Help me shop

[resonant]

So. We're taking a day trip this weekend, and I just might get an opportunity to go to a Trader Joe's. (Those of you who live near big cities or in California can take a break and laugh at those of us who live in flyover country. Go ahead; I'll wait. Just bear in mind that my morning commute takes seven minutes, and that's if all the traffic lights are red.)

So first of all, I want you people who get to shop at TJ all the time to tell me what kind of stuff to buy!

But here's the thing: I'll be three and a half hours from home. I'll have a cooler in the car, but obviously ice cream and milk are out of the question, and I'm thinking soft cheese and produce are probably dubious.

I know they have terrific dried fruit. I'm thinking things like olive oil and various vinegars and sea salt would be good. Puy lentils and other legumey type things.

What else should I be looking for?

Comments

[selkie]

Dry shelf-stable penne alla vodka, satay noodles, vegetable jambalaya, and biryani. Maple leaf cookies. Palmiers. Cranberry apple butter if they have any. Reduced-guilt white cheddar kettle potato chips. Mango or pineapple dried fruit slabs (near the regular fruit leathers). Mint cream UFOs.

Uh, and our dog really loves the organic brown rice and chicken sticks, but he's yuppie scum.

[minnaway]

They have a fantastic aioli garlic mustard sauce.

[sara]

Yeah, TJ's produce is basically ass anyhow.

Olive oil, yes, and sauces; snack food stuff; the organic bread and butter pickles are really good; cereal; if you like vitamins, they have a lot; booze (they have a good cheap sake in right now at our local, which I drink very cold, also the Evenus port from Paso Robles is scrumpy).

I dunno what the liquor laws are like at your destination, but in California TJs can sell hard alcohol, and we used to buy whiskey there. Up here, liquor is only sold at the liquor store. Which gives out lollipops to children, which has led to my children complaining, in public, that I don't take them to the liquor store enough. *sigh* That gets me a few hard looks, I'll tell you.

[neotoma]

I always buy chocolate-covered ginger, but any of their chocolate confections are tasty. The triple-gingersnaps are *excellent*, and any of the Cat Cookies. Also, Schoolhouse cookies if you like snickerdoodles (in alphabet shapes!)

Dried fruit -- wild blueberries, montmercy cherries, cape gooseberries, black currants

Bread -- Alpine loaf (good for French Onion soup)

Grains -- brown jasmine rice, quinoa

In jars -- Green Thai Curry Sauce, Morroccan olives

[j00j]

They have some really tasty sesame snack thingies. I don't remember what they're called, as I also live in flyoverland. In general, the snack stuff tends to be really tempting. Also jarred sauces for Indian food, I hear.

[theantipam]

My favorite indulgence at TJ's is the chocolate covered fruit jelly sticks. They also have fruit jellies without choco. These are definitely candy, not the dried (nutritional) fruit. You can get choco covered cranberries, blueberries, espresso beans, among other temptations.

They also have good prices on dried spices for your kitchen spice rack. Of course we all aspire to using fresh herbs etc, but sometimes they just aren't available. For instance, I just bought a bottle of dried dill for $1.49 US and the regular grocery store sells it for $6 or more.

I second the vote for the triple ginger snaps, and the cat cookies of any flavor - many are low fat.

Also, if you are looking for reusable shopping bags for shopping at any store, TJ's has a couple styles of sturdy and colorful bags for 99 cents each. I bought a dozen and wrote my name on them - they certainly can be used for any of your shopping and carrying needs. My favorite design is the brightly colored surf boards that say Trader Joe's.

Please let us know what you bought, and what you wish you'd bought more of :)

[heuradys]

I can't live without their dried pomelo anymore. The dried hibiscus flowers are different and nummy, too. And I second Selkie's recommendation of the mango or pineapple dried fruit slabs!

