Vegan, organic split pea soup! 150 calories per can! SOOO good and filling. It is a really great purchase. Very thick! It's $1.99 a can but I feel like it was so worth it and will be great to take to work for lunch. Today I had it with a salad and also made a sandwhich using Trader Joe's southwestern egg salad. I wasnt a huge fan of the egg salad, it seemed to be mostly egg whites and very little of anything else, but still, good for quick lunches or taking to work for lunch.
I also bought white balsamic vinegar today at Trader Joe's. I had never had white balsamic but made a salad with a gala apple, sweet onion, and lettuce topped with this white balsamic and sprinkled with Sweet N Low. I loved it. Im very simple though when it comes to my salad dressings.
Recently I bought:
TJ's italian sausages, 100 calories each I think and loved them.
Mahi burgers, pretty awesome and quick, although taste kinda like hot dogs, which is weird, but these are 110 calories for a pretty good size.
Salmon patties, 90 calories each I believe, are great and I usually eat them with everything. Come frozen and dont take long to make.
Pineapple salsa, 10 calories for 2 tbsp. AMAZING. My favorite salsa ever.
Butternut squash soup in a carton, mix this with some almond milk, chicken broth, and pumpkin pie spice or cinnamon for a good soup.
Black bean dip, 30 calories for 2 tbsp, very good and I usually use it on my breakfast sandwhichs with eggbeaters.
OH HOW COULD I FORGET! The premade Niscoise salad! 150 calories using the mustard vinegarette that it comes with (which is so amazing I wish they'd bottle it for sale!) The salad is greens with green beans, capers, half an egg, a few grape tomatoes and chopped tuna. GREAT salad, perfect for on the go, and very low in calories.
I love this thread! Trader Joes has so many great finds!
Some of my faves:
"just mango" dried mango - it's almost impossible to find dried mango that's not coated in sugar
extra firm tofu - their brand is a lot firmer than some of the others I've found
olive oil - cheaper than the other grocery stores around here
wild mushroom flat bread pizza - amazing
raspberry/cream or coffee/cream ice cream bars - no sticks= weird, but less than 100 cals each and they taste great
carton soups - I really like the carrot and butternut squash ones, but I don't think I've tried the others
high fiber O's cereal - I actually stopped buying it because I'll eat the whole box!
individually packaged goat cheese medallions - these are the perfect size for a salad and since I'm the only one who eats cheese in my house, a whole package of goat cheese used to just go bad after 1-2 servings were taken out. These are a godsend.
They have really great premade salads and give the calories both with and without the dressing. Their turkey and swiss sandwich on Pretzel bread is good, and although a little high - I thnk it's 400 calories, is really good.
Something else I love is their avocado salsa, yum and I think 20 or 30 calories for 2 Tablespoons.
I concur about the black bean soup, it is excellent.
I really like the TJ pita crackers too, but I can't buy them as I eat the whole box. They are 120 a serving but you're not supposed to eat the whole box. Instead I buy their version of sun chips. They have less calories and sodium and I think taste better, but I can limit myself to a single serving.
I love their packaged Indian meals, you just put the bag in boiling water and cook for a couple minutes, my fave is the Palak Paneer. I think it's 320 cal (8 WW pts) for the whole package and it is super filling.
I also really like their frozen spanakopita, about 60 cal per triangle.
I'd like to try the pizza flats a couple people mentioned.
Unfortunately there is only one Trader Joe's in my city, it's tiny and always extremely packed which makes for an unpleasant shopping experience, for me anyway. I usually try to be in and out as quickly as possible so don't get to browse as much as I'd like.
It's always remarkable to me how much I spend in this store, when I'm generally there for just a half-dozen items. I think my friend who says that Trader Joe's is like a cult thing is probably right. The food seems somehow sanctified, like it's got a little halo floating over it -- i.e., if you buy it at Trader Joe's, it's okay to eat. I really was awakened from that belief when a male friend of mine told me it's his junk food go-to. Because I could totally see that.
What I always buy, any time I'm near the store, like I'm some kind of hoarder:
- Almond butter, raw & not-raw, with no salt or sugar
- Peanut butter, same as above, at the best price around (for other brands, I pay extra to have that stuff left out)
Other things that I tend to buy there (which others upthread have mentioned):
- Chevre goat cheese
- Pre-cooked polenta logs
- Cumin, cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice (and I wish they'd expand their spice section)
- Eggs are well-priced here for my area, unless the chain stores are having a sale
- Balsamic vinegar
- Bagged salad greens, again well-priced for my area unless on sale elsewhere
- Nuts, dried fruit (this is pretty much my go-to place for that stuff)
- Best frozen green beans I've ever had, but they don't always have them
- Precooked black lentils
- Whole-wheat couscous
- Enormous Swiss milk chocolate bar (for my mother, who loves theirs beyond all others)
Reduced Guilt Baked Zitti (sp?)- high sodium but soooo good. Today I had to run to the post office and I passed all these pizza places. I was craving the pizza so badly, but went back to the office and had my baked zitti. It totally hit the spot, I forgot about that pizza!
OMG I love Trader Joes!!!! Its an hour to the 2 nearest me so I go with a cooler. I especially love the fish - you can get 2 nice size tuna steaks for just over $4! Thats killer! I always buy my fish frozen because its actually fresher that way. I also love the fire roasted corn - I use it in my white chicken chili (I'll post the recipe sometime). Their salsa is yummy and cheap and they have great frozen vegetables. I don't know how they keep the prices so low for the quality of the food - I really wish there was one closer to me.
I love their organic reduced fat string cheese!!!! Best string cheese ever!
so...here is my list:
reduced fat string cheese
cilantro hummus
kalmata olive spread
garlic mustard - great to dip soy chicken nuggets in!
mock meatballs
a lot of their trail mixes, like the omega 3 mix and the temptation one with peanutbutter chips, chocolate chips, dried cranberries and almonds. rosemary almonds. Nuts are so much more afordable here, it's my go to place for buying macadamia nuts
indian lentil dal
pumpkin butter
greek yogurts
soy creamer
great prices on tofurky products - smoked slices and itallian sausages
Last edited by Wildflower; 10-19-2010 at 01:46 PM.
