What's worth buying here?

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i hear their chocolate is decent.

pretty sure they still sell soap from that wacko dr. bronner for much less than other stores. california olive oil is good too.

Groceries that you need at home. It's just a grocery store with different prepackaged goods that don't differ from what's at a Walmart other than they been curated and there's less variety.

It's not worth making a special trip.

Pretty much anything that isn't meat or cookies is decently-priced and pretty good quality

>different prepackaged goods that don't differ from what's at a Walmart

You're joking.

Some things at TJ's are a good deal and some aren't, but it mostly caters to young professional types who are in a hurry. That said, everything they sell is higher quality that the shit you'll find at Walmart, just not all of it is really worth buying from them.

Alcohol and their Frozen Mac and Cheese

that mac and cheese is cheap and honestly the best frozen on the market

pic releated.

3 dollar wine.
Their seasonings. My favorite is 21 spice salute.
Veggies and fruit average out the same with some high and others low, but all are of great quality. If you are selective you just get the cheap stuff like bananas and spinach.
If you like fancy bread you are in luck but the lack of preservatives mean you must eat it fast.
Their junk food is a fun twist.
Gorge on their free samples. They always run one and often run three.
Olive oil is not cheaper but of higher quality.

In short OP the quality of the items are higher compared to wally world and sometimes is the same price as well. Experiment around. I will say I have had no luck with their frest meat or dairy in general though: It is much more expensive and I have not seen the increase in quality.

>olive oil
>cheese
>frozen dinners
>wine
>tortillas

>that mac and cheese is cheap and honestly the best frozen on the market

No, it isn't. Pic. related. TJ's is the best value on the market though.

packaged products are manufactured in a handful of facilities around the world, their ingredients varies only slightly and the ingredients are generally sourced from the same place. As much as you'd like to believe different, products at Walmart are no different than products elsewhere, sure package is different but contents are not as different as advertising and packaging would have you believe.

Every time a meme grocery store thread comes up its almost a response like yours word for word specially the "young professionals" line, sounds like copy.

You can't seriously argue quality is better when we are talking about a premade packaged food.

quality is a matter of opinion and will hardly ever be a statement of fact, specially when we're talking about packaged foods.

No it isn't.

evol Truffle parmesan mac and cheese is by far the winner in this arena, 3.99

>some brands of premade packaged foods can't be better than others

it was just delusion my whole entire 30+ year life when I thought I could clearly tell the difference between inferior and superior products

yes, absolutely everything is commodity-grade and produced in china, out of cardboard.

this deserves a thread lol


also their frozen banana bites for 1.79 are great

Of fucking course Trader Joe's uses the same shit as namebrand foods, made in the exact same factories, and sells it cheaper by packaging it under their own name. Everybody knows that; it's literally their entire business model and how they became successful.

Nonetheless, most of the food TJ sells is prepackaged, premade meals, so it's no surprise if you've seen the "young professional" line before. Half the store is for people who can't cook, or simply don't have time, but can afford better quality TV dinners than what they sell at the regular grocery store. Their produce is overpriced and their liquor is hardly competitive since they've upped the price of 2 buck chuck, most everything other than sweets and snacks is hit or miss compared to a regular grocery store, and by regular grocery store I mean an actual grocery store, not fucking Walmart.

I go there specifically for their cheese selection, crackers, and olives.

...

Every single burrito and tamale in their freezer section is 8/10, better than a lot of restaurants right out of the microwave

omg I fucking love this

Gorgonzola crackers
Peanut Butter filled Pretzels
I think they have some sort of salt and pepper chips there?

I thought Jack Scalfani rated their sandwiches highly

their taquitos are surprising shitty though

The frozen orange chicken is great. A lot of TJ's prepackaged food is good actually.

>live in Seattle
>can get this any day

Feels good, man.

>produce is overpriced
Actually, here in Seattle some produce items are cheaper at Trader Joes. Namely bananas and leafy greens.

...

its not that you're tasting a product to be superior to another. you simply like one better than the other, it doesn't make it superior, it only makes it superior to you.

> it's literally their entire business model

Just like any other grocery store. In fact, their model is more like a save a lot than a "normal" grocery store.

>Half the store is for people who can't cook

I been to trader joes, you can't seriously claim half the store is for people who cant cook, that literally is what half all of grocery store sell is shit for people who can't cook.

>better quality TV dinners than what they sell at the regular grocery store

That is just advertising, their shit is no better or no worse than any body elses.

>Their produce is overpriced
Let me tell you why... They don't sell enough of it to break even.

>by regular grocery store I mean an actual grocery store, not fucking Walmart.

Walmart is a actual grocery store, in fact, they have had to become it in order to survive the business they are in, a single walmart will go through more produce and packaged foods than a kroger right next to it, they are at least 25% of the entire national grocery business in the USA. I know its popular to rip on walmart and say its a poor and fatty people store that doesn't change the fact they are a grocery store, and they sell exactly the same foods as others do.

