Trader Joe Products That You Didn't Care For

[Greg Who Cooks]

I like very few of their nuke 'n serve or bake 'n serve products. And among some I enjoy, being single I dislike the double serving portions. I don't share well with my tomorrow self.

I do like many of their "cook desired quantity" products, particularly shrimp. Cooked or raw.

I'd really love the frozen salmon if they could somehow package them so you could cut out a single 6-8 oz. serving, but they are always frozen in a block so I never buy them.

I don't like the things like Orange Chicken which comes with two sauce packages, once again turning it into two mega-servings.

Their wine prices are great! Too bad their "Two Buck Chuck" (Charles Shaw brand) wine became $2.49 "buck" Chuck, but you knew that was going to happen some day. I suspect but not sure that Charles Shaw is a captive brand or at least TJ's buys all their product, but all in all I find the Shaw wines in all varieties I have tried (4-5) have been very delicious considering the price, AND even delicious not considering the price.

Shaw Chardonnay (sometimes Merlot or Chianti) is my house wine. I also recommend exploring the New Zealand Rieslings coming from the Marlborough region for a nice explosion of flavor that I swear tastes to me like a cross between Riesling and Chardonnay. (about $7-8/750mL bottle)

 

[Greg Who Cooks]

By the way when I lived in Santa Fe NM 4-5 years ago "Two Buck Chuck" was already $2.49/bottle.

The price came to California only about 18 months ago.

 

[Kayelle]

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Well, that's unfortunate. Neither DH nor myself have ever had Scones before and the other day I was out grocery shopping with Missus DearFriend. She highly recommended TJ's Blueberry Scones.
Um, it's a huge NO!
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Don't tell Mrs. DF, oh and HEH! [digging through trash can] Wait just a cotton-pickin-minute there cowboy!
We're taking this back for a store credit, never mind refunding my credit card, I'm sure we can find other things that we do like

Way to go Kgirl, get a store credit. Every Scone I've ever tasted was too durn dry for my taste, so you may just not like Scones.

I like very few of their nuke 'n serve or bake 'n serve products. And among some I enjoy, being single I dislike the double serving portions. I don't share well with my tomorrow self.

I do like many of their "cook desired quantity" products, particularly shrimp. Cooked or raw.

I'd really love the frozen salmon if they could somehow package them so you could cut out a single 6-8 oz. serving, but they are always frozen in a block so I never buy them.

I don't like the things like Orange Chicken which comes with two sauce packages, once again turning it into two mega-servings.

Their wine prices are great! Too bad their "Two Buck Chuck" (Charles Shaw brand) wine became $2.49 "buck" Chuck, but you knew that was going to happen some day. I suspect but not sure that Charles Shaw is a captive brand or at least TJ's buys all their product, but all in all I find the Shaw wines in all varieties I have tried (4-5) have been very delicious considering the price, AND even delicious not considering the price.

Shaw Chardonnay (sometimes Merlot or Chianti) is my house wine. I also recommend exploring the New Zealand Rieslings coming from the Marlborough region for a nice explosion of flavor that I swear tastes to me like a cross between Riesling and Chardonnay. (about $7-8/750mL bottle)

Personally, I think their Orange Chicken is a real winner, and the Charles Shaw wines aren't worth dime.

 

[Greg Who Cooks]

The orange chicken is good but I wish they would find a way to embed the sauce into the nuggets. One bag of orange chicken = 6-8 servings for me. I can't make that work with only 2 sauce packages.

I'm cooking for one person.

 

[Kayelle]

The orange chicken is good but I wish they would find a way to embed the sauce into the nuggets. One bag of orange chicken = 6-8 servings for me. I can't make that work with only 2 sauce packages.

I'm cooking for one person.

I can't imagine the Orange Chicken as more than four meal servings, even with rice. I always dilute those two sauce packages with about 2/3 cup of fresh orange juice, as I like enough sauce for the rice too. I get the mix good and hot in the microwave, before pouring it over the skillet browned chicken.
If you want to make a small portion, just snip the corner of the sauce packet, mix a little with some OJ, and return the sauce packet back to the freezer with the remaining chicken pieces..
I often add spring onions and/or bell pepper strips when adding the hot sauce to the chicken at the end.

 

[Kayelle]

I'd really love the frozen salmon if they could somehow package them so you could cut out a single 6-8 oz. serving, but they are always frozen in a block so I never buy them.

I'd agree that their packaging of the flash frozen fish could be improved, although the quality of the product is excellent imo.
I don't do salmon, but I'd love to see individual fish pieces packaged individually rather than two or more mismatched pieces frozen per package.
I'd be willing to absorb the cost of packaging in exchange for individual fish pieces.

 

[Addie]

I am sure that there are many folks would like to be able to buy individual pieces also. Has anyone thought of sending an email or letter to their headquarters requesting it?

 

[Cooking Goddess]

...Neither DH nor myself have ever had Scones before and the other day I was out grocery shopping with Missus DearFriend. She highly recommended TJ's Blueberry Scones.
Um, it's a huge NO!...:

I have yet to buy a scone that is as good as the ones I make. I'll admit mine are not authentic. The seemingly authentic ones we've had seem too dry and chalky. I don't know if it's the tweaking* of the recipes from the book I use (conveniently called "Simply Scones") or if it's the Nordic Ware Scone Pan I bake them in. I sometimes use the mini-pan, too, which makes 16 small scones. Either way, my scones are tender, moist, and yummy. And now I think I'd better be making some soon.

