<p>Also newish in the frozen section: grilled eggplant and zucchini. With a little mozzerella and tomato, makes a good sandwich. With ozzerella and sauce, good parmesan.</p>
<p>This is a really funny video about Trader Joe’s</p>
<p>[YouTube</a> - If I Made a Commercial for Trader Joe’s](<a href=“http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OdB7GDZY3Pk]YouTube”>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OdB7GDZY3Pk)</p>
<p>I just made my 90 minute each way trek there today for their salsa, wasabi peas, Joe Joes, green tea mints and a few other things.</p>
<p>Green tea mints? What’re they like?</p>
<p>They are just small mints in a tin that kind of taste like green tea. Three of them equal the antioxidant content of a cup of green tea.</p>
<p>When my kids ask for Chinese food, I head to the frozen section and get the orange chicken or bbq chicken, serve it over rice w/veggies (also from the frozen section). Its take out for less than $10 for a family of 4.</p>
<p>Haven’t read this whole thread but TJ’s is big in our house. Frozen deserts are to die for…the chocalate souflees come in small ramekins that you heat up; would be great to serve for company. Also, the little apple tarts and chocalate dilemma cheesecake selection is fabulous. I do eat other things besides desert but it’s nice to have in the freezer for a treat!</p>
<p>abasket: What gems did you find??? The red, yellow, and green frozen pepper strips are so handy to have in the freezer!</p>
<p>Came home with two large bags of new treats!!! </p>
<p>No kidding, I just walked through that store and found and bought many things you all raved about on this thread - now, to try it all!</p>
<p>I bought…hummus, daffodils, frozen dark sweet cherries (for smoothies and to mix in ice cream!), TJ chocolate chips, JOJO Cookies, my fav Chai Latte, pizza dough, my fav sweet chili sauce, the frozen steel cut oatmeal (I also noticed this not frozen in the cereal aisle - is that any good?), a good old staple - the mini peanutbutter cups, fried rice, much more!</p>
<p>Oh! Has anyone tried these - bought a container “TJ’s Oatmeal Cranberry Dunkers with White Fudge Drizzle” - kind of like an oblong cookie that you can dunk in your coffee/tea. I’m trying them first thing tomorrow morning!</p>
<p>Oh, and saw the green tea mints right in the check out aisle!!!</p>
<p>(I kind of felt like you were all there with me! Every two seconds I was seeing something that was mentioned on this thread!)</p>
<p>Oh yeah, the bag of kettle corn is awaiting in the cupboard. :)</p>
<p>So glad I forgot all about the kettle corn when I was there today (but I remembered the chocolate covered almonds)! Bought a couple of my favs (the bottled marsala sauce and frozen shrimp fried rice.)</p>
<p>DW & I prefer to cook from scratch using as much fresh, local, organic, and seasonal stuff as possible (not always able to combine all four criteria here in MN). That really limits our TJ’s shopping list as our local Twin Cities food co-ops are generally much stronger on all four criteria. But we do go to TJ’s for some things:</p>
<p>– organic olive oil, Spanish or Italian, best prices in town
– wine, a step or two above Two-Buck Chuck, excellent values and decent selection
– our vegan teenage D likes TJ’s vegetarian shu mai and/or gyoza and sauces
– also meatless meatballs
– our non-vegan carnivore D likes TJ’s chicken potstickers
– also meat meatballs (sounds redundant, but you get my point)
– tamales, especially cheese & jalapeno; hard to get good tamales (or sometimes any tamales) here in the Midwest unless we drive far across town to a couple of hole-in-the-wall places on Lake St. in Minneapolis, better than TJ’s but inconvenient
– Joe’s Os, housebrand substitute for Cheerios.
– large packs of organic kiwis at a fraction of the cost of the local co-ops; why?</p>
<p>Bottom line, TJ’s is good for warm & serve convenience foods, not as good if you’re into cooking. I guess we use it to stock up our freezer for convenient high-quality lunches and shop our local food co-op for dinner ingredients.</p>
<p>bclintonk, come contribute to the locavore/slow food thread. Ideas for eating fresh and local needed! Everyone else too!</p>
<p>I got the steel cut oats (in the cool tin)the last time I was at TJ’s but I didn’t think the little bit of extra texture was worth the time it took to cook them. I make the regular old fashioned oat meal every morning for breakfast (with added antioxidant berries) and that tastes just as good to me.</p>
<p>abasket - the Oatmeal Cranberry Dunkers are one of my faves!!! Just cracked open the last package of three I bought on my last TJ’s trip over Thanksgiving. I joke around with my mom that I won’t make the trip to visit her until I need to go to Trader Joes…(that’s not really true, she is the one that is always traveling!)</p>
<p>kathiep: according to consumer reports steel cut is much better for you. here’s a tip- cook them in a crockpot on low overnight. they turn out fabulous.</p>
<p>Just saw the newest TJ’s ad about the instant steel cut oats, cook in 8 minutes instead of the long time. Anyone tried them? Also thinking of the rice based mac and cheese for DD’s roommate. Anyone try those yet?</p>
<p>My husband and I make the steel cut oatmeal (from the tin) on the weekend. We love the texture and they say it is really good for you as well. We just start it first thing and it is ready by the time we are.
My newest favorite Trader Joe’s item is the frozen nan bread…it is only $1.99 for 4 pieces and it makes the meal so much better!! I make a meal with chicken breast, the masala sauce from a jar (TJ’s) , rice, and the nan…delicious and easy. I also use the Punjab Spinach Sauce, and the other curry sauces they have. It is a quick easy meal.</p>
<p>Singersmom07: I bought the instant steel cut oats. Yes they really do cook in 8 minutes, and they’re just about as good as the regular ones. Certainly worth having on weekdays when everyone’s in a rush.</p>
<p>abasket, how did you like the Dunkers cookies? I love them and try to walk past quickly so I’m not tempted! The drizzle makes them, IMO. :)</p>
<p>Dark chocolate chili mango. Yum!!!</p>