Confessions of a Trader Joe's Junkie

Turkey sausage stromboli, sun-dried tomato bruschetta. Truly the full list would be the whole store. I really don't shop anywhere else. I am always experimenting and finding something new there. I am always amazed at how much high-quality food I can get so cheap!

If you haven't tried it, you need to. Then you too will understand why it deserves a post on Neatorama!

I checked out the Minneapolis location when it opened and I have to say I was underwhelmed. They don't have much for produce or anything fresh. It seems like a Hawaiian themed 7-11 to me. I drive by the store on my way home from work every day and I always end up going to the co-op instead. I must be missing something.

the Caribbean Popsicles hands down. I moved across town and my closest one is a 30min bike ride. I never go any more

Since when is there a Trader Joe's in Kansas City? I know we all WISH we had one, but all the Missouri locations are in the St. Louis area.

We need trader joes in texas!!!!

Echoing Average Jane.... There is no TJs in KC. When my brother worked in St. Louis, he was my connection and I'd drive halfway across Missouri to get stuff. Alas, now I'll have to drive the whole way. That's my biggest regret from moving away from Las Vegas... I worked a couple of blocks from one and I loved the gorgeous, cheap flower bouquets - only time I've ever been able to justify having fresh flowers in my house every week!

I'm a little spoiled in the bay area. We have many many Trader Joes.

Best stuff:
The spicy black bean dip (as you mentioned)
The blue cheese stuffed hamburger patties
The array of simmer sauces - just add chicken and veggies..omg.

I also bought some rosemary and balsamic marinated chicken there once and have NEVER found it again. Such is the danger of Trader Joes. They went the way of another favorite, the indian curry patties.

If we weren't in the middle of a biblical rainstorm out here, I'd go RIGHT NOW. ACK!

i need a bigger freezer to keep stocked on the frozen fruits and veggies. try the yum-mee frozen roast corn. i go through a jar of olive tapenade every few days. but goddammit when are the veggie gyoza coming back!!! it's been over a year!!! they got the chicken ones back!! NOT FAIR!! WANT WANT WANT!!!!

Trader Joe's has awesome chocolate chip cookies.

A package of 10 chocolate bars, each one with chocolate from a different country of origin, all for $10. Spicy frozen green beans. Santa Maria style tri-tip. Greek style yogurt cheese. Many different frozen veggie blends. Lots of prepared main dishes. Everything.

We currently live nowhere near a TJ's, as central/southern VA lacks in that respect, but we used to live in northern VA, where there are several, and indeed it rocks. For Christmas, my in-laws--both my wife's parents and her her aunt&uncle--gave us bags and boxes of TJ's goodies.

Glad to so many happy customers cheering joes. All the stores in Tucson especially my eastside store are a shopping necessity and along with Costco get the bulk of my food bill.Great selection,quality products,unbeatable prices and good service make this my store of choice.I have the highest praise for these stores and like so many check out the internet to see if any are in the area when I travel,everything is fresh and healthy read the ingredients Trader joes foods are made the old fashioned way with real food products instead of looking like a label from a chemical company and always without those stupid gourmet prices other stores charge. These stores are head and shoulders above the chains.Thanks Joe Coulombe.

I moved to Australia six months ago, and boy, do I miss T.J's! I miss most:
Two Buck Chuck.
Mini Tacos.
Frozen Three Cheese Canneloni.
Just a Handful nuts (perfect portion controlled sizes!).
Avocado/Mango Salsa
Trader Joe's Teas

I have told my Australian husband that if we ever move to the U.S., we need to live near a Trader Joe's. It is teh awesome.

I'd heard of Trader Joe's just a little on the 'net in the last couple of years, but I never knew til now what they sold.

I need to move.

We live 1.5 hours from a TJ's and do a "once a month" shopping.
The thing we couldn't live without? Jo-Jo's! They even had candy cane Jo's for the holiday season.

I've been shopping at TJs since 1984, and I can say that the only thing I have to watch out for is that they use the EPA registered pesticide (http://www.epa.gov/pesticides/biopesticides/ingredients/tech_docs/tec h_011332.htm) Canola oil in a LOT of their products.

