I Went To Trader Joes!
I wish I was joking when I say that going to Trader Joe’s is the highlight of my day.
I’m not.
Sad.
But! I haven’t done a normal grocery shop there in awhile… and this time I did. This is probably as close as you’ll get to seeing what a weekly shop looks like in our house. Except I still end up at the store almost every single day because I succeed greatly at forgetting things.
Anyway.
Got these new sweet potato chips as a snack. Haven’t tried them yet. Can’t wait.
Some pasta stuff for dinners.
Green stuff that I have perfectly good intentions for but that will probably end up dying in my crisper drawer. I love the mushrooms, I like to flavor things with leeks, the spinach is for juicing and the brussels? Stop looking at me that way. You may remember last year when I tried brussels sprouts for the first time and LOVED THEM. so.freaking.weird. I’ll tell you more about that tomorrow.
Vanilla, garlic and pumpkin pancake stuff. I have no clue why I found it appropriate to set those three things together.
I went with some regular hummus this time over my usual favorite of white bean hummus… and some goat cheese. The hummus is already half gone.
This chocolate coconut water which I have been loving for weeks. I think all other coconut water tastes like wet garbage, but this I love.
Got these granola bars for Mr. How Sweet in hopes of him consuming them over his protein bars. Won’t happen. I’m sure of it.
A lovely chicken that I roasted last night. Tell you more about that later too.
Some staples… plus some onions, russet potatoes and sweet potatoes that I forgot to snap.
An eye-hurting picture of our favorite snack.
Poms and honeycrisps… I wait all year for pomegranates!
Necessities.
What’s the best thing you’ve discovered at the grocery store lately?
154 Comments on “I Went To Trader Joes!”
i love me some tjs. my husband is obsessed with their chicken tikka masala (the one in the frozen section). he’s a “i can eat the same thing every single day” kind of guy & that is exactly what he does. it actually is really good. i also love their dried mango. i don’t buy it anymore cuz i have a bad habit of eating the hole thing in 10 minutes. *le sigh*
oops! “whole” thing
My husband eats the mandarin chicken almost every day. He is heating it up as we speak!
ohhhh did i forget to mention the 6 bags of orange chicken in our freezer?!! :P
Um, there is absolutely nothing wrong with a trip to Trader Joe’s being the highlight of one’s day!! If there is, I’m in trouble.
trader joe’s is often the highlight of my day – it’s ok! :) i recently found their puff pastry – LOVE IT! :) also, their frozen sweet potato fries are delicious.
I must try both!
I TOTALLY GET YOU. I live in Canada, but when I’m in Vegas, Trader Joe’s is like, the highlight of my life. Two Buck Chuck, and all the exciting produce things and stuff… (Well, TJ and Whole Foods, because Whole Foods has all the crazy produce that I read about in blogs all the time but can’t buy because its either unavailable in the cold north or prohibitively expensive. Seriously, figs are like, $12/lb here if you can get them at all). In fact, I love TJ so much that I decided against potentially moving to Boston in a couple years because I thought they didn’t have a Trader Joe’s (they do though, so my future plans were not ruined!). I’m pretty sure I cried a little last time we left Vegas because it meant no more TJ for nearly a year.
That dark chocolate is SICK. Love TJ’s :)
I know. And I don’t even really like dark chocolate!
I love those fiberful bars!!
TJ’s frozen whole wheat waffles are my absolute favorite. their frozen pesto pizzas are phenomenal as well
Haven’t had them – gotta try!
It is absolutely NOT strange that TJ’s is the highlight of your day. I have to drive an hour to mine so it IS my day. Best day in the month, actually :)
I wait all year for honeycrisps…I think I’ve eaten 5 since yesterday morning. And since all I’m green with envy every time I read one of your Trader Joe’s posts, that’s about all I can comment on without sounding whiny.
I am currently living in Utah where there ARE NO Trader Joe’s. I have to wait until the END OF DECEMBER to restock. I’ve basically been living through your TJ trips for the past few months. Ugh what I wouldn’t do for some dark chocolate almonds.
I was in trader joe’s this morning and saw the pomegranates too, but I wondered: what do you do with a pomegranate!?!? I’ve never bought the actual fruit before!
I love just eating the seeds straight – I cut it open and slurp out the juice then just eat the seeds! But they are really good on things like yogurt or cereal or salads, or even as garnishes for savory recipes!
My new favorite thing from TJ’s is chocolate covered espresso beans. They’re nothing special compared to other brands, they’re just a whole lot cheaper.
Now if Trader Joes made a candy corn as good as Brach’s without gelatin I’d be one happy person.
