Whole foods/Trader Joes must haves
Justjamie0418
Posts: 1,065 Member
I am going to be making a trip to one of these two stores soon. Which one do you prefer? What are some must haves on your shopping list? I have been to Whole Foods before and just randomly bought stuff, but I am on a stricter budget now, and it's an hour drive from me. So, lemme have it...
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Replies
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Trader Joe's is way cheaper overall. Whole Foods has more organic, nonpackaged fruits and vegetables, and a wonderful loose tea selection (not available at all stores).
At TJ's, I get condiments, spices, tea-bag red chai tea, organic light string cheese, milk products, boxed soups, canned tomatoes, kitchen cloths, etc. They have the best price for Ak-Mak, a whole wheat/sesame seed cracker. And of course, really cheap wines.
At WF, I get loose jasmine tea, to-go salads, and about once a month a great brie burger at their burger bar (hold the bun).0 -
Best quality, least processed foods you can get no matter where it is :-)0
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Trader joes-peanut butter,tea,frozen fruit,rice cakes & trail mix
Whole foods-coconut water,green veggies & bulk oatmeal.
Hope this helps!0 -
I have been looking at thier sites, and it looks like TJs has Chai seeds, which I would like to try. The food in my town is pretty limited at the chain grocery stores we have, I am looking foreward to branching out some and getting things I dont normally buy.0
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just look through the produce section for sale and in season stuff, there's bound to be some deals.
if needed, its easy to google what's in season now.
lots of spring stuff still like asparagus. green veggies.
with may sometimes you can start seeing good melon,
but ohio's won't be ready yet.0 -
My TJ's has very good quality veggies, and I buy my chicken drumsticks there too because they are 1.79 a pound for about 6 organic drumsticks, nice and meaty. Their almond butter is great, and I haven't tried it but I hear they have really good ezekiel(?) bread. They have a big selection of pre-portioned nuts and dried fruits, but they can be pricey because most nuts are. They have lots of healthy options for pre-packaged or frozen meals for a pretty good price, but it might be easier for you to get fresh stuff 'cause of how many kiddos you have. For a treat now and then, I buy their speculoos filled dark chocolate bar at the register...it's so good. And every now and again, I get their pad thai that come in a box...not exactly healthy, but so good.
They also have lots of options for soups, my favorite being the roasted red pepper and tomato soup. And they don't sell some traditional things as far as bread goes, but what they do have there is all really high quality stuff for a low quality price, lol. Hope I helped a little!0 -
I am a Trader Joe's fan.
I get frozen Indian meals for my husband.
I just discovered their balsamic vinaigrette (not in the refidgerated section) and love it. It is not "light" but only 80 cal for 2 TBL.
The frozen fish section is good.
I got some spicy jalapeno chicken sausages the other week and really enjoyed them.
Frozen flatbreads, I think it was carmelized onion with ham and gruyere.
mini beef tacos
Lots of good salsas......0 -
Get Whole Foods peanut butter. They test for aflatoxin, which can occur naturally in peanut butter, if even one moldy peanut gets into a batch, and is a truly horrendous carcinogen even in small amounts. I'm not normally a fan of Whole Foods.0
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Trader Joe's - Plain Greek fat-free yogurt, Kashi Go-Lean cereal, Lite shredded mozzarella cheese, oven roasted turkey breast, broccoli slaw, packaged salads for lunch (citrus chicken, lemon arugula chicken, low-cal chinese chicken ---without dressing all around 200 cal or less), lentil curl chips ( new favorite in my house), and so much more. I also buy all my meat there - organic chicken breasts, mostly and ground turkey.
Whole Foods is only for things I can't get anywhere else (Bob's Red Mill Quick Cooking Oats, Amy's Light and Lean frozen meals)...and fresh fish0 -
A must have is Trader Joe's ketchup. None, and I mean NONE compares...0
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I love TJ. I'm with everyone else on their frozen Indian meals. I buy light coconut milk there because I use it in cooking a lot, their honey greek yogurt is the best I've found, their red bean and quinoa chips are fabulous, they have a to dye for sparking sake, and the honey goat cheese is so good.0
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We don't have Trader Joe's where I live. I go to Whole Foods.......I mostly get bulk quinoa and wild rice.0
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Here in Phoenix, AZ we have Sprout's Farmers Market. The prices, quality and selection are incredible. I buy all my fresh and organic produce there. They also have bulk grains, nuts granolas, etc.0
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Trader Joe's has some good stuff.. but it is NOT CHEAP by any standards, compared to shopping in a regular grocery store. Unless there is something specific that you can only get at Trader Joe's, I wouldn't bother. They do have some good stuff though - I get Better n Peanut Butter there, and I like their mini oatmeal chocolate chip cookies.0
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oooh bump! no TJ yet but we do have Whole foods which I love
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TJ's for sure!
YES!A must have is Trader Joe's ketchup. None, and I mean NONE compares...
Plain Greek Yogurt (the 2% has more protein than the full fat for some reason)
Low sodium tuna
Peanut butter
BBQ "Pop Chips" (taste just like the name brand!)
Multi-Grain Oatmeal
Quick Steel Cut Oats
Rustic Sourdough Bread
Dark chocolate bars
Salsa Verde
Tahini Sauce (for making your own hummus!)
Jo-Jo's - like Oreos, but without the hydrogenated junk - if you're gonna eat cookies, might as well go for these! My kid loves 'em.
Lots of frozen goodies - their Chinese and Indian foods are pretty good for a quick dinner or lunch.