In the legumey type things category, I tend to keep a stock of the Harvest Grains blend on hand all the time; Israeli-style couscous, orzo, baby garbanzos, & red quinoa. And snack-wise, the Crunchy Curls, which are lentil & potato, aren't bad, either.

And their cookies....mmmmm....

[resonant]

Ooh, that grain blend sounds a lot like the stuff I used to buy from the Indian Harvest catalog, which is apparently only selling wholesale now. I've missed that stuff.

[kalena]

The truffle candy bars. YES.

I've heard the peanut butter is outstanding.

[resonant]

Cranberry apple butter sounds amazing. And I hope your dog does the cooking.

[resonant]

Sounds delicious. I rarely buy sauces, but I see I'm going to have to make an exception here.

[aseneth]

I'll add my vote for chocolate cats and the chocolate covered jellies, especially the orange ones. Dark chocolate covered raisins. Chocolate covered just about anything, come to that. Pecan bread. Cheese sourdough bread. Maple syrup (best price on half decent quality syrup I know of). Nuts and trail mix. Everything(?) crackers. English Breakfast teabags. Really, it's hard to go wrong.
And of course, there's the "Two Buck Chuck" wine - a number of varieties for $2.99/bottle, all of which has been at least quite drinkable and some surprisingly good.
I bought a huge ice chest for our treks from Texas to Colorado and we stop by the Trader Joe's in Santa Fe on the way back to stock up on frozen food for the next six months; Mandarin Orange Chicken, frozen vegetables, Tempura chicken, cheesecake...

[resonant]

We can buy hard liquor at the grocery store, but neither of us drinks enough to bother buying drinking-type liquor. If you didn't know that alcohol could be used to cook with, I don't know what you'd make of a house that has vermouth (but no gin), sherry, Kahlua, and Grand Marnier, but nothing else.

[resonant]

Oh, I am going to spend so much money. Moroccan olives! My mouth is watering. (I love your bunny icon.)

[sara]

Oh, well, obviously: you only imbibe after dinner. Or skiing. Or while watching Masterpiece Theatre. ;>

[azurelunatic]

I adore their orange chicken, which is frozen goods. I like their chocolate orange sticks and their chocolate caramels and the chocolate cherries. They also have some pretty good large blocks of chocolate suitable for melting/dipping type purposes as well as eating purposes. Their juices are tasty.

[azurelunatic]

The best friend had to tell me to lay off the orange sticks after my voice had gone up an octave and doubled in speed.

[resonant]

I like sesame snacks, but I can get them here in Cornville. Indian sauces, not so much.

[resonant]

Oh my god. My shopping list is getting longer and longer.

[resonant]

My first thought was, "Those probably wouldn't survive a long car trip in August."

My second thought was, "No, but they probably won't even make it across the parking lot."

[resonant]

Ooooooh, maple syrup. I didn't even think about that. Raisinets now come in dark chocolate, and they're delicious, but not so delicious that I don't think it could be done better.

[resonant]

Chocolate seems to be a theme here. I wonder: If I packed the cooler full of zipper bags of ice, would it make it there and back again cold enough to carry chocolate?

[blacksquirrel]

I am packing some of their jam for my move to the hinterlands. Their blueberry and cherry jams, in particular, are pretty much jars of the whole fruits, loosely filled in with gooey goodness - really, the amount of whole fruit in each jar is astounding.

I also love their candied nuts to sprinkle on salads, and their crystallized ginger is absolutely the best - smooth and creamy like I never knew ginger could be.

[azurelunatic]

Three hours at how hot? Hm.

...actually, that sounds like a decent math problem. Does your cooler happen to list its thermal conductivity rate?

[azurelunatic]

Actually, from my Phoenix, AZ years, what I'd do if I were trying to do it properly would be bring ice along for the ride out to keep the cooler cool, and then get new ice when I was there, and refill the zipper bags with the new ice for the trip back. If I were really serious I might have large ice blocks that I'd frozen in tupperware or water bottles, and water bottles have the advantage that you can drink them once they've melted.