Roundup

My more-or-less weekly roundup of news, articles, reviews, blog posts, etc., about TJ's.

Check Out The Insane Amount Of Good Food That Starbucks And Trader Joe's Throw Out Every Night

Trader Joe's Cheap Beauty Products

5 reasons why Trader Joe's is so much better than Whole Foods 

What not to buy at Trader Joe's 

Sampling Trader Joe's weird pumpkin paraphernalia 

What to buy on your next Trader Joe's run 

Pumpkin spice gluten-free survival guide 

Trader Joe's favorites 

How Trader Joe's sells twice as much as Whole Foods 

Trader Joe's extravirgins and floozies 

Cat in a Trader Joe's bag 

Roundup of links

News, articles, blog posts, recipes, etc., that I've recently encountered.



Trader Joe's iPhone app being discontinued 

Pumpkin items at Trader Joe's 

Trader Joe's 10 best pumpkin products 

5 easy Trader Joe's meals (5 ingredients or less) 

Trader Joe's mashups you can make right now (video) 

The man who smuggles Trader Joe's into Canada 

Trader Joe's sues pirate grocer in Canada 

10 of the worst frozen items you can buy at Trader Joe's 

Top 13 Trader Joe's staples 

Tidbits of possible interest

A roundup of articles, notes, reviews, blog posts, etc., about Trader Joe's that I've encountered recently--most new, a few old.



Review of 13 pumpkin desserts at Trader Joe's 

Charles Shaw wines at Trader Joe's 

Happy Fall! Trader Joe's Bliss Offerings

Tuella Douro 2012--A Trader Joe's $5.99 Hot Pick 

31 thoughts you have every time you shop at Trader Joe's 

Awesomely autumn pumpkin products

Cat claims Trader Joe's grocery bag 

The end of Two Buck Chuck? 

Trader Joe's sunflower seed butter 

Sample anything (with permission) at Trader Joe's before you buy 

Consumers Union presses Trader Joe's to stop selling meat raised on antibiotics 

Company snapshot: Trader Joe's 

Stores battle with Whole Foods for organic food dominance 

5 best drinks at Trader Joe's 

Inside the secret world of Trader Joe's 

Pumpkin EVERYTHING!

Most days, I take a quick scan or two through the #TraderJoes hashtag on Twitter to see what people are saying. Doing so leads me to some interesting items I haven't heard of before, to relevant articles and news stories, to reviews of individual products, etc.

But the last few days, I have noticed an unmistakable theme to the photographs that people are posting. See if you can detect what it is. It's pretty subtle, so you'll have to pay careful attention.

Well, I can hardly let myself be outdone by a bunch of people who don't even have their own internationally read* Trader Joe's blog, now, can I?

Here's my own pumpkin haul so far:

This leaves out the pumpkin ravioli, which has already been consumed. It also leaves out the pumpkin rolls (a variant on TJ's Jumbo Cinnamon Rolls, apparently) that I plan to get, but which were out of stock yesterday. Furthermore, I intend to try the "Harvest Blend" bagged salad shown in one of the pictures above. Finally, I told Nina yesterday that I had seen a slot in the refrigerated shelves for rolls of pumpkin croissant dough, and from her appalled reaction, I knew instantly that I must obtain and bake some for her, just to provoke her into writing an indignant review about how croissants should not contain pumpkin.



*Blogger reports that I have had a grand total of FIFTEEN page views from outside the US. Admittedly, the six from the UK were probably my own from when I was traveling there recently. But still--that leaves two from Canada, three from France, and four from Germany. Ha! Thus, this blog is indeed internationally read.

Some links

I just discovered another whole blog devoted to reviews of Trader Joe's products: "Eating at Joe's." It has been going since July, 2011. I'm more than a little puzzled how I managed not to know of its existence before now. Somebody on Twitter mentioned a TJ's product I had not heard of, so I Googled the name to get some other opinions before deciding whether I should try it, and a post from this blog came up. The thing is, I've done essentially the same thing a dozen or more times before, and I never came across it. Anyway, after reading a tiny sample of posts, the author seems smart and funny.

Plus: He picks up some really unusual items, frequently ones that I've never noticed at TJ's. His reviews are long, detailed, creative, and often include his own original recipe or serving suggestion.

Minus: The guy seriously needs a good copy editor to rid the posts of their gobs of typos, and especially to teach him the difference between its and it's, which he gets wrong Every. Damn. Time. So annoying.

Go take a look.



Now, a few other articles--some new, some old--that I've found recently:

Five must-try vegan desserts at Trader Joe's 

Trader Joe's is the bomb 

What I buy at Trader Joe's 

Trader Joe's seasonal pumpkin items 

Top selling items from Trader Joe's 

In the news

Once in a while, I hit Google News to see what, if anything, media outlets are writing about Trader Joe's. Most of the news items are about store openings, which are not very interesting. But when I find something more worthwhile than that, I'll pass it on.

Here's what I found today:

Trader Joe's 23 year Speyside single malt review 

(I had no idea that TJ's had its own brand of Scotch whiskey!)

9 realistic and borderline frugal ways to save money at Trader Joe's 

Woman reportedly attempts suicide in Trader Joe's 

10 things you didn't know you could buy at Trader Joe's 

(May I just rant here for a moment? I HATE headlines like that! How can they possibly be aware of what I know or do not know? Call it "10 interesting things you can buy at Trader Joe's," or "10 things many people don't know you can buy at Trader Joe's," or "10 Trader Joe's items that may surprise you," or whatever. But do not presume to tell me what I do or do not already know. Thankyouverymuch.)


Links in some of the above pieces led me to other older articles of possible interest:

Best and worst products at Trader Joe's, volume 1 

Best and worst products at Trader Joe's, volume 2 

10 must haves from Trader Joe's 

The best and worst deals at Trader Joe's 

Worst things to buy at Trader Joe's 

10 of the best snacks at Trader Joe's