A Trader Joe’s fan blog with some NYC attitude. Mostly raves with a few rants.
07 Dec 2023 Leave a comment
in All Natural, Beer, Blog, New, News, Pantry, Prices, Products, Rave, review, seasonal, spices, Staple, Trader Joes, Uncategorized, WhatsGoodAtTJ?, Xmas season Tags: ale, Beer, Belgian, Belgium, Fearless Flyer, vintage
“A strong dark Belgian beer. Try to let it age upright. However if you can’t wait, this brew is still sure to please.”
I didn’t try the 2023 version but I’ve bought their Vintage Ale’s a number of times in the past and have enjoyed it. I just found I still have one from 2018 I kept to age as they suggest! Maybe will drink that one this New Years Eve!
$5.99 (25 oz)
27 Oct 2023 1 Comment
in baked, Blog, cheese, coffee, dairy, fresh, General, Pantry, Products, Rave, snacks, sweets, tea, Trader Joes, Uncategorized, update, WhatsGoodAtTJ? Tags: Best. Trader Joe's, cake, dessert, product, Products, review, sweets, Trader Joes, treats
You may have heard about how good this $5 cake Trader Joe’s is. It’s terrific. This cake quickly became a famous Trader Joe’s dessert and I have to agree with how good it is.
TJ’s Chocolate Ganache mini sheet cake is really delicious. I am a big chocolate fan and this hits the (chocolate) spot right on the nose and satisfies it. The cake is moist and the frosting is perfect with a rich dark chocolate flavor. I am actually not a big fan of butter cream frosting, which I find too rich and heavy, however this cake has a cream cheese frosting instead of butter frosting and which is perfect. I love it, it’s so good. The only problem I have with the cake is how hard it is to stop eating it.
There is also a vanilla version of the sheet cake, called Chantilly Creme, also with a cream cheese frosting. I’d seen online many people say its also wonderful as well. I still haven’t tried that one yet but both are no doubt worth trying.
I would buy it again.
22 Sep 2023 1 Comment
in Blog, DIY, General, Health & Beauty, Home Goods, New, News, Prices, Products, Staple, Trader Joes, update, WhatsGoodAtTJ? Tags: healthy, no preservatives, product, Products, review, Trader Joes
Is this the cutest thing or what?
I loved the idea and the design when I saw this waiting on line at TJ’s to check out. It’s a little tote bag which is a tote bag! It tucks into itself to look like a miniature Trader Joe’s bag. Unzip it and it unfolds into a full size grocery bag made of nylon (strong). Small enough for your purse or pocket. It was $2.99.
13 Dec 2022 1 Comment
in All Natural, Blog, DIY, General, Home Goods, New, News, plants, Products, Rave, Staple, Trader Joes, Uncategorized, update, vegetarian, WhatsGoodAtTJ? Tags: Christmas, gifts, healthy, ideas, no preservatives, product, Products, Rave, review, season, Trader Joes, xmas
TJ’s has these little Grump trees for sale again right now for Xmas. They are cute and a pretty good deal for just $9.99. These can make a funny gift…. But wait, why”Grump” Tree? I’m guessing it’s for copyright reasons. TJ’s doesn’t want to say Grinch less they get sued by the Dr. Seuss estate. However they can get away with saying Grump and we all get the reference to The Grinch by it’s design (a clever idea just wrapping the tree to a point). If you don’t feel like laying out a ton of money for a Christmas tree ($50-150?) maybe you could get away with a little Grump tree and dress it up really nice with a lot of decorations… And it will last. If you take care of it, it will grow and grow and maybe you can use it for a few years. “Will eventually grow into a large tree. Keep well watered.”
27 Aug 2022 1 Comment
in Blog, can, DIY, General, Pantry, Prices, Products, Recipes, spices, Staple, Trader Joes, Uncategorized, update, WhatsGoodAtTJ? Tags: budget, cheap, cheap eats, feed four, inflation, stretch your bucks
https://www.traderjoes.com/home/discover/guides/10-dollar-recipes-to-feed-four
Trader Joe’s acknowledges what we customers know all too well now: how much more expensive it is to feed your family these days due to price increases and inflation. We consumers need to get the biggest bang for the buck from every dollar we can. Hence I think Trader Joe’s is smart to admit this and “help” us with some ideas and recipes in their
“Feed 4 for $10” guide.
