Trader Joe's

I love Trader Joe's! My favorite things to buy include: Ezekiel Bread, Black Bean & Cheese Taquitos (in the frozen section), organic shredded cheese, Thai vegetable dumplings (also frozen), General Tso's sauce (for making stir frys) and lots of fruits and veggies of course. I think Trader Joes is very reasonable.

Trader Joe's is far from all Organic. Most items are private label conventional foods just done well and at a great price. Check it out.

Found out that Trader Joe's is owned by the same company that owns Aldi.....

Posting to see the answers! I have one that just opened by my house about a month ago.

Cookie butter.

Ate a whole jar of it last week and I don't regret it.

This.

And the guacamole! The nut sections pretty great too!

Yogurt Stars
Cowboy Bark
Wasabi Wow!
Mandarin Chicken
Grilled Chicken Strips
Fresh Veggie Packs
Chocolate Covered Pretzels
Cheap Wine
Any of their frozen meals or prepackaged meats

I just love Trader Joe's and sadly we don't have one any closer than three hours

It's not all organic but they have many great low cost organic options and they have the best, most savory prepared packaged (frozen) foods around. They have so many ethnic frozen foods that I find we eat out much less simply because we can have a wide range of flavor on hand! (Favorite Mexican: frozen tamales - mini chicken ones or even the regular sized cheese and sweet corn // Favorite Chinese: Gyoza chicken potstickers // Frozen Indian: Naan bread is killer!)

I find that I live off of their healthy snacks when I need a fix - their dried fruit selection is tops (favorite is the sliced dried mango: the unsweetened is my favorite - it's super sour!) and also the nuts selection is by far the cheapest and best. (Splurging on the calories of one macademia nut lasts me for hours when I need to simply have a quick taste of something. I know, this sounds crazy.)

Favorite frozen snacks include chicken cilantro wontons (2 minutes in microwave + add a quick homemade a soy/rice vinegar dip sauce -easy!)

Kids love mini-chicken pot pies and the mini pizzas.

Produce is great for organic options - I buy the arugula lettuce bags (organic) and organic strawberries. Their organic options are 1/2 the cost of Whole Foods (though we still go to WF for special items we can't get at TJs). We are saving a ton of money by not eating out (bec of frozen ethnic options) and by buying organics at TJs.

Great salsas and pasta sauces - salad dressings and sauces for cooking.

Steer clear of trying their cookies and frozen treats. Not smart for a fitness pal....they are addictive! (Kids love the mini ice cream cones called 'Hold the Cone' ) - Almost forgot - dark chocolate low carb choc bar has lasted me all week. A little square per day was my choc rescue for TOM.

I could walk into Trader Joe's and buy pretty much one of anything, but their fresh produce is amazing (and expensive). Also, their frozen food. I like the ice cream, macarons, orange chicken, fried rice, some of the individual meals.

And their soy milk beats Silk by a mile. Just try some things out!

WISH THEY SOLD BOURBON :-(

They are pretty awesomer though :-)

So many things I love from TJ's...

Meatless sausage flatbread pizza tops the list, mmmm so good
Unsweetened Vanilla Almond & all the soy milks
Inner Peas (like Snappea Crisps)
New Mexico Pinon Coffee
Really cheap coffee filters
Spices - they don't have much but what they have is cheap and good

I really love their snacks/frozen foods too. Just be prepared, at TJ's your favorite item will disappear for months, maybe forever. Some things are seasonal, some things seem to disappear (where did the frozen fava beans go? And the shelf-stable tofu?). I suppose it's part of how they keep prices down.

Actually, they do sell bourbon (at least the one here does). Hubby tried it a few weeks ago and enjoyed it so much he bought a second bottle

oh and the Healthy 8 Veggies are a must - in fact, it is why I make the 40 minute drive to TJ each week. It is a mixture of 8 different veggies (fresh) that includes cabbage, broccoli, celery, green peppers, radishes, carrots and something else. I can't eat lettuce, so this is my salad I have almost everyday for lunch. It also makes a great base for soups and for stir fry's too. And their baked onion Oh's are wonderful - much better than funyons! I usually pick up a few other things while I'm in there - reduced fat feta crumbles are great. Good selection of protein bars. Produce selection is pretty good and reasonably priced

Just be prepared, at TJ's your favorite item will disappear for months, maybe forever. Some things are seasonal, some things seem to disappear (where did the frozen fava beans go? And the shelf-stable tofu?). I suppose it's part of how they keep prices down.

And the stone ground grits. I can't find them anywhere. I had to switch to polenta from Whole Foods - it's just not the same.

Something I learned in a business class--when producers have excess factory capacity because their main customers are ordering less, they will often take on orders at a lower price from other, smaller customers, to fill the gap in production and make some extra profit. Since the price for their primary customers was set to cover all their fixed costs (rent, equipment leases), the money producers make from these smaller contracts needs to cover only 'variable costs', such as the salaries of the people doing the extra production, and the extra utilities costs. So these extra contracts often offer very low prices.

I suspect that the non-staple items Trader Joe's offers at low prices, that appear and disappear, are made via these small contracts using "excess capacity" in producers factories. I think these items go in and out of production based on the availability of low-cost "excess" factory capacity.

I think for other items that they offer consistently (eg: bacon), they contract as a main customer, at prices that cover the producer's fixed cost, like everyone else, so that their supply is steady.

And of course produce is subject to the seasonal harvest. Trader Joe's probably only buys produce that meets both price and quality standards, and if the market for that particular item goes out of Trader Joe's range, they simply don't offer it until the price and quality come back into Trader Joe's guidelines again.

I'm making an educated guess here. The pattern fits a business model I learned in school (though I majored in Engineering).