This was a really good product but sadly and very unfortunately Trader Joe’s stopped carrying them (discontinued). Argh!!! They were good. Many people aren’t happy about these being Axed judging from all the Comments left here below.
FYI – one of our readers kindly let us know these cleaning cloths on Amazon seem similar to the Trader Joe’s one. These cleaning cloths are made in Germany and come in a 12 pack, so cost about $1 each! They got good reviews too, Click the link for them on Amazon –https://amzn.to/4qEmlTt
For Archival Purposes…… here’s my original post about the Trader Joe’s Cloths…..
“SAVE PAPER, REDUCE WASTE”
These cleaning cloths are strong and quite absorbent. We’ve tested these out in our kitchen and are finding them to be pretty useful. They seem to me a bit like those orange “Chamois” cloths one finds at the dollar store? The good ones that is. These Trader Joe’s viscose cloths are convenient to buy and are not out of line priced at $2.99 for two cloths in the package (though I wish they were a little bigger). We’re mainly using them for kitchen counters and the like. They do absorb a lot even when wet. You just wring them out till damp and they absorb a ton of liquid again. These are useful and “eco”, saving some paper towel usage. I would buy these again.
UPDATE – Everyone complains about these being DISCONTINUED! (Argh!!!) I haven’t tried these but Amazon has some Amazon Basics” general cleaning cloths “even cheaper than the German ones….. that might be OK : https://amzn.to/3DIHmJy
Hooray – they were not Discontinued after all! These very addictive tortilla chips are back on the shelves at Trader Joe’s (NYC)! They were Missing In Action for months….Feared to have been Discontinued by Trader Joe’s but it seems this was not the case and just temporarily out of stock (though it was months). When I saw them last week my heart leapt with joy to learn these favorite TJ items of mine weren’t “disco’d”. I had read stuff on Reddit and elsewhere that they were Discontinued but these reports seems fortunately to have been wrong, like other stuff you find on the ‘Net! So I’m just guessing it was due to some vendor side issue but its not always easy to know if items are really “discontinued” or TOS “temporarily out of stock”. One can ask the TJ’s captain at the front desk to look up and check on any item. This is what I do if I really want to know about an item. The front desk staff usually can tell you by checking on their computer if any item is just out of stock or has actually been officially discontinued (disco’d in Trader Joe’s lingo). If you never tried these before, well they are really something else, but maybe not for everyone. These are Rolled Up tortilla chips that are loaded and we do mean loadedwith spices. These are the kind of chips that when you eat them your fingers get stained and coatedfrom the chili and lime seasonings. In this case red. These are spicy and fiery and have a little mouth puckering thing going on too (from the lime). I have read these are kind of like “TAKIS FUEGOS” chips but as I’ve never actually tried TAKIS Fuego chips myself I can’t say how close they are to those. As these are pretty intense with flavors and spices, these may be “a love it or hate it” item. I find these addictive. Spicy delicious, crunchy and pretty much a Wow in the flavor department. I love them. However my wife doesn’t like them. She things they are way too much, but this is OK by me as that means I don’t have to share them. I get the whole bag to myself;)
While I do like eating these right out of the bag I particularly like them matched up with other (blander) items. Like eaten with some cheese or some bean dip or guacamole, or even dipped into ricotta or cottage cheese. Great with sour cream of course too as with something else it balances out the bang a bit so if they are too much on their own try them together with other things. A package is now $2.99.
TIP: As I said as far as finding out if an item is Discontinued I ask a store’s Captain if they can look up an item and check it’s status, and see if it’s just “TOS” (temporarily out of stock) or officially discontinued (“Disco’d” in TJ’s speak). Sometimes they will even tell you a time they should be back and available. Sometimes however its bad news. Like I got a few months ago when I could not find TJ’s Pine Kitty Litter. Argh!!!
