Kitchen

[Helping]

Great haul, FHG! You'll be dining well for a long time!

[HonnyBrown]

FHG, it sounds like your day was awesome! Well worth the drive.

I have the rainbow carrots also. Some of mine were hairy (not peeled). I used those to make stock.

[HonnyBrown]

On 7/11/2014 Deadeye Daisy said:

Never necessary to actually return produce that wasn't satisfactory to ANY store. All you have to do is bring the receipt, and if there was a price sticker on the container, cut that out and attach. No time limit.

Also, if you get a carton of eggs with ANY leakage AT ALL, just bring in your receipt, and they will give you an 'egg' coupon good for a free dozen eggs.

Daisy and Pie, thank you for the return tips! I actually returned a large piece of partially cooked meat to the store.

[Hellodemocrat]

On 7/11/2014 FunkyHulaGirl said:

OK, I typed a long response...and it's gone. Could be the nasty-minded webbie had a perfectly innocent word on his "forbidden" list. (Yep - for some asinine reason Man-da-rin is verboten! Idiots.)

Anyway, we had a fun day; ate at Ted's Montana Grill first, then headed over to TJs. I got a ton of stuff; I won't have to do any grocery shopping for at least two months, apart from milk, eggs, and produce. Partial list of what I got:

Chocolate croissants

Shepherd's pie

Mini chicken pot pies

Coconut shrimp

Meatballs

Man-da-rin organge chicken

Vegetable samosas

Mini mint ice cream sandwiches

Three flavored frozen fruit bars

Cheese burritos

Some sort of thing that's a cross between pizza and a calzone (I forget what it's called and I'm too tired to go and look - it starts with an F)

Crumpets

Cinnamon rolls

Ground beef

Teeny, tiny potatoes

Apricots, peaches, and strawberries

Rainbow carrots (I've never seen these before - they're orange, purple, and pale yellow)

Rainbow mini peppers

Rainbow tomatoes (green, orange, red, and yellow)

Several kinds of cookies, including the Kona coffee cookies for my friend who loves them

Low calorie lemonade

Pomegranate lemonade

Ground beef

Fresh mozzarella

Cookie butter filled chocolate bar

Salt water taffy

Dog kibble

Tea tree oil shampoo & conditioner

Coconut body butter

Fluoride-free toothpaste

There were lots more things I'd have liked to try, but I knew my freezer space was limited. As it is, I barely got everything to fit in there! I'm looking forward to going again in September when I go back to Nashville.

I am going to make my 2nd trip in the next couple weeks and u have given me a lot of ideas, thanks! i am embarrassed to say i live in Nash. And dont go more often. Wish we had more of the TJ's.

[RubyinNE]

First, I want to say my daughter LOVES TJ. That being said, we have both TJ and Whole Foods in my city. Last week, I went to TJ and all I ended up buying was a package of organic celery and a container of their wonderful Triple Gingersnap Cookies. Most of their veggies and fruits are not organic. I found it to be very disorganized, shoppers wandering around aimlessly in search of products. The people who work there are very friendly, but I ended up at Whole Foods where I could find organic fruits and vegetables in mass quantities. I've tried Trader Joe's three times, and decided that when it came to buying anything organic, it will be either Whole Foods or my other neighborhood grocery store. One more thing... The first time I went to TJ, i bought their famous cookie butter, and I thought it was gross! I tossed it in the garbage. I don't get the hype that is Trader Joes.

[HonnyBrown]

On 7/11/2014 jackthebear said:

On 7/11/2014 stilltamn8r said: Two words....COOKIE butter!!!!!!!!!!!!!

cookie butter chocolate bar!!!

http://www.whatsgoodattraderjoes.com/2012/10/trader-joes-dark-chocolate-filled-with.html

I think it's a good thing that I didn't see these when I was in the store.

[GCR18]

TJ is a road trip for me too, 100 miles one way. It's well worth the ride. The grocery stores around here are nothing to write home about. I only get to go maybe three times a year. My freezer is low, so I may just take a road trip this month. There is a cheesecake factory near it too, so that sweetens the pot. We don't have restaurants like that around here either.

[Sunshine]

We go to Trader Joe's at least twice a week and only buy healthy foods. The scallion pancakes someone recommended are fabulous. The other day we bought some cherries there and are really enjoying them. They sell a chicken pot pie in the fresh food case that is excellent. We've never had bad produce from there. We buy their fresh mozzarella and put it on tomatoes and add basil and balsamic vinegar. It's yummy. I could go on and on about how good their food is, but I'll stop here. Enjoy.

[FunkyHulaGirl]

I would think that like with any grocery chain, some stores are managed better than others. Thus far, both TJs I've visited have been clean, well-organized, and the produce I've gotten has been fantastic.

I had some samosas last night for dinner. They were very good, but a bit spicier than I can handle anymore. The miniature heirloom rainbow tomatoes were excellent, the mini mint ice cream sandwiches pretty good (they need to have more ice cream in them), but I'm not impressed with the baked goods. It's going to be fun trying all these new things! And thanks for the info about returns; next time I go I'm going to get a refund for anything I don't like - such as the lemon poppyseed muffins which, IMO, are pretty bad.

[terrier3]

On 7/12/2014 FunkyHulaGirl said:

I would think that like with any grocery chain, some stores are managed better than others. Thus far, both TJs I've visited have been clean, well-organized, and the produce I've gotten has been fantastic.

I had some samosas last night for dinner. They were very good, but a bit spicier than I can handle anymore. The miniature heirloom rainbow tomatoes were excellent, the mini mint ice cream sandwiches pretty good (they need to have more ice cream in them), but I'm not impressed with the baked goods. It's going to be fun trying all these new things! And thanks for the info about returns; next time I go I'm going to get a refund for anything I don't like - such as the lemon poppyseed muffins which, IMO, are pretty bad.

I never get the baked goods anymore. There are much better local places to get those kind of treats and they are made fresh daily from the local bakeries.

I do like the frozen lemon bars - in fact, everything I have gotten frozen has been great. I served Pastry Pups at 2 parties - people went CRAZY for them!