Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with traderjoes

Cheap, portable, legal-to-cross-an-ocean food from TJs

mdonley — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 15:47:23 -0800

My mother is coming to visit me in Poland from our home in California and has asked me what foods she can bring me from Trader Joe's that are worth her bringing over. I have some ideas, but as I've been away so long (over a year), I want to make sure we land at the intersection of still-in-the-storeness, luggage space allowance, practicality and deliciousness. In fact, she has kindly but firmly requested I produce a list! For Christmas last year, I got a hamper of UHT mole sauce, a few bottles of Tapatio/Cholula, some random Mexican dry spices, and a bunch of TJs sweets/cookies. It was great.

While the quality of "raw" food here is amazing, prepared/regional/fancier ingredients which cost a bit more, like real maple syrup or balsamic vinegar, etc., are much harder to find and often severely lack in quality unless one buys, say, a tiny $50 bottle of the stuff.

We're on a budget of not-crazy. Total cost of this little excursion should be under $40 for me to have a good conscience. I also don't have a TJs in front of me to see what things actually cost. And lighter is better.

She's checking a bag, so liquids are cool. Fresh food is out given agriculture restrictions and the total door-to-door length of her journey (about 24 hours).

As a final note, the mdonley kitchen trends Mediterranean generally, with Latin, Indian, and Southeast Asian flavors popping up when cost and ingredients align. And I love Thanksgiving.

My future dinner guests and I thank you!

Is coconut milk fattening?

hifiparasol — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 11:46:37 -0800

Is coconut milk fattening? Lately I've been getting really into Trader Joe's Thai Green Curry simmer sauce, which I had assumed was relatively healthy until I happened to look at the label: 13 grams of saturated fat per serving, equaling 63 percent of the recommended daily value.

I assume most of this is coming from the coconut milk and shredded coconut in the sauce (there's no eggs/dairy/meat in it). I tried googling around for some info, but this was the best I could find, and I get a creepy SEO vibe from it. I get the same vibe from many of the other articles I found too -- though they all seem to offer some not-100%-convincing good news (that coconut milk can be healthy when combined with an active lifestyle, that Pacific islanders have low instances of obesity and heart disease, yada yada).

Has anyone read anything on this topic that can enlighten me?

what was wrong with my hummus

fishtacos — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 16:07:55 -0800

my trader joe's hummus had flakes of something or other in it, which I've never seen before. what could this be? so I just opened up a new container of trader joe's hummus (the plain organic variety, with the green lid), and something about it seemed off. it was almost flavorless, little to no aroma, and more coarse and dry than I remember. after eating some I noticed some very small whitish, translucent flakes that I first thought were flakes of bread, but upon closer inspection were in the hummus. they sort of looked like bits of onion or garlic skin, but a bit thicker. don't recall ever noticing this in TJ's hummus before, so I stopped eating it. can anyone ID this foreign substance? on a whim I googled "chickpea skin" and found this page. I never knew chickpeas had skins, so I'm wondering if the flakes were bits of chickpea skin and maybe my hummus was from a batch that wasn't fully processed (also explaining the coarser texture and specks of solid chickpea).

sorry if this question too trivial to post, but after some googling I found this question about TJ's hummus and sort of freaked out about contamination (my hummus didn't explode though). I called the store and they offered a refund, but hadn't received any similar comments about it.

I want my sweet sweet salsa!

saeculorum — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 23:57:56 -0800

Is there a copycat recipe in existence for Trader Joes' Corn and Chile Salsa? How about a cheaper alternative? I have become completely addicted to Trader Joe's Corn and Chile Salsa. The salsa is a tomato-less and appears to mostly consist of corn, a bit of green chile and onion, sugar, and vinegar. I've spent more than a little bit of time trying to find a recipe is even close to it, but haven't had any luck. In particular, it is a very sweet and tangy salsa - it's not spicy at all. Does anyone have any ideas on how to make this? My few attempts have ended up in sugary corn goop.

Failing the recipe, has anyone seen this salsa anywhere else? Trader Joe's rebrands almost all of their goods, so I'd imagine some other company makes the salsa in their own label. Any hints?

Two-Buck Chuck and...?

showbiz_liz — Sat, 08 Dec 2007 13:54:58 -0800

What do I absolutely HAVE to buy at Trader Joe's? Just two days ago, a Trader Joe's opened in my town. Now, I'm always hearing that Trader Joe's has the best this-and-that, but somehow I can't remember exactly what any of those things actually ARE (besides Charles Shaw wine, for some reason). So, for those of you who know Trader Joe's- what should I start buying there (as opposed to, say, Harris Teeter, my usual grocery store)?

The bag came with three servings. Why should I avoid the third?

crinklebat — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 07:16:58 -0800

What could be causing this weird reaction to frozen pasta? So, I hate to cook, and as such I eat a lot of premade food from Trader Joe's. Last night, for the second time, I had their red pesto farfalle. The last time I ate it (first time ever), a few hours later I got a headache in my right temple so severe it made me nauseated and weepy. I also had an elevated pulse all night (well, I had an elevated pulse before I went to sleep and had a dream where I was drinking caffeinated drink after caffeinated drink...you connect the dots) and felt weird and shaky the next day. I didn't associate it with the pasta.

However, last night I ate it and felt the beginnings of the same damn headache - same location, same general feeling. I took two tylenols and drank about half a liter of water and went to bed. This morning, I feel not as bad as I did last time, but still sort of bad and with the remnants of a headache.

My best guess is that this is a high sodium food (400 mg/serving) that just dehydrated the heck out of me, but I eat a lot of Trader Joe's products and many of them have more sodium. Here are the ingredients:

Parcooked pasta (water, durum wheat semolina, salt), tomato pulp, walnuts, pecorino romano cheese (pasteurized milk, salt, rennet), grana cheese (pasteurized milk, salt, rennet, lysozyme (enzyme from egg white)), basil, sunflower seed oil, garlic, tapioca starch, sugar, chili powder.

Doesn't look too sinister, right? I think I've had all these things before with the possible exception of grana cheese. Any thoughts?

WhiskerFilter

bjrubble — Fri, 04 Aug 2006 13:26:45 -0800

Help me find a good shaving gel! For several years I've been a happy user of Trader Joe's Aloe Vera Shaving Gel. Now it appears that they've discontinued it, and I'm running low on my last bottle. I'm looking for recommendations, especially from anybody that's used and liked the TJ gel.

I don't have really thick facial hair, so I usually only shave every few days. Perhaps as a consequence, shaving can be kind of rough on my face. The aloe seemed to work really well at keeping my face from getting irritated and dry, without being too perfumed or greasy. It was also cheap and easy to find, and the plastic bottle wouldn't leave rust spots on everything like some metal shaving cans I've used.