Visit that link for Trader Joe’s recipes. One recipe is for an EASY SPICY CHILI with ground chicken, a can each of tomatoes and beans and their super useful TACO SEASONING mix (which I swear by and only costs .79 cents!) They say this Chicken Chili costs about $9.04 to feed four. I would budget in another $1.60 to buy some Corn Tortillas which will be good with chili. They assume you have rice in your pantry. I have a chili recipe with ground turkey which is similar to theirs. Check that out too. You can just switch the turkey for chicken if you prefer. Currently a pound of ground chicken at the moment is 3.99. Ground meats have no waste and I think makes a decent bang as the main / protein. GROUND TURKEY is about $4.29 for a pound. Want to make a VEGETARIAN CHILI? You can use these recipes, just swap in some organic tofu (drained well and crumbled). The Organic Tofu is still only $1.99! Some people swear if you freeze tofu, it gives a better “meatier” texture
https://www.bhg.com/recipes/how-to/cooking-basics/freezing-tofu/
14 Jul 2022 1 Comment
in Blog, Products, Trader Joes, Uncategorized Tags: Business, company, corporate, Products, strategies, Trader Joe's, Trader Joes
I came across this recently so am sharing it; It does give us insight into Trader Joe’s business workings direct from the Source. Actually there are a lot of interesting nuggets of information in the podcast.
https://www.stitcher.com/show/inside-trader-joes/episode/episode-15-you-asked-we-answered-62129503
If you prefer to read it here’s a transcript of the podcast
A FEW USEFUL GLEANINGS ….
guest: Mitch Heeger, Executive Vice President for Marketing and Merchandising. (Wow; he’s been with TJ’s for 42 years! They must take good care of employees there.)
Q: How do you get to know what customers want?
A: It’s a good question. And you know, we pride ourselves on listening to our
customers and we always say that, you know customer votes with their dollars. We’re always looking at you know, products that sell really well. We’re always looking at products that may not sell as well. So if something’s not selling as well, we’ll discontinue that product
THAT’S PRETTY CLEAR, so the next time you are wondering why they dropped your favorite item, the answer is it’s nothing personal, “It’s just business”! Sales. Numbers. Period.
Q: Is it possible to get advanced notice if a product’s going to be discontinued?”
Mitch: We have tried that before. And it seems like every time we try, we fail. Either the product is in some areas really successful, so stores just jump all over it and it goes to one area. Or stores see that, “Oh, that’s gonna be discontinued. And it’s kind of a bad seller anyway,” so they don’t order it, and it sits in a warehouse
Wait – Trader Joe’s used to make custom sandwiches?!? (In the Mid 80’s it seems)
Q: We know early on you offered made-to-order sandwiches. Is that something you’ll consider bringing back in the future?
A: Absolutely not!
01 Apr 2022 Leave a comment
in All Natural, Blog, coffee, Home Goods, organic, Products, Trader Joes, Uncategorized, update Tags: coffee, healthy, plants, product, Products, vegan gluten free, vegetarian
I was pretty surprised to see this yesterday at Trader Joe’s in the plants section. I’ve never even seen an indoor coffee plant before. I think it was $7.99. As a bit of a coffee geek, I was slightly tempted to buy it (but didn’t… yet) Just in case you do, here’s some Plant Care tips for coffee I found online below. I wouldn’t expect you are going to get a harvest from this but still kinda interesting….
