I am thinking of adding a trip to Trader Joe's to my weekend to-do list.
I haven't been to this store in YEARS!!!

What SB friendly items are your favorites when you shop here? What should I be adding to my list?

Thanks in advance for your help!

I'll be looking forward to the responses; we just got TJs this summer. When I went I saw an awful lot of tempting stuff that was NOT OP

Here are some of my must-have staples from TJ's. I'm sure there are lots more, but these are just off the top of my head -

lowfat shredded Mexican cheese blends
lowfat shredded 3-blend cheese
lowfat goat cheese
Almond Breeze unsweetened vanilla almond milk
TJ's brand green tea w/jasmine
TJ's brand Organic Crunchy Natural Peanut Butter
unsalted dry-roasted nuts of all kinds
dry-roasted green beans
TJ's brand concentrated veggie broth
TJ's arrabiata sauce
TJ's organic tomato basil marinara
Pure Bars (my secret passion!)

Well, they have tons of OP bread products such as
ww pita (that are actually 100% whole wheat)
ww hotdog buns
Many varieties of hummus (I love the cilantro-jalapeno kind)
TJ's curry simmer sauces (some of them do have sugar, but it is way down on the list of ingredients, after the other spices, so I let it go)
Garbanzo beans (cheaper than my grocery store)
Lite coconut milk (also cheaper than my grocery store, by a lot)
Quinoa
Brown rice blend
Fire roasted tomatoes (cheaper than the regular grocery store)
Seaweed snacks (I personally think they are revolting, but I think they are OP)
Dark chocolate covered cacao nibs (serious chocolatey goodness in tic-tac size niblets. Great for portion control)
Steel cut oats
TJ's brand vegetable juice

dry-roasted green beans.... sounds interesting!!!

and what are pure bars??

Pure Bars are raw, vegan bars made with dried or pureed fruit, nuts, and with or without chocolate.

Dry roasted green beans are a delicious snack, and I especially like them sprinkled over a salad.

this is helpful and inspiring! I haven't been in a while either. I hope there is one in my new hometown!

this is a popular topic around here
Here are a couple of other threads:
http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/showthread.php?t=160393
http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/showthread.php?t=163330
http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/sout...oes-finds.html

My TJ's staples are...
(they have an awesome variety of fresh and frozen organic veggies so I usually get most of mine there)
arugula(also they have wasabi arugula-yum!)
mushrooms
pea shoots
ww tortillas
ww pizza dough(fridge)
dark chocolate(they have 73% dark chocolate covered almonds that I can't keep in the house anymore! I just buy the 73% dark bars now)
frozen grilled asparagus
I think they have the BEST firm/extra firm tofu. I don't buy it anywhere else anymore.
Lentil crunchies if I am going on any kind of road trip, otherwise no because I will eat way too many of them!
tofutti sour cream
fresh flowers(4 bucks and they usually last between 1-2 weeks!)
avocados(4 for less than 4 bucks)
onions
OH- I almost forgot the most important one! I use frozen pineapple with my smoothie almost every day! I usually buy 3-6 bags when I am there!!! lol
frozen blueberries
... mango
... strawberries


OK, so in summary usually produce and frozen fruits and veggies are usually what I go for. They have tons of convenience foods that are probably healthier than at most groceries but I still avoid those aisles and mainly make my way around the outskirts of our store...

I love love love TJ's and if it werent for DH and his "junk" food I probably would only shop there! Enjoy your trip!

I just clicked on the other sbd link that Cyndi posted and Jen, are you having deja vu? lol.

ha! you know.... I remember posting this exact thing a few years back and I tried to locate the old thread, but couldn't find it! :-) I figured it was old enough (2+ years) that no one would mind the duplicate!! Leave it to Cyndi to find it! :-)

Thanks for all the ideas! I have a list going and am excited for some new items to try!

I'm not on the SBD but looking for ways to eat low carb. This is a great thread

Thank you so much for this thread and for the link to the old ones! To be honest I've been *avoiding* TJs since starting South Beach, since my shopping there had seemed to be mostly off-plan convenience foods. But now I am so excited to go back equipped with a list from these threads!

I love the Garlic Aioli Mustard Sauce. Use it on everything. Also their PB & Almond Butter, Oat Bran Hot Cereal, WW frozen pizza dough, frozen edamame & TJ's FF Greek yogurt.

My go tos:

prepacked baggies of roasted unsalted almonds. I've stuffed little emrgency packs of those at work, in my car, every purse I own, etc.

Think Thin bars

WW pizza dough

Simply Lite chocolate bars- the best sugar free chocolate I've ever tasted.


There's a lgiht sprouted wheat bread there that I love, high fiber and protein, and only 50 calories a slice or so. Plus, delicious and doesnt set off cravings.

I also like their organic fat free milk