<p>You know what else is amazing - despite shopping at TJ’s every single week, I’m learning about so many wonderful-sounding products here I’ve never seen there! Of course, I know there is some variation from store to store (the TJ’s in my home of San Francisco do sell more products than the one in my college town of Pittsburgh, or at least it seems so to me), but I can’t believe I’ve missed so many of these things…will have to look for Lassis (!)… </p>
<p>Another thing I used to buy when I was packing lunches for myself this summer was their whole wheat, low-carb mini tortillas. I made mini-wraps with them. </p>
<p>Here at home, there are 5 TJ’s in reasonable driving distance (e.g. 15-20 minutes), and I know of one more moving in…(though it makes sense; the majority of their stores are in CA)</p>
<p>Should look up a map of how many TJ stores there are. The closest one to us is about an hour away - we are in a decent sized community but no TJ’s here. There is a Facebook page for our area to try and garnish support for TJ’s to open a store here - so far, no luck. Wonder how they decide on their demographics for new stores. True, our city is not overall upscale, but we have upscale communities and are a decent size - GIVE US A TJ’S!!!</p>
<p>I too am a regular TJ’s shopper, but I can’t wait to look for some of the items discussed here tomorrow. We are spoiled and have 3 within 5 miles (Southern California), but there is one I like better than the others so I almost always go to that one.</p>
<p>We have a TJs within walking distance but always forget about it.
My favorite things there are frozen- the potstickers or the tamales, but since we rarely cook frozen food I tend to shop elsewhere.
I did really like their wasabi seaweed rice snacks & lime / spicy nuts that have been discontinued. I hate that.</p>
<p>We love our TJs. Also love the mac and cheese and potstickers. I also like the frozen muffin turkey meatloafs that have mashed potatoes and spinach on top. Great quick meal. And I get the Chicken Marsala and Greek chicken that are in the refridge section.</p>
<p>I love their bagged veggies, especially the cubed butternut squash, green beans and broccolini. They have the right amount for my family. When I buy elsewhere, I often overbuy and waste a lot.</p>
<p>My kids beg me to buy mochi ice cream. I haven’t in a while and I hope they still carry it. It costs way more in the grocery stores!</p>
<p>I also love their soy ginger vinaigrette dressing.</p>
<p>TJs has a great selection of GF products at amazing prices. The latest one I have been picking up is the GF crispy Chocolate Chip cookies. Yum! I made GF waffles this morning with GF Bisquick mix, no comparison that the TJ GF waffles are much better.</p>
<p>I like the frozen white roughy-it isn’t fishy. It easily can be combined with TJ jarred Masala Indian sauce and I add some TJ frozen spinach. I serve it over rice for a quick meal.</p>
<p>Very envious of folks living near a TJs. We have to drive 2 hrs south to reach one and then if we discover a favorite item we have to wait until we are passing by again! Even with the high price of gas we sometimes treat ourselves to a trip to stock up. Love the English lemon curd and marmalade and the maple pecan granola. We are bulk buying the wine as we are hosting son’s wedding later this year and the cabernet sauvignon and pinot grigio are amazing deals. I’m going to try some of the above favorites - no idea what pot stickers are but will look out for them!</p>
<p>There’s a very clever 3-minute “unauthorized commercial” for Trader Joe’s on Youtube. Google “If I made a commercial for Trader Joe’s” to find it. It references many of the items and regrets (including items that disappear from the shelves, and inadequate parking lots) mentioned on this thread. I probably learned about it a couple of years ago on this site.</p>
<p>I shop at TJs several times a week, usually. I buy many of the foods already mentioned. They are great for basics - milk, eggs, cheese, cold cuts. They can’t be beat for nuts and dried fruit. Some things they have that I don’t think have been mentioned here are frozen cubes of cilantro (great for adding to enchiladas), frozen jumbo wild scallops, all kinds of frozen shrimp, dark chocolate. They have frozen cannolis that the kids love. Their brown rice pasta is great.</p>
<p>Many of our favorite foods have been discontinued - organic foursome (frozen veg), pumpkin ice cream. They used to have pomegranate molasses and I am still mourning it.</p>
<p>They have 100% white whole wheat flour, great for baking. The kids don’t even notice it in baked goods.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, ours does not carry wine - state law. They do carry beer now, many varieties.</p>
<p>The pumpkin ice cream might be a seasonal thing. They were giving out samples in our local store a few months ago - really good stuff.</p>
<p>Our local store doesn’t sell wine but they will be moving over the border soon and they will then be able to sell alcohol - I imagine they’ll do a decent business in that. I don’t drink alcohol but my wife does and she will probably pick it up there.</p>
<p>I’ll also chime in about the gluten free offerings at TJ’s. They have a gluten free chocolate flourless cake that runs about $7 and is quite yummy (and trust me, most GF desserts taste like sawdust and are ridiculously expensive) and they also carry Udi’s breads in the fresh bakery dept. at a lower prices than other stores carry it in their frozen section. </p>
<p>And their GF brownie mix is fantastic too; can’t really tell the difference from regular brownies.</p>
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