Seasonings - everything but the elote, chili lime, ranch
Canned dolmas
Canned hearts of palm
Packaged nuts - Marcona almonds and everything but the bagel cashews are favorites in our house
Crackers - naan, multi cracker pack in the black and white box
Sauces - Thai ginger, sweet chili, gyoza dipping sauce
Salsas - we like all of them

We mainly buy frozen food at TJs.

The two things that are shelf-stable are:

California slab apricots (dried fruit)

I only like tart dried apricots. I do not like the mushy, sweet circular "Turkish" or "Mediterranean" dried apricots that are more commonly sold by national brands and also imported as generic dried apricots.

Apple Cider - TJ's has mulling spices and a hint of lemon. Their recipe is delicious. This is a perennial bur seasonal product.

Note: some people bring cooler chests when they want to do a unique shop somewhere far from home. That is an option.

Super firm tofu.

Dough balls for pizza/bread.

Dark chocolate peanut butter cups.

Frozen battered non cream stuff is fine to thaw and re-freeze.

Anything from their cheese department but I personally love the triple cream brie

Vegan dill dressing

They have really inexpensive bag of 2 pounds of brussels sprouts

Szechuan green beans in the frozen food section

Corn salsa

Their frozen dumplings are good

Their Indian food in the frozen section is good. I like the spinach one.

Their goddess dressing

They have some really good crackers and I can’t even remember what they’re called. Sorry I’m obviously on auto pilot when I’m there.

Refrigerated pesto
Hummus
Whipped Feta
Brown Sugar Oat Milk Creamer
Bagged nuts, whatever you like
Near the refrigerated pastas (also a love for us), there are pulled pork and pulled chicken. We use with the Carolina bbq sauce for sandwiches.
Whole Wheat Sourdough bread
plants
fresh flowers
Strawberry Pancake mix is seasonal and my kids look forward to it every year
Agree with dog treats
Any beauty products that catch your eye, they usually have a sample open

Anonymous wrote:If you have a dog, browse their pet treats. Our dog likes all of them. I like to give him the retriever rolls in the blue plastic pouch. They feel like a substantial treat, but are only 28 calories and have a satisfying crunchy factor.

The salmon sweet potato treats are my dogs favorites and the Charlie bears are great training tool.

Chili rubbed dried mango
Jerk spiced plantain chip
Knock off taquitos
Freeze dried strawberries

Mini ritz crackers with cheese

Corn salsa
Salsa verde
Hand made tortillas
Kringle (in bakery section)
Bake at home ciabatta rolls

Everything but the elote spice
Everything but the bagel slice
Chili lime soice

Sriracha sauce

Can you do fridge items? I love their roasted garlic humus. The zhoug sauce is good but very spicy.
Refrigerated precooked French lentils
Soyriz9 (soy based chorizo — so good)

Get the chocolate coffee granola. It’s so good. We also like the mini everything bagel sandwich crackers. They’re next to the mini peanut butter sandwich crackers.

Their refrigerated chicken piccata, meatloaf, and balsamic rosemary steak tips are all surprisingly good.

If you have a dog, browse their pet treats. Our dog likes all of them. I like to give him the retriever rolls in the blue plastic pouch. They feel like a substantial treat, but are only 28 calories and have a satisfying crunchy factor.

For beauty dupes I’d try the new mineral sunscreen and watermelon lip mask. The Brazil nut body butter feels nice but the scent is very strong so make sure you like the smell. Great hand cream as well (more of. Winter item for me) - the aluminum tube in a blue box.

Pizza salad in a bag is surprisingly good. The lentil potato curls in the chip aisle are a good snack especially with hummus or another dip. The brown sugar oatmilk creamer is good if that’s your speed. I don’t have teens (I have picky younger kids) so my meal advice from there wouldn’t be as helpful. They do like the refrigerated bean burrito and lentil wrap. The adults like the shredded Gruyère-Swiss cheese.

Eggplant garlic spread with sweet red peppers

Furikake seasoning

Refrigerated sauerkraut

Refrigerated bruschetta

Locations are all based on my Trader Joe’s. So assuming you can find them

In the produce section there’s a small section of refrigerated dressings. The Thai peanut dressing is fantastic on tofu or chicken or salads. The vegan Cesare dressing we use on pasta salad and add things like chicken and kale

Near the meat section there’s a section of premade food and refrigerated pastas. My teens love the different refrigerated raviolis and tortellinis for lunch options.

The nut section has a lot of great trail mixes and things like honey roasted peanuts.

My kids love the Brie bites in the dairy section. Expensive as you only get 5 little bries, but good for lunchboxes.

If you like Mediterranean foods, near the canned tuna is canned dolmas and and canned chickpeas. Add the chickpeas to pasta or a salad and have dolmas on the side and you have a nice Mediterranean meal (pick up feta, hummus, tzatziki, and garlic dip near the dairy and you’ve got more to add to your meal).

In dry goods we get the canned chick peas and canned black beans for a lot of meals.
Also near there a lot of international sauces—there’s a curry sauce that’s great.

In the baking section the chocolate chips are a good price and really tasty. My kids like the blueberry muffin mix.

Our favorite spices are: chili lime, everything but the elote, everything but the bagel, and the salmon rub is so good on salmon (but you have to use a lot of it—worth it). Also good on salmon is the garlic dip i mentioned earlier. Slather on top and air fry.

A ton of baked goods, we don’t get as much of those because I’m low gluten, but a lot of people like the mini cakes—the newest one is strawberry.

Near the coffee they have these single instant packs that I keep at work and they’re good for camping. Instant coffee plus a little sugar and a little dry cream. Add to hot water. There’s also a few different cold brews and chai tea. The brown sugar creamer in the dairy section is tasty on coffee.

The graham crackers are really good-the one in the plastic not the cardboard box (cookies are often in the freezer section above the frozen stuff)

Enjoy!

Teen and I would also happily try out any body/beauty “dupes” worth buying!

Yummy.
Find the threads that say "buy this great thing from TJs" and buy that.

We don’t have a TJ convenient to us, so i haven’t been in years. Have to drop kids at an event today that is near a TJ and would love some suggestions on must-buys that don’t involve the freezer section (bc we’ll be gone a little too long for that… refrigerated should be fine).
We eat everything and have no food allergies.
Kids happily eat veggies and ethnic food, and enjoy trying new things
Kids (one tween, one teen) are now out of school and could use easy lunch options. Teen in particular is good the kitchen and can do actual cooking.
Adults are trying to cut back on junk food snacking, so yummy snacks that are not completely nutritionally devoid would be great. We get tired of just fruit lol.
I am always jealous of the threads of “buy this great thing from TJs” so would love to take advantage!