I puffy heart TJ’s! One opened up around us in June and it was like a one-two hour wait to go through the check out line for a couple weeks. Things have calmed down now, and I can go in and get my staples: sweet potato fries and lara bars. I also want to get the pre-diced onions but the Mister won’t let me :(
I just moved to a state that has a Trader Joe’s, and I’d never been before a few weeks ago. It’s amazing. I starting calling myself Trader Jen. We’ve been eating the sweet potato chips with corn relish and salsa (sometimes mixed together, sometimes separate. Options.). Super good, and they inspired me to make the sweet potato honey dinner rolls you posted last week. So yummy, or should I say, “yammy?” No. I shouldn’t. We’ve also become totally obsessed with the TJ edamame chips AND the edamame hummus. Great together. Great apart. Great on ice cream. Great with a spoon and a Lifetime Movie marathon.
you know what’s sadder – the highlight of my days is when the fearless flyer comes in the mail.
i am obsessed with the ginger chews.
These big, fluffy rolls at trader Joe’s, by Udi’s bread… they’re gluten free which I don’t even need, but are seriously so amazing and thick!
that chocolate/caramel/sea salt bar was a recent discovery of mine and is to. die. for. seriously.
Well, the favorite thing that I ALMOST got was that Sugar Chocolate Coffee Bean Grinder when I drove half an hour away from campus to go to Trader Joe’s and it was SOLD OUT. I was so sad :( I need to make sure I call ahead to make sure they have it. When the store was confused as to why it was sold out, I said that it was really popular on this one super awesome food blog, so I’m sure everyone in the greater Hartford area tracked it down.
SOOOO jealous! We lived in AZ for a few years where TJ’s was five minutes away and then we moved to Florida where the closest is now four hours away :( I miss the frozen brown rice and brown rice pasta…..oh, and the breaded eggplant cutlets! They made such a yummy sandwich on foccacia rolls with roasted red pepper, fresh mozzarella, and basil!
I get many of the same things at TJ’s that you do. Some of my new discoveries are the Roobios Chai Tea…its nice and spicy, I love it. We also like the mini ice cream cones. We usually have the Mandarin Chicken with the potstickers and gyoza sauce. My kids flip over it – and I do, too.
Hmmm…may have to do a TJ’s stop since I’ll be in the area tomorrow. My daughter’s been drinking coconut water, so will have to pick some of that up for her.
At Walmart I just got a new International Delight brand of coffee creamer called Cold Stone Creamery: Sweet Cream!! It takes like liquid ice cream in a bottle!!!!!!! Haven’t tried it in coffee yet :)
My mom had those sweet tater chips and they are….addicting. Obviously. Pumpkin pancake mix??? I thought you were sick of pumpkin! LIAR! ;) Ok…you keep talking about that coconut water, but I’m still scared. And will you kill me if I tell you I’m not sure about pomegranates??? They’re so….seedy. XO!
Those chocolate bars are awesome! If you like the goat cheese, you should try the blueberry chevre. It tastes like blueberry cheesecake!
Honey crisp apples! Omg. That’s all I can say.
wow great finds!! i need to get there soon! I am loving their whole wheat wraps, GRILLED frozen asparagus (tastes so different than just regular) also their chipotle salsa, almond butter with flaxseed AND bedtime tea :)
There is absolutely nothing wrong with grocery shopping being the highlight of your day, because if it was a problem – then I’d have a problem too. And I don’t have a problem :)
I love the generals stir fry sauce, it is SO good…also the frozen edamame, and the nuts…and OH the peppermint soap too.
That Caramel Sea Salt chocolate bar is to die for. Heaven!
Um, excuse me, TJ’s has a dark chocolate caramel sea salt what?!!!!! Where have they been hiding that from me? I need this NOW.
Best discovery at TJ’s today? Halloween Joe-Joe’s. I had no idea!
The other day was at TJ’s and bought a small wedge of this new Creamy Toscano Cheese Soaked In Syrah. Wine already in the cheese and a glass of wine on the side? Yes please. It’s so flippin good!
The Creamy Toscano Cheese with black pepper. To. die. for. Their frozen risotto is surprisingly good and super easy.
I love trader joes! Last week I found pumpkin cream cheese! Heavenly. I keep finding excuses as to why bagels are great for every meal!!
I’ve never been to Trader Joe’s, and while everything looks really delicious – did you notice that out of everything you bought the apples are the only thing not packaged?! Tis crazy. I tend to try shop at fresh markets and take along my own recyclable bags and when living in North America I also noticed the lack of recycling.. do you notice this? Nothing against you and your groceries – like I said – delicious! Just wondering if it’s normal for all fruits and veg to be pre packaged?
