Roundup

Weekly compilation of news and other links related to Trader Joe's:

An investigation into who makes 11 Trader Joe's products

The 30 best new Trader Joe's products of 2015 

Why Trader Joe's needs to stop being so secretive 

5 vegan Trader Joe's items you can only buy during the holidays 

Legal scholar says Pepperidge Farm unlikely to success in suit against Trader Joe's 

Comparison of Pepperidge Farm Milanos and Trader Joe's Crispy Cookies 

For just $250, throw a Trader Joe's holiday party for 20 people 



The Trader Joe's Dark Chocolate Stars song:





Best tweets of the week:

1.

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 Southwestern Style Chicken Poppers

I saw reviews of this peculiar item on both of the other Trader Joe's blogs that I regularly read (see here and here), and decided they were worth a try. I made two lunches out of them, having six at a time.

Liked but did not love.

I thought they held together surprisingly well, given that the outer coating is just tortilla crumbs of three different colors. I used a fork. I found them to be two-bite propositions, not one-biters. They did not fall apart eaten this way. However, some of that may be due to the fact that I baked them longer than recommended. I have had such consistent problems with TJ's freezer-to-oven directions resulting in cold, underdone foods that I now routinely add five minutes to the longest recommended oven time. That habit may be why I got crunchier, more substantial outermost layers than others have reported.

The taste is fine, but not to die for. Sort of generically southwestern/Tex-Mex. I could not separately taste the main ingredients--chicken, jack cheese, beans, spinach, and corn. It was just a flavor mish-mash.


Will I buy it again? 

Probably not. The reason here has as much to do with my particular life situation as with the product per se. As I've mentioned frequently, I'm slowly moving to less and less meat in my diet--especially beef and pork, but also poultry. I'm not at a point of swearing off eating animals entirely. But I am at a point where I feel that each such choice should be a deliberate, conscious one, not just a habitual matter of "this is what I've always eaten." And that, in turn, means that when I decide to indulge, it at least ought to be for something I really, really enjoy. These chicken poppers do not pass that test.

Trader Joe's makes a decent chicken substitute, in both strip and nugget form. In these poppers, the chicken flavor is already so overpowered by the jalapeno peppers and other constituents that I can't clearly identify it--so why not replace it with the plant-based version? I probably wouldn't be able to tell the difference, and I'm guessing the same would be true for many others.

If TJ's did that, my answer would change from no to yes. I liked them enough to have them again if I didn't have to have a conversation with my conscience in the process.

Trader Joe's Les Salades du Midi: Champs Elysees

I've had this several times. I think the best way to describe it is that it's TJ's most basic, generic bagged salad--assuming you want something other than just lettuce. There's nothing interesting about it, but it's unlikely to contain anything that anybody in your family won't like. It's what I pick when I want something well-known and unadventurous.

There's a problem with this and other TJ's bagged salads: Sometimes they look fine in the store, but they're apparently on their last legs of freshness, and by the next day the contents are wilting and sad-looking. This happens even when I'm careful to look through the offerings and pick only the best-looking ones with the latest sell-by date on the package. This happens maybe one out of three or four times. My impression is that it happens somewhat more with TJ's than with similar products from other grocers, but I certainly can't claim to have tracked the phenomenon closely enough to have any good evidence for that impression. See here for the experience I had with TJ's "Organic Herb Salad Mix."


Will I buy it again? 

Yes. It's boring but predictable (with the caveat explained above).

Trader Joe's Trader Potato Tots

A recurring problem with Trader Joe's frozen foods, afflicting most though not all of them, is that the baking directions meaningfully underestimate the cooking time actually required for optimal preparation. When faced with a new freezer-to-oven TJ's product, I now routinely add five minutes of bake time, and even that often proves to be insufficient.

That was the case with these tater tots. The instructions call for 20 minutes at 400 degrees, turning once halfway through. I did that, but added five minutes to the second half. And it wasn't enough. They were still barely cooked inside. So they went back in for another five minutes, and that STILL wasn't enough. They were hot and edible then, but basically mushy inside and out. The chief joy of tater tots is in the texture--specifically, getting a crispy outer layer, with a firm but yielding inside. These completely failed in that regard.

Lest you think that my troubles are due to an oven with a faulty thermostat or unusually long warm-up time, let me assure you that (1) I keep an oven thermometer hanging from the top rack of the oven, and it always closely matches the setting I've dialed in, and (2) I always check to be sure the oven is fully to temperature before putting the food in and starting the timer.

Nina suggested that the next time I should try making the last ten minutes at 450 degrees instead of 400. I decided to do even more than that: 10 minutes at 400, then 15 minutes at 450. The result? Perfection! The Trader Joe's tots suddenly went from being boring, lifeless disappointments to as good as any tots I've ever had. They were so good that I didn't even stop to think to squirt some ketchup on my plate for dipping, which is how I usually eat them. I was snarfing through them too fast to stop for any such amenities.


Will I buy them again? 

Yes indeed. I WANT MORE TRADER JOE'S TATER TOTS--but only if they are heated according to the secret formula described above. Otherwise, I don't want them.

Trader Joe's Organic Peas

Perfectly acceptable, meaning they were exactly what I have come to expect frozen peas to be. I'm not sure there's a lot of difference among brands. These are as good as any others.

But do we really need to import peas from Austria?

Will I buy it again? 

Yes.


Update, May 11, 2016: 

I have bought many bags since. Today I noticed that they now say "Imported from Denmark." So now my question is, Do we really need to import peas from Denmark?

Trader Joe's Sipping Chocolate

This is the last of ten consecutive days of reviews of the things Nina and I tried at our all-Trader-Joe's Thanksgiving meal.

Don't let the extravagant claims on the box fool you. This is just powdered hot chocolate mix. The thing that sets it apart is directions for use that make it much, much more concentrated than standard hot chocolate. But the result is so intense that it's almost undrinkable. If you instead follow the alternative directions for just "hot chocolate," you get good but not extraordinary hot chocolate. 

We also tried making it using soy milk. That was OK, but not creamy enough to be really enjoyable. 

Will I buy it again? 

I don't think so. It's not special enough to warrant being recommended over many other similar products. 

Trader Joe's Garlic & Butter Mashed Potatoes

This is the ninth of ten consecutive days of reviews of the things Nina and I tried at our all-Trader-Joe's Thanksgiving meal.


I like mashed potatoes, but I don't like cooking and mashing them. So I've long been one of those lazy Neanderthals who use instant. These are pretty much like every other, except for having a mild garlic component added. Since I'm not a fan of garlic, I'll never again choose these over Hungry Jack, Ore-Ida, or some similar product. However, I do like the pouches inside the box for making less than the whole amount; saving the rest of the ones that are just flakes inside a box is a pain. I wish the brands I usually purchase would adopt this practice.


Will I buy it again?

No.