Whole Foods or Trader Joes..

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Replies

  • joansjourney
    joansjourney Posts: 110
    My Trader Joe's is rather small so I usually go to Whole Foods or Central Market.

    Knew you from Texas when I saw Central Market :-)

    Haha! I keep forgetting that Central Market isn't a national place.. I love it in there, I love H.E.B stores all together.
  • doubleduofa
    doubleduofa Posts: 284 Member
    Tjs is cheaper, especially for organic produce, frozen veggies, and organic meats. I mostly shop at tjs, but mix it up with sprouts and whole foods. I like whole foods, but it always reeks of fish...
  • CitizenXVIII
    CitizenXVIII Posts: 117 Member
    Aldi. Some of their house branded stuff is the same as TJ's. As in, same SKU and different label. We discovered this when using a barcode scanner on Aldi red pepper tapenade and it came up as TJ's red pepper tapenade. Same food, cheaper prices.
  • LB2812
    LB2812 Posts: 158 Member
    I do about 95% of my shopping at Trader Joes & Aldi. Between the two I've found really good, low prices and the variety of foods I need... On occasion I need an item not sold at either and I go to the regular grocery store or Whole Foods... Whole Foods I go for the more unigue items I want I can't get elsewhere... oh and their bakery is amazing. But I don't buy regular stuff I can get at TJs or Aldi there because it's really expensive.

    Between TJs and Aldi, TJs will have tofu, more processed veg foods, lots of indian meal items I like, etc. I go to aldi for canned stuff, cheese, etc. Hummus, almond milk, fruits & veggies I get at both! Aldi has a really good cheese selection - especially around the holidays too.
  • FauxFoxx
    FauxFoxx Posts: 53 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.

    They also support Monsanto.

    And? I can get not supporting a big business like Monsanto but GMO's are not bad for you.
  • WalkingAlong
    WalkingAlong Posts: 4,926 Member
    Whole Foods. They pay a living wage at least. But I do need to venture into the scary and unknown world of the Farmer's Market. We have one, I need to use it.

    Funny, I just this morning read TJs pays great.
    http://www.buzzfeed.com/samstryker/trader-joes-is-the-bomb-dot-com

    WF should pay great, they're so overpriced. I rarely go in there. I always leave feeling a little violated.

    Costco for the win. :love:
  • Athijade
    Athijade Posts: 3,300 Member
    Whole Foods once a month to pick up stuff I can't find elsewhere plus some meats and stuff for the freezer. They are the only place I have found a safe hamburger bun (well, pretzel bun) for example. But I only do it once a month because it is a longer drive to get to and WAY too expensive.

    Trader Joes is a weekly stop where I pick up what I can from them. I get a lot of my staples, produce, cheese, and meat from them. At least things like chicken breasts and ground beef. I also like the ice cream there and a few other of my "treats".

    Fresh Market is also a weekly stop because I LOVE their steaks and I can get safe bread and rolls.

    I have a medical condition that is very food sensitive. Eat the wrong things and I am in pain. So I have to really read ingredients. When I find a "safe" product I am happy!
  • _John_
    _John_ Posts: 8,646 Member
    I know several weed science grads from LSU who went to work for Monsanto...

    They were not filthy money grubbing aholes hell bent on poisoning the populace...in fact, one spent his studies trying to find better ways to protect crops from Johnson grass....

    What an evil human being. His wife is a pharmacist, so they're probably in cahoots to do something horrible to humanity.
  • Nedra19455
    Nedra19455 Posts: 241 Member
    Of the two, I prefer TJ's in all respects except that it tends to be more crowded than WF and WF is closer to my home. If I want to walk to the grocery store and pick up one item, I go to WF. If I want to just do a grocery run for my favorite foods, you'd better believe I am going to TJ's.

    In reality, we do most of our grocery shopping at Target, but TJ's is second, followed by Aldi and Byerly's (a local upscale grocery store with a great deli section and good fish). WF is last. It really is just where I go if I want to be able to walk to get one or two items.
  • Suzeesmu
    Suzeesmu Posts: 159 Member
    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!



    Trader Joe's started in Pasadena, CA in 1967 (not Germany). My parents used to drag me to the very first store (still standing) as a child. Hated going there, but I LOVE Trader Joe's now! :smile:

    Trader Joe's may have started in CA but they are owned by the sister corporation from Germany that owns and operates Aldi... There is an Aldi North (Nord) and South (Sud). One runs Aldi's USA and the other runs Trader Joes.


    It is correct that the German company did purchase Trader Joe's in 1979, and thankfully the person who succeeded the founder in 1987 began sharing Trader Joe's with the rest of the country. I had to live in TX from 1994 - 2003 without one, and would call the CA headquarters to ask when they were coming to TX. Ha - they skipped over the middle of the country to go to the east coast before coming to TX. I moved back to CA before they got there.
  • astartig
    astartig Posts: 549 Member
    Whole foods.

    the quality at trader joes.... you get what you pay for.. except for their frozen food. that tends to be a good buy same with their junk food. their food food tends to be low quality, old and stale and nasty. whole foods costs a little more but the quality tends to be top notch.
  • astartig
    astartig Posts: 549 Member
    My Trader Joe's is rather small so I usually go to Whole Foods or Central Market.

    Knew you from Texas when I saw Central Market :-)

    we have central market's in seattle. Only a couple but we do have them. quite nice

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