[KO]

How difficult/expensive would it be to do a Big Shop at Tjs? the whole 9 including meat
I have never bought their meats before I'm just trying to figure out if it will be fiscally friendly in NJ.
I have to go there to get some vities
but the cupboards are BARE and I need to stock up on just about everything
Thanks,
Kierie

[Schmoodle]

Kierie, I can't help you with the meat, because I don't buy it there. We use a local butcher mostly. I am wary of their frozen prepared meat stuff because we have gotten sick on a couple of things. I would have a hard time doing a full shopping there, I think. I get the same stuff every time I go in - dried fruit and nuts, cheese, frozen edamame, soy chorizo and soy corn dogs for the kids, DH's saucissons, marinara sauce, refried black beans. Greek yogurt. Strange list, I know. I think their prices are good on most of these things, but I don't think ALL of their prices are good. I don't like their produce either. It's never local, doesn't usually look great, and is expensive.

ETA: I do love their frozen tuna or salmon burgers. They are vacuum packed in a stack in clear plastic. Very quick to cook.

[dkneec19]

Their meat is the same price as anywhere else. No more expensive than the others. I agree with the produce. The stores don't handle it very well, unless it's packaged produce. Their frozen food section is great.

[Bright Angel]

Just chiming in to say...I LOVE Trader Joe's.

[JulieJ08]

I can't usually do my whole shop there, but I always start there, and then only need a couple things from the health food store or supermarket.

They have a lot of things the supermarket doesn't. I generally find their prices better than the supermarket, especially for milk (when I was still buying milk). I get plenty of produce there, but I agree, it's not their strong point.

[weebleswobble]

I live 75 miles from TJs but it's right next to my friend's house that I stay at every week when I go to school. So I tend to drop in and pick up things (especially in the cooler months when I feel better leaving things in the car for a few hours.

I like and think there is a value to:
- Coffee
- Charles Shaw wine (for $3 a bottle you can't beat it)
- Poland spring seltzer water $.89 a liter
- Trader Joe's Orange Bergamot Iced Tea
- Lavender bath soap
- Greek Yogurt o% fat
- Milk
- Kashi GO Lean is cheaper at TJs than at Kroger. I buy it and put a sprinkle on some Greek yogurt with sliced strawberries and
- Their cheeses are wonderful
- The produce at my TJ's isn't bad...I garden and so I wouldn't buy anything there in the summer, and I wouldn't buy in the winter most of the frozen veggies. I like their packs of sugar snap peas especially, and their spinach and other salad stuff. At school they tease me because everyone else eats a bag of chips and I eat sugar snap peas. But now they ask me to share because I've lost 50 pounds!
- We find that sometimes their nuts are a great bargain, and sometimes they are prohibitively expensive. you have to know what they cost in the other stores. GFS often has better prices. My favorite nut lately there has been the Honey sesame almond ones...I don't know if there's enough honey in them to make them NOT SBD legal, but they are nice, and I didn't go all manic crazy when I ate them and gain 10 pounds

-THE VERY BEST THING AT TRADER JOES IS THE BOX SOUPS. Well, maybe next to the wine. We like the (links to livestrong nutrition info) Roasted Red Pepper Soup and the Latin Style Black Bean Soup the best - I like to put out "Fajita Stuff" for the Black Bean soup and let people add things to their soup as they wish - chicken, cheese, salsa, chunks of peppers, etc. the soups don't have a lot of calories/carbs/fats, and one/1.5 servings can stand alone as a fall/winter/spring meal with a salad. The low sodium soups (for us) did not taste good, we don't need a lot of salt, but there is something else missing taste-wise. When I go to TJ's I buy 24 boxes of soup, and nab all of the boxes of Red Pepper and Black Bean that they have and sample all the rest.

We don't usually buy meat at TJ, generally we buy chicken breast and ground turkey, an occasional steak. We don't eat a lot of meat in our household.

[KO]

Thanks for the Input ladies
I'm definitely going there to get my vities b/c I checked @ the drugstore today and they definitely didn't have what I wanted! might get that black bean soup at TJ's sounds good!!
Probably going to do my big shop at Stop and shop or Shoprite see who has the best deals

[weebleswobble]

One hint with the bean soup... BEANO.