Trader Joe's, I Love You

Trader Joe’s is my regular grocery store.  I make it to a Safeway or Lucky’s every month or two. I am truly sorry if you do not live near one.  Here are


10 things I love about Trader Joe’s


1. 19 cent bananas
We eat a lot of bananas at my house. 



2. Competitively priced organic produce
Some of their organic produce is nearly as cheap or even cheaper than conventional produce at other stores: baby lettuce, romaine hearts, oranges, baby broccoli, celery.




3. No rBST in the dairy products
I love their organic plain yogurt with no fillers (as cheap as the regular yogurt!), 2% milk, and Berkeley Farm’s buttermilk.  I also love the sliced havarti (full fat, skip the lowfat version) and extra sharp cheddar.

 4. No super weird/yucky ingredients
Trader Joe's products have
  • NO artificial flavors, colors or preservatives
  • NO genetically modified ingredients
  • NO MSG
  • NO added Trans Fats

5. Roasted Plantain Chips and other snacks
We love the Schoolhouse Cookies, Chocolate Kats, Crispy Oatmeal Chocolate Chip cookies, Woven Wheats (imitation Triscuits with only 3 ingredients!), Ak-maks, and brown rice cakes among others.  The Roasted Plantain Chips are just like the delicious ones you can buy in South America.  You should try them. 

6. Whole wheat couscous
This is a great whole grain that can be prepared in under 4 minutes in the microwave.  Perfect when you forgot to make rice.  I buy my brown basmati rice and most of my pasta at TJ’s too.

7. Super-firm tofu
It really is firmer than any other tofu I’ve bought.  It fries up really well and is great in stir-fries and pasta salads.

8. Brownie Truffle Mix
No hydrogenated oils (most mixes do) and so so yummy.

9. Organic Corn Flakes
These are the crispiest, thinnest, most delicious corn flakes around.  And they’re organic too!  And less than $3 a box.  When they ran out for a few weeks (this is the down side of TJ – weird stocking issues), I didn’t know what to do with myself.  We also love the Shredded Wheats, Barbara’s Shredded Spoonfuls (we call them “Hexagons”), and, of course, Joe’s O’s.  After reading the ingredient list of my favorite name brand cereals more carefully, I decided to buy all my cereal at TJ’s.

10. Belgian Chocolate
It is hard to find non-waxy chocolate in the U.S.  TJ’s Belgian chocolate reminds me of the stuff I had in Europe.  The Pound Plus milk chocolate and 72% cocoa dark chocolate are both delectable, and an excellent deal for gourmet chocolate.  I also love the chocolate orange sticks.  Maybe a little too much.

What are your favorite TJ products?
(Yes, lots of you bloggy folks have already posted about this.)

This post is part of Top Ten Tuesday.

15 comments:

  1. We don't have a Trader Joe's near us (boo!), but I have been there a few times. I love all of the yummy and unique sweets that they have there. Last time we went, we bought several packages of macarons (those French cookies with a creamy center). Delicious!

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  2. My closest Trader Joe's is almost 30 minutes away. *sniff* I miss living close to one. One of their most sinful snacks are the chocolate covered peppermint JoJo's at Christmas time. YUM.

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  3. I so wish we had a Trader Joes!

    My blog is also about trying to go green/organic/healthy!

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  4. I have never, ever been to a Trader Joe's. It looks like I need to remedy that!

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  5. We don't have a TJ's near us, but if we did, the $.19 bananas would be a hit at our house!

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  6. We'd love to have one here in Chattanooga! You're very blessed!
    suchakingdom.blogspot.com

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  7. I used to live walking distance (almost across the street) from TJ's. Now I live about 20 min. away, so I make the trek every 10-14 days (instead of every 2-3 days). I wish all of you a nearby Trader Joe's in the near future.

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  8. Coffee! Their French roast ground coffee is $3.99 a bag. I like all of their dried fruits and nuts--they have a big section. I also second your #2. Many produce items are cheaper than the regular grocery store.

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  9. Not a coffee drinker myself, but I do like the smell as I walk down the aisle. We buy a lot of dried fruit and nuts there as well. Have you tried the orange-flavored dried cranberries? They do have sugar added (shoot), but I love them in oatmeal cookies.

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  10. I just wrote Trader Joe's a thank you email for not having magazines by their check-out stands. I went to Safeway yesterday and was stunned by a magazine they had placed for all ages to see. It was definitely worse than your typical trashy check out magazines (which are already bad enough). Yay to Trader Joe's for keeping their store G-rated!

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  11. I miss Trader Joes. We stock up when we go back to Chicago, but we don't have one here. So sad :(

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  12. Thanks for stopping by my blog! I love TJ's for alot of the same reasons you stated here - oh yes, the bananas. I get them almost every time. As for the chocolate chips, I'm not super picky about my chocolate when it comes to baking (although chocolate meant to be eaten straight is another matter), I'm more concerned about price! I think you'll probably find their choc chips are chalkier (for lack of a better word ) than Ghirardelli (which incidentally is also safe for my DS, but too expensive to indulge in regularly). They also have a new product - melting chocolate wafers - that I really want to try. The ingredients are so much better than the chemical crap at Michaels.

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  13. Lady think again: I shop TJ's and have severe chemical allergies. All their groceries are LOADED WITH GMO'S!! IF it has corn, cotton(seed oil), canola or soy of ANY KIND, unless labelled organic, IT IS GMO, period!

    A lot of TJ's products contain toxic chemicals, for example their frozen French toast, read the label and was horrified.

    Now you know. Buyer beware! TJ's still better than anywhere else but even Whole Foods cut a deal with the devil: they carry GMO's at every turn. It's ILLEGAL TO LABEL GMO's under penalty of law! That's the US FDA for ya!

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  14. Anonymous,

    I'm sure many of their non-organic foods have GMOs (pretty much anything with corn or soy), just like any other grocery store. I'm not saying their food is perfect. I'm saying it's a serious cut above what you'll find in Safeway, Lucky's, or other major grocery stores. I don't buy many of TJ's frozen prepared foods, and I've never checked out their frozen french toast, so I can't really comment on that.

    The US FDA definitely got us into this mess wtih GMOs. I'm not sure what my opinion is on them for sure, but I do think we let the cat out of the bag before really knowing what the cat was.

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