The Trader Joe's Product Discussion Thread (S/D)

I actually thought the tuna curry was kinda gross, but whatev.

Were you eating it cold right out of the pouch with your bare hands while sitting in a dark room alone and crying? Because you should really heat those tuna things up first.

TJ's funyons are really good!

toasted oatmeal flakes ++

Sweet & Spicy Pecans are delicious. Problem is I could eat the whole tiny bag, which contains 5 servings. Normally, I could care less, but it just seems excessive with 950 calories and 85 g of fat.

lemongrass chicken sticks, om nom.

Ooh I got those for 1st time recently. Problem is my oven doesn't get hot enough to cook them. Thinking about combo microwave and toaster to finish off the package.

TJ's butternut squash ravioli for breakfast. Normally I'm down with the squash+pasta combo, but this is cloyingly sweet for something that should be savory. Too much brown sugar?

http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h271/stckhlmcnd/pretzels.jpg

does anyone else get as excited by good pretzels as i do?

(it's a depressing world; gimme *something* to live for.)

the other night i had a big pretzel craving but the only ones within walking distance of me were rold golds :/

The sweet potato gnochi were kind of meh. Maybe I over-cooked them.

They had these pretty tasty little Mexican chicken pizzas. And now they're gone because the masa crusts turned out to have trace amounts of wheat. Damn you, gluten intolerants!

Those pretzels are amazing! I'm always afraid of cracking a tooth, but that makes me eat them slowly. So good.

I have been totally enjoying the not-from-concentrate cranberry juice. So tart and clear-tasting!

I was really into these honey-wheat pretzels rolled in sesame seeds. Can't remember what brand, but they were damn good. Would stan for pretzels! Especially because I love mustard and they are an excellent vehicle.

I ate a box of the maple leaf cookies in one day

TJ's makes a dark chocolate peppermint patty. I am in big trouble.

they also have a new frozen palak paneer (in an orange box) that's very good. yup, spinach is still my fav vegetable.

does anyone else get as excited by good pretzels as i do?

si si

Oh my god you guys. The non-dairy mochi (chocolate/coconut/mango, made with coconut milk) are so good.

I have eaten (and continue to eat) a shocking number of graham crackers for someone who is not 6 years old. Trader Joe's cinnamon grahams are the #1 best. Store brand and Honey Maid -- you are in trouble. They taste like cookies. If only they had some with some ginger in them, whoa.

Dud/destroy: TJ's gourmet jelly beans. Like, some things you just can't make with natural flavors.

Yay! First shopping trip to the brand new, very local TJ. The experience was horrible (went right after work and without the slightest list or plan, plus I left my heavy gym bag in the cart, so I didn't want to let it too far out of my sight, making navigating hard), but I enjoyed a tuna curry and got a bunch of other crap like chili peppered pineapple and frozen mango, which is great in the Greek yogurt with a little honey.

i meant to offer my support for the panang curry sticks. they're delicious and so quick in the toaster oven.

― an outlet to express the dark invocations of (La Lechera), Wednesday, April 14, 2010 3:59 PM (1 year ago)

What are these? Chicken sticks?

they're like little spring rolls.

ugh, their greek yogurt isn't that good.

wine, salads, soda water. that's it.

yeah, they are like wee spring rolls that taste like panang curry
they're probably gross if you think about them too hard, but what prepared frozen appetizer isn't

their greek yogurt is not the best greek yogurt on the market, but it is definitely the best for the price (ugh chobani)

They should just bring back the beer bread. Dammit.

Tbh I haven't tried TJ's Greek yogurt, I just meant the mango would be good in it in general.

<3 the very cherry frozen berry mix

The chili pineapple chunks are the only things I've ever bought from TJ's that I chucked out shortly after buying.

I like the multigrain pita chips.

omg chile mango fruit floes <3

Dammit - I tried one of the curry tuna things and loved it - it's better than some of the local pan-Asian take-out I would get, but at a fraction of the price. But then I went back tonight and they told me that the vendor wouldn't be able to provide it for the foreseeable future.

The choc-van-caramel ice cream with the cone on the container is way too sweet.

two buck chuck cab
salt and pepper potato chips
any kind of cheese - best prices for great cheese!

Last time those curry tuna things vanished they were gone for about two years, Imo stop by a TJs on the way home tomorrow and stock up if there's any there.

Damn, that is bad news about the curry tuna!

Why is this happening to ME? Why NOW? I guess I could dump curry sauce on tuna, but it just wouldn't be the same ;__;

Being serious tho, the two guys who checked into the tuna sitch were very helpful and knowledgeable. And the one guy had the greenest eyes I've ever seen.

