Trader Joe's Organic Orange Strawberry Banana Juice

Here's a quick quiz to help you figure out whether you're ready to make it as a purveyor of specialty grocery items.

You have decided to introduce a product called "Organic Orange Strawberry Banana Juice." What should its ingredients be? Choose as many as you think appropriate.

A. Orange.

B. Apple.

C. Grape.

D. Pineapple.

E. Strawberry.

F. Banana.

Did you select A, E, and F? Ha! You fool! You'll never make it in the business. At least you won't get a job as a product developer at Trader Joe's.

You see, at Trader Joe's, they understand that orange-strawberry-banana juice should actually contain more apple, grape, and pineapple juice than strawberry or banana. That's why the ingredients are listed, from most to least, in the order shown above. Why? Probably because apple, grape, and pineapple are cheaper than strawberry and banana, and as long as the resulting blend is vaguely fruity, the stupid American consumer will never notice the difference.

Well, this stupid American consumer did. There is no difficulty tasting orange and banana here, but I defy anybody to drink a glass of this--without knowing its name--and identify strawberry as a principal ingredient.

Worse, the ingredients that one does taste are generic, to the point of being uncertain whether they're real. Sure, there's something orangey here, but I was left furrowing my brow and wondering whether I was tasting actual orange juice or some unknown liquid that had been chemically enhanced to resemble orange juice. Same with the banana. They are about as far from tasting like fresh-squeezed fruit as they can get and still be identifiable as orange and banana.

The result is not undrinkably horrid. But stop for a minute, close your eyes, call to mind what a really good orange tastes like to eat.

Now a strawberry.

Now a banana.

Got it?

OK, now imagine those three being released on your taste buds all at once.

Do you have that sensory experience firmly in your imagination?

Great. Now take a swig of this TJ's blend, and see how it compares. I promise you, there is no emotional state possible from this experiment other than grave disappointment.

Will I buy it again? 

No. I would buy in a heartbeat a carton of actual high-quality juices from these three fruits. But that is so not what this stuff is.

Nina's View

Yet another TJ's juice blend FAIL. It certainly seems like a triumph of hope over experience that Bob keeps buying and bringing these concoctions home.

The worst thing about this juice, even worse than the incredible vanishing strawberry, is the nasty, almost chemical taste of the banana contribution.

I took three sips of this juice—each time but one saying to myself "Ick. It can't actually be this bad, can it? Let me try again." I then turned the remainder of my glass over to Bob. I see no reason to ever insult my tastebuds with this stuff again.

Roundup

It's the weekly compilation of news and other links related to Trader Joe's.


Guess which grocery chain sells the most-affordable organic food? 

The best of Trader Joe's beauty products--and their snack counterparts 

Five budget Trader Joe's wines to drink with pizza 

Loyalty lessons from brands with superfans 

What's the big deal about Trader Joe's? 

The real reasons Trader Joe's wines are so cheap 



Best tweets of the week:

#1:

2:

#3:

#4:

Here's this week's YouTube video from "Trader Joe":





And finally, here's this week's cute cat in a Trader Joe's grocery bag:

Trader Joe's Aged Mahon Cheese

We have arrived at the end of Dairy Week, Day 7. Hope you have enjoyed it! 



I had never heard of Mahon cheese until the day I browsed Trader Joe's cheese section looking for something interesting to try. Here's what Wikipedia says about it:

Mahón cheese is a soft to hard white cheese made from cow's milk, named after the natural port of Mahón on the island of Minorca off the Mediterranean coast of Spain. Minorca is known for its cheese production and is home to one of the most respected dairy plants in Europe.... Mahón has some characteristics specific to it, despite aging. In general the cheese is buttery sharp, slightly salty and lightly aromatic (sweet and nutty aromas) in taste. Mahón's sweet and fruity but at times slightly salty taste is due in part to the sea salt content in the grasses the cows eat. The rind is generally an orange color due to the rind being rubbed with butter, or oil, and paprika. As it reaches maturity (around 10 months) it tends to have small misshapen holes and has some granularity. In general, all aged Mahón has a proliferation of tiny holes.

