FYI What are the best buys at Trader Joe's?

[averys_mom_92205]

I'm going to be doing my first shopping trip to Trader Joe's next week. So I'm wondering what products you have found to be a good value for the price? Give me the inside scoop on your favorite finds! TIA!

Mandi

[derketchup]

milk, eggs, lettuce, baby carrots, brie, and wine are about as cheap as I can find them here.

bread is decently priced -- depends how big of a bread snob you are. If your idea of bread is wonderbread, then I don't think it's very competitive. But if you like sour doughs, challas, ciabatta, etc then I think you'll be pleasantly surprised.

Meat is VERY expensive, but it is a much higher quality. Back when I was a meat-eater I would get a $9 steak once a month from there -- delish!

[jenjacobs]

natural peanut butter and nuts along with what der mentioned. Dh also likes their beer.

[kristen.c]

I'll add extra virgin olive oil, honey, and couscous to the list. Also I personally think they have really good prices on their dried fruit and nuts. The fresh pizza dough for 99 cents. Also smoked salmon and high-end cheeses are good buys there too! Oh and a lot of the produce is priced lower than regular supermarkets too.

[chitownmelli]

I wandered into Trader Joe's once, and I would probably shop there if the prices were right. How do the good prices at Joe's compare with the "other" grocery store? I would love to know, if you remember offhand what the prices on carrots, milk, eggs, and lettuce were :)

[austinmomto2]

I SOOOOOOO want a TJ's! But thanks to Bexx, I got a wonderful chocolate advent calendar....mmmm yummy

[momofmany]

Ah, TJ's, my favorite place to save a buck on organic food! I drive 45 min to get to one, so only go about once a month.

Best price anywhere on organic peanut butter, organic produce (usually, though sometimes a sale at Super Target is better), rice milk, almond milk, organic frozen strawberries, lots of different cheeses, wines. Those are MY staple TJ's products.

[derketchup]

Originally Posted by momofmany

Ah, TJ's, my favorite place to save a buck on organic food! I drive 45 min to get to one, so only go about once a month.

Best price anywhere on organic peanut butter, organic produce (usually, though sometimes a sale at Super Target is better), rice milk, almond milk, organic frozen strawberries, lots of different cheeses, wines. Those are MY staple TJ's products.

Thanks for sharing! I found Frey organic wine at TJ's tonight for $8.99 (and that's with the ridiculous WA state tax on wine). I thought it was a good deal

[jujubee]

Originally Posted by derketchup

Thanks for sharing! I found Frey organic wine at TJ's tonight for $8.99 (and that's with the ridiculous WA state tax on wine). I thought it was a good deal

Did you read my review on the Frey wine? I thought the Natural Red was great. What did you get? (And submit your review in the Frey thread! ;) )

[chitownmelli]

We went today, and some nice prices I noticed were on the Mozzerella log, as I like to call it. Under $4 for a big hunk of mozz, not bad at all! And of coarse the pizza crust. I had a taste for a good home made pizza, and I have to give that crust like 5 thumbs up. I bought the plain white, and rolled it out in wheat flour (it was closest to my hand) and it was just wonderful - and only costing .99 is a bonus. I give full credit for my craving to DerKetchup - I was reading about your pizza yesterday! I got hungry.

[derketchup]

Originally Posted by chitownmelli

We went today, and some nice prices I noticed were on the Mozzerella log, as I like to call it. Under $4 for a big hunk of mozz, not bad at all! And of coarse the pizza crust. I had a taste for a good home made pizza, and I have to give that crust like 5 thumbs up. I bought the plain white, and rolled it out in wheat flour (it was closest to my hand) and it was just wonderful - and only costing .99 is a bonus. I give full credit for my craving to DerKetchup - I was reading about your pizza yesterday! I got hungry.

Yeah itsa good pizza crust

[tiffini]

Hi there, I am a former TJ's employee and I think some of the best buys are:

nuts--big bags of cashews for 6$, peanuts for $2-$3,cheap raisins,sunflower seeds

peanut butter,soy butter,sunflower nut butter,really nicely priced cashew butter

organic jellys and jams

honey, all types and a big container of 1 lb of mesquite honey for around $7

pizza dough .99 cents

bbq chicken pizza $3 (not a little small sized one either!)

frozen nan $2

Cheesecake large 10-12 cut 10$ small 5 cut $5.99

Frozen chicken tenderloins 6.99$

great deals on good quality coffee. my fav is ultra dark french for 4.99$

all small boxes of tea are 1.99 to 2.99

CHEESE! great deals on brie,moz logs,feta,blue and fancy aged gouda,swiss,and really unique and hard to find cheeses. Some cheeses at my store were $5 to $8 less per pound than the local big grocery chain (giant eagle)

Eggs,milk,yogurt all pretty good prices--always less than traditional grocery's here

cereal--joe's o's (cheerios type) are big boxes for around 2.29$ also brand names like puffins and weetabix far cheaper than anywhere else in my city.

Bananas (49 cents a lb) avacados bag of four for 3.49$

--I don't buy much of my produce from TJ's because I prefer to buy from farmers market. The selection of produce can sometimes be lacking. I still watch deals at local big cnventional grocery stores to get things there but I find that TJ's has the best deal on most things. Plus there is the added benefit that there are so many specialized things that only they carry. I love that there are always new products and the fact that there is the policy where they will refund your money if you do not like a product. such low risk!

Also if you are interested in such things you should know that the employees of TJ's have a really great health plan that is available for any crew member that works at least 20 hours per week. They also pay a very high wage (well for the grocery field) and provide quarterly raises. For me it was a very pleasant place to work and I found the company and the managers to be very caring towards the employees. That is the sort of thing that really makes me feel good about shopping somewhere--to know that the employees are appreciated and paid a living wage.

[jujubee]

Hi tiffini! Welcome to Organic Grocery Deals!

Thanks for all of the great info on TJ's. I used to live in a city with TJ's and now I don't, so I'm extremely jealous of the great prices and selection.