Trader Joe’s Fish Nuggets are tasty and these taste like a real battered piece of fish. They are perfect for making fish tacos for one thing. The first ingredient is Alaskan Pollack. Don’t confuse this item (“Fish Nuggets”) with TJ’s “Fish Sticks”which are terrible, way inferior to these at a dollar less. I used these nuggets to make Fish Tacos for dinner the other night. BTW I didn’t bake these as it says on the package. I sauteed them in a cast iron pan till they were crispy on both sides.
We really enjoyed these when we made them into fish tacos. The popular TJ’s Fish Tacos recipe is easy to make. You take a package of these, Corn Tortillas (which I think will taste better than flour ones) and top with crunchy slaw made with the Cole Slaw Mix, some Greek Yogurt, and lime juice. Optional but nice would be some ripe avocado and your favorite hot sauce. I would recommend TJ’s Green Dragon and/or Peri-Peri hot sauce as being a good match with fish tacos.
TJ’s BATTERED FISH NUGGETS are now $5.99 for a 1 lb package. The other thing these might be good for is an English style Fish & Chips with some french fries?
“These tantalizing tacos combine the tart, tangy, and savory flavors of fresh Lime juice and crispy Battered Fish Nuggets with a mix of soft, crunchy, and creamy textures, courtesy of our Corn Tortillas, Organic Broccoli Slaw, and Plain Greek Whole Milk Yogurt. Endlessly customizable with your favorite hot sauce, salsa, or crema, one batch of these can feed a family of four and even more, depending on your hunger level.”
FISH TACOS
TJ’s Battered Fish Nuggets
TJ’s Plain Greek Whole Milk Yogurt
1 Lime
TJ’s Organic Broccoli Slaw or Cole Slaw Mix
TJ’s Corn Tortillas
Add yogurt and lime juice to the slaw mix; let sit a 1/2 hour to marinate. Cook up the fish till golden brown and put two pieces into a warm corn tortilla and top with slaw and a few drops of salsa or hot sauce.
Ground turkey is something I tend to buy fairly often at Trader Joe’s. For one, I find it versatile, not to mention more affordable than ground beef, as well as a healthier option. Perhaps many of you think the same. So I decided to check out this option Trader Joe’s frozen Turkey Burgers.
Is there any advantage of buying this versus buying a package of fresh ground turkey? Normally I would just buy a package of the fresh ground turkey. If I want them shaped as burgers, I will just form them myself, which would take maybe a minute to make 4 with little effort.
However I can see a few reasons some people might like frozen turkey burgers instead of buying fresh ground turkey. For one thing I imagine some folks (especially singles?) might find this more convenient. Say you just wanted one burger for dinner. You have that ready to go and are not left with extra turkey which you would have to use in a few days, or freeze for later use. Maybe some people don’t like touching ground meat and forming burgers, or just find this an easier option? Certainly one benefit of these frozen turkey burgers is the frozen burgers are a bit cheaper than fresh ground turkey. These go for $3.49 3.99 for a pound (4 x 1/4 lb). One pound of TJ’s fresh ground turkey will cost you $3.99 4.49 presently. So the frozen ones are a wee bit cheaper.
Cooking: Trader Joe’s instructions on the package state “Cook From Frozen” (as usual for them on frozen stuff). I am an experienced home cook. Cooks as a general rule, tend to not like to cook food from frozen. I think cooking from a defrosted state is best for meats generally.
Sure you can cook these burgers from frozen, but you don’t HAVE to. You can defrost these in an hour or two on the counter, which is what I do sometimes.
Another advantage to not cooking from frozen for me is, I can add ingredients into my burgers. I find this very useful as ground turkey is a quite bland. It needs to be jazzed up.
If its not frozen, you can add ingredients in, mix it up and form your own burgers. If I add say a few spoons of chopped fresh parsley and spices, mix it all in, form a burger (which is usually a little smaller and thicker than the way they come frozen). This way they not only have way more taste to them, they also conform to the hamburger buns which can be smaller than the diameter of the frozen pucks. Here are turkey burgers with chopped parsley added plus a bit of chopped pickled sweet jalapenos. And yes you want to add oil and/or butter when you cook these turkey burgers which don’t have that much fat.
