Best deals and best treats at Trader Joe's?

[Astrea]

I live in Canada but will be heading down to Washington for a camping/outlet mall/shopping trip next month. I'm hoping to hit Trader Joe's, assuming I can find one (do you have them in Washington State?) to stock up on a few items that I can't get here--Annie's Goddess Dressing, and Two Buck Chuck.

What else should I put on my shopping list, either for camping food just for the weekend, or for taking home with us? What are the tastiest items and the best deals there?

[catnip]

Organic whole wheat pasta is a really good buy there.

[Nicole730]

Our TJ's list is:

Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Bagels
Organic Yogurt
Frozen Brocoli
Joe-Joe's (kind of like Oreos)
TJ's Cereal Bars
Nuts

[PancakesMancakes]

I love their cheese puffs, chocolate covered edamame, & grilled tofu.

[artgoddess]

Originally Posted by Nicole730

Our TJ's list is:

Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Bagels (these freeze well when you get home)
Organic Yogurt
Frozen Brocoli
Joe-Joe's (kind of like Oreos)
TJ's Cereal Bars
Nuts

Trade frozen organic peas for frozen broccoli and you and I have the same list.

I tried the Spanish EVOO last time (instead of the Italian) cause I read some consumer reports thing on how Spanish is just as good and cheaper. And it is like 2 or 3 dollars less and I love it.



Dark chocolate covered pretzels - yum!

They have a new Greek feta salad dressing that is yummy, and doesn't have to be refrigerated before opening. (don't know if that's a factor with traveling)
Organic Mayo at a good price
Organic Ketchup at a good price.
Spices - they have a limited supply of them, dried basil, oregano, cinnamon etc. But what they do have is high quality and a good price
Fair trade coffee
Dry cereals at a good price I like Flax Plus a lot and it's like half the price of what they charge at Whole Foods
Canned extra large black pitted Olives, the best canned black olives I have purchased. My family forbids me to buy then anywhere else now.
Flour ( I bake bread at home and go through a lot. They have good flour at a good price)
Organic Sugar (both white and brown)
Pumpkin pancake mix - yummy
Smokey peach salsa
Fire roasted tomato salsa

I also get my milk, eggs and OJ at trader joe's. But I don't know that you want to be carting that stuff long distance.

[April Dawn]

This is complete junk food, but if you like gummy candy at all, their fruit gummy candies (trader joes brand) are awesome!

[artemis33]

Kerrygold butter and cheeses (mmmmm Dubliner!)
TJs Plantain chips
TJ's Tuscano Marinara sauce
Nature's Path dry cereals
Maple syrup
Dark chocolate covered almonds
Niman Ranch bacon and sausages (no nitrates)
Lavender dryer sachets
TJs mini peanut butter crackers
dried fruit
nuts
frozen mango chunks
freeze dried blueberries
string cheese

Definitely spend some time checking out cheeses and wines

You'll have no trouble filling a cart with goodies you'll find I am sure!

[Nuttybuddy]

Where in WA will you be coming? I live in Bellingham and you sometimes see as many BC plates in the parking lot as WA! Ours is on James Street.

TJ's is the best! I do the bulk of my shopping there, except produce (too much packaging). They have excellent prices & selection on dried fruits, nuts, spices, coffee, wine, cereal... They also have a great freezer section.

My fav's:
Frozen mango chunks
Low fat Greek Style yogurt
PB pretzels
Jumbo jalepeno stuffed olives
Roasted red pepper and tomato soup
Cheese! Cheese! Cheese!
L.F. organic vanilla almond milk

I really could go on forever. A new favorite is their wheat Lavash bread for wraps. Make sure to pick up a sample of whatever their cooking that day and some coffee while you shop.

Enjoy!

[ammiga]

A lot of what we stock up on there won't travel well, but you can't beat their prices on frozen organic fruits and veggies (especially the peas and blueberries).

I love their "sweet, savory, and tart" trail mix!
Organic brown rice pasta (the rotini are the best)
Chocolate chips (great price, no artificial ingredients)
Organic soups in a box (no bpa lined cans, creamy tomato is our favorite)
Organic mayo
Sprouted wheat bread, made with many organic ingredients
Vanilla wafer type cookies (come in a clear plastic tub)
Chocolate covered raspberry jelly sticks

[emilysmama]

Challah
Brioche

Frozen garlic cubes
Frozen basil cubes

[Rosehip]

Organic brown rice pasta
Organic whole wheat pasta
Kefir (I buy one each of plain & flavored & mix them so it's not quite so much sugar)
Nuts
Frozen grilled eggplant parm dinners
Pizza dough
Aged gouda cheese
Organic reduced sugar preserves
Olive oil
Natural peanut butter

[artemis33]

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention Almond Butter! Great price

[Astrea]

Mmm--I'm so hungry now! I'll definitely be coming back to this thread to make a shopping list. I definitely see chocolate and PB pretzels, smokey peach salsa, organic bacon, and lots of cheese at our camping site!

Nuttybuddy--we'll be coming into Bellingham fo' sho'. We live in Vancouver We're cross-border neighbors! We're thinking of camping at Birch Bay, Bayview (most likely Bayview because it's fairly close to Marysville where the outlet mall we like is), or Larabie. I hear Larabie has an active train track running through it, which puts me off.

[chaoticzenmom]

Trader Joe's has the best price on Maple syrup around here. Better than Azure standard and Costco.

Maple syrup
Peach salsa (get 2 or 3, they go fast)
Pecans
raw almonds
dry sausage (they have a few flavors and very inexpensive 3.99 vs. at least 8 in other stores)
There's also an olive gluten-free tortilla type chip that is really tasty.
Orangina
blueberry soda

[lilcrunchymama]

Originally Posted by chaoticzenmom

Trader Joe's has the best price on Maple syrup around here. Better than Azure standard and Costco.

Maple syrup
Peach salsa (get 2 or 3, they go fast)
Pecans
raw almonds
dry sausage (they have a few flavors and very inexpensive 3.99 vs. at least 8 in other stores)
There's also an olive gluten-free tortilla type chip that is really tasty.
Orangina
blueberry soda

How much comes in a bag/container? I have been looking for raw almonds, but want to see if the trip to my local TJs is worth it.

[angelachristin]

most of the nuts are 1 lb bags.

I shop almost 100% exclusively at TJ's. It's 3 minutes from my house luckily!

I always get:

the raw almond butter
organic raspberries and strawberries...sooo much cheaper than Whole Foods.
their all-beef hot dogs and their hot dog buns
frozen mango and pineapple for smoothies
frozen sweet potato fries
frozen 4-cheese pizza...LOVE!
frozen ahi burgers
cheese! raw cheddar, dubliner, mozzarella...
my son lives for the apple cereal bars
garlic and cheddar sourdough bread...OMG to die for
vegan chocolate chip cookies-I'm not vegan anymore for years but we buy these anyway because they are so good
peanut butter filled pretzels

I'm having a brain fart and can't remember anything else, but literally 98% of my food comes from there. so yummy. I love their selection of chocolates too. I only go to Whole Foods to get coconuts and kale/collard greens, basically. Oh and carrots, just because I juice about 10 pounds of carrots a week and TJ's bags of organic carrots are just too small for me.