point is where Trader Joe’s comes in. I turn to TJ’s (we’re on a nickname basis), for many of my staples, but also for a lot of fun, maybe-you-haven’t-tried-it-before-but-you-should products—what I’m focusing on today.

Here’s how I’d spend $100 on (mostly fun) stuff at Trader Joe’s:...."


Richard

 

[silentg]

My DD goes to Trader Joe's and picks up things for us. When on vacation if there is a Trader Joe's nearby, I try to go there to buy stuff to bring home. My DH thinks I'm obsessed about going to TJ but it's a novelty because there are none near my house. Aldi is up the street and supposedly all organic. But don't find the same quality there or level of customer service.
Silentg

 

[chellej]

Ok Richard... What would you spend A $100 on... If there is supposed to be a link..it doesn't work for me.

I would buy Trader Joe's Trader Jose dark beer, Lightly salted pumpkin seeds, 5 seed almond bars, cranberry pistaschio biscotti (only at the holidays), Hatch green chili salsa, and their frozen tamale's

There are 2 in Spokane but not near where I live so when I go I buy Multiples of my favorites...they kinda look at me like I'm nuts.. But I hate to run out!

 

[PClapham]

Ok Richard... What would you spend A $100 on... If there is supposed to be a link..it doesn't work for me.

I would buy Trader Joe's Trader Jose dark beer, Lightly salted pumpkin seeds, 5 seed almond bars, cranberry pistaschio biscotti (only at the holidays), Hatch green chili salsa, and their frozen tamale's

There are 2 in Spokane but not near where I live so when I go I buy Multiples of my favorites...they kinda look at me like I'm nuts.. But I hate to run out!

[duplicate quote removed]

and we love the Harissa salsa....

 

[Karen G]

Ok Richard... What would you spend A $100 on... If there is supposed to be a link..it doesn't work for me.

Look at the first line of the post and click on the sentence in blue. That's the link.

 

[MULTIZ321]

Ok Richard... What would you spend A $100 on... If there is supposed to be a link..it doesn't work for me.

I would buy Trader Joe's Trader Jose dark beer, Lightly salted pumpkin seeds, 5 seed almond bars, cranberry pistaschio biscotti (only at the holidays), Hatch green chili salsa, and their frozen tamale's

There are 2 in Spokane but not near where I live so when I go I buy Multiples of my favorites...they kinda look at me like I'm nuts.. But I hate to run out!

Hi Chellej,

Go back to my original post - the title of the post is a hyperlink - it worked for me when I clicked on it, and to my knowledge everyone else except you.
So I'm not sure why it did not work for you. Try it again.

Richard

 

[dioxide45]

My DD goes to Trader Joe's and picks up things for us. When on vacation if there is a Trader Joe's nearby, I try to go there to buy stuff to bring home. My DH thinks I'm obsessed about going to TJ but it's a novelty because there are none near my house. Aldi is up the street and supposedly all organic. But don't find the same quality there or level of customer service.
Silentg

Unless it is a special Aldi, it is certainly not all organic. They do have some organic items, but certainly not 100%. Aldi is a discount supermarket, customer service isn't something they specialize in. I have no problems with the quality of what they sell.

 

[Linda74]

Love their soaps too! Have Aldo close by but TJ not so close.

 

[Jan M.]

We shop at Trader Joe's a lot. I highly recommend some of our favorites like the Unexpected Cheddar, the Raw Sauerkraut with Persian Cucumbers, the Five Seed Almond Bars and their organic produce. We buy their buffalo meat burgers too.

One of our favorite quick meals is the Ginger-Miso soup, both the Asian and Stir Fry vegetables, topped with the pumpkin seeds or peanuts. If I have any leftover chicken or a few shrimp I add them to the soup. I heat the broth and add the vegetables being careful not to overcook them. Throw any meat or fish in at the end just to warm them and serve topped with the seeds or nuts. If we are really hungry and want a bigger meal I add the dumplings Trader Joe's also sells. You prepare them first and also add them at the end when you add any meat or fish. This is one of our go to meals when we stay at a resort that has a Trader Joe's in the vicinity as it doesn't take long to fix or any special equipment/pans.