I took out two burgers. I put them on a plate, covered them with a a bowl over them (mostly to keep the cats from going after them!) to just let them defrost. That took about an hour or two.
Sure a pinch you can cook from frozen if you want to. The cook time will be longer than if they are defrosted of course.
TIP: Turkey is bland. So I really season it to jazz it up. Add a good dusting of some spices. I love to use the terrifically useful TJ’s 99 CENTS TACO SEASONING spice mix which really jazzes up turkey. If you used that Mix, then don’t add salt as there is salt in the taco spice mix, plus they have some salt already added in the burgers. Also I made them as cheese burgers by putting grated Unexpected Cheddar or some other cheese on top which works great as that cheese is amazing melted (cover the pan for a minute to help melt the cheese). I put them on toasted Trader Joe’s Whole Wheat Hamburger Buns and dressed them up with some spicy ketchup (mix some Peri-Peri or Bomba into some of the Organic Ketchup) .
Our turkey burgers were yummy with toasted buns, lettuce and tomato and we quite enjoyed them and kind of could not tell they were turkey burger and not ground beef. The trick again is really seasoning these as if you don’t it will be very bland tasting. And melted cheese never hurts! By the way, the buns I used here are the PRETZEL BUNS, perfect for burgers and many other things.
“Exactly what the name implies. Very sweet orange slices which are full of wonderful citrus flavor. You can eat the whole slice, rind and all.”
Personally I think these are a terrific little snack with an old world taste and aesthetic.
I just love these. They are whole slices of orange including the rind and the peel which are sweetened and dried enough to be slightly chewy. They have a wonderfully intense orange flavor which includes just the slightest bitterness from the peel. These are so good I could eat the whole package at once but I usually stop myself at around 3 slices. OK maybe 4.
FALL SEASONAL ITEM – Trader Joe’s Organic Raw Pumpkin Vinegar, “RAW ORGANIC VINEGAR WITH THE MOTHER, UNPASTEURIZED AND UNFILTERED”
If you are one of those into Trader Joe’s All Things Pumpkin every Fall you may find this interesting enough to check out.
It’s made exactly like they make the Apple Cider Vinegar TJ’s carries, just instead of apples they are using pumpkins. I compared the taste of TJ’s Apple Cider Vinegar and this Pumpkin Vinegar side by side to compare them to each other. Now the Apple Cider Vinegar is something I’m really used to, taste-wise and just find that really really good, a perfect vinegar. ACV tastes just right to me especially as far as acidity and sharpness. This pumpkin vinegar has the slightest taste of pumpkin. It seems to be more mellow than ACV even though technically the acidity in both is the same. Both say “diluted to 5% acidity”. But this pumpkin vinegar seems less sharp to me. So if you want a less sharp vinegar, this may be for you. Me, while I find this “interesting”, it’s just a curiosity item. I’d probably say I prefer my good old reliable ACV. I could see this vinegar as being good for making a milder vinaigrette. Or used to make a shrub (drink with vinegar)?
This is $1.99 for a 8 1/2 oz bottle. I can get a way bigger bottle of Apple Cider Vinegar for just a little more ($2.49). I probably wouldn’t buy this again. Side-note – TJ’s once carried a raspberry vinegar which I actually did like a lot, as it did actually taste of raspberries. I liked that for salad dressings – but sadly it vanished like so many good TJ’s items! (Sigh)
TJ’s says: “Our supplier takes fresh, cold-pressed, organic Pumpkins and ferments them into a cider. Then they add the vinegar “mother” (a culture of good bacteria) and ferment them together to become the seasonal vinegar before you—the very same process that is used to turn apples into our Organic Raw Apple Cider Vinegar. This Organic Raw Vinegar is unpasteurized and unfiltered—giving it a gorgeously cloudy, orange hue—with a subtle pumpkin flavor. Use it to create a unique vinaigrette for your salads or add a tablespoon to give a punch of acidity to chilis, stews, and sauces. Best yet, combine with sparkling water for a homemade pumpkin shrub!”
