I've heard the rave about Trader Joe's through pretty much my whole vegetarian life.. but only realized recently that the city near me has one! I'm going to make a trip there after work on Tuesday.
My question to you lovely people is... do you have any suggestions of 'have to try' things that I can get there? I know if I go in without an idea of what I should pick up I'll end up spending waaay too much money.
Yes, as a matter of fact, I do. First of all, if you eat nuts, they have very good prices on all kinds of nuts. I buy all of my nuts - from walnut, almond, brazil, to pumpkin seed to whatever - at Trader Joe's. Also, in the frozen aisle, the spinach tofu egg rolls are a must have every time I go. They come five in a pack and you bake them for 20 min. I sometimes eat one for breakfast, but I often eat one with a huge salad for dinner. They are one of my TJ favorites.
They tend to move things around there, and even though small with only one frozen food aisle, I sometimes can't find the spinach egg rolls. TJ's is known for having very friendly workers, and they will run in the back and check. One time they were out and I was told it was a vender issue and they ended up being out of them for a week and got them back. Thank goodness!
So, the egg rolls would be my #1 pick, but we buy lots of stuff there from cereal to bread to crackers to wine (excellent prices on wine). We also eat a lot of their roasted red pepper tomato soup. I buy kefir there because other stores in my area don't carry it. I also regularly buy the pizza crust dough (in refrig. section near cheese) -- I make a low fat veggie pizza with lots of vegs, light on the cheese. When I'm too lazy to make hummus, I buy it there. They have good prices.
Hope you enjoy your TJ trip! We live a good 30-40 min away from ours, so we tend to stock up when we go.
TJ's, I'd be lost without them. Frozen berries for smoothies, soy milk, I like the French Village plain nonfat yogurt, salad dressings, Black Bean and Corn Enchiladas in the frozen section, cheeses!, some little Middle Eastern spinach flatbread thingies in the deli case......................ok, I'll stop now.
Their granola bars are insanely good, although I don't know if they're vegan. (I'm not a vegetarian myself, I just saw my favorite grocer's name in the new post section and had to respond.) They're made out of organic brown rice and even my finicky kids adore them. Their animal crackers are all natural, inexpensive, and very, very yummy. I also agree with the recommendation on nuts and trail mix.
If you're a lacto-ovo vegetarian their yogurt is also organic and incredible. Their produce is often organic and always cheaper than my local grocery store.
It's tough to give specific recommendations because I believe they get a lot of their stuff as locally as they can, so what the Pittsburgh store carries may not be what your local Trader Joe's carries. I don't eat much processed food so I'm not very familiar with their frozen foods although I've perused and a lot of their stuff looks really delicious.
The boxed soups are all fabulous and low calorie - there is a corn soup that is incredible, as well as the roasted red pepper and tomato and the butternut squash. All so good, so easy. Their veggies are really inexpensive, too, compared to other stores where I live, so stock up! They have AMAZING hummus and tzatziki, a good selection of whole grain breads i can't find elsewhere (like sprouted sourdough!). My favorite snack - multigrain crackers with soy and flax dipped in the trader joes pineapple salsa (which is my favorite salsa EVER - really mild, but so flavorful). They have VERY cheap whole wheat pastas and organic sauces, too.
Keep an eye out too, they have a good number of veggie cheeses (if you are vegan) that melt better than standard veggie cheeses.
Second vote for the tomato and red pepper soup! I also load up on the fat free no sodium chicken broth (they might have a vegetable broth). I love their fresh brushetta sauce on their ww pizza dough. I get as many of my fruits and vegetables there as possible because they seem so much fresher and the price is beyond compare. I like several of their frozen foods, but can't think of any right off hand. Their salad dressings are quite good (the Raspberry dressing is the exact replica of Annie's but so much less $$). If I need, I'll buy crackers there too. You'll really be amazed at how much less the cost is there. But beware, just because they have good things, they also have bad things. Recently I picked up some chocolate covered dried cherries and cranberries. Oh, so decadent. I made them into cookies and shared them so they wouldn't be sitting around to tempt me!
*sigh* Down here in Oz, we don't have anything like Trader Joe's. We have 2 major supermarket chains, and that's all. (not including the smaller competitors). It sounds like a great place to go though. Have some egg rolls for me, girls!!
Since we don't have Trader Joe's, my next favorite store is Sunflower Market. I'm there several times a week. :-) They have the best produce of anyone in town, and their prices are great. A wonderful bulk food section, too. I just wish the store wasn't on the opposite side of town so I could walk there.
Thanks everyone for your imput! I still haven't gone yet. *sigh* One of my friends (who neglected to tell me we had a TJ'S!!!) told me that they don't have a parking lot and parking is hard to find... and the area is not my favorite place to drive around because I'm terrified I'll hit pedestrians (it's by the University of Wisconsin and the Capitol.. and no one looks both ways before crossing the street) .. so I'm trying to wait until I have a chance to go early-ish. Hopefully I'll be able to go soon. =\
Trader Joe's
