Trader Joe's/Whole Foods Market

i dont know of any must haves, but i could spend for ever at whole foods!! Ive never been to trader joes, but we have one....

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OMG, If you like Hummus, Trader Joe's White Bean, Basil and Garlic Hummus is INCREDIBLE!! It is THE most delicious hummus ive ever had.
Their EVOO is extremely good tasting too, and flavors up salads and stuff very good! (Im doing the Mediteranean diet so it calls for small amounts of this in my diet)
Trader Joe's is great because price wise you can beat it. PLUS, their flowers are beautiful and very good quality and CHEAP! I buy a bunch of flowers whenever I can from them.

I love Whole Foods but they are really overpriced. They have the best bread, though. If you have a Sunflower Market, check that out instead.

Trader Joes is definitely the best place to get nuts, sunflower seeds, and almond butter. They also have a great selection of protein bars and other dietary supplements. And they tend to be cheaper than Whole Foods. Happy shopping! :happy:

I love Whole Foods but they are really overpriced. They have the best bread, though. If you have a Sunflower Market, check that out instead.

I know....that's my only problem with Whole Foods that some of their products can be expensive. There is not a Trader Joe's in my area so I can't compare the two.

I love both places. Whole Foods more though but I try to stick to Trader Joes because it's cheaper IMO.

I love love love trader joes. They have a great selection of healthy snacks (some even preportioned) like nuts and string cheese and dried fruit. They also have great frozen meals that are the perfect size for 2 servings - heat them up, add a salad and dinner is done!

Trader Joe's has a southwest marinated salmon which is amazing. I can live off of it! It's also good to pick up frozen organic goods from TJ's.

Whole Foods has an amazing already prepared section, the cranberry quinoa to go is delicious. Also, the rotisserie chicken is great as well.

Wishes that I had a traders joe where I live. The only one in Pa is in Pittsburgh and my fiance and I only go out there twice a year.:sad:

I have a serious love affair with Trader Joe's and could list off about a bazillion things from there, but my core TJ's must haves are:
Roasted Plantain Chips
Shrimp and Surimi Louie Salad (though I don't use the dressing, it is tasty)
Salmon Patties (in the freezer section)
Nulaid Reddiegg Egg Subsitute - it's usually at least $2 cheaper than any other brand anywhere
Ranchero Egg White Salad
French Macaroons (in the freezer section, 45 cal each but an amazing delectable treat when you need something sweet)

TJ's has frozen paneer tikka masala. Each box is 270 calories and it is delicious! I eat it for lunch a lot during the week at work and can't believe I'm only eating 270 calories. Their chicken tikka is good too. If you like spicy, their lamb vindaloo is good, as well as their paneer saag. Mmmm, I love Indian food if you can't tell. I think TJ's frozen variety is almost as good as you would get in most restaurants.

I don't think it is fair to call WF expensive. Yes, if you want to buy specialty foods they will be expensive no matter where you shop. But its nice to have variety sometimes and try some new things (like bison, homemade soap, flavored agave nectar... etc). I love their beer variety too. Check out Indian Wells Valley Brewing Company's mojave gold and mojave red!!! Its a small brewery owned by one of my high school teachers. I still can't believe WF carries them, they're tiny!! (/ advertisement) The store brand, "365", is really great and not expensive at all. I think the quality of products that they have available are often worth the price but yes, for a simple shopping trip I'd often choose TJ's.

My two favorite stores...

I wish people would stop calling whole foods "whole paycheck" and too expensive. What it really is we got too used to cheap junk. Veggies and fruits picked before ripening, farmed fish, hormone and antibiotic injected meat. Many of the organic items at trader joes are similarly priced to whole foods. I think it's worth paying extra to have fresh high quality organic foods that contribute to my health.

Rant aside, my fave item from whole foods are: any organic fruit/veggie, fresh poultry, grass fed meats and fish, basmati rice, black mission figs, tofu shirataki noodles (really low calorie), galeo's salad dressing (also low calorie), fresh ground almond butter, gluten-free items, and the hot food bar.

At trader joes I love the precooked chicken, brown rice, hummus, frozen wild fish, and Valencia peanut butter (so yum!). There are also some great chips and chocolates that shouldn't be mentioned on a weight loss forum :blushing:

I love the "tahini free" hummus...you save a few calories by omitting the tahini. The Trader Joes low fat Spinach Pie (I think it is 240 cal) is a staple in my diet. Also the Italian Spiced chicken sausage cooked up with TJ's frozen roasted peppers/onions is something my whole family loves.

I LOVE Trader Joe's and every time I go I get:

organic non-fat milk, organic low-fat vanilla yogurt, organic non-fat vanilla greek yogurt, bran flakes (cereal), pecan praline granola, mixed berries (for smoothies and my cereal), orange flavored cranberries (for my oatmeal), and spicy sweet walnuts for snacks. I also love the lite cheddar cheese sticks for snacks as well.

I also get the chocolate cat cookies for people for when I want a sweet snack. Trader Joe's also has a great selection of fresh organic fruits and veggies as well as frozen. I try to eat organically as much as possible.

I have a whole foods down the street from me, but I don't shop there much as I have found it to be very expensive. I did not add to the list the stuff I buy for my 8-year-old (he has his own list of must haves each time I go-lol) but as you can see I buy most items from TJ's.