Yeah, that is just how TJ’s works… it’s not normal at all in the US for it to be packaged – our local grocery stores aren’t anything like it. It’s just a TJ’s thing. They have a bit of unpackaged fruits and veggies, but the majority of their greens are packaged, including all of the organic stuff. Not sure why! But my TJ’s is 45 mins away so this is not how I buy it all the time… only when I get to go there. Normally I buy my produce fresh too. :)
I;m to excited for Trader Joe’s this weekend and yes it’s the highlight of my day! I heard there spiced apple cider is back in stock, I love that sh!t! I just got there Pumpkin Souffles, yum! Ok, I’, excited now! I think I need to call in sick at work so I can go Trader Joe’s shopping, maybe I’ll just sneak out of work and go? Have a great weekend!!
I just went to whole foods last night and became (overly) enthusiastic about a real coconut that I found!! Now I just need to figure out how to open it…any suggestions?
Eeeeek I’ve never tried! I’m afraid I’d cut my arm off.
I don’t have a Trader Joe’s near by, but I sure wish I did. Of course, I would probably spend WAY too much!
I wish I did too! The funny thing, though, is that I think I would end up spending less because instead of getting awesome TJ prices, I have to look for these “specialty” items and pay premium prices for them! All of you that have TJs close by should realize how lucky you are!!
I am headed to Trader Joe’s tonight! It’s about 2 1/2 hours from my house so I am making my weekend a shopping weekend! I’m gonna try the sweet potato chips…mmmm. Thanks for sharing!
The TJ’s in Pittsburgh is like on the other side of the world for me since I live North, BUT I LOVE THAT PLACE!!! It was like walking into the best toy store ever the first time I went there. I’m such a dork- big grocery shopping trips are some of my favorite things to do.
I also wait all year for pomegranates. I don’t use them in recipes like you do, I just snack on them. And thanks to Martha Steward, my kitchen no longer looks like a murder scene when I’m done de-seeding.
How funny you post this now about Trader Joe’s. I live in Rochester, NY and the closest TJ’s is over 600 miles away….But not for long! It was just announced on our local news last night that TJ’s is coming to Rochester! YEAH! My husband and I travel in a motorhome several months out of the year and we love TJ’s. I’m so excited that they will be building a store just around the corner from us. Life is grand!
Last weekend I stopped off at Trader Joe’s and got their blueberry crumble pie. i bought it for a dessert after a dinner-get-together with friends. let’s just say there was not a crumb left by the four of us…
i also bought their pumpkin spice granola. that stuff is dangerously addicting… i can’t stop eating it and my belly is starting to hurt. but not really. it’s actually telling me i want more. highly recommend that granola. fo sho.
– katie @ http://www.ohshineon.wordpress.com/
TJ’s is the best!! What app did you use to take the pictures?! They look so artistic!
I used a combo of camera+, snapseed and idarkroom!
LOVE Trader Joe’s! I grew up in an area where they were plentiful, then moved away & the closest one was A HUNDRED miles away (literally). So I’d make a pilgrimage there once a year. But now…they are building one much closer. YAY! I spend my days sitting on the curb across the street waiting for it to be finished. So — having it be the highlight of your day — I totally get it. :D
Oh my gosh–I feel the exact same way about Trader Joe’s! Have you tried their skin care products? Love them all (hoping they will add more!). Last week I bought a TJ’s toothbrush, made out of recycled materials. Have you seen them? They are arced at the end and totally do the job. And the best part? The package doubles as a envelope– it’s postage paid, that you slip your worn out tooth brush into to ship back to the company for recycling!!! Now isn’t that cool!
You’ve inspired me to make a trip to TJ’s. I have been putting it off because of the rain and I hate going out in the rain, but I think I’m going to suck it up and go today. I love the coconut water! It’s soooo good! I haven’t tried any of the other flavors yet…I’m kind of chicken.
Picked up a package of dark chocolate covered caramels w/sea salt from Whole Foods the other day and honestly they are amaze. Sinfully delicious
Those sweet potato chips are amazing. I can say that they are really good with hummus too :)
The French Macarons at TJ’s are phenomenal.
There is no shame in Trader Joe’s being the best part of your day. It’s an amazing place. Let us know how the pumpkin pancakes turn out! I hope they’re delicious!
I had to laugh at this post, I LOVE TJs and although I live in Canada, we are close to the border and so we have one about an hour away from us. The last time my friend and I went, we were in the States for about 6 hours and only went grocery shopping and a couple very small other stops. The border guy gave us a hard time as he couldn’t understand how we could have gone grocery shopping so long and proceeded to look through all of our bags, only to confirm that we really only did get food!
I don’t (well…yet!) have a Trader Joe’s where i live… but! My dad travels a lot for work, and i’ve told him about Trader Joe’s 10000 times trying to get him to stop at one for me! On his last trip he found one, and i made sure he brought me home smashing s’mores….addicted..But!! I’m suddenly getting a Trader Joe’s in my town with in the next year, cannot wait :)