Nothing like cheap poison to start the day with...

Other than that, they're great.

I love TJ's. I used to pass one every day on my walk to work in Seattle, and I lost 10 pounds effortlessly by pretty much only eating TJ's delicious frozen meals. Also? No stupid 'membership' crap, which every other store in Seattle seems to have jumped on.

Unfortunately I moved to Calgary, AB, where there is tons of money and no taste. This place NEEDS a TJs. Serious. Please, please send TJs to Canada!

Oh, Trader Joe's -- how do I love thee? Let me count the ways:

The Creamy Corn and Roasted Pepper Soup
The Roasted Soynut Butter (crunchy and smooth)
The Frozen Chicken Fried Rice
The Egg Rolls
The Flash Frozen Chicken Tenders (breaded or plain)
Trader Darwin Vitamins for the whole family
Frozen Berries for smoothies
Key Lime Pie
Chocolate covered soynuts
Almonds, Almonds, Almonds!
Joe's Frosted O's
"This blueberry walks into a bar..." Cereal bars
Fair Trade Coffee (samples available while I shop!)

And all the other goodies that you other folks listed!

About the stores: I have two within 7 miles of my home (I live in Northern VA.) And yes, I do know how lucky I am. The facilities are always clean, and the people who work there are helpful. When I go shopping with my son who is Deaf and has other challenges, the staff is friendly and tries to communicate with him. We both love going to TJ's!

My wife and I love TJ. I still can't believe that frozen nan can taste that good.

Of course, here in southwestern OH we have Jungle Jim's. The names seem similar, but Jungle Jim's is huge. Domestic groceries, ethnic/national food sections for many countries, a cheese section that is too big for me to make a decision, wine, beer, cigars, pet foods etc. There are used animatronic exhibits from all kinds of out of business amusement parks. People drive for hours (with several coolers) to shop there.

The deals aren't as good as TJ's though.

Awesome store!!! I have one 2 miles from me in San Jose, CA - I could walk if I had too.

My favorites are:

Organic Vegetable Lentil Soup, Reduced Guilt Kettle Cooked Potato Chips, their cheeses, crackers, yogurts, eggs, juices, lemonade, bittersweet chocolate chips, pumpkin bread mix, chocolate truffle brownie mix, gingerbread mix, most of their meats, great pork loin, coffees, they had an awesome organic eggnog during the holidays. I could go on and on. Anyway, they are awesome. Its a great store if your having a party.

I've vetoed moving back to Texas for several reasons and the biggest one is "not until there's a Trader Joe's." Most of my favorites have already been listed except for the frozen Penne Arrabiata -- penne in a spicy red pepper/tomato sauce that gets even better when you finish it in the pan with a little cream. Their three-kinds-of-ginger gingersnaps are also pretty great, and the chocolate cat cookies are, like 10 calories each and super-chocolatey so you can have a whole handful with your afternoon coffee. The sun-dried-tomato-and-chile-pepper tortillas are also great -- spicy and flavorful, and they make a great quick wrap with hummus and cucumbers. And you can't beat their prices on raw ingredients like pine nuts, 12 oz for around $5.50. Also, they've got the best prices around on Dr. Bronner's soap products and on earth-friendly dishwasher and laundry detergent -- as ethical as Method and other cleaners, 33 to 50% less expensive. And it's one of the few places that carries 85% dark chocolate. Oh, I love me some TJ's.

I love, love, love Trader Joes!

I always stock up on frozen food when I am there: garlic nan, madarin organe chicken, kung pao chicken, teriyaki beef,nasi goreng, and gyoza. I love trying new types of wine from TJ's, especially since the prices are so reasonable I don't feel so bad if I don't like a particular bottle and it goes down the drain.