That seems to be a good description--probably better than I could come up with after eating this. It seemed most like a extra-sharp white cheddar, rich and buttery. I liked it a lot. My only gripe was that it was somewhat dry and crumbly, making it hard to slice cleanly.

Will I buy it again? 

I look forward to it, though there are many, many more that I need to explore before I get back to it.

Nina's View

This is very tasty stuff. If I were still buying solidified cow suffering, I would buy this.

Cabot Premium Natural Sweetened Light Whipped Cream

Have you noticed a theme to this week's post? If not, you're not paying attention! It's Day 6 of Dairy Week! 



This is one of those occasional non-TJ's branded products that is nevertheless sold by Trader Joe's.

This is excellent stuff. Put a little squirt in your mouth, and it tastes real; that boast on the can about "real cream, real vanilla and real sugar" comes to life. It's been many years since I had the Reddi-Whip that was always in the refrigerator when I was growing up, but this Cabot product tastes infinitely better than my memory of that stuff.

Will I buy it again? 

It's rare that I'm making or serving something for which this kind of product would be suitable, but when I do, this would absolutely be my first choice.

Trader Joe's Organic American Slices

It's Dairy Week on the ol' blog, and this is Day 5: 



I defy anybody to be able to tell this from something like Kraft's American cheese slices. They'll both serve their intended purpose, which is to slap on a sandwich or burger quickly and convey a vague, generic sense of cheesiness. (For an explanation of what is meant by "American cheese," see here.)

But Kraft's pricier "Deli Deluxe" line of individual slices is so vastly better than its more common corporate shelf-mate--and, hence, similarly superior to this TJ's version--that I see no reason to purchase the lesser offerings. Of course, it's even better to slice your own cheese from some delicious block. But I get lazy like most other people and can be tempted by the convenience of uniform, prepared slices. Given that, why not go for the best ones you can find? For me it's the Deli Deluxe, and has been for many years.

Will I buy it again? 

No. I suppose it's worth knowing that TJ's has here a product that compares favorably with Kraft's market-dominant slices, but neither of them is going to lure me away from Deli Deluxe.

Trader Joe's Organic Eggs

We're doing a whole week of reviews of Trader Joe's dairy products. Here's Day 4: 



I saved eggs for the last of my three posts on pricing of organic dairy products, because they're trickier than butter and milk. The problem is one of category overlap. You can buy organic eggs. And you can buy eggs that are "cage free" and/or "free range." But you can also buy eggs that fit both categories, as in the Trader Joe's sample pictured above. To make things more complicated, you can get different sizes of eggs, at different prices.

And to make it even more complicated than that, I found that some eggs not labeled as "organic" still carry the claim to have been raised free of antibiotics, which, as I've explained, is my primary motivation for going with organics for meat and dairy products when it's feasible to do so.

So let's start with the ones explicitly labeled as organically sourced. All prices are for one dozen eggs. Where these products are also labeled as "cage free," I'll note that. All are for one dozen, in sizes large, extra large, or jumbo.

Trader Joe's          $4.39 (large eggs, cage free); $4.59 (extra large, cage free)

Ingles                    $4.88 (Eggland's Best)
                              $4.68 (Pete & Gerry's)
                              $4.48 (Harvest Farms)
                              $5.28 (Horizon Organic)

Sav-Mor Foods     not available

Harris Teeter         $4.99 (Eggland's Best)
                              $3.99 (Harris Teeter)
                              $6.49 (Horizon Organic, cage free)

Fresh Market         $4.49 (Fresh Market, cage free)

Whole Foods         $4.99 (Whole Foods, cage free)

Wal-Mart               $4.48 (Wal-Mart Great Value, cage free)
                               $4.68 (Great Day)

Earth Fare              $4.78 (Earth Fare)
                               $5.69 (Organic Valley, cage free)
                               $7.69 (Vital Farms, cage free)

Publix                    $4.19 (Eggland's Best, cage free)
                              $6.49 (Organic Valley, cage free)
                              $4.49 (Publix)

                       

Now I'll list those that are not officially "organic," but which carry labels claiming them to be either "cage free" or "free range" AND claiming to be from hens not treated with antibiotics. 