This was a “Meh” for me. Just wasn’t too crazy for this vinaigrette which was one of those “sounded better than it tasted” items for me. Two tasters in our house didn’t go for this dressing and didn’t like it. I found the maple taste off putting and didn’t work at all. As opposed to honey which I like in a salad dressing. Frankly I can easily make a very good Vinaigrette myself in about 3 minutes using with oil, vinegar and Dijon mustard (optional, crushed garlic). Put these in a glass jar and shake shake shake. Frankly we prefer my Homemade Vinaigrette way over any dressing I can buy generally. However what I do think is worth buying at Trader Joe’s is their Asian Sesame Dressing which is excellent. TOASTED SESAME SALAD DRESSING. We just love that one so much. That is worth the same price as this one, $3.49. This one for us at least was a miss and a “meh”.
This was a “Meh” for me. Just wasn’t too crazy for this vinaigrette which was one of those “sounded better than it tasted” items for me. Two tasters in our house didn’t go for this dressing and didn’t like it. I found the maple taste off putting and didn’t work at all. As opposed to honey which I like in a salad dressing. Frankly I can easily make a very good Vinaigrette myself in about 3 minutes using with oil, vinegar and Dijon mustard (optional, crushed garlic). Put these in a glass jar and shake shake shake. Frankly we prefer my Homemade Vinaigrette way over any dressing I can buy generally. However what I do think is worth buying at Trader Joe’s is their Asian Sesame Dressing which is excellent. TOASTED SESAME SALAD DRESSING. We just love that one so much. That is worth the same price as this one, $3.49. This one for us at least was a miss and a “meh”. I won’t buy this again.
You could easily describe me as a dumpling fanatic. I’m fortunate to live in a city (NYC) with a huge Asian population and can get really excellent dumplings, such as at “Vanessa’s Dumpling House” to name just one place. So having said that, I can’t say these Trader Joe’s frozen mini wontons can compare to some handmade chicken and basil dumplings like I could get at a dumpling place like Vanessa’s, or Shiu Jiao Fu Zhou dumpling house. Stil these are kind of decent little wontons, and they are certainly convenient. So if you can’t go buy a big bag of frozen dumplings from Vanessa‘s or another Chinese dumpling maker as I do on occasion, these may be the next best thing. They seem popular. I usually will see a few people grabbing a bag at Trader Joe’s. On the web, I know there is some hack with these dumplings cooked in TJ’s Miso Ginger broth, which I tried and is pretty good (for me the broth needs more miso and way more ginger!) These are mini wontons so are smaller than regular size wontons or dumplings. These are just one bite each. They’re good made by either boiling or pan frying them. If you are doing them boiled, I like them served in a soup – a strong chicken broth (preferably homemade) or possibly one of Trader Joe’s broths or the Ginger Miso Broth (add more miso if you have that and some fresh grated ginger) They are good also cooked up as pan fried wontons. These will taste much better with a good dumping sauce. For me, that is mandatory. Also the cilantro flavor in the dumplings is very weak so buy some fresh cilantro and add some just before serving. Some people hate the cilantro’s flavor but I love it and it’s a very essential Asian taste. These Mini Wontons are $3.49 for a package (12 oz). I would buy these again.
There are some Fall items that are misses and some that are hits. This is a HIT for me. These are really good. I love them and everybody I offered them too liked them. The added spices and coating is not cloying, it’s just enough but not too much so you still taste pumpkin seeds, and they are really crunchy and tasty (they have butter). $2.99 for 8 oz.
The Pumpkin Greek Yogurt however was a big Miss for me; Didn’t like that taste at all. I would not buy that again.
