What are your must-buy items from Trader Joe's for toddlers?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Well, our kids are 4.5 so preschoolers instead of toddlers. But we buy all of our fresh nuts there. My wife is allergic to peanuts. We need to have tree nuts that were not processed in a facility that processes nuts. In the supermarket, it's hit or miss and some of the products don't have allergy warnings and there's no one to ask. I went into TJ's once and asked. The guy could not find the info, but took my contact info. He contacted the main office and ultimately called the processing plant and found out that the tree nut processing plant is peanut free. So we just play it safe and get our tree nuts, dried fruit and trail mixes there for us and the kids.

Our kids attend a nut-free (tree nut and peanut) school, so we get sunbutter for the occasional sandwich (also an occasional treat for my wife).

The fish sticks are a nice "treat" for the kids once or twice a month (and for the militant anti-processed food person, yes, we have normal fish for meals routinely).

I forgot to mention, that he spent three days off and on checking and making calls and finally called me back with the info. I figured he had forgotten about it, but he finally called back about 4 days after I had been in and apologized for taking so long. I was amazed he was so thorough and responsible to find out and call me back.

[Anonymous]

Pomegranate seeds! She LOVES them!!!!!!

[Anonymous]

ginger snaps for meeeeeeeeee! and ever so many cashews. and i love TJ's hot sauce.

oh, but you asked about toddlers. bananas, granola bars, cheese sticks. and i try to always have on hand some TJ's frozen meals - like the gnocchi or a mild curry - that the little ones will eat when we're in a pinch. And I think it is TJs that has a plain full-fat greek yogurt. my other grocery options either don't have full fat or don't have plain. it is SO GOOD and sometimes it is all that the little one will eat.

[Anonymous]

Trader Joe's Mac and Cheese
Trader Joe's mac and cheese bites (I wish they had these when my kid was a toddler)

[Anonymous]

The Traders Joes's haters are annoying. But even more annoying are the Trader Joe's cult followers who are obsessed with the place and feel the need to "defend" its greatness. It is just a grocery store. They sell some interesting things, a lot of frozen foods and snacks. The produce is not great, the bread is not great. The prices are generally good. I really cannot see what the fuss is about.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The Traders Joes's haters are annoying. But even more annoying are the Trader Joe's cult followers who are obsessed with the place and feel the need to "defend" its greatness. It is just a grocery store. They sell some interesting things, a lot of frozen foods and snacks. The produce is not great, the bread is not great. The prices are generally good. I really cannot see what the fuss is about.

Nah, the haters are more annoying. The people on this thread defending it aren't obsessed, they're just listing products they like. The one or two posters (perhaps you're one of them?) who obsessively hate Trader Joe's and feel the need to post on every. single. thread. about how gross and unhealthy it is...now that is truly bizarre.

[Anonymous]

I am a closet TJ hater. I do shop there because it's literally next door to our apartment, but I have some issues with it. Yes, they try hard to sell junk food that is of better quality than the junk food one could purchase from Giant or Safeway, but...it's still junk food! Frozen meals, cookies, candy, dried fruit with lots of sugar, etc. If their branding were less about how "healthy" it all is, I would mind less, but because of the way they market themselves it seems really hypocritical. And yes, my 7 year olds have had junk food, but I don't feed it to them. They get more than enough on playdates, at school at sports practices at birthday parties, etc. so at home we stick to the healthy stuff, not the "healthy" stuff.

[Anonymous]

Half of these things mentioned in this post can be found at a grocery store for, I'm sure, cheaper, right? - cereal bars, applessuce, pouches, mini cucumbers, dried fruit, frozen processed food like quiches and fish stix....hec, the Super target and super walmart have these items.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Half of these things mentioned in this post can be found at a grocery store for, I'm sure, cheaper, right? - cereal bars, applessuce, pouches, mini cucumbers, dried fruit, frozen processed food like quiches and fish stix....hec, the Super target and super walmart have these items.