* The first time I followed the recipe and they seemed dry. I upped the liquid just a bit and they were much better, in our opinions. No other real changes.

 

[Kaneohegirlinaz]

K & CG, I think that you're right that we plain ole just don't care for scones. My Mother goes go and on and on about how she loves them, but then when I think about it, she also has more devonshire cream then pastry
CG, funny you meantion making your own Scones. I asked DH if I should try that and his reply was, "Don't waste you time".

And Greg, our 2 buck chuck was $1.99usd when we first moved to the mainland and I discovered Trader Joe's. Shortly after it went to $2.99+tax and has stayed there ever since, fingers crossed it doesn't go up again
Also, I wanted to add that TJ's Orange Chicken was also on that top ten or whatever it was in the article we read in the local newspaper (and yes, DH still gets a real paper)

 

[Just Cooking]

I can't imagine the Orange Chicken as more than four meal servings, even with rice. I always dilute those two sauce packages with about 2/3 cup of fresh orange juice, as I like enough sauce for the rice too. I get the mix good and hot in the microwave, before pouring it over the skillet browned chicken.
If you want to make a small portion, just snip the corner of the sauce packet, mix a little with some OJ, and return the sauce packet back to the freezer with the remaining chicken pieces..
I often add spring onions and/or bell pepper strips when adding the hot sauce to the chicken at the end.

I like your extending the sauce with OJ... When I make this and other products with sauce included, I often put together my own sauces as I know whats in them and I prefer the flavors in my sauces..
With only the 2 of us, I find TJ's frozen offerings to be time savers and economical..

As to the frozen fish portions.. I use my vacuum machine to seal extra fish pieces when the quantity is greater than we will need to prepare for a meal...

 

[Greg Who Cooks]

I'd be willing to absorb the cost of packaging in exchange for individual fish pieces.

Me too. I can't imagine there is any way to thaw then refreeze, so even a two serving package means at minimum I have to have the same fish 2 nights in a row.

I don't buy the frozen fish because of this. I would buy them if the manufacturer could simply shrink the package in a way that would allow cutting between the two pieces. If that breaks the vacuum seal then leave enough room for a heat sealer to seal it back up and put one piece back in the freezer.

 

[Kayelle]

As to the frozen fish portions.. I use my vacuum machine to seal extra fish pieces when the quantity is greater than we will need to prepare for a meal...

Could be just me, but I wouldn't refreeze defrosted fish.

 

[Just Cooking]

Could be just me, but I wouldn't refreeze defrosted fish.

I certainly understand your reasoning.. When I bring home a package of frozen fish, I cut open the package and re-vacuum before it thaws.. That said, I grew up in this fishing town and refreezing was and is pretty common, as long as there isn't complete thawing...

 

[Cheryl J]

I certainly understand your reasoning.. When I bring home a package of frozen fish, I cut open the package and re-vacuum before it thaws.. That said, I grew up in this fishing town and refreezing was and is pretty common, as long as there isn't complete thawing...

I too have done that with multi packs. I have the vacuum sealer and bag ready, to get the unused portion back into the freezer ASAP while it's still frozen.

 

[Kayelle]

I certainly understand your reasoning.. When I bring home a package of frozen fish, I cut open the package and re-vacuum before it thaws.. That said, I grew up in this fishing town and refreezing was and is pretty common, as long as there isn't complete thawing...

I too have done that with multi packs. I have the vacuum sealer and bag ready, to get the unused portion back into the freezer ASAP while it's still frozen.

I guess I'm missing something. How do you unstick the pieces of fish without defrosting the fish block?

 

[Cheryl J]

I've only done that with the side by side frozen ones. I can't remember which ones they were, as it's probably been a year since I've been to a TJ's.

I like the way Costco individually wraps their multi bags of frozen fish.

 

[Greg Who Cooks]

Could be just me, but I wouldn't refreeze defrosted fish.

The TJ's multi-piece frozen fish packages look like the fish were frozen while fresh and moist, thus rendering them into solid multi-piece blocks. I don't see any way to get the pieces apart without at least partially thawing them.

I'm with you. I wouldn't refreeze them. Best I'd do is see if there were some way to separate them frozen. Dunno, maybe a cleaver and mallet? But that seems iffy, and in some respects dangerous.

 

[Just Cooking]

I guess I'm missing something. How do you unstick the pieces of fish without defrosting the fish block?

I understand better now.. I have not purchased a package with individual pieces stuck together.. Only packages of side by side pieces.. If they are touching a bit, I've used a heavy knife to separate them...My bad...

 

[Kayelle]

I understand better now.. I have not purchased a package with individual pieces stuck together.. Only packages of side by side pieces.. If they are touching a bit, I've used a heavy knife to separate them...My bad...

At TJ's I've never seen fish pieces frozen side by side. That would solve the whole problem. Dang.

 

[Addie]

My first husband was a fisherman, then turned to shrimping. No matter what the product, all seafood is frozen and covered by layers of ice on the boat. So by the time it is unloaded from the boat and processed, it has already partially thawed. The store will either let it continue to thaw or place it in the deep freeze as soon as it comes in.

One time he brought me home two very large fillets of Haddock. One on top of the other and frozen from the ice on the boat. I really didn't want to cook that much for supper. So I just took the cleaver and whacked the two fillets right in the middle. Kept one side out to thaw, and put the other right back into the freezer for another day.