Trader Joe's brand recognition

A few weeks ago Trader Joe’s asked people who get their email list to vote for their favorite products.

Well, the tally is in and here’s the list. (PDF)

I forgot to vote but don’t see cranberry walnut salad dressing on the list. It’s only seasonal and I wish they would keep it all year. The dressing works well on spinach or lettuce with very little enhancement needed and only 70 calories for 2 tablespoons.

I also love their chipotle barbecue sauce and will mix it with mayonnaise for chicken salad or slaw. Add diced apples and a handful of raisins or nuts, and you get an easy dish with a kick.

Or shred a TJ’s pot roast and cook in the barbecue sauce along with chopped onions and you’ve got some filling meat to stuff into a pita pocket or whole wheat bun.

I also frequently use the frozen garlic, basil, parsley, and cilantro cubes. They’re perfect to pop into soups or stir fries when you don’t have fresh.

My friend told me she bought four cases or their Chariot red wine blend. Her being a wine snob, I was impressed when she said bottles were only $5.99. I ran to Trader Joe’s but they were sold out. An employee said people bought cases like never before. Trader Joe’s has free wine tasting now too.

Just don’t get attached because when the products are gone, sometimes they don’t come back like the Cuban sauce.

Here’s two enterprising women who love to shop at Trader Joe’s and love to cook and have a blog and a cookbook.

What are your favorite products at Trader Joe’s?

(Photo from Pachelbel)

Santa Cruz Farmers Market
The hours are from 3 to 6 p.m. As usual the market brims with garden fresh produce such as green beans, melons, chilies, tat soi, mustard greens, winter squash, (I’m getting hungry), spinach, bok choy, beets, pomegranates, apples, locally roasted coffee, honey, red and sweet potatoes, hot peppers, and more. Fresh eggs are available for $3/dozen. Mark your calendars because next week – November 19, Desert Harvesters will be here grinding dried mesquite pods into flour.

What’s Tat Soi?
Tat soi or tatsoi is an Asian green that is also called flat cabbage, rosette bok choy, and spoon cabbage. It’s a member of the brassica family which includes broccoli, brussels sprouts, collards, and kale. Tatsoi can be used in salads or sautéed, steamed or braised and mixed with sauces, chicken, tofu, and pasta. Tatsoi is low in calories and high in minerals, vitamins, and antioxidants.

Mesquite Pancakes
Last week I reported about Desert Harvesters mesquite pancake breakfast on November 7. This was their most successful breakfast ever selling over 2,000 pancakes, and milling over 960 pounds of mesquite pods with three mills on the pancake fiesta day and two mills the next day.

Sprouts Goes Green
Sprouts Farmers Market has joined the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s GreenChill Advanced Refrigeration Partnership and voluntarily committed to decreasing refrigerant emissions through innovative HVAC, refrigeration design and leak-tight practices. Sprouts wants to be your  environmentally conscious neighbor and grocer. Sprouts is located at 7665 N. Oracle Road.

Please send your Tucson farmers market and grocery news to eat.tucson@yahoo.com

good deals at Tucson super markets

Food City
–Good deals on Thursday in the produce aisle: 5 cukes for $1, 4 persimmons for $1, 3 pounds of Mexican grey squash for 99cents, and 3 pounds Mexican papaya for 99 cents (I love Mexican papaya.)

Fry’s
–Fry’s wants to save you money this week; you will need a VIP card which is always free to obtain. For you carnivores, buy one USDA roast and get the second one free, must be equal or less value. That sounds like a really good deal to actually get a roast free.
–To further get you into the store, Fry’s is accepting every kind of coupon from all its competitors. Who can resist that? Even from Wal-Mart grocery stores, Sunflower, Whole Foods.
–If that isn’t enough, all your coupons will be $1 off even if your coupon is for 10 cents or 25 cents. Geez!

Safeway
–Here you also get the $1 off coupon for any coupon up to $1.
Sunflower Farmers Market
–This week they have Haas avocados 2 for $1 (last week I paid 88cents/each). This week they also have 5 Rio Red Texas grapefruit for $1 (last week I paid 2 for $1 which at the time I thought was a good deal). –A bottle of Tejava unsweetened premium black tea is on sale for 99cents/litre. The glass bottle probably costs more than the tea. Trader Joe’s* sells the same bottle for $1.19. 
–It’s not too early to order your Thanksgiving dinner if you don’t want to cook. Here it starts at $24.99 for a half boneless turkey breast (serves 2) + the trimmings or the family meal day costs $49.99 and includes a 10-12 pound turkey with all the sides + an 8-inch pumpkin pie. You can taste before you buy at the Thanksgiving Tasting Fair on November 14 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.

All the markets have other deals of course, but I just mention the ones that don’t seem too complicated or are especially enticing.

Speaking of Trader Joe’s they now have free wine tasting in all their stores. You (must be 21+) can taste up to three wines.

• So where do you do your grocery shopping?
• Do you use coupons?
• What persuades you to shop where?