Tjs is actually really cheap. Almost nothing in there is name brand. The way they work is that they'll pick their favorite cereal (cheerios for example) and then tell general mills that cheerios is the only cheerio like cereal they will sell. So GM makes them the cheerios but puts it in a "Trader O's" box and sells it for less money. They have a lot of their own products too so it's a mix.

Anyway, I spend way less there then at harris teeter for a week. Still less than safeway or giant but not quite as much a difference.

Their wine is dirt cheap. Agree with pp on the bread though, it goes bad so fast. But iblove that tomato foccacia!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Half of these things mentioned in this post can be found at a grocery store for, I'm sure, cheaper, right? - cereal bars, applessuce, pouches, mini cucumbers, dried fruit, frozen processed food like quiches and fish stix....hec, the Super target and super walmart have these items.

I've found TJ's to be cheaper with most items and much more convenient than going to Target or Walmart. The stores are smaller and if there are more than a few people in line they open another register. I always dread the register at Target.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am a closet TJ hater. I do shop there because it's literally next door to our apartment, but I have some issues with it. Yes, they try hard to sell junk food that is of better quality than the junk food one could purchase from Giant or Safeway, but...it's still junk food! Frozen meals, cookies, candy, dried fruit with lots of sugar, etc. If their branding were less about how "healthy" it all is, I would mind less, but because of the way they market themselves it seems really hypocritical. And yes, my 7 year olds have had junk food, but I don't feed it to them. They get more than enough on playdates, at school at sports practices at birthday parties, etc. so at home we stick to the healthy stuff, not the "healthy" stuff.

So you have nothing to contribute to this thread. Got it.

PS- I don't recall branding at all from TJs about health. It's all about value lately. Do you read their flyer? This month it was about how they are actually offering certain things at lower prices than they have in the past. Someone is on a mission there, but it's to dig up prices and show you that you are paying less for something than you were, say 5 years ago.

I'm the one who buys the milled flax seed and chia seeds. The packages say "naturally rich in fiber and omega-3". I didn't look at that until just now. I bought them because I wanted milled flax seed and chia seeds. But is that info wrong?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Half of these things mentioned in this post can be found at a grocery store for, I'm sure, cheaper, right? - cereal bars, applessuce, pouches, mini cucumbers, dried fruit, frozen processed food like quiches and fish stix....hec, the Super target and super walmart have these items.

Trader Joe's is an ordinary grocery store known for affordable prices.

[Anonymous]

My toddler loves the fish sticks. TJ's fish sticks have A LOT less oil than other brands and comparatively little breading, so we choose those. Yes, we also cook her fresh salmon and give her things like tuna, but she likes fish sticks.

She also likes the applesauce, the "European style plain yogurt," and the packaged black lentils (the Indian ones in the purple box). And the mini cucumbers. Oh, and the frozen organic raspberries, she just eats those, frozen, by the spoonful.

Hate on, haters.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My toddler loves the fish sticks. TJ's fish sticks have A LOT less oil than other brands and comparatively little breading, so we choose those. Yes, we also cook her fresh salmon and give her things like tuna, but she likes fish sticks.

She also likes the applesauce, the "European style plain yogurt," and the packaged black lentils (the Indian ones in the purple box). And the mini cucumbers. Oh, and the frozen organic raspberries, she just eats those, frozen, by the spoonful.

Hate on, haters.

Relax. Why does it bother you if someone hates Trader Joes? You don't own it. Would you react the same way if someone criticized Safeway or Giant? Of course not. There is a certain smugness that TJ's seems to cultivate in its regular customers. I am not a hater, I shop there occasionally ( although I hate how cramped the stores are which is likely to encourage yo to get in and out quickly), I just find it amusing when people get so steamed and feel the need to "defend" TJ's from the "haters". It is just odd.

[Anonymous]

Cult branding is difficult to do, but very smart if you can pull it off. Trader Joes has done so.