This “roasting sauce” is a new Fall item for as part of TJ’s annual “pumpkin spectacular”. Now I’m not one who goes crazy every Fall with all their Everything Pumpkin items. While some of the products they come up with are good (like this one!) some sound just bad to me (case point, TJ’s PUMPKIN SPICE HUMMUS, whose very name offends me as did TJ’s infamous “chocolate hummus”). But having said this, I hear Pumpkin Spice Hummus is popular and sells out often, so clearly I’m in the minority! Anyway as far as this new sauce is concerned, I liked it. It was betterthan what I imagined. This PUMPKIN CHIPOTLE ROASTING saucewas quite tasty used it to braise chicken and vegetables (a recipe follows below).
This Pumpkin Chipotle sauce uses an imaginative blend of ingredients. Though it has pumpkin puree as the first ingredient it has so many other ingredients, the pumpkin flavor blends in with so many other flavors it makes a complex and tasty combination. This doesn’t have anything like a “pumpkin pie” flavor at all. Rather this sauce’s flavor profile is complex, balanced and delicious. Ingredients are:pumpkin puree, cane sugar, water, apple cider vinegar, apple juice concentrate, onion puree, sea salt, molasses, garlic, tomato paste, vinegar, chipotle in adobo puree, chipotle chili powder and spices like nutmeg, ginger and allspice which are subtle here and blend well.
I used this sauce to make a braised chicken dish which turned out delicious. I used boneless chicken thighs and onion, garlic, celery, yellow peppers and mushrooms. This would work very well with bone-in thighs too, roasted as per TJ’s recipe (see link below)
In addition to chicken, I am sure this sauce will work very well with pork. Also just on roasted veggies. Probably it would work well even with tofu too. So it might be fun to experiment with this sauce and see what you can come up with. Here’s my saucy dish in the picture.
Braised Boneless Chicken Thighs (sliced up) in Pumpkin Chipotle sauce with vegetables
Trader Joe’s suggests roasting it with cauliflower or peppers which sounds good and they also mention using it with pasta too…. I have not tried that yet.
This is how I made my chicken dish if you are interested.
RECIPE — BONELESS CHICKEN THIGHS IN PUMPKIN CHIPOTLE SAUCE : Season chicken with salt and pepper. Dust with a little flour (optional). Brown chicken in 2 tsp olive oil for about 5 minutes per side. till golden. When browned, remove temporarily. Toss in your chopped vegetables to the pan (onions, garlic, celery, sliced bell peppers, sliced mushrooms). Sauté on low-medium heat for about five minutes till translucent. Then add a few tablespoons of liquid (wine, stock or water) to the pan to de-glaze it, scraping up any browned bits at the bottom. Add your chicken back in and cover with Pumpkin Roasting Sauce and braise on gentle simmer (either on top of the stove or in the oven, loosely covered). I used about 3/4 of the jar in my dish but you can adjust amount if you want less or more sauce in the finished dish. Simmer / braise on low heat for about 25 minutes or so. If you use chicken breasts instead of thighs, reduce cooking time to about 12 minutes and if using bone in chicken simmer or roast for about 40 minutes. When done, I took out the chicken, rested it a bit, then sliced it and added it back to my sauce. Leave whole if you prefer of course. Check seasoning for salt and pepper. Optional – add 2 tablespoons of butter to the sauce. Serve the chicken, veggies and sauce on top of Jasmine rice (or orzo or potatoes).
TJ’s says: “Use this Sauce to coat some Baby Cauliflower and Organic Mini Sweet Peppers before roasting them in a hot oven. Make it a marinade for chicken or pork to turn into an aromatic, shredded taco filling. Or give it a try on pasta night, combined with a touch of cream and tossed with Organic Cascatelli Pasta.”
PUMPKIN CHIPOTLE ROASTING SAUCE is $3.49 a jar (14.5 oz). I would buy this again. If you like it, I would say stock up on a few jars as it may vanish after Thanksgiving as I think its a seasonal item.
Trader Joe’s Rants & Raves (mostly raves, a few rants) 
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