Love their pickle relish, and no high fructose corn syrup!
Cornichons - little pickles from heaven! Well, France, but SO tasty!
That's all I can think of at the moment!0 -
Trader Joe's has some good stuff.. but it is NOT CHEAP by any standards, compared to shopping in a regular grocery store. Unless there is something specific that you can only get at Trader Joe's, I wouldn't bother. They do have some good stuff though - I get Better n Peanut Butter there, and I like their mini oatmeal chocolate chip cookies.
Where do you live? Here, it's so much cheaper than our grocery stores, with the exception of Walmart, but we call it "ghetto Walmart" for a reason and tend to not go there...0 -
I like the eggplant cutlets in the frozen section at TJ's I put it into my salads.0
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Trader Joe's:
Soy Chorizo
Cheddar rockets (best toddler snack ever)
Wine.... I always buy 2 cases there
Their version of GoGurt
Cherry Tomatoes
Basil
Mini dried cheese ravioli's (best toddler lunch! ha!)
Maple Syrup
And all of their frozen foods are awesome0 -
Trader Joe's naan, wine, vegetarian orange chicken, basil, and apples are my favorite. And Whole Foods has AMAZING mushroom gravy, and chick pea patties that are to die for!!0
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I love the WF peanut butter, both the one you do it yourself at the machine, and the ready made store brand, "365" the crunchy variety. It is salty and runny, yum. They have many vegetables that TJ does not have. Prices depend where you are. I live in an area with multiple TJ and WF locations within a 4 mile radius so many items are similarly priced in both stores, and considerably below the prices in all the other supermarkets.WF has great fresh meat and bread, and a variety of cheeses to splurge once in a while.0
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Tj's salsa is fantastic!0
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Here in Phoenix, AZ we have Sprout's Farmers Market. The prices, quality and selection are incredible. I buy all my fresh and organic produce there. They also have bulk grains, nuts granolas, etc.
We just got these here near Houston and I LOVE them!0 -
2 words - - EDAMAME HUMMUS - - at Trader Joe's0
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Bump. I like their creamy basil pasta sauce and coconut oil.... from Trader Joes.0
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Trader Joe's all the way - I try to avoid Whole Paycheck (as we call it now) I will go to Whole Paycheck for homeopathic items - but as of late our Pantry is pretty much TJ's & Sprouts! We buy produce locally and at the Farmer's Markets...NOt too much at Trader Joe's that we don't like and - always have the Thai Curry sauces in the cupboard and lite coconut milk and the coconut milk beverage ( great for drinking, cereals and cooking)and there is always TJ's cheeses in the fridge!0
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Favorite item from TJ's is the pre-portioned garlic and basil in the freezer section. They also had cilantro (which I can't use since I'm one of those that thinks it tastes like soap). These things are nice to have when you don't have fresh options or can't use all of a bulb of garlic before it goes bad/forget to do something with it.
Goddess tahini dressing is great for a quick hummus, too.0 -
Trader Joe's has some good stuff.. but it is NOT CHEAP by any standards, compared to shopping in a regular grocery store. Unless there is something specific that you can only get at Trader Joe's, I wouldn't bother. They do have some good stuff though - I get Better n Peanut Butter there, and I like their mini oatmeal chocolate chip cookies.
Where do you live? Here, it's so much cheaper than our grocery stores, with the exception of Walmart, but we call it "ghetto Walmart" for a reason and tend to not go there...
I live in NJ, it is much much more expensive than the regular grocery stores here.
I can go to TJ's and buy 10 things and it ends up costing like as much as entire shopping trip to the grocery store.
That's why I only get stuff there that I can't get anywhere else.. which isn't much.0 -
Love both but tend to do more of my weekly shopping at Trader Joe's. I think the TJ stores can vary based on what part of the country you live in an I'm in SoCal and here are my favs:
Organic arugula
Organic tuscan kale
Pomegranat seeds (pricey but I put them in vanilla yogurt or just eat them as dessert)
TJ unsweetened white and green tea (already prepared)
LOVE their hummus - eggplant and spicy are my two favs
Reduced Guilt multi-grain pita chips
I like a lot of their dressings - this one is a favorite, Sesame Soy Ginger Vinaigrette
Frozen foods - great to have on hand when you don't have much time:
Reduced Guilt Mac n' Cheese
Grilled Eggplant Parm & the Spinach lasgane (not in a box but in a red & white checkered "boat" with cellophane wrapping)
Mahi Mahi burgers
Trader Joe's whole wheat waffles
Brown Rice Medley - this is frozen rice and takes 3 minutes to prepare - they have the same rice in the regular section but like to have this on hand when I'm short on time.
"veggie" breakfast patties
TJ salsa - both the red and the green are good
Vanilla bean non-fat yogurt and if they have it, the pumpkin is really good!
Good luck!0 -
We used to live 3 blocks from a Whole Foods and it was a mixed blessing. The quality and proximity was great, but paying $5 for a couple apples... lame. Whole Foods is great, if you've got bank.
I think of Trader Joe's as a place to get "open the package and eat" foods, rather than ingredients to make your own meal. Not that they don't have basics there to cook from scratch (they do), I just think that TJ's strong point in their frozen dinner aisle, pre-made salsas, and novelty things of that nature. If you're more into making your own stuff, then I find TJ's a little lacking.
Whole Foods must have -- selections from their cheese bar.
TJ's must have -- frozen garlic naan.0
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