Their frozen steak and ale pies are top-tier. Solid 7/10, 8/10 with a little bit of tomato sauce. Their frozen gyoza are really good too. They have good prices on weirder ingredients like sesame oil or coconut milk, the type of stuff you can probably find at your normal grocery store, but marked up because John and Jane Lowest Common Denominator don't buy it often, it's 40% more than it needs to be.

Their ready-made heat-and-eat stuff is pretty decent. I'd say 75% of their stuff is above average, but the 25% that kinda sucks is sprinkled pretty equally through everything. I try to try something new when I go there.

Oh! And their dried nuts are pretty great, too. The coconut strips are basically candy.

bleach. buy it and then drink it.

Nothing, it's for college kids stuck in dorms who aren't allowed to and have no inclination to use a stove

Any of the "real" food you can get (raw meat, dairy, eggs, etc) is sketchy as fuck and I would not eat it if you paid me

pic fucking related.
Honestly, this is probably the best ice cream sandwich you can get outside of some professional "homemade" $15 a scoop ice cream.

>outside of some professional "homemade" $15 a scoop ice cream
What does that even mean? Why the scare quotes?

Are you that guy who was bragging that he can make better pizza than Domino's?

what the fuck? no.
It's just there's an ass ton of pretentious gelato places around me that sell scoops of gelato for ludicrous prices.

I buy my Dr. Scholl's shoe inserts from their.

Are they organic?
Pls respond, this is important.

It's OK bro clearly our taste buds have been wrong all our lives let's just keep on getting ripped off at TJ while superior user does his grocery shopping at Walmart.

Meth

TJ brand crunchy natural peanut butter is the only reason I go there. I'll pick up like 6 jars every few months. For some reason it's really fucking difficult to find crunchy peanut butter without added oil or sugar.

there

their = possessive
there = a place

Their cookie-butter is okay I guess.

I have never found going into a TJ's to be worth it, so I don't go in there anymore.

do these taste anything like the sweden things
forget what they're called

They have kalamata olive oil that is of surprisingly good quality for the price. Definitely worth picking some up if you happen to be in there.

Loved the fuck out of these.

Shelf stable heavy whipping cream
cheese
3buck -chuck
tortillas
frozen teriyaki chicken
frozen berries
frozen pot-stickers
raw almond butter
artichokes - super cheap
specialty juices
frozen garlic naan bread

In terms of pricing, I've found that my local TJ's has a lot of items that would otherwise be more expensive or of poorer quality in other local grocery stores.

>spinach (the big-ass bag)
>sardines in olive oil
>turkey patties, 4 for $2.99 (not sure how this stacks up against buying ground turkey in bulk from a more traditional grocer, but it's a damn good price in my area); each patty has 23 g protein, so I figure it's pretty good
>dat olive oil
>their wraps are pretty good
>kefir (might actually be more expensive, can't remember)
>anchovies
>fresh dates

I stock up on their frozen Indian foods, Thai curry and stuff. Pretty cheap, pretty good, and pretty healthy.

Their chocolate filled shortbread cookies are delicious

>pretty healthy.
Sure it is.

shisito peppers
foil packages of palak paneer
dried mango
dried bananas

Premade shit.

Nothing there for anyone who actually enjoys cooking or fresh produce and meat.

Their cheeses, olive oil, and frozen products. They have bags of frozen mango chunks for cheap that are good in smoothies. I also like the white cheddar popcorn.

everything.... Trader Joes is my kryptonite
eating their uncured all beef hot dogs atm, with their hatch valley salsa

>isn't meat
their sirloin tho, especially the seasoned ones. for someone who cant be fucked to create a chimichurri sauce from scratch, i really dig that shit

The ones I have been to had a good cheese selection.

I saved this from a TJ's employee awhile back

They have a good price on quinoa if you can't be bothered to buy in crazy bulk.

I like their licorice, both red and black. Their dark chocolate peanut butter cups will make you have second thoughts about ever touching reeses again. Wine is well priced, flowers for m'lady are well priced usually too. Lots of prepackaged foods are way better quality than their WalMart counter parts, dont listen to the trolls saying that all prepackaged foods are the same. That's obvious bait. Of course there can be huge differences in what is placed in a cardboard box. Cheese selections are also good.. But the rest of meat and dairy can be so so like other people have posted.

I live in a state where they don't sell booze but I hear it's good.

Their cheese selections are cheap and good. Their ground beef a bit expensive but good because they don't fuck it up like king soopers or safeway or whatever with cartilage. Eggs are cheap. They have some nice nuts and dried fruit selections.

The bacon is overpriced and their frozen fish is shit, found nematodes in the last pack of cod I bought from them. They have some decent premade frozen stuff, but it's overpriced. All of their condiments are organic bullshit.

The movie theater popcorn is fucking amazing. I am addicted to it

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they used to have these really fucking great chipotle seasoned steaks but they don't sell them anymore.

bronner is a fucking nut but the eucalyptus ball tingler variety is dope

cashew butter
virgin coconut oil
85% dark chocolate bars
scallion pancakes
2 buck chuck

you mean peppermint ?

it's pretty fucking good.

California olive oil.