What to buy at Trader Joe's...

[Anonymous]

I have heard only great things about Trader Joe's. I visit the store in Centreville last weekend for the first time and was surprised to see how small the store is. I didn't know what to buy....If you go there for particular products that aren't available at regular grocery stores (Wegmans, Giants, Bloom etc), what exactly are they? What do you purchase at Trader Joe's?

[Anonymous]

I personally love their frozen food section the best. They have excellent, low-priced frozen fruit and veggies (both plain and with flavors added). The green beans in particular taste fresh when stir-fried. I also like some of their convenience frozen food (stir-fry, mexican burritoes). Of course the frusteration is once you really start to like something, you never know if they will have it next time.

I like their cookies - the kittycat cookies (not sure if that is the real name, shaped like cats, are better than animal crackers) and they have letter-shaped cookies. By love, I mean they are decently priced, and not overly loaded with sugar, so can use them as an occasional treat for my toddler. Probably not worht the trip by themselves, but great to pick up while you are there.

THey also have good yogurt, name brands for cheaper (Fage) and their own brand is as good as name brands.

[Anonymous]

pizza dough

[Anonymous]

I'll preface this by saying I do not live near a wegmans so cannot compare but a lot of what I get at TJs now is just cheaper than elsewhere (safeway, Giant, WFoods). Its not so much that I cannot find it elsewhere (It seems like that used to be the case more). I go 1 time a month or so and stock up.

morningstar farms veggie sausage- 2 dollars less than safeway
strawberry lf og yogurt (quart size)- ds fave
joes o's (wheat free cheerios)
frozen mini quiches
frozen cheese enchiladas
mini chicken tacos (frozen)
solid yellowfin tuna in oil
the frozen cubes of fresh herbs
pot roast (in fresh meat case- marinated)
argentinian pink shrimp (frozen)
their organic ketchup is better than most
dolmas
frozen thai coconut chicken rolls
their cheeses are very reasonably priced and so I often go before a party for that kind of thing.

[Anonymous]

The frozen fish is delicious - it's hard to find wild-caught anything at a reasonable price.

TJ's, as you noticed, has a large assortment and variety of organic/gluten-free/environmentally friendly products. Not many grocery stores (Wegmans is second best) have that hence the appeal of TJs.

[Anonymous]

Does Trader Joe's sell baby food?

[Anonymous]

Frozen steel cut oatmeal

Excellent prices on natural cereals

Organic milk

Cheap whole wheat pasta

Cheap natural peanut butter

Turkey kiebalsa

Cheese sticks, other cheese products

[Anonymous]

Banana bread mix--really good!
Frozen eggplant
Pizza dough
Kefir (their brand is much cheaper that Lifeway, and it's pretty good)
Cereals--I like the mixed berry granola

[Anonymous]

I buy a lot of foods that are easy to prepare in a short period of time:

Frozen Burritos (freezer section)
Mushroom Risotto (freezer section)
Lobster Ravioli (refrig section near produce)
Spinach Raviolo (refrig section near produce)
Shredded BBQ meats (refrig section near produce) -- easy to use for wraps or sandwiches
Fairly inexpensive meats
Good microwavable finger foods (in freezer section) -- my favorites are the Chicken Shu Mai

I also buy their frozen fish sometimes and it's very good.

[Anonymous]

I like going to TJs for the variety, and also because I can get vitamins there for cheap.

However, I find that their prepared/frozen foods are not always enough to feed my family (we're just three - my, DH, and DD). My DH is tall and athletic and eats a lot, so if I were to make a bag of frozen rice stir fry, there's no way that's enough food to feed all of us a full meal. So I would have to buy two bags, which isn't as economical.

That said, it's GREAT for feeding toddlers, and great if it's just me and DD for the night.

I also like to cook from scratch, so prefer things in bulk rather than prepared.

All of that said, their pork carnitas makes delicious tacos on taco night!!!

[Anonymous]

Although some things are cheaper at TJ, I find their prepared frozen foods to be more expensive. As a PP noted, portions are small. I was surprised to find a frozen container of mac and cheese, enough for 1 person, selling for over $4. But, TJ has a great selection of reasonably priced nuts and codiments, like olives and artichoke hearts. Most, not all of their cheeses are competitively priced. Beware of the fish - a lot of it is farmed in countires with questionable practices. It is hit or miss.

[Anonymous]

Here's a thread on good frozen foods there:

http://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/15554.page

[Anonymous]

I buy way too many of their items to even list here. Just start trying things! Read the ingredients and see if they sound good. See what other people are stocking up on... I tend to load up my cart with certain items that are so good that we go through a lot of them. You can return things you don't like, but usually I just toss them because its so rare.

Some of the things I buy ONLY at TJ's are: Volcano coffee, decaf French Roast coffee, frozen 3-cheese organic pizza, non-fat black bean dip, whole-wheat-flax pasta when I can find it, frozen bing cherries, shredded parmesan, grated parmesan, black peppercorns in a grinder, liquid hand soap, odorless fish oil capsules, vitamin D3, raspberry tea bags, drinking cocoa in the square tins, nonfat marinara sauce, avocados -- best price, blackberries, olive oil, canola oil, canned wild caught pink salmon, whole wheat pita, "handmade" whole wheat tortillas, unfiltered organic grape juice, horseradish hummus, .... I think it's time for me to go shopping again; I'm salivating.

[Anonymous]

Gorilla Munch and Panda Puffs cereals (much less than at Giant)
TJ Greek style yogurt
Yobaby yogurt (less than Giant/Safeway but only one flavor sold at TJ)
Frozen wild salmon/turbot fillets
Pizza dough
Shredded Mozz. cheese
sliced mushrooms
organic baby spinach
Organics Lavendar hand soap and lotion
organic milk

We used to buy Trader Joe's Os, but I would occasionally come across a really hard piece, so now I stick to Cheerios (since the children snack on them)

[Anonymous]

I posted the link above and forgot to say what I buy!

Frozen brown rice (great in a pinch as it takes only 3 minutes instead of an hour. Plus, it comes out perfect every time!)
Naan (fresh or frozen)
Pretzel Flats
Chocolate covered sunflower seeds (be careful, they're addictive)
Puffins
Eggs
Salsa
Frozen orange chicken
Frozen Tarte d'Alsace

People keep suggesting organic milk, but I find that I can get it cheaper at Whole Foods.