My dog loves thier dog treats too, I always pick him up a box of the assorted flavors. So much cheaper than Milk Bones - and I love the pics of the employees dogs on the box.

i live in the san francisco area, with about 10 TJ's around and i've never found one item there i like. it's all weird stuff like popcorn flavored chocolate and strawberry flavored beef jerky. i tried their V8 vegetable drink knock-off once and almost threw up. i love V8 but TJ's version tastes like toxic waste. so i've given up on them and will never shop there again. i do appreciate the way they treat their employees and I like that they aren't a typical corporation, but I can't find a single thing there I want to eat.

also one more thought, i don't like the way they seem to only hire "attractive" people. I think that's kind of regressive to give people more opportunities based on their appearance.

Joe are you basing your concern on your TJ's just have attractive employees or do you have some info on them turning down... "nonattractive" people?

Sounds pretty strange to me, but of course attractive is different for each person, and sure wouldn't care if all my local grocery employees were "attractive"

Sadly no TJ's in my area, in fact I have not been to one since I lived up north!

Definitely the trail-mix and two buck chuck for yummy treats though!

This post reveals my exact sentiments!! We just moved from So Cal (abundance of TJ's) to Denver (none in the whole state!!!). It's awful. Our favorite by far is the Orange Chicken, but I also love the Decaf Chai powder, cheap eggs, and pretty much everything else. I love the atmosphere, the nice employees, the artistic price tags/descriptions, the grass roots feel, etc! Thankfully we did receive a nice TJ's care package from a loving family member recently!

Trader Joes uses MSG in almost every single packaged food item they sell. It is always hidden and cleverly disguised though as various items such as "spices," "yeast extract," and "natural flavoring."

MSG is not only bad for you, its a neurotoxin = that means its toxic to the BRAIN. Epecially in children who are still developing.

As someone who is very sensitive to MSG, I cannot even shop at trader Joes. They put it in almost everything, salsa, hummus, curries, frozen foods, canned foods, you name it.

It is actually very VERY frustrating and infuriating to see Trader Joes sell themselves as this "healthy, wholesome food company" throwing around words such as "natural" and "organic," while at the same time spiking every product with MSG to boost flavor, and of course to boost whats ultimately more important than everything including its customer's health and well being: PROFIT.

BOO TRADER JOES!!!!!! BOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Google "MSG hidden names" and read all about this. Check out Truthinlableing or msgmyth or any of the various other sites who detail this information.

I love TJs, but it's a bit too inconvenient for me to go to the one in Manhattan and there's always a line to get in! I used to go all the time when I lived in AZ and I had a car to pile up all the great stuff.

I love the Lowfat Granola (mixed berry).
I wish they still had the Salmon hot dogs. Yes, I said Salmon hot dogs!

I work at a TJ's in Northern Virginia (seems like some of the other commenters could be my customers, like Leah!) and it's fun to see my store mentioned on neatorama! You are not the only ones who come a long way, or ship things to relatives in other states that don't have TJ's. I'm always meeting people who are stocking up for relatives, or need freezer bags for the 5 hour drive home. It's pretty funny when people buy 30 bags of snap pea crisps because they're leaving the country for a while.

I love the sea salt brownie bites, tarte d'alsace, horseradish hummus, Chinese mustard wonton chips, vegan pea soup with mint and lemon and maryland corn and crab chowder. I have to agree that TJ's doesn't do produce (or sandwiches) very well, but we do get some unique fresh stuff that I don't see often (trimmed leeks, sunchokes, super sweet blackberries even in the winter). I also LOVE the cheap, gorgeous flowers, and sneaking up to the demo station when I get a moment to breathe.

When I started working there, I was really surprised at how low the prices are, but since there's no middle man, most of our stuff is private label, and we don't charge for shelf space (we just put things wherever they make sense, mostly), the prices make sense.

The hardest thing to explain to uninitiated customers, though, is why their favorite things always disappear or get discontinued. I had to get used to this, too. It's because we have a very limited amount of space compared to supermarkets, we like being a "neighborhood" grocery store. We are constantly getting rid of slow sellers to make room to try new items as they become available (I'd say we get new stuff weekly). Things go temporarily out of stock frequently for a ton of reasons as well, so if you don't see your favorite thing, ask a crew member and they can tell you what's up and if/when it's coming back. I've noticed that traderjoesfan.com (NOT an official site) has a nice board dedicated to disco'ed items.

