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What's the appeal of Trader Joes?

Bodhisattva said:
I freaking LOVE Trader Joe's and miss it a ton... Each year when I go back to the States I hit it up...

Inexpensive good food, wine and alcohol... they have the frozen stuff, of course,

the Mexican: burritos, enchiladas, taquitos...
the Asian: dumplings, stir fry, spring rolls

Organic stuff like Quinoa... hemp seed bars... nuts, fruit bars and fresh and dried fruits up the yin-yang...

And things that you would not expect from places like Vietnam

then they have pizzas and cool stuff like sweet potato frites, peanut butter filled pretzels and tons of amazing ready made things like wraps and sandwiches, a huge variety of packaged salads, Cobb, Caesar, Southwestern, etc. sushi,

Good inexpensive vitamins

fresh produce, great cheese selection, tons of great snack things, chips, cookies, lightly salted edamame, etc.

meats... fresh frozen fish and meats, tuna burgers, veggie burgers, tofu
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I think that might be, a lot of pre-prepped stuff. Not my roll.
 
Renae said:
Triggered? No, I know what it is, and it's mostly a mark up, why pay more for little in return?
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It depends on a person's values. Well, and it depends on ignorance, the sort that results in organic certification being referred to as "ORGANIC labeling".

And when a common certification requires capslock? That's triggered. That's not up for debate.
 
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ecofarm said:
It depends on a person's values. Well, and it depends on ignorance, the sort that results in organic certification being referred to as "ORGANIC labeling".
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A prevalent “green myth” about organic agriculture is that it does not employ pesticides. Organic farming does, in fact, use insecticides and fungicides to prevent predation of its crops. More than 20 chemicals are commonly used in the growing and processing of organic crops and are acceptable under the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s arbitrary and ever-shifting organic rules. Many of those organic pesticides are more toxic than the synthetic ones used in ordinary farming.

But the fatal flaw of organic agriculture is the low yields that cause it to be wasteful of water and farmland. Plant pathologist Steven Savage of the CropLife Foundation analyzed the data from the USDA’s 2014 Organic Survey, which reported various measures of productivity from most of the certified organic farms in the nation, and compared them to those at conventional farms. His findings were extraordinary. In 59 of the 68 crops surveyed, there was a yield gap, which means that, controlling for other variables, organic farms were producing less than conventional farms. Many of those shortfalls were large: for strawberries, organic farms produced 61 percent less than conventional farms; for tangerines, 58 percent less; for cotton, 45 percent less; and for rice, 39 percent less.

As Savage observed: “To have raised all U.S. crops as organic in 2014 would have required farming of 109 million more acres of land. That is an area equivalent to all the parkland and wildland areas in the lower 48 states, or 1.8 times as much as all the urban land in the nation.”
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The Organic Food Hoax | Hoover Institution
 
Renae said:
The Organic Food Hoax | Hoover Institution
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:screwy

Everyone knows what pesticides are organic certified and why. It doesn't even mention fertilizer. "Other conditions controlled for" is a lie. The article is BS.

Just another Truther subject for you, Renae. At least you waded into this one with your dishonest set up of an OP, which you abandoned as soon as it went south. Hit us with the wacko Truth. We're ready.
 
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Alexandre said:
I'm not either. It's mostly frozen or pre-packaged food. I shop at Whole Foods mostly.
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We just got a package from Amazon. It claimed that they can deliver whole foods items within 2 hours. Has anyone tried.
 
Lovebug said:
We just got a package from Amazon. It claimed that they can deliver whole foods items within 2 hours. Has anyone tried.
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Amazon bought Whole Foods. Two hours is impressive.
 
Renae said:
The Organic Food Hoax | Hoover Institution
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I can't stress this enough. Since the term organic agriculture was coined by Rodale in the 1940s, no one has ever claimed organic agriculture is pesticide free. No one, ever, in all of history, has made that claim. The article flat lies. It's written for idiots.

The list of organic certified pesticides is available at the FDA certification website. It's the opposite of a secret. It's the first thing every organic farmer and gardener learns. It's the first thing in any book about organic agriculture.