It's pretty easy to make half-assed curries at home (please don't judge me vis a vis authenticity) - preferred amount of jarred curry paste fried w/ onions, add one can of coconut milk, then add a protein (I usually use TJ's frozen tilapia filets or leftover roasted chicken or tofu) and cook/heat, then optionally add some frozen peas or other mixed vegetables.

HOWEVER that is nowhere near as easy as putting tuna curry pouches in the steamer basket of the rice cooker while rice cooks below, resulting in a hot meal in ~ 20 minutes without me having to do anything other than measure rice and water and open a box.

You're totally right. When I lived in the Vietnamese hood, I would buy lots of tins of curry paste and coconut milk, and then slop them together with whatever I had around the house. It never occurred to me to slop curry on tuna, however. That's madness!

cinnamon crumb coffee cake mix & cornbread mix are wicked good

My attempt to be witty with a TJ's clerk went real bad and embarrassing today. I took the bus, and there was a guy on the bus who was ranting very congenially about local architecture, and saying hello to people, and just generally being loud and totally inappropriate and crazy but in a really amicable way so it was pretty easy to just tune him out (as opposed to the typical racist, paranoid, dangerous sounding rants). So but he came to Trader Joe's and approached shoppers to say hello and ask them how they were doing and whether they liked Trader Joe's and it was pretty clear he was not acting in a socially acceptable way but the line between inappropriately friendly crazy person and helpful TJ's employee is kind of thin, you know, so people were responding to him, albeit hesitantly.

ANYWAY I was checking out and bus dude came up behind me, waving and yelling hello to everybody, and the cashier catches my eye and gives me that "please tell me we are on the same page about thinking this other person is crazy" look and I return the look and say out loud, "We rode the bus here together. He's very enthusiastic, but ultimately harmless." And the clerk was like, "OH! Great! I love it when people are enthusiastic!" and I was like, "No, we did not ride the bus TOGETHER, we were just on the same bus." And the clerk is like, "OH! Okay! Ha, great! How do you like these vegetarian sausages?"

About that time, a manager comes over to corral the bus dude, and the clerk asks me if I'm walking or driving (for grocery distribution purposes) and I say, "Taking the bus. Maybe with my friend over there." And the clerk's eyes got all wide and he was like, "OH YEAH, that is great! He is really friendly! That is awesome, to be so friendly. I really respect that." And I was like "HE IS NOT REALLY MY FRIEND. And yes, he is friendly, but he is pretty clearly pathologically friendly."

Anyway, way to not get my delightfully dry sense of humor, excessively sincere Trader Joe's clerk.

Re: the vegetarian sausages, while he was asking me about them, he was also scanning my many meat purchases (chicken breasts, pork chops, steaks, and Canadian bacon) and I said in a totally "I AM MAKING A REALLY DUMB JOKE" tone, "Well, as a vegetarian, I really like them," and he was just all, "Totally! I'm a vegetarian and I love them, too!!!!"

And there was also a different clerk who was talking about how much bacon his TJ's location sells, and I was like, "Well, we are the hog butcher to the world" and he was like, "Really? That is so cool!" but it would be kind of awful of me to judge somebody for not getting that dumb joke.

(Note: I totally judged him for not getting that dumb joke.)

I got judged for not getting a hog butcher Chicago joke, right here on the ILX.

lol.
once in the freezer section there was a sign next to the pork buns with a picture of tj's employee 'ben' saying that they were his "pick" with the quote "i eat them every day!" so when it was time for checkout, bf recognized him as one of the cashiers and insisted we get in his line, then proceeded to ask him about the pork buns and if he really did eat them every day because we thought it probably wasn't that healthy. he admitted it was probably more like 3 times a week. he also said he was from hawaii and he never thought he'd find pork buns anywhere else so he was so excited about them. uh... have you tried chinese restaurants, dude?

Abbbbbs, I would never judge a non-Chicagoan for not getting a hog butcher Chicago joke! But I mean, if you have a job selling pork products in Chicago, it seems like that should be in the employee training manual.

Last time I was at Trader Joe's the clerk asked me what my spiritual guide animal was, which was unusual small talk, but also interesting enough. I told her a magpie because "I am easily distracted," and she said, "why does that make you a magpie?" So I grabbed a shiny pen and said, "A magpie would be distracted by your shiny pen and take it," and she grabbed the pen out of my hand. She did not like my object lesson.

The Ben's Bun's story is kind of like the seamy underbelly of TJ's super friendly employee policy. I am imagining Ben's manager forcing him to memorize some stock patter about the pork buns. "But they are available in Chinese restaurants! Why should I say I could never find them outside of Hawaii? I'm from Bayonne!"

xp LOL

haha - last trip to TJ's in NYC I left thinking "jeez these check-out people sure are FRIENDLY - maybe they're imported from California?"