A few responses to comments here:

Jason said:

"It is actually very VERY frustrating and infuriating to see Trader Joes sell themselves as this “healthy, wholesome food company” throwing around words such as “natural” and “organic,” while at the same time spiking every product with MSG to boost flavor..."

Trader Joe's doesn't bill itself as a health food store at all, though it does get mislabeled that way by others fairly often, maybe because our privately labeled products don't contain artificial colors or flavors and we carry some organic, vegetarian, and gluten free products, and have a big vitamin section, but we are definitely NOT a wholesome food store and don't pretend to be. A lot of our products are decidedly unhealthy, our giant candy and cookie section, for example. What we say is that we're "unique" or "specialty" because you can't get a lot of our stuff anywhere else. I can't respond to the whole MSG comment because I don't know if it's true or not. I don't know if MSG is normally hidden as a natural flavor. How do you know that "spices" or "natural flavoring" really mean MSG in these particular cases? I wouldn't be too shocked. I see those words on lots of things that I assume are loaded with MSG at other stores, but frankly, so many of our products are too bland and it's hard to believe that they're all loaded with MSG, which is like salt on steroids. Did you try getting a list of low sodium products from the office or demo station? Those might be a safer bet with your restrictions. Did you really do the research and find out how much MSG is in our stuff, or are you assuming? While I understand your concern and hate when companies are deliberately misleading, I've come to my own conclusion over time that TJ's isn't really that sort of company. We're smaller on purpose, and still privately owned. I think your belief that the profit is more important than the customer is inappropriate here. I've seen quite a few products voluntarily pulled from shelves due to concerns for the customer's welfare even though there was virtually no chance that we had been supplied with damaged goods (cat food from a totally different country than the one with the problems, for instance, during the cat food recall [another aside: I DID have poisoned cat food in my house, from PetSmart]). I'd like a little more proof, because that was a pretty incendiary comment, what with all the BOOs. Spices and natural flavoring do actually exist some places.

Joe said:

"also one more thought, i don’t like the way they seem to only hire 'attractive' people. I think that’s kind of regressive to give people more opportunities based on their appearance."

Maybe that's true at your TJ's (that you've given up on, oh well), but at my store we really run the gamut from hot to not, all shapes, sizes and colors. They try to hire on personality and work ethic. I'd love to believe I was hired in part because I'm cute or whatever, but I'm pretty sure that's not the case, heh.

Overall TJ's is a very good employer. I have health insurance and a retirement plan even though I'm only a part timer. I made more than twice as much at my last (desk) job, but the atmosphere is so much better overall that I don't mind the pay cut. Everyone has off days, but we really like almost all of our customers and will bend over backwards for them.

I know I sound like an ad, and I just got off work and I have to go again tomorrow, so maybe I should just relax, but that's just proof that it's a good place to work, right? It was my mom's favorite store for years, but I didn't even like it before I worked there and really saw what it's about.

I visited a TJ once, walked through the store, and ended up leaving with nothing. So I can't say I'm a fan of TJ, maybe I should give it another try since there is one across the street from where I work.

I can understand the longing for a good grocery store that you've grown to love. I'm from Rochester, the home of Wegmans, the best grocery store ever, and I would now need to drive at least 1 hr to get to the closest one. It's sad.

My favorites are the chicken gyoza and the sesame seed/honey almonds. I go there only about every few months so I love that they change the stock--I always find something new to love.

And to the guy that said all the employees are attractive...no, they're not.

People are a little fanatical about their Love of Trader Joes. Yes it's wonderful to get 2 Buck Chuck and cheap processed frozen dinners at a good price. I want to tell you that this was no dream job or a good place to work at. Hyping up a place because they pay their workers 8 to 10 dollars an hour is comical. I used to work at several locations Westlake, Culver City, Camarillo, and Emeryville. When I worked at the Emeryville location, I called it the revolving door TJ's. People were constantly being fired for very mundane problems. It's interesting when the costumers were the ones that noticed this and commented about it while checking out at the cashier,"Why are there different faces every I shop here? Every 3 months you've cycle through new people, why did they fire..." It wasn't fun visiting a chiropractor from all the heavy lifting either. It's a busy store so its hard to keep up at the pace they want you work at. Most of the blame goes to management at that store.
TJ has an awesome business model and has an excellent customer following but don't confuse that with it is a wonderful place to work at.

