Anyone else shop at Trader Joe's? I love their stores, incredible prices, great products (not all vegetarian), and super friendly sales staff.

If you do not know of them see if there is one in your area.
www.traderjoes.com

Trader Joes is the best. Very Veg friendly and cheap too. They label a lot of things that are either veg/vegan. And they carry a lot of veg toiletry items like Kiss My Face soap and their own line of shampoo that isn't tested on animals.

I always buy lots of their vegetable potstickers and pad thai.

All hail Trader Joe!

I love the veggie Pad Thai for a quick cheap frozen lunch. I keep them in the freezer when there is nothing else.

Richie, why are you posting from work, you bad boy?

I love Trader Joe's wheat-free waffles, and all their great prices on olive oil and stuff like that. Cruelty free laundry detergent, dishwashing liquid, all that kind of stuff. And all of their house brands are GMO free now.

Because I CAN...CAN...CAN!!!!

TJ's rules! I had their pad Thai for lunch today. And their frozen fruit is amazing and cheap!

Yes, TJ's is the place to go for cheap vegan convenience food!

Peace,
Maggie

Trader Joes is good, but I find Wild Oats to have a much better selection, especially for veg*n items.

I Like TJ's, their veggie stir- fry's are great easy dinners when you don't feel like cooking. the frozen fruit is the cheapest I've found. But Marumm is right, Wild Oats has a MUCH better selection.

I like TJ's because a lot of their stuff costs much less than chain supermarkets. I get stuff like natural pb, jam, ww pasta and raw nuts. Gardenburger riblets are much cheaper at $2.69 compared to $4.19 at Safeway, when they are not on sale!

A couple nights ago, I tried TJ's Meatless Meatballs. They are awesome, just like the real deal - tasted soft and crumbly, like a really fatty meatball. Yummy! :). It cost $3.69 for a 15oz or 16oz package. Not bad at all compared to other brands. I love TJ's!!

I've been shopping at Trader Joe's for many years, I love it there :) Except its always too crowded-anyone else have that problem? It's a little hard to shop there at times because of that...

Whats unfortunate is that there used to be one only about 5 minutes from me, but they closed it down :(

Whole Foods is awesome too, and much bigger than Wild Oats.

We have a TJ's near us, but they rebuilt it about a year ago and the produce section has become very very tiny. The shop is more like a wine and liquor store now (alc takes up almost half of the space!).

They are good at packaged stuff, like soymilk, chips, nuts and such, but I need my produce, so I rarely shop there.

But I like their dedication to quality, organics and cheap prices and their veg*n friendliness. They were here before we had a Whole Foods, so they were the first chain that I saw doing its own branding of food items and I was excited by the concept.

:up:

I like Trader Joes. I my area, the hfs are waaaay overpriced. I can get the same some of the same things for a few bucks less at TJ's. I can't do all my shopping there, but it certainly helps my budget. The people are really nice who work there too, they actually have personality and will talk to you, unlike a lot of chain grocery stores. I also like TJ's stance on GM foods and their phase-out of GM products. Now if only they'd have a huge organic produce section...

I love Trader Joe's so much that I actually work there! I would have to say that it is the coolest job I've ever had and it pays well! You really can't beat that.

The one that I work at in California is slowly but surely getting in more organic produce...we actually have a few frozen organic veggies and fruits too. Theyalso have fresh organic zucchini, bananas, artichokes, apples, broccoli, and a few other things I forget at the moment. They're really expanding everywhere so don't fear punkmommy...yours will probably get more too. If they know there's a demand for it, they'll be that much closer to carrying it, so be sure to let them know you want to see it in the store.

Trader Joe's rocks!!!
:)

My biggest problem with Trader Joe's is also that I can't do all my shopping there. I don't like having to take so much time to get all the foods I want at the lowest prices... Time is money, after all.

we're getting the best of both... and only one hour away(lol).... a trader joes is opening up across the street from whole foods... it should be interesting to see what happens to the pricing and selection at whole foods.
has anyone else tried the 365 brand vegan chocolate truffles at whole foods? if anyone else ever finds these, buy as many boxes as you can.... those things are super-good

The 365 truffles really are amazing. But they're so bad for you. :p

Whole Foods prices won't change. They're determined regionally. I've never heard of any of the stores being allowed to determine their own prices.

Their selection won't change as well. There is a list of ingrediants that are banned from all their products, and another list of ingrediants they prefer all their products be free of.

They recently dropped the few final products they carried with hydrogenated oils. There are still a few products with partially hydrogenated oils however.

I wish I could find that list online...

