Adam, this is a huge step in your development as a cook! Now that you have done this, you can really play around with the recipe and put your own personal spin on it next time. When I make chicken stock, I always roast the onion, celery and carrots first to get a really rich, sweet flavor and a beautiful deep color. Pick and choose from all the comments and do what suits you and have fun. Congratulations!
Don't forget the frozen french onion soup, the frozen pizza margharita, the AMAZING tiramisu gelato and the highly addictive cinnamon almonds. Mmmm.....
I love TJs. They have great prices on frozen blueberries and edamame, organic milk and butter, nuts and dried fruits of all varieties, goat cheese, organic rolled oats, delicious freshly-squeezed OJ (it won first place in the SF Chronicle's tasting of store-bought OJs), and nitrite-free bacon. I'm also a huge fan of their eggplant hummus and tzatziki.
You really should try their chunky applesauce, it's great! virginia
I only recently discovered Trader Joe's and have only been there twice so far!
I love the Bay Blend Coffee. Strong delicious cup of coffee! Macaroni & Cheese...Yum! Chocolate covered cranberries...Yum! Sicilia Nero d' Avola red wine...great red wine for 4.99! Italian Tiramisu Gelato...Yum!
Things I absolutely hated are Buffalo Wings...hot sauce had gritty taste, wings were greasy and fatty...yuck! Many people like the orange chicken. When I bought it, I though the chicken would be white meat, but it was all dark meat. I hate dark meat chicken. Anyone who enjoys dark meat would enjoy this. The orange sauce that comes with this are in packets and after baking chicken, you mix it with the orange sauce. Would love this if it came with white meat instead of dark!
What exactly are Cats Cookies???
@ prieta: Pretty much all stores do that with their eggs. You'll hear that story from anyone who has ever worked at a supermarket...though I am disappointed to hear that TJ's does it, that's definitely industry standard.
I LOVE TJ's. Mostly for its inexpensive frozen fruit (great for smoothies), frozen seafood, inexpensive and excellent dairy (same as Clover brand), nuts, and its lettuce/salad selection. Condiments are excellent, too, and inexpensive: peanut butter, jams, oils, vinegars, etc.
They don't carry any dried beans, though, only canned, so the first time I went there looking for pinto beans (NOT canned) I was so irritated at the yuppieness of it that I didn't go back for a year. But I got over it.
A friend of mine who's a dairy buyer for WFM told me that TJ's sells its eggs so cheap 'cause they change the "best by" date so that they can sell them beyond the expiration date. But I go through eggs so fast that it's never made a difference to me, and they are great eggs, with rich, deep yellow/orange yolks.
I have noticed that their packaging on certain items (granola, chips) oftren sucks and the food inside is stale when I buy it, so I just stay away from those items.
All in all, though, there are definitely some gems at TJ's, and this is coming from a very picky cook/eater/shopper. Produce is so-so, though they do carry some excellent basics at great prices (bananas, onions, tomatoes, avocados).
And let's not forget their wonderful wine and spirits selection. No BevMo, but it does the trick.
I've been going to Trader Joe's for close to 13 years, ever since the first one opened in my hometown in California when I was a teenager. The way they keep their prices low is by buying in bulk, and the quality of the food is obvious. I don't think that many people on Serious Eats would be fooled by their "atmosphere" - they have really good stuff.
I actually don't buy that much of their prepared food, as a lot of it's too salty for me (but their chili and green cheese tamales are great) - I do get nuts, tofu, frozen fruit, tortillas, cheese, cooking oils, vegetable stock, grains, and other staples for so much less than I would pay at Whole Foods, and a lot of the time, less than I'd pay at a big grocery (and much higher quality).
Also, their vitamins are extremely inexpensive, and when I was in high-school chemistry we tested our multivitamins to see which had the closest amounts of certain vitamins to what was listed on the label, and my Trader Joe's multivitamin was the best in the class.
I know there's no big company out there that isn't primarily looking to make a dime, but based on my experiences with Trader Joe's over the years and talking to folks I know who have worked there, they are the real deal. They're good to their employees and use savvy buying strategies to offer quality goods at lower prices than their competition.
I give my dogs the cat cookies. Tilapia and I have not seen it since January here and it was very good. All of their fish is flash frozen and so so fresh. Trader joes coffee. Haricot verts, edamame. The gelatos. The chocolate bars just over a pound 17 ounces of dark, milk and semi sweet, also broken up chunks of ghiardelli. The fancy italian sodas. I buy all my nuts there and dried fruits. The tiny peanut butter cups.
It certainly isn't a one-stop-grocery-market and you do have to know what's good; not everything is good. But they do carry some delicious items at reasonable costs, and the atmosphere doesn't hurt either. I know it's a pretty big company now, but still the stores have a mom and pop feel to them, and the workers are almost always cheerful and helpful.
No, don't buy into the hype. Just try it for yourself. If you don't like it, you don't like it. That's all.
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