Hi Teresa: I shop at Trader's Joe for over a decade. Their frozen wild-caught salmon is really fresh. Their nuts and dried fruits are top-notched, so is their no-sugar soymilk. Their tofu is cheap and yummy. My favorites are: flax-wholegrain-cracker (low salt, $1 for a box), flax & corn chips (low salt), roasted no salt sunflower seeds, and Trader Joe's dark chocolate (cheap and imported from Belgium.) Their whole-grain cereal is at least $1 cheaper than regular stores.

A very nice person in the Antique rose forum gave me this recipe to make kosher chicken bought from Trader's Joe: Posted by RabbitRabbit 9 (My Page) on Wed, Apr 4, 12

I like to make poached chicken in the crockpot. This is sort of a french style poached chicken finished in a creme fraiche sauce. It's better if you can find a kosher chicken because it has been dry brined through the koshering process. I usually get my kosher chicken at Trader Joe's. TJ's also stocks creme fraiche as well.
Here's what I do: rinse chicken, put in the crockpot breast side up. In a saucepan, slowly brown some minced shallots or onions in butter, if you don't have them. Add about a cup of white wine (give or take, I tend to slosh it in) to deglaze the saucepan and some chicken stock, just so you have enough liquid to mostly cover the chicken. Also throw in some thyme and/or a couple of bay leaves. Bring this to a boil in the saucepan and then pour over the chicken in the crockpot. If I'm using a kosher chicken, I don't add salt until later but if you're not, then you may want to add some salt. Cook on high for 3 hours or low for 5.

Your chicken should be tender/falling off the bone by the end of it. I take the chicken out, cut the meat off (shred the breast) and put in a pyrex baking dish. Put the chicken stock/wine back in a saucepan and boil to reduce. Add sliced cremini mushrooms and salt to taste. At the end, stir in some creme fraiche to thicken up the sauce. Pour over the chicken and serve with a sprinkling of parsley.

Hmm, looking back over this recipe it seems a bit time consuming, but it's very tasty! I think browning the shallots and using a kosher chicken is key - I've tried it with a regular chicken and it doesn't taste as good, probably because of the long stewing time. Hope that helps!

Teresa, I remember A Southern Season from *Pane Camp very well and have imagined myself back there strolling the aisles. It's totally unfair though that you have SS and TJ's! I have been shopping at TJ's for 20 years, unfortunately just on out of town trips as the closest is 7 1/2 hours away--and that is relatively new. Enjoy!

*I also fondly recall the farmer's market on a hill and Replacements in Greensboro. The day trips you took us on were much fun, it seems like yesterday we were sitting in the living room of the B&B exchanging gifts via White Elephant game. I hope I thanked you properly for all you did for us.

TJ's Pumpkin Butter alone is worth the drive from anywhere.
Use it on toast, biscuits, but the best is mixed in hot cooked steel cut oats.....or just naked on a spoon. YUMMY

Mustangs, you and the other campers absolutely thanked me very nicely for what I did for the bread camp. It was a lot of fun for me too - despite the horrific August heat we had to endure.

Teresa

Lucky you Teresa! The products at Trader Joe's change frequently and I seem to fall in love with the oddball items that don't continue to sell-of course I love many of the standard items too. They sell very good and affordable quick meal type foods suitable for a single serving or two.
Definitely try the vegetable egg rolls - cooked to perfection in the toaster oven.

Surprisingly, I have found Muir Glen Fire Roasted tomatoes priced cheaper at Whole Foods than at the other stores in my area. I avoid WF - I am not even tempted to buy much else there.

You and your Mom had a great shopping day.

I need to take another side trip to Greensboro :)

They've just added a TJ's to the Dallas metroplex. Unfortunately, it's way far away. There are plans for a couple more that will be a wee bit closer to me, but none of them will be around the corner. What irks me is that they are placing them all in posh neighborhoods, usually very close to where the Whole Foods stores are. I get that those are the neighborhoods that will support a "foodie" place, but I still wish they'd place a TJ''s in my lower income neighborhood, where they belong. I mean, they're a discount store, right?

I'm not familiar with Southern Season. Oh, boy, another store to wish for!

Sally

Teresa, I am envious of your TJ's. Our is not a good store. It's messy, dirty, with an overall unpleasant atmosphere where I don't enjoy shopping. The produce especially is nasty. Also, their selection of products is very limited. I've tried half a dozen times and always left empty-handed. Of the items I've seen listed as favorites here on the forum that we might use - I've never found any at our store. Maybe, this summer on a pretty day, we'll go for a ride and try another store in MA or NY but, so far, I'm underwhelmed with TJ's. :(

/tricia

"---They sell very good and affordable quick meal type foods suitable for a single serving or two.
---"
If you want to try out sous vide cooked meat, TJ's has precooked pre-seasoned roasted beef in a plastic bag. I got two when I was in LA. 1.5 lbs, about $16.00 each. excellent!

I assume they were sous vide cooked because they were totally done medium rare edge-to-edge. They probably have a giant size tub and make them by the truck load.

dcarch

Hi Dcarch: we bought those pre-seasoned roasted beef, it was great. TJ also has no-nitrites, 40% LESS FAT bacon - THE BEST! Their no-nitrite beef hot-dog is very lean, and the chicken sausages are decent in many flavors.

Trader Joe is locally managed, so it varies with location. The one nearby us is Hawaii-theme, with lots of fresh flowers in the front, employees dressed in Hawaiian shirts, and they give balloons to kids - that's why we shopped there just to get a balloon! But they stop giving out balloons a few years ago, and my kid is too big for that stuff.

Thank you, Murphy_zone 7, for recommendation of TJ's pumpkin-butter. I tried their sunflower seed butter, it's OK, nothing fabulous. Their almond butter is good. I saw a Daddy got over a dozen jars of reduced-fat peanut-butter, he'll send to his daughter in U. of Michigan. I saw folks get dozen of cereal boxes (cheaper at TJ), and cases of wine ... my neighbor likes their wine.

I'm most impressed with TJ's frozen fish - very good mahi-mahi, halibut, and esp. wild sock-eyed salmon. My neighbor bought mini-roses there for $6 each, planted them outside in zone 5a, rock-hard clay, and they are still alive after many winters.

Theresa, that must have been an exciting trip for you! I would have loved to see Southern Season. It sounds wonderful.

The closest Whole Foods and Trader Joe's are a bit more than an hour drive from us so I only get there every few months.

But this week, a friend and I planned on going to a British tea room for lunch and discovered that there was a different Trader Joes and WF within 4 miles so we went to both of them.

My favorites staples at TJs are their seafood sauce, white basalmic vinegar, and reduced sodium soy sauce. I also like their frozen cleaned and sliced leeks and the frozen roasted corn. I bought a jug of Grade B maple syrup and some pineapple salsa at WF but I don't think I am the consumer their marketing appeals to.

We had a fun afternoon and it sure sounds like you did too.

Sounds like a great and satisfying day. Enjoy.

I have to agree with triciae, I don't like the Trader Joe's in Baltimore, or maybe TJ's doesn't like Baltimore. Both stores are small, crowded, poorly stocked, poorly staffed, impossible to park, and one is almost impossible to get to. I don't go to TJ's any more, it's just too frustrating.

Exactly the same problems with Whole Foods, I only go for items I can't get anywhere else, and then only rarely. BUT......their catering is wonderful, I've used them twice and not been disappointed.

I've been to their stores around the country and seen how good they can be, which makes them even more disappointing here.