 

[chellej]

Hi Chellej,

Go back to my original post - the title of the post is a hyperlink - it worked for me when I clicked on it, and to my knowledge everyone else except you.
So I'm not sure why it did not work for you. Try it again.

Richard

Yup - user error...I was trying to click the Black How I would...at the bottom of the page...I got it

 

[Elan]

Kind of funny, but we used to hit TJs annually when we went to our timeshare in central Oregon. Now that we have one here, I hardly ever go. Unfortunately, I haven't found anything so irresistible that I feel compelled to shop there with any regularity.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

 

[AwayWeGo]

Trader Joe's is about the only store around here equipped with coffee grinders. I took advantage of that recently when I discovered the bag of Kona coffee I brought back from Florida (bought it off the Publix clearance table) was whole coffee beans rather than ground coffee.

While shopping for other stuff at Trader Joe's, I took the Publix Kona whole-bean coffee over to the coffee grinder, dumped in the coffee beans, selected Fine Grind, positioned the bag right below the spout, switched on the grinder, & that was that.

Nobody at Trader Joe's noticed, & no one would have cared if anyone did notice. At check-out, I pointed out the bag of fresh-ground non-Trader Joe's coffee to the cashier anyway, just for the sake of full disclosure. No problem.

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​

 

[Passepartout]

Some of my favorites: cookie butter. Mochi. Seafood Paella. Frozen mixed fruits. Pesto pizza. Boatswain double IPA beer. Dried fruits. Fresh salads out of the convenience cooler. Greek yogurt.

 

[easyrider]

We are not Trader Joe crazy at our house probably because there isn't one near me, but when I go to Bend I pick up the pickled flavored potato chips for some friends and usually find some odd dealio for me. I bought some chocolate covered coffee beans once that I couldn't stop eating.

Bill

 

[silentg]

My favorite is the dark chocolate non parrells also the chicken pot pies and the little fruit pies they have at Christmas. Trader Joe's has been opening new stores in Florida, I hope they open near me soon?
Silentg

 

[paxsarah]

When I stop at Trader Joe's there is a handful of things that I pick up there that they just don't have anywhere else - pretzel bagels, a lot of their pre-chopped vegetables (especially cruciferous crunch and healthy 8), veggie masala burgers, the dark chocolate speculoos bars they have at the checkout, their 3-in-1 body wash/shampoo/conditioner. They also seem to have the best price on unsweetened kefir, Dr. Bronner's soap, pre-made California rolls, and potstickers. Their cheeses are great as the article states - they usually have a snack-sized trio of Spanish cheeses that my son and I like to share. Fresh pizza dough. Around the holidays, we pick up a couple of bottles of their Vintage Ale (brewed by Unibroue, so always good) - one to drink and one to save. I used to always buy our coffee beans there but I was lured in by Amazon subscribe and save so now I don't go quite as regularly - that was what used to force me to the other side of town to TJ's every 2 or 3 weeks. Now I probably go once a month to fill in with the good stuff between trips to Aldi and the occasional "real" grocery store.

 

[ThreeLittleBirds]

I avoid Trader Joe's because they have the most delicious spicy dill potato chips. If I could refrain from eating the whole bag in one sitting, I might go more often, but I simply cannot resist.

 

[donnaval]

There are theoretically three TJs in our metro area, but they are all in such pain-in-the-butt locations that we never go. We always visit any that are within driving range of our vacation destinations. We're vegetarians for the most part, so the things we enjoy are the pumpernickel pretzel sticks, the various salsas, the burrrata cheese, nuts, almond meal, sprouted tofu, arugula, frozen skinny green beans, frozen roasted peppers, those honkin' huge blocks of belgian chocolate, dried fruits, marinara sauce, miso broth, kabocha squash...well, I guess we like a lot there lol.