Lately, TJs has been selling many products grown in China. There's something deeply immoral about importing food from a country that limits its citizens' own right to have children because they can't feed their own people. I've lost a lot of respect for TJs for this mercenary trend. Think of the oil resources used to ship all that food across the seas. Taking food from the Chinese for the sake of a few more cents is greedy and short-sighted. Be sure to check the country of origin for many of the frozen foods.

I moved my family to a certain location in our town to be near a TJ's after years of badgering my MIL to bring me things from her local store.

But then I found The Fresh Market. And I got a job there (TJ's never called me back). Our benefits are similar, the pay is higher than TJ's, and the discount is 20%! Our employees don't just stock shelves and ring bells. They actually MAKE THE FOOD and assist customers in menu planning, food prep, ingredient selection and substitutions, and will break down or re-package many fresh foods to suit the customer. We're foodies! We'll order practically anything special, even if the customer only needs one of a 12- or 24-pack of something. At TJ's, the shoved a piece of fudge in my one-year old's face and were out of Pirate's Booty in the same trip.

TJ's is good for a lot of things, but TFM has the magic touch.

Thought I'd throw in my two cents as I go specifically to TJ's for:

-Pesto Sauce

-Mediterranean Hummus Dip (make sure it's the one with the pine nuts on the top)

Their rosemary bread is really good as well as the chicken teriaki frozen dinner bowl.

I was wondering...who makes Trader Joe's Chocolate Chips? I keep hearing it is Callebaut. Is that correct? I tasted them and I almost said Nestle but I think Callebaut might be right. It is for sure not Ghirardelli

Robert

Also, I don't know about the wages in other places, but Trader Joe's in Chicago is way more than $10/hr.

My faves:

Avocado's Number Guacamole (wow! chemistry humor!)

16-ounce cans of energy drink (basically TJ's version of Red Bull) for 99 cents

Has anyone noticed that the three-cheese wood-fired frozen pizzas cost more than the four-cheese ones?

I found this while looking up "The Scoville Scoundrel", a sauce I have found unmatchable. It's one of several items that Trader Joe's no longer sells. What a bummer. It's happened to me several times that I feel in love with something and then, gone!! Well, I still love this store, none other like it.

I just went to Trader Joe's for the first time and really enjoyed the store. Unfortunately, I'm already seconding the two posters above who mentioned MSG. About 1.5 hours after having their chicken shumai I had a very bad reaction. I looked at the label and saw "natural flavors," which is usually a codeword for MSG or some sort of MSG compound. I know that studies say different things, but I know from my own experience that when I have MSG (and products with "natural flavors"), I have a particular reaction whose details I will spare you. I'm disappointed and will be careful as I eat the other products I bought there, especially any containing "natural flavors."

Hi, I found a tarte tatin in freezer of my local trader joe's.
this was delicious ; caramelized apples wera so good ...try it with vanilla ice cream !

you're right. the frozen TJ's blueberry tarte is fantastic... but not as much as their tatin !

I tried the Mango Passion Torta Cotta. It was a disaster. As much as I have loved TJ when I first found out their BBQ flavor potato chips in the bright red bags. Then, tried their coffee several times and bought bags of them home, and some fruits also. All of a sudden, it was around last July 09 when I saw the ginger and banana flavored bread mix. I tried to bake some of the bread, the taste was horrible. And just last week, I tried the Mango Passion Torta Cotta, boy it was sour, and the bottom cookie crust was supposed to be crunchy, it wasn't; worse, it was hard to break it apart, and was too tough to chew at times. It was such a bad experience. Now that, my mom also start to feel stomach ache after eating some of the soup, which are said to contain msg. Boy, it is a mixed bag for TJ.