Whole Foods or Trader Joes..

_John_
_John_ Posts: 8,646 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Which typically has more brands that you trust?
«13

Replies

  • EvanKeel
    EvanKeel Posts: 1,904 Member
    I don't know about trusting any brand. Of the two, I'd prefer to shop at Trader Joe's for most of my shelf supplies because it's less expensive. I will say that I can rarely trust their heating instructions; they're frequently way off for me.
  • joansjourney
    joansjourney Posts: 110
    My Trader Joe's is rather small so I usually go to Whole Foods or Central Market.
  • Galatea_Stone
    Galatea_Stone Posts: 2,037 Member
    How close are these to Aldi and Walmart?
  • greenkm2289
    greenkm2289 Posts: 8
    The whole idea of trader Joe's is to keep cost down by providing their brands, it's really trail and error and also personal preference... btw trader Joe's and aldi both started in Germany and have really interesting info on their sites, but whole foods truly is a magical wonderland and I wish I lived there!
  • pleasurelittletreasure
    pleasurelittletreasure Posts: 236 Member
    I love both stores but tend to gravitate toward TJ's. They have great produce and cheese and the pricing is lovely. That doesn't mean I don't love Whole Foods for natural face products and the like but as far as groceries, it's going to be TJ's - based on pricing. They are both excellent as far as product trustworthiness.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    Sprouts....
  • skullshank
    skullshank Posts: 4,323 Member
    whole foods is full of uppity wanna-be hippies.

    35kg0j.jpg







    plus, trader joes has tarte d'alace and cheap wine.
  • melimomTARDIS
    melimomTARDIS Posts: 1,941 Member
    How close are these to Aldi and Walmart?

    WORD
  • DavPul
    DavPul Posts: 61,406 Member
    can we define "trust"?

    i have a freezer full of trader joes right now. teriyaki chicken strips, spicy chicken and broccoli, and the orange chicken pretty much round out my week. not sure why i have to trust them tho. are they about to do my taxes?
  • EvanKeel
    EvanKeel Posts: 1,904 Member

    plus, trader joes has tarte d'alace and cheap wine.

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/thrillist/we-made-a-sommelier-taste_b_4575710.html

    CHARDONNAY
    Sommelier: "It's very pale, going on green color. I get lavender. Like, soapy lavender. It reminds me of my dad's bathtub [EDITOR'S NOTE: Weird]. This is pretty damn palatable. There's acid, there's fruit, and there some semblance of a body to it. There's certainly an element of fake oak, in the best possible way. It's as if somebody took a whole bunch of the wood chips from when playgrounds were badass."
    Score: "8."
    What is it?: "Chardonnay."

    Girlfriend: "I know exactly what this smells like. A hippie. Not the kind of hippie that camps out at Phish concerts, the kind who gets acupuncture and wears crystals. Not the patchouli thing. It just smells like nature, I guess. This is the Jessica Simpson of wines. A little trashy, but you wanna like it."
    Score: "This is a 7 for me."
    What is it?: "Yep, Chardonnay."
  • skullshank
    skullshank Posts: 4,323 Member

    plus, trader joes has tarte d'alace and cheap wine.

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/thrillist/we-made-a-sommelier-taste_b_4575710.html

    CHARDONNAY
    Sommelier: "It's very pale, going on green color. I get lavender. Like, soapy lavender. It reminds me of my dad's bathtub [EDITOR'S NOTE: Weird]. This is pretty damn palatable. There's acid, there's fruit, and there some semblance of a body to it. There's certainly an element of fake oak, in the best possible way. It's as if somebody took a whole bunch of the wood chips from when playgrounds were badass."
    Score: "8."
    What is it?: "Chardonnay."

    Girlfriend: "I know exactly what this smells like. A hippie. Not the kind of hippie that camps out at Phish concerts, the kind who gets acupuncture and wears crystals. Not the patchouli thing. It just smells like nature, I guess. This is the Jessica Simpson of wines. A little trashy, but you wanna like it."
    Score: "This is a 7 for me."
    What is it?: "Yep, Chardonnay."

    brilliant! :drinker:

    seems there should be more hippies at Tjs then!

    and for the record, i love their shiraz and pinot g.
  • LifeWithPie
    LifeWithPie Posts: 552 Member
    Here you go OP. A convenient flow chart to help with your decision.

    http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/trader-joes-or-whole-foods/2014/03/21/33a0232e-b144-11e3-95e8-39bef8e9a48b_graphic.html
  • Guns_N_Buns
    Guns_N_Buns Posts: 1,899 Member
    whole foods is full of uppity wanna-be hippies.




    plus, trader joes has tarte d'alace and cheap wine.

    This.
  • bwats33
    bwats33 Posts: 25 Member
    can we define "trust"?

    i have a freezer full of trader joes right now. teriyaki chicken strips, spicy chicken and broccoli, and the orange chicken pretty much round out my week. not sure why i have to trust them tho. are they about to do my taxes?