I really like TJ's, but I do wish it was bigger so it could have a bigger selection. They have a new product in their frozen section called "flowering bird's nests" which are really good. They're made of shredded onions, kale and carrots I think. They kind of taste like onion rings. They're high in fat, but of course that's why they're good ;).

i think the truffels are being revamped, when we last tried to buy a box we were told that they were off the shelves until august.... i have also heard that tofutti is removing hydrogenated oilsfrom their products, i hope it's not just a rumor.
even as a vegan i do love junkfood!
trader joes also has these great portobella mushroom puff pastry things...

Here's my last Trader Joe's list. I'm "only vegetarian" but this stuff all gets Max Power's golden seal of approval* --

TJ's Vanilla Granola
Nature's Path Hemp-Plus Granola
Westsoy low-fat soy milk
Soy Delicious Chocolate and PB "ice cream"
TJ's Eggplant-something-or-other spaghetti sauce
TJ's wasabi peanuts
TJ's french roast coffee whole bean
TJ's Nasi Goreng (frozen rice and veg dish)

I think that's it. Good stuff, good store!


( * no seals were harmed in the approval of these foods)

The Organic Vegetable Burritos in the frozen section are extremely addictive, as well as the Black Bean Enchiladas (both are vegan). I always use the T.J.'s corn Tortilla Chips for my nachos. They have these Buddy Biscuits for dogs which are both vegan and one is wheat and corn free which is great for my "food-allergy" dog. Hemp Plus is just the best granola on the planet!! and it's vegan too (no honey)....not to mention that it's a good source of omega fatty acids.

If you're a bread person, they've got this amazing Rosemary Olive Oil bread that's on the "one-day" only shelf which you should definately use up in one day. The Thai Kitchen Soup Bowls are really good too and I eat them for lunch a lot. I'm trying to lay off the processed foods though. The one I work at actually sells Better Than Cream Cheese now! Yay! For $1.99...yay! Not to mention Earth Balance, which is also just $1.99. Did I mention the Banana Waffles.....*DROOL*. AND they have chocolate covered bananas. Drink the Pink Lemonade, and you can't freaking stop....it was obviously made by the devil 'cause it's loaded with sugar.....I just can't stop drinking it though! There's also this huge section of soy and rice milks too. All of the Soy Delicious ice creams are good too....the Twisted Orange Vanilla tastes like a creamsicle. I tried this tofu and vegetable skewer thing with black beans and rice once, and even though it sounds tasty...it was really gross...I highly suggest noone try that. ICK. Clearly, I'm hungry.....so I'm going to stop here.

Originally posted by Herself
The Organic Vegetable Burritos in the frozen section are extremely addictive, as well as the Black Bean Enchiladas (both are vegan).

[...]

Hemp Plus is just the best granola on the planet!! and it's vegan too (no honey)....not to mention that it's a good source of omega fatty acids.

Amen and amen!!! Their frozen foodstuffs are well delicious!!!

ya know what I hate? There are, like, three shops near me that carry all of the other Nature's Path X-plus granolas except the Hemp. WTF? That is SO gay. Then-again, if I had ready-access to Hemp Plus, I mightn't eat a thing else!

BTW, Whole Foods carries Hemp Plus in bulk. noticeably cheeper.

I love TJ's as well.. especially the No Pudge brownie mix that you make with nonfat yogurt.. YUM! It's in a bright pink box with a piggy on the front for those who want to try it. :lick:

Plus TJ's produce and bakery items have always been better tasting not to mention more nutritious then the stuff I used to buy at my regular supermarket. I WISH I had a Wild Oats nearby but I don't .. I think I would still go to TJ's though.. smaller more friendly store ya know.

Oh yeah and if you use those cotton grocery bags that a lot of fund-raising organizations and other stores sell for $5 or $6 or more... get them from TJ's instead because they're only $3 there!

Originally posted by DirtDiva
Plus TJ's produce and bakery items have always been better tasting not to mention more nutritious then the stuff I used to buy at my regular supermarket.

[...]

Oh yeah and if you use those cotton grocery bags that a lot of fund-raising organizations and other stores sell for $5 or $6 or more... get them from TJ's instead because they're only $3 there!
Funny you mention produce. I find that produce is much better at my local Genuardi's (Safeway). Perhaps my TJ's isn't the nicest, and perhaps the Genaurdi's (which is newly renovated) is actually above-average, but the selection, freshness, and quality is better that TJ's. Frankly, I'm considering commenting to the TJ's corporation that their produce section is simply not up to par with the store on the whole. Is anyone else disapointed by TJ's produce?

I am also going to complain about the bag situation. Only when I have worn them through do I not take my bags back for re-use. I get $.05 off my groceries at G's for doing this. It's not the $.05 I care about, it's that TJ's isn't promoting re-use! Perhaps I'll just bite the bullet and buy a green bag. Are we SURE the $3 goes to charity??

I'm disappointed by TJ's produce. We buy Whole Foods' expensive organic produce instead.