31 Aug 2021 4 Comments
in Blog, DIY, General, News, Products, Rave, recipe, Recipes, snacks, Staple, Trader Joes, Uncategorized, vegetarian, WhatsGoodAtTJ? Tags: beans, chick, Food, garbanzo, healthy, mediterranean, product, Products, Rave, review, Trader Joes, vegan, vegan gluten free, vegetarian
Trader Joe’s sells SO many varieties of hummus. I have gone back and forth with about three kinds there. I think this hummus is among their better ones, one reason being that this “Mediterranean Style” hummus has tahini among in the ingredients. Incredibly, at least to me, is that some versions of hummus on offer at Trader Joe’s do not have any Tahini in the ingredients. For allergy reasons perhaps for some customers?
Tahini (ground sesame paste) is an integral part of a hummus recipe and it is partly why hummus tastes good, at least to yours truly. I love hummus made with a good amount of it. I can only imagine some people don’t like tahini or its calories? Or nut allergy? That must be why TJ sells hummus both ways, with or without it? Anyway their “Mediterranean Style” hummus is tasty. It is a little fancier as on top they have a few pine nuts and spices. This is one way hummus is normally presented in most countries. A squeeze of 1/4 fresh lemon juice would be good to add IMO . To serve hummus: Put in shallow bowl and flatten out as much as possible. Run your spoon to make a circular groove all around the hummus and add a pour of your best EVOO. Sprinkle a bit of spice (Ajika for example, or ground cumin or zaatar) all around the perimeter attractively. Voila!
Serve with warm pita or naan or other flatbread.
The Mediterranean Style hummus costs about $4 for a 16 oz tub (it’s 50 cents more then the regular one with no tahini). (Update: This went up a bit but is still their most reasonable hummus and one of the only ones to come in a 16 oz container.)
BTW, you can easily make hummus (which I occasionally do) Here’s are good recipes (best results will come from cooking dried chickpeas yourself not canned ones!)
https://www.themediterraneandish.com/how-to-make-hummus/
https://www.inspiredtaste.net/15938/easy-and-smooth-hummus-recipe/
https://www.thespruceeats.com/our-favorite-hummus-recipes-4164898
https://www.traderjoes.com/home/products/pdp/mediterranean-style-hummus-090642
“But what makes our traditional hummus different? First, consistency. Mediterranean Hummus is super smooth and creamy, a bit more “whipped” than many of our other hummus choices. The texture of hummus tends to be different depending on where in the world it originates, so it makes sense for us to offer some of that variety in our stores. We’ve also taken the liberty of topping Trader Joe’s Mediterranean Hummus with crunchy pine nuts, and a bright blend of parsley, red bell pepper, and olive oil which creates a distinctive flavor and texture profile we think you’ll really enjoy.” – Trader Joe
UPDATE SUMMER 2025: Trader Joe’s changed this product. It’s in a new package for one thing and for another thing it seems to have changed the ingredients in that new label has tahini as third ingredient listed after canola oil. It was previously listed as second ingredient. So there is less tahini now. I have been getting the ORGANIC HUMMUS (it does cost a bit more)
NEW PACKAGE
20 May 2021 11 Comments
in Asian, Blog, Pantry, Prices, Products, Rave, recipe, Recipes, Staple, Trader Joes, update, WhatsGoodAtTJ? Tags: dinner, dinner ideas, ideas, recipe, Recipes, trader joe’s, videos
Another one of those things that I get almost every time I go to Trader Joe’s as it’s delicious and an extremely versatile thing to have in the fridge (or freezer) and a pretty good deal.
If you are not familiar with “pork tenderloin” let’s put it this way… If this was beef it would be the filet mignon. The best melt-in-your-mouth deliciously tender cut. One big difference? Beef filet mignon costs about $15-20/lb or more? But this “pork filet mignon” sells for $4/lb at Trader Joe’s. A $5 piece can feed a family. So deliciously tasty as well as super affordable.
(UPDATE: Price has increased since this was written)
Trader Joe’s sells 4 versions of the pork tenderloin. “Plain”, 2 marinated ones (peppercorns and garlic & herbs) that cost more – come on it’s so easy to do a marinade of your own in a few minutes. TJ also sells a “crate free” pork tenderloin if you prefer which is $6/lb. more expensive. At Whole Foods I’m just guessing this would cost double that price?
