Trader Joe’s Favorites
by Karyn Zoldan on Jan. 05, 2012, under A Tisket, A Tasket, Grocery Stores, Specialty Food MarketHere are Trader Joe’s or TJ’s top 28 (that’s an odd number, actually it’s an even number) but why 28? Why not 25 or 30?
Anyway I missed the voting but apparently thousands of other Trader Joe’s customers voted via email on their favorites. What are your favorites?
1. Frozen Mandarin Orange Chicken
2. Triple Ginger Snap Cookies – Yes! Crumble or pulverize in the blender and sprinkle over oatmeal, yogurt, ice cream, fruit salad, berries.
3. Greek Yogurt – For years I’ve been eating crappy yogurt. Greek yogurt is for your inner gods and goddesses.
4. Hummus (Chipotle, Jalapeno Cilantro, Mediterranean) – My favorite is the jalapeno.
5. Candy Cane Joe Joe’s Cookies*
6. Frozen Chocolate Croissants
7. Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups
8. Valencia Peanut Butter with Roasted Flaxseeds – I would put this on my least favorites list.
9. Frozen Mac ‘n Cheese
10. Charles Shaw Wines – I am so over three buck Chuck.
11. Dark Chocolate Almonds
12. Speculoos Cookie Butter**
13. Roasted Seaweed Snack – I did not like this.
14. Olive Oil Popcorn – Beats buttered popcorn any day
15. Raisin Rosemary Crisps – Delicious but $3.99 for a small box is outrageous, at this rate you would be paying more than $25 for a pound of crackers.
16. Dark Chocolate Almonds with Sea Salt & Turbinado Sugar
17. Soy Chorizo
18. Frozen French Onion Soup
19. Meyer Lemon Cookie Thins – Meyer lemon anything would taste fab.
20. Frozen Fire Roasted Bell Peppers and Onions – This mix comes in handy for a base for omelets or stir-fry.
21. Frozen Turkey Meatballs – Yes, they’re a staple in my freezer.
22. Chocolate Covered Potato Chips – OMG! Thank goodness I never saw this item.
23. Bananas
24. Steamed Lentils
25. Frozen Palak Paneer
26. Frozen Chicken Potstickers
27. Lemon & Triple Ginger Snap Ice Cream – I wanted to buy but knew it would be a big dieting mistake. Here’s a good idea. Make a crust from the triple ginger snaps and fill the shell with ice cream and sprinkle with dark chocolate almonds.
28. Frozen Pear Tarte – My friend brought this to a recent potluck at my house. Oh, heavenly pear.
*Candy Cane Joe Joe’s are available only during the holiday-winter season. To be so seasonable and still make the list is commendable.
**Speculoos Cookie Butter is temporarily unavailable due to its overwhelming popularity. More is due to arrive soon, and it’s definitely worth the wait – it’s cookie butter! Sounds awesome and out of my caloric reach. Here’s one woman’s raves…
The thing about TJ’s is — don’t become enamored with a product as they come and go and disappear as do suppliers of the products.
Here is the 2010 list. There were 50 favorites, many repeats but the #1 and #2 products are still in the same ranking.
What are your TJ favorites?