That an organic pesticide (Bt) is being abused into ineffectiveness by gmo agriculture is a major issue.

Only the absolutely most ignorant could read that article and not know it's BS immediately.
 
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Renae said:
I think that might be, a lot of pre-prepped stuff. Not my roll.
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It is great... I worked in a couple of the nicest fine dining restaurants on the West Coast and cook myself, fresh produce, good quality... but I can appreciate Trader Joe's and their good stuff without feeling snobby about it.
 
Bodhisattva said:
It is great... I worked in a couple of the nicest fine dining restaurants on the West Coast and cook myself, fresh produce, good quality... but I can appreciate Trader Joe's and their good stuff without feeling snobby about it.
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Not snobby about it, just not my thang. Part of it is premade foods make me sick now. Yay Bartic Surgery!
 
Renae said:
That might be my issue, I cook as much from scratch/fresh as I can, premade frozen ****s for the birds.
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Renae said:
The prices were meh, a whole lot of "ORGANIC" labeled food, which I tend to not buy because it's over priced. I like fresh meat, fish, veggies. I shop when I can at HEB Central Market, it's not cheap, but the food is top notch quality.
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You've answered your question, here. You are not their target customer.

BTW - I used to avoid organic food, thinking it was a marketing crock. But then after I started shopping at some more upscale places having a larger organic presence than the more value oriented markets, I've changed my mind. I've since found that many of the organic products are grown, shipped, and handled & packaged in a higher quality manner. I hate to call it "boutique" vs "mass merchandised", but that seems to be exactly what it is. To my tastes and experiences, organic food often seems to be higher quality, better & more natural tasting, and has a longer shelf life.

The following may be a poor example because it is mass merchandised and available virtually everywhere, but have you tried Heinz Organic Ketchup? It sounds crazy, but it's absolutely excellent, with a "fresher flavor" profile of sorts. Try a comparison with the old. It's all I buy, now.
 
Renae said:
Not snobby about it, just not my thang. Part of it is premade foods make me sick now. Yay Bartic Surgery!
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Trader Joe's is kind of about lifestyle. That can be a part of healthy living.
 
Chomsky said:
The following may be a poor example because it is mass merchandised and available virtually everywhere, but have you tried Heinz Organic Ketchup? It sounds crazy, but it's absolutely excellent, with a "fresher flavor" profile of sorts. Try a comparison with the old. It's all I buy, now.
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That's not crazy. Once someone tries organic ketchup, one cannot go back. Industrial ketchup is inedible after trying organic.


Edit: I might note, brand doesn't matter. I've had Trader Joe's, Heinz, Target, others. As long as it's certified, it's a different world. Really, the cheapest way to upgrade ketchup is via BOGO at any supermarket. I think Joe's and Target's store brand are about the same price but Bogo Heinz is cheaper.
 
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ecofarm said:
That's not crazy. Once someone tries organic ketchup, one cannot go back. Industrial ketchup is inedible after trying organic.
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Yep.

When I was a child, my grandparents from Europe bemoaned the lack of quality in American supermarket food as we entered the industrialized frozen food era. It was because they knew what a fre- range chicken tasted like, before they were called "free range"! They remembered when it was just called "chicken". And sometimes you caught it in your yard, or small farm.

Now it looks like we've come full circle, after our parents' fascination with Swanson's TV dinners, Wonder Bread, and frozen veggies! We've come full circle, and are back to wanting and enjoying what our grandparents had. And I see that as a good thing.

But one of these days, I've got to try one of these things below again, just to see how good or bad my childhood was! Maybe I'll wash it down with some Tang, and listen to some Motown on an A.M. radio, or watch the Apollo moon landing in black & white. I want to get the whole experience! I'll shut the aircon off, too. I suspect it's going to really suck.


 
Chomsky said:
You've answered your question, here. You are not their target customer.

BTW - I used to avoid organic food, thinking it was a marketing crock. But then after I started shopping at some more upscale places having a larger organic presence than the more value oriented markets, I've changed my mind. I've since found that many of the organic products are grown, shipped, and handled & packaged in a higher quality manner. I hate to call it "boutique" vs "mass merchandised", but that seems to be exactly what it is. To my tastes and experiences, organic food often seems to be higher quality, better & more natural tasting, and has a longer shelf life.