Boneless pork tenderloin is a lean cut with almost zero waste. It can has a “silverskin” which should be removed. This is not very hard, you just need a sharp knife.
I frequently just cut the tenderloin into “medallions” or steaks about 1/2-3/4 ” thick, season them, and cook them as one might cook filet mignon. Or one can cook it whole in a pan, then slice it afterwards (deglazing the pan after for a pan sauce). Cut the meat into strips, and this is so perfect for Asian dishes & stir-fry’s. Or Fajitas or Tacos! Whole, its great for roasting in the oven. Pork tenderloin can be an impressive center-piece of a fancy dinner (See the stuffed roast pork tenderloin video recipe below) Another tip: Be sure not to overcook tenderloin, as it’s so lean it can easily get overcooked and dried out. A correct cook of tenderloin should have a bit of pink (trust me, it’s safe and fine) TIP: Slice slits in the meat and insert thin slices of garlic all over.
Seasonings for pork tenderloin? You can not go wrong with any of these: garlic, lemon, rosemary, cumin, peppercorns…. and AJIKA!
TIP for Asian stir frying: The Chinese technique of Velveting any meat for 20 minutes will make it even better.
https://www.theendlessmeal.com/baked-pork-tenderloin/
https://www.cookinglight.com/food/recipe-finder/healthy-pork-tenderloin-recipes
10 Mar 2014 3 Comments
in Blog, DIY, General, Products, Rave, recipe, Recipes Tags: fresh, Grana Padano, Jim Lahey, No Knead Dough, olive oil, pizza, recipe, Trader Joes
“Pizza 102”
Pizza (No Knead Dough) Canned crushed tom., fresh tomato, garlic, mozz, Grana Padano, EVOO, arugula topping…
No…really! Its easier than you think. Especially now as over the last few years there’s been a kind of revolutionary dough recipe and technique that has caught on like wild fire. I’m referring to “No Knead Dough” which thanks to both its creator, Jim Lahey of the Sullivan Street Bakery, and the internet, which has spread the recipe to an enormous number of people who’ve tried it, has started many, including yours truly on this truly DIY fun and tasty path.
You can learn a lot by watching Jim Lahey show how to make homemade pizza with no knead dough:
More in depth info:
http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2012/03/jim-laheys-no-knead-pizza-dough-recipe.html
http://www.bonappetit.com/recipe/no-knead-pizza-dough
http://food52.com/recipes/16641-jim-lahey-s-no-knead-pizza-dough-margherita-pie
No-Knead Pizza Dough
Adapted from Jim Lahey, Co.
Makes four 12-inch pizza crusts OR 1 large square sheet pan pie
3 cups all-purpose or bread flour, plus some more for dusting {Trader Joe’s White Flour does well}
¼ teaspoon instant yeast (such as SAF brand)
1½ teaspoons salt
1½ cups water
1. In a large bowl, mix the flour with the yeast and salt. Add the water and stir until blended (the dough will be very sticky). Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let rest for 12 to 24 hours in a warm spot, about 70°.
2. Place the dough on a lightly floured work surface and lightly sprinkle the top with flour. Fold the dough over on itself once or twice, cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rest for 15 minutes.
3. Divide the dough into 4 pieces and shape each piece into a ball. Generously sprinkle a clean cotton towel with flour and cover the dough with it. Let the dough rise for 2 hours (If you are doing a square style pizza then keep the dough in one piece)
4. Stretch or toss the dough into the desired shape, cover with toppings and bake on top of a very hot pizza stone. …Or stretch dough out onto sheet pan, add toppings and bake. Hot oven, 500, until it looks done.
Read more: http://www.tastingtable.com/entry_detail/nyc/99/No_Knead_Pizza_Dough_Recipe_by_Jim_Lahey_from_Co_Pizzeria_i.htm#ixzz2tcZdQqoX
Have you tried this ? Let me know what you think in the comments section!
Trader Joe’s Rants & Raves (mostly raves, a few rants) 
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