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

THE CURRY TUNA IS BACK. BACK AGAIN. TUNA'S BACK. TELL A FRIEND.

really liking the pistacho/white chocolate cookies and i'm by no means a white chocolate head

actually, most of their cookies are pretty boss

i will have some now, in fact, having just eaten TJ's pork gyoza

Do they have gyoza sauce?

Their sweet chili sauce is kind of underwhelming. Plus I'm used to paying $1.75 for a big ass jug of the good stuff in "Little Saigon" and it bothers me to pay any more.

idk, i have sriracha

My lips are pursed in disapproval.

they do sell gyoza sauce. i've never bought it. damn i have some of their sweet chili in the cupboard (unopened). sad to hear it will be not awesome.

It's OK, but I like the real deal.

Why can't I buy salt or white sugar there? I guess I know why, sort of, but I still want it.

them

They have salt at TJs. A bit plastic tube of sea salt, with a kind of inconvenient spout.

it's blue

they usually have sugar, too, but i find that stuff is always getting moved round and isn't always in the most obvious place.

uh, "big" plastic tube of salt. hey guess what else, trader joes has. booz

when I'm walking by a trader joes I stop in for a little coffee

I worked a job earlier this year where my main duty was to buy the best things from trader joes that I could

THE CURRY TUNA IS BACK. BACK AGAIN. TUNA'S BACK. TELL A FRIEND.

i have four (4) boxes of the red curry tuna in my kitchen. they didn't have any of the green curry this time, or the last time i checked.

I just want plain old salt. I'll stick with my local crappy little overpriced supermarket for that.

They only pepper they carry comes in a little plastic pepper grinder, which I get goes with the whole TJ's ethos, but that is also annoying.

pepper is evil

That's weird.

The pepper grinder is not bad. The top unscrews too, so you can dump it into a nicer grinder.

Unlike a giant plastic tub of pepper that I bought at Costco which had a built in, unremovable grinder, so I had to take a hacksaw to the thing. Annoying.

That's what I did, but it felt very wasteful with all that unnecessary excess plastic and parts.

okay, so i don't know what they did, but this jar of dijon is hands-down the most vinegary, sinus-clearingly painful dijon i've ever tasted. i like things spicy, but it's too much. i don't remember my last jar tasting so crazy. anyone else have this experience with the TJ's Dijon?

oh i love that stuff!
but their brown/grainy mustard tastes like shit to me.

i like their dijon -- makes great salad dressing!!

btw have we discussed the roasted seaweed snacks? totally a delivery method for salt and sesame oil but low calorie (most of the cal is from fat, sigh) and deliciously addicting.

weird! maybe i'm just becoming more sensitive or something? i could hardly eat my tuna sandwich just now, every bite made my eyes water and snot come pouring out my nose.

i maintain what i'm guessing that i said upthread, but am too lazy to cntrl-f to confirm. basically, any trader joe's premade product or snack or whatever kinda tastes great on the first five or so intial buys, but after that, burnout sets in quickly. this holds true even though they will sell umpteen varieties of stuff, so iow across the flavor range. doesn't matter-- hummus, salsa, whatever, it all gets gross too quick. not sure exactly what this speaks to; am entirely willing to entertain notions that my palate is just dumb or i am simply crazy in this particular sphere of life.

table, I feel the same way--I have to use the TJ dijon really sparingly. usually end up using it w/chinese...too strong for my usual sandwich needs.

i feel that. there are things that i used to LOVE that now i just buy occasionally. i don't think i ever consciously thought, 'this doesn't taste so great anymore' but maybe they taste SO good originally that yeah, you burn out/overdo it and then learn to taper off.
xpost to dell

i am all about that dijon, ditto on the salad dressing uses

i pretty much only buy a few things at TJs— condiments, salad greens, almondmilk, bubble water, chips— so i don't really get fatigued that easily. imo their hummus sucks, and most of their veggies are below par (ie i'm a california vegetable snob, sorry). i also never, ever buy pre-fab food, it just grosses me out too much.

i'm on a horseradish mustard tip lately, so with all due respect, you dijon assholes aka ppl can all go SUCK IT

cheers

:D

do not feague with trader joginger !

I stopped buying TJ's "imported" dried pasta (.99/lb) after two consecutive batches had the faint but definite taste of cinnamon

I probably eat their filled pasta (ravioli etc.) once a week so I've tried a bunch of different ones.

Really good: Arugula & Prosciutto Ravioli, Spinach Ricotta Ravioli, Portabello Mushroom Ravioli, Artichoke Ravioli

Not so good: the one with chicken, the spinach tortellini

The folks and my (and Jenny and Jeff's) brand new local TJ are not quite as preternaturally gregarious as at others I've been to. Which is fine, just a little bit of a surprise. Still pretty friendly and helpful though, a stark contrast to the brain dead, gruff staff at my local non-chain store.

Bistro biscuits are great afternoon coffee cookies, if you're into that sort of thing.

Soy chorizo burrito is about as good as microwave burritos could possibly be. I actually like the chorizo in it much more than the kind they sell in the store.

Also like the Tofu Spring Rolls.

I have two exciting announcements:

(1) smoked sea salt (sure, it comes in a grinder, but it's cheap compared to the Maldon smoked sea salt I would have to order ON THE INTERNET) Excited about this
(2) floral pepper (also in a grinder, but you have to be kidding me -- pepper with flowers ground up in it? am i dreaming?!)

Both are tasty (I just tasted them plain, not on anything) and I'm pretty psyched to use them in dinners.

and lunches and breakfasts and let's be honest, straight from the container when i need a little boost of salt or pepper

oh shit, I saw those new grinders and thought they were ridiculous and ignored the salt since I hate salt grinders on principle but I didn't realize it was smoked. now I'll have to try it.

chocolate and coffee beans sounded interesting but I could just wash out an empty pepper grinder and try that myself.

I saw the smoked stuff the oth day!! Will try it soon. What kind of foods/dishes do you suggest for actually noticing the difference over other salts? On crudite with simple flavors so the salt can come through?

yes -- on simply cooked veggies
on simple whitefish or salmon with herbs
on salads
in olive oil dip for bread
shrimp
eggs
i could go on

also, i have a little salad kit at work with oil, vinegar, and salt/pepper grinders so that i don't have to bring anything to dress my salad, i can just throw some veggies in a container and eat it at work without much worry/fuss.

You're good, you make individual meals. I make one pot of something with the flavors all mixed together and eat it for 4 days. :) But maybe fancy salts will make me eat fresher!

Soy chorizo burrito is about as good as microwave burritos could possibly be. I actually like the chorizo in it much more than the kind they sell in the store.

i like soy chorizo more than i like most meat substitutes. and having recently looked at the ingredients of a package of real chorizo*, i'm willing to give up the authenticity of greasy animal guts for something less queasy-making.

*which, don't get me wrong, is delicious

ALSO I am now a fan of their little sampler of Spanish meats. The anchovies they sell at my TJs are pretty good too. Cento? I think? Their sardines are bad though.