The following may be a poor example because it is mass merchandised and available virtually everywhere, but have you tried Heinz Organic Ketchup? It sounds crazy, but it's absolutely excellent, with a "fresher flavor" profile of sorts. Try a comparison with the old. It's all I buy, now.
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Our HEB Central Market has a lot of good stuff, that's not Organic labeled, or priced. I also love Farmers markets, the real ones.
 
Chomsky said:
But one of these days, I've got to try one of these things below again, just to see how good or bad my childhood was! Maybe I'll wash it down with some Tang, and listen to some Motown on an A.M. radio, or watch the Apollo moon landing in black & white. I want to get the whole experience! I'll shut the aircon off, too. I suspect it's going to really suck.
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Be sure to bake it proper in a real oven not a toaster oven or microwave, and a little broil at the end for crispy, like mother would. Don't sell it short.
 
ecofarm said:
Be sure to bake it proper in a real oven not a toaster oven or microwave, and a little broil at the end for crispy, like mother would. Don't sell it short.
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Heh.

Salisbury Steak was my fav, and interestingly I found this!


 
Chomsky said:
You've answered your question, here. You are not their target customer.

BTW - I used to avoid organic food, thinking it was a marketing crock. But then after I started shopping at some more upscale places having a larger organic presence than the more value oriented markets, I've changed my mind. I've since found that many of the organic products are grown, shipped, and handled & packaged in a higher quality manner. I hate to call it "boutique" vs "mass merchandised", but that seems to be exactly what it is. To my tastes and experiences, organic food often seems to be higher quality, better & more natural tasting, and has a longer shelf life.

The following may be a poor example because it is mass merchandised and available virtually everywhere, but have you tried Heinz Organic Ketchup? It sounds crazy, but it's absolutely excellent, with a "fresher flavor" profile of sorts. Try a comparison with the old. It's all I buy, now.
Click to expand...

Organic is a marketing gimmick. As you put it it’s more about small production vs mass. I’d rather have non-organic local food than organic mass produced food
 
Chomsky said:
Heh.

Salisbury Steak was my fav, and interestingly I found this!
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I highly doubt that homemade Salisbury steak will have the same McRib bounce to it that a TV Dinner does.
 
I feel the same way about In N Out Burger.
 
Renae said:
We were there a while back and I was not impressed with it, but people are all gaga over it. I don't get it.
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Good, inexpensive wine. They have some other good stuff too but I go there for wine by the case. Not so much great wine but, generally, good value wine.

Their whole wheat pasta is also pretty good
 
ecofarm said:
Eggs are a steal.
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Great take away food, amazingly good frozen ahi steaks, great beer and wine and cheese and everything.

If you don't like Trader Joe's you don't deserve to enjoy it.
 
beefheart said:
Great take away food, amazingly good frozen ahi steaks, great beer and wine and cheese and everything.

If you don't like Trader Joe's you don't deserve to enjoy it.
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I'd go to a liquor store or even regular supermarket for beer. What's 10 at Publix is 15 at Joe's. Good selection, but most of it can be found at the end of the beer aisle at the supermarket for 33% less.
 
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ecofarm said:
I'd go to a liquor store or even regular supermarket for beer. What's 10 at Publix is 15 at Joe's. Good selection, but most of it can be found at the end of the beer aisle at the supermarket for 33% less.
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I can get Dos Equis or Czechvar or Pilsener Urquell cheaper at TJ's than at a grocery store...if they have it.

But no Yuengling....they don't sell east of Tennessee,,,,
 
beefheart said:
I can get Dos Equis or Czechvar or Pilsener Urquell cheaper at TJ's than at a grocery store...if they have it.

But no Yuengling....they don't sell east of Tennessee,,,,
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We've some great local breweries (Funky Buddha for example) that are available for around 10/six-pack in common grocery stores. Craft beer, or small brewery, at Joe's costs for convenience.
 
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