 

[ThreeLittleBirds]

I always laugh when I see one of the memes from this website:

some more...
https://www.buzzfeed.com/caseyrackham/wait-is-this-hell?utm_term=.uqLKoO7qL#.bpydQ5WAa

 

[klpca]

I always laugh when I see one of the memes from this website:

some more...
https://www.buzzfeed.com/caseyrackham/wait-is-this-hell?utm_term=.uqLKoO7qL#.bpydQ5WAa

So true!

My must haves - bool kogi, the sriracha BBQ sauce, the sweet & spicy pecans, the blue corn chips and their medium salsa, plus whatever good beer/wine we find. I never spend $100 though. That would be some serious shopping!

 

[Passepartout]

Funny how we all have our TJ's favorites, and are willing to ask/share new ones. I always chuckle at the sign on the wall above the check-outs: "We tried it- We like it. If you don't, bring it back- No questions asked." In general the place is a PITA. Horrible parking. Crowded. Always a line to check out. But we LOVE the stuff we get there and can't get anywhere else.

Jim

 

[dioxide45]

We don't go to TJ's all that often. I can probably count on one hand the number of times we have been. We have one that is reasonably close, but somewhat out of the way. We have an Aldi that is about two miles away and a Kroger and Walmart the same distance. So those get most of our business, though I find I am at Aldi most often. Their prices on most staples simply can't be beat and I find myself always walking out with more than I intended to get when I went in. I did get a gift card for Trader Joe's a few years ago and used it to get some Smoked Paprika and Saffron. I wasn't a big fan of the Orange Mandarin Chicken that everyone always raved about, but I did like their Poutine from the frozen section. I do like their selection of cheese. Perhaps if there was a more convenient location, I would find myself going there more often. And as mentioned, the one location we have near us does have horrible parking.

 

[MuranoJo]

We've been to TJ's a few times, while visiting in WA or OR. But, honestly, we have yet to go to the somewhat-new one downtown here--simply because of the hassle of where it's located. So I agree with the location comments above.

I've seen another old thread here on TUG about TJ favorites--and a few had mentioned their frozen green beans. I love green beans, but not a fan of frozen ones--so always wanted to give TJ's brand a try.

 

[heathpack]

An Aldi opened two seconds from my house a few months ago.M I've been very pleasantly surprised.

Great prices on some pretty swell stuff:
Organic mixed field greens
Brioche rolls (for burger)
Chocolate chip brioche bread (OMG so good toasted with peanut butter or as stuffed-with-peanut-butter French toast or grilled PB & J)
Buttermilk sandwich bread- makes delicious croutons
Dark chocolate sea salt caramels- I seriously cannot buy these, I'll eat em all
Grass fed cheddar
Spätzle (for making chicken noodle soup)

Staples like milk at a good price

Interesting wines but Costco is more of a sure thing

I also picked up a spiral sliced house brand ham for half price. It was really good and the two of us are like kings for a week for $5!

 

[heathpack]

When I stop at Trader Joe's there is a handful of things that I pick up there that they just don't have anywhere else - pretzel bagels, a lot of their pre-chopped vegetables (especially cruciferous crunch and healthy 8), veggie masala burgers, the dark chocolate speculoos bars they have at the checkout, their 3-in-1 body wash/shampoo/conditioner. They also seem to have the best price on unsweetened kefir, Dr. Bronner's soap, pre-made California rolls, and potstickers. Their cheeses are great as the article states - they usually have a snack-sized trio of Spanish cheeses that my son and I like to share. Fresh pizza dough. Around the holidays, we pick up a couple of bottles of their Vintage Ale (brewed by Unibroue, so always good) - one to drink and one to save. I used to always buy our coffee beans there but I was lured in by Amazon subscribe and save so now I don't go quite as regularly - that was what used to force me to the other side of town to TJ's every 2 or 3 weeks. Now I probably go once a month to fill in with the good stuff between trips to Aldi and the occasional "real" grocery store.

OMG the Pretzel Bagels! Just back from a weekend sail trip where every day for lunch I had a chicken club with mayo and mustard on a pretzel bagel from Trader Joes! Love em.