Trader Joe's          $3.19 (large), $3.49 (extra large)

Ingles                    $3.88 (Nellie's)
                              $4.88 (Happy Egg)

Sav-Mor Foods     $3.38 (Eggland's Best)

Harris Teeter         $2.99 (Natural Nest)
                              $4.19 (Land O Lakes)

Fresh Market         $3.99 (Farside Farms)

Whole Foods         $4.19 (Latta's Egg Ranch)
                               $2.99 (Whole Foods)
                               $4.39 (Nest Fresh)

Wal-Mart               $3.86 (Wandering Hen)

Earth Fare              $3.68 (Earth Fare)

Publix                    $3.65 (4 Grain)

Conclusions: If you want genuinely "organic," Trader Joe's eggs are almost as cheap as you can get, with the exception of the Harris Teeter store brand (though those are not labeled as "cage free," if that matters to you). If you're willing to forego the official "organic" designation, but still want your eggs to come from cage-free and antibiotic-free hens, then again Trader Joe's is one of the best buys, though slightly undercut in price by the Whole Foods store brand and by Natural Nest at Harris Teeter.

Considering all three products together (butter, milk, and eggs), Trader Joe's offerings are highly competitive. In fact, if you wanted to buy one unit of the least expensive brand of each of these three products in one stop, TJ's would be the cheapest place to do so: $13.67, compared to $13.84 for Wal-Mart, $13.97 for Whole Foods, $14.68 for Publix, $14.74 for Earth Fare, and $14.94 for Ingles.


Addendum, January 25, 2016 

Here's an excellent explanation of the various egg labels (cage-free, organic, etc.):

http://www.vox.com/2015/12/25/10662742/egg-labels-cage-free

Trader Joe's Organic Lowfat Milk

We're up to Day 3 of Dairy Week: 



This is the second of a three-part series on how Trader Joe's prices for organic dairy products compare to those of other grocery stores in the area.

Pictured here is TJ's 1% milk. Frankly, I don't know why I bought that. I usually buy 2%. Was this a mistake? An experiment? I just don't remember--it was many months ago, and I don't have a jug of 2% on hand for taking a different picture. So just mentally replace the "1" in that photo with a "2," because all of the pricing below is for a half-gallon of 2%. (Though usually when both are offered from a single producer, the cost is the same.)

Trader Joe's          $3.99

Ingles                    $4.68 (Horizon Organic)
                              $3.98 (Harvest Farms)
                              $5.28 (Organic Valley)

Sav-Mor Foods     $5.18 (Horizon Organic)
                              $4.78 (Harvest Farms)
                              $5.28 (Organic Valley)

Harris Teeter         $3.99 (Harris Teeter)
                              $4.49 (Horizon Organic)
                              $4.79 (Organic Valley)

Fresh Market         $4.59 (Horizon Organic)
                              $4.49 (Amish Country Farms)

Whole Foods         $4.99 (Organic Valley)
                               $3.99 (Whole Foods 365)

Wal-Mart               $3.38 (Wal-Mart Great Value)
                               $4.44 (Horizon Organic)
                               $4.24 (Stonyfield)

Just as an aside, consider what it says about the growing demand for organic food products that Wal-Mart, of all places, carries not one, not two, but three different brands of organic milk.

Earth Fare             $6.69 (Organic Valley)
                              $5.98 (Horizon Organic)

Publix                    $5.23 (Organic Valley)
                              $4.15 (Horizon Organic)
                              $4.00 (Publix)


Conclusion: Trader Joe's organic milk is much closer to the bottom of the price range than their butter was (see yesterday's post). Wal-Mart is cheapest, followed by the store brands from Publix, Whole Foods, Harris Teeter, and TJ's, plus the Harvest Farms brand at Ingles, all being within two cents of each other at $3.98-$4.00.

Tomorrow: Eggs.