    I read this as if I buy something it will be of decent quality/taste and be relatively nutritional compared to the processed foods that are unavoidable at your large chain grocery stores. Agreed that 'trust' is definitely a subjective term though.
  • joansjourney
    joansjourney Posts: 110
    I love both stores but tend to gravitate toward TJ's. They have great produce and cheese and the pricing is lovely. That doesn't mean I don't love Whole Foods for natural face products and the like but as far as groceries, it's going to be TJ's - based on pricing. They are both excellent as far as product trustworthiness.


    I do LOVE their cheese...
  • EvanKeel
    EvanKeel Posts: 1,904 Member
    can we define "trust"?

    i have a freezer full of trader joes right now. teriyaki chicken strips, spicy chicken and broccoli, and the orange chicken pretty much round out my week. not sure why i have to trust them tho. are they about to do my taxes?

    I read this as if I buy something it will be of decent quality/taste and be relatively nutritional compared to the processed foods that are unavoidable at your large chain grocery stores. Agreed that 'trust' is definitely a subjective term though.

    I think items themselves are plenty processed. They can call them JoJos all they want, but they're just knock off oreos, not that I have a problem with that. I will say that the ingredient lists for a lot of their items tend to be shorter, for whatever that's worth.
  • Hanowenho
    Hanowenho Posts: 24
    What's trader joes?!
  • greenkm2289
    greenkm2289 Posts: 8
    I don't think I said it clearly earlier, aldi is the same company as tjs, that being said, I'm not even commenting on Wal-Mart, it's definitely a place I try to avoid bc I live in an area where ppl consider it our towns mall lol...
  • _errata_
    _errata_ Posts: 1,653 Member
    Here you go OP. A convenient flow chart to help with your decision.

    http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/trader-joes-or-whole-foods/2014/03/21/33a0232e-b144-11e3-95e8-39bef8e9a48b_graphic.html

    neat.gif
  • CA_Underdog
    CA_Underdog Posts: 733 Member
    Whole Foods. The quality of the fresh fruits and vegetables are higher--fewer discards, almost all are firm and yummy. The quality of the frozen products is higher--most TJ's microwaved items are full of sodium or saturates fats. The selection of goods is wider--especially when it comes to meats, dairy, juices, and ready-to-eat items. I also like that Whole Foods stocks and support local and smaller companies.
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member


    plus, trader joes has tarte d'alace and cheap wine.

    Haha I love that tart.

    I go to both, to be honest. My Whole Foods wins because of an amazing bakery section, and much better produce. TJ because of great packaged stuff. I guess it really depends on what I need. I'm lucky enough that both are within 10 minutes of my house (and 2 minutes of each other).

    Overall I prefer Wegmans though!
  • sistrsprkl
    sistrsprkl Posts: 1,010 Member
    TJ's but... I don't usually get any of their prepared foods and Whole Foods does have much better produce, meat, cheese. Still love TJ's!!
  • _Thriving_
    _Thriving_ Posts: 29
    I am a TJ kind of girl... :-)
  • Barbellarella_
    Barbellarella_ Posts: 454 Member
    My diary is about 90% Trader Joe's entries. So theres my answer.
  • missiontofitness
    missiontofitness Posts: 4,059 Member
    Trader Joe's has a bottle of wine with a cat on it.
    I've only shopped at Whole Foods once, but I will prefer TJ's for that one reason
  • rivka_m
    rivka_m Posts: 1,007 Member
    TJ's is cheaper, I tend to like the food better (meatless sausage pizza!) but the biggest reason I prefer TJs is that the WF near me is full of really unpleasant people (customers, not staff).

    My TJs doesn't have good produce but I've heard that's a regional thing. Anyway I usually get about half of my groceries at TJs, half at Meijer.
  • CA_Underdog
    CA_Underdog Posts: 733 Member
    TJ teriyaki chicken strips
    1610mg of sodium per 450 calories. :(
    TJ spicy chicken and broccol
    1390mg of sodium per 430 calories. :(

    These would be good examples of why I don't shop at Trader Joe's more often. It's not impossible to fit these entrees into the USDA recommended 1500-2300mg of sodium per day, but it would be challenging. On 1200-2000 calories per day, you need to aim for entrees with closer to 1-2mg of sodium per calorie.

    As a one off, of course, both the above beat most medium fast food combos!
  • aeb09
    aeb09 Posts: 424 Member
    I'm a Whole Foods shopper. Something about TJs has made me dislike it every time I've tried it.
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    I don't know about trusting any brand.

    +1

    I shop at both, depending on what I want.
  • krawhitham
    krawhitham Posts: 831 Member
    Whole foods and Trader joes are completely incomparable. Whole Foods has more products and a better selection in general, Trader Joes is more of a specialty store that is good for specific things. I shop at Trader Joes and another local grocery store. I never go to Whole Foods anymore.

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