Trader Joe's
 

Hi all !!

I am making my first big trip to Trader Joe's later today and wanted to see what you all think are the "must have's" from the store !!


Thanks in advance :)

Oooh, I love Trader Joe's! You're in for a real treat! I could spend all day in there and never get bored. My must have's are:

Natural peanut butter
Fage greek yogurt
Steel Cut Oats
Frozen organic spinach
Frozen strawberries
Frozen mixed berries
Frozen tri-color pepper mix

They also have a great selection of bulk nuts.

They have a prepared salad that I live--reduced calorie southwest salad (with dressing and a fork--perfect for taking to work). 170 calories! Lettuce, corn, peppers, black beans and a yummy dressing.

I adore their raspberry dressing for salads (exact copy of Annie's but less $$) and only 30 cals per T!
their fruit is so fresh and less $$ than regular grocers
a second vote for the fage yogurt (I get 0% fat and mix with frozen mashed bananas)

don't be tempted by their chocolate covered this and that! Oh, very good, but so high in calories!!!

Hi there,
I love TJ's and will just second the recommendations already made. However, I do have a TJ question of my own...

I absolutely love their spinach tofu egg rolls (in frozen aisle). About 6 weeks ago, I didn't see any and just left, thinking that needed to stock. Next trip, they were still out, so I asked. A guy ran to the back for me to check and when he came back said that it was a vender issue and they expected to get them in within the week. Well... you can see where this is going... next trip, they were still out, so I asked again. This time I was told it was a vender issue and they would no longer be carrying them.

Arghh... I was so upset! I eat them pretty regularly for lunch. Sometimes I eat one for dinner with a big salad. They are sooo good.

Any of you know if your TJ still carries these? I'm wondering if anyone else has an equivalent?

Anyway, happy shopping. Trader Joe's has lots of great stuff at low prices. I just wish they would get those egg rolls back!

I'm sure this is too late for the shopping trip but...I love the pork potstickers! They have veggie ones which I wasn't crazy about and chicken too but I like the pork ones the best. One serving is 8 pot stickers, 300 calories. I usually plop two or three in my veggie soup which makes it filing and delicious

I stocked up earlier but my friend went a few weeks ago and they said they were having vendor issues with the potsticker people too. I still have some so I haven't checked since then but she was pretty upset about it.

Thanks for all of your tips and ideas. We picked up most of these items as well as some steel cut oats that I am going to mix up in a pancake recipe this morning.

I also bought the BetterNButter peanut butter and I am surprisingly happy at the taste. No, it is not exactly like regular PB, but for 1/2 the calories, I am willing to compromise.

The TJ's that I went to seemed pretty small -- much smaller than a regular grocery store. Is that typical for them or is it just this location? I have another one that's about 45 minutes away and maybe they are larger?

as a rule all of the ones I have been to are rather small, they are not a supermarket after all,

I'm starting to keep more healthy frozen foods onhand. They have lots of frozen seafood that's easy to prepare. Last night we cooked up a "seafood trio" of shrimp, scallops, and squid. Yummy! And a couple of weeks ago I cooked a frozen salmon steak.

I also love their basmati brown rice.

And their own brand of jasmine green tea!

I just saw the frozen organic spinach today but didn't buy any -- can anyone tell me more about it?

I swear, if I browse carefully, I see more great things every time I go to Trader Joe's!

Ours is very small too. I went today and it was absolutely PACKED. Still no tofu spinach egg rolls :-(

Yes, one of the tough things about TJs is that just when you get hooked on something, they no longer stock it. Has happened to me a few times. Oh well, there's always something new and interesting to try in its place.

I too love Trader Joe's. Ours is als small and about 20-25 minutes away which means I only go about every three months...I am so busy and its a chore to take a toddler in there and the aisle are so small. I always say I am gooing to go more often but I never make it. My very favorite item is also the pork potstickers...I hope they still have them. I also like their chips with flax seeds....I cant seem to find them anywhere else. There vegetables are good to. I havent gotten any thing there that I havent liked and so much that I have loved.

I really like their Whole Wheat English muffins...I think they have 4 grams of fiber and are around 160 calories. They are so yummy with peanut btter and banan slices...keeps me full all morning!

Chocolate Mini Merengue cookies!!!! :T

Ours are all small as well, I think it's supposed to be that way.

One of my favorites was pre-cooked brown rice in little serving-size packets, in the frozen food section. Just microwave to heat! I love that convenience.

Once upon a time I worked for TJ's and it's an unfortuate truth that things do get "discontinued" a lot. A lot of stuff does come back later on though (I think the vendors try to make TJ's happy.) I'd keep look for the tofu rolls, but it may take a while.

I love thier brand of Greek-style yogurt. It's yummy like the Fage, but much less in price.

I found a new grain mixture there on the last trip. It's a mixture of orzo, quinoa, baby garbonzos, and Isreali couscous. It was great! It cooks up quick. I added boiled shrimp, sun-dried tomatoes (no oil kind), garlic, and oilves. It was yummy!

I agree about the whole wheat english muffins too. My husband gets very sad when we run out of those.

Hey Zenor - thanks for keeping hope alive! I will keep a look out for the egg rolls... they are so good!!!

I appreciate the 'inside' info on TJs... thanks!

Oh, I thought of something else that is really good there. It is called "Almost Whole Wheat pizza dough". It is ready made and in the refrigerator section. I think it is only $1.09 and enough for one whole pizza. I cut mine into 4 seperate servings...bake it and top it off with their marinara sauce and lowfat mozzerella. I add slices tomatoes, zucchini, artichokes, red and yellow peppers. So tasty and really healthy!

azmom:dizzy:

I came here to post about the frozen rice - I loooove this stuff. It has made my life so much easier.

I also love:

Pumpkin butter
Fage yogurt
La Netura yogurt (especially the cinnamon ginger)
Dried granny smith apple rings
Dried wild blueberries
Frozen shrimp stir fry (ready to go, great for busy days)
Frozen salmon patties
Frozen mango
Ready to serve wild rice (just microwave it)
Trader Joes Fat Free Balsalmic Vinaigrette dressing
Salsa Especiale

Everytime I go, I buy way more than I had planned.

I just picked up a new TJ's find yesterday, mango chili vinegar. I whipped up a marinade with it for roasting brussels sprouts, really great way to add some sweetness and zip! And it's only 25 cal / T

I also find they offer Morningstar Farms and Tofurky veggie products for significantly less that traditional grocers, and their own brand of meatless meatballs is pretty darn tasty.

Has anyone tried the mediterranian yogurt dip? It is awesome and low fat.

mmmmm...gotta try that mediteranean yogurt dip, sounds great!
Also, their Feta cheese with mediterranenean herbs (sundried tomato & basil) is awesome and less fat then the Athenos brand at the grocery store!

hmm...we have Trader Joe's around here, but I haven't found anything particularly special they carry that I like that I can't just get at my regular grocery store. It could just be that I'm picky, I guess.

Their frozen whole, peeled shrimp is cheaper than the grocery store--I do stop in to buy a bag of that once every few weeks for a shrimp marinara pasta Jeff likes me to make. They also have pure cranberry juice for less than the bigger stores.

Other than that, I find my natural peanut butter is cheaper at the grocery store (or about the same price, so not worth a special trip). I have found cheaper frozen fruits and veggies on sale at other stores. I used to buy the frozen brown rice, but my dollar bills are more dear to me than the additional 7 minutes of time it takes to cook some Uncle Ben's instant brown rice (which is cheaper by volume). I used to buy breakfast cereal at TJ's for Jeff, but all the big grocers now carry it as well (different brand, but tastes the same). I'll go to TJ's when the mood strikes, but there's nothing I need to get there regularly that I can't get elsewhere.

Not trying to be a downer to those who love it, but trying to make those who don't live near one hopefully realize it's not the holy grail of healthy or yummy food ;)

I wanted to share my 2 cents!
yeah - they discontinued a few of my favorite items - spicy black bean soup and the brown frozen rice has been out for a while - it makes me sad - 3 minutes to the most perfect brown rice ever!

ok - must haves!

they have lean hamburger meat - 150cals and like 4 or 5 grams fat per patty (all individualized for you already)
egg whites that are prepackaged and are cooked in microwave for 85 seconds to have perfect (and no clean up) scrambled eggs!)
i agree - have these with the whole wheat english muffins and the morning star veggie sausage patties - what a great start/brunch etc!
all of the salads are great - and packaged in little or big bags!
ok - i'm lazy - but the precooked caesar chicken is great!
i now cook/fry/saute in the soy ginger broth they have - makes yummy onions
(they have a great cheap beer I love - fat weasel)
oh oh - they have this great brown rice pasta - for some reason I love it. it's definately a different consistancy than regular pasta - but its great!
also - they have these pre-portioned japanese whole wheat noodles I use instead of pasta a lot of time too (though they were out of this for a while)
(both in pasta section)
i used to love the frozen shrimp tri-dumpling thing - but I stopped buying things I bought over and over again - so its been a while.
frozen terriyaki chicken
frozen asian veggie mix
frozen sweet corn
frozen asparugus - so easy to throw in a dish of soup.
my fav meal from trader joes goes something like this (that u can do from other stores too - i'm sure!)
i chop up some chicken or a turkey or chicken sausage, throw it in a microwavable bowl, add lots of veggies, like zucchini or asparagus, then top it with butternut squash soup - or some other veggie soup that they have (lots of choices) and nuke it for 4-5 minutes till the veggies are soft. then maybe add some hot sauce if I'm feeling different :)

(needless to say - a lot of my recs are for people that don't like spending a lot of time in the kitchen)

OK, I just got back from a trip to Trader Joes's and I want to thank Glory for the recommendation on the Granny Smith dried apple rings. They are outstanding and terrific for me since I don't eat any sugar. They are quite a yummy treat!! I bought a million other standbys...my my...how I love that
store!
azmom