My Favorite Trader Joe’s Staples

Trader Joe’s is the BEST, really it is.  Before we moved we lived 25 minutes away from one and I hated that it had to be a production to get there.  Now I literally live five minutes away from one and I LOVE being able to breeze there and grab what I want.  The thing about TJs is, it’s so convenient and cheap for healthy food.  On the flip side, since everything is kind of foreign and new it can take some acclimating to become a pro-TJs shopper.  One of my clients asked for a list of what I would consider my favorite TJs staples, like what I breeze through there and grab.

Truth is, I don’t breeze through the grocery store anymore.  Being a food blogger and a Dietitian means my grocery store trips are work, literally, work.  I make it my job to find and inspect new products which takes a long time.  If I’m dreaming up a new recipe, sometimes I’m looking for inspiration for the recipe or styling props.   So, yea, I don’t breeze through anywhere anymore when it comes to the grocery store (hence why Mr. Hungry refuses to go with me, literally REFUSES).  That being said, if you are a new TJs shopper I’m hoping to share with you a starting point to get you acclimated.  If you are a regular shopper maybe I will remind you about something or you can share your favorites in the comments.

Keep in mind we shop gluten free, soy free, and yeast free as much as possible for Mr. Hungry but I will make recommendations on gluten-containing stuff I like as well.

Fresh Produce

Obviously, kind of hard to go wrong here but some of my favorite more unique items are:

• steam in the bag broccoli and green beans
• butternut squash noodles & sweet potato ribbons
• healthy 8 mix – love mixing this with hummus and tuna
• organic apples (love that you can buy a bag of apples that aren’t the size of your head)
• bags of power greens, lettuce, and arugula – organic (Not a huge fan of their pre-made salads because the ingredients aren’t ideal, but that’s just me.  I did find that the pumpkin salad without the cornbread croutons is pretty good ingredients and taste wise!)
• Love that you can buy bags of small avocados and sweet potatoes as well!

Bars

• RX Bars
• KIND Bars (nuts and spices)
• Quest Bars (I get the stevia-sweetened versions only)
• Perfect Bars

Bread/Tortillas

• I’m a HUGE fan of the brown rice tortillas from TJs, especially in casserole recipes.  I also like them on their own but they are kind of tough.
• I also like their gluten-free cinnamon raisin bread.
• If you aren’t gluten free or soy free I recommend Eziekel Bread.
• Big fan of their sourdough bread as it doesn’t have any yeast in it.
• If we weren’t GF in our house, I’d also buy the 100% whole wheat muffins.

Cereal/Oats

• I’m a big fan of the cinnamon puffins, Mr. Hungry likes the PB.
• I’m a big fan of their gluten-free rolled oats, so cheap for GF!
• Gluten-Free Ancient Grain & Superseed oatmeal is dang close to my anti-inflammatory instant oats I make.
• My favorite granola is the ancient grains and nuts granola.
• I’d also recommend their unsweetened instant oatmeal with oats, flax, chia, quinoa, and amaranth.
• As well as their single serving strawberry raspberry oatmeal and tart cherry varieties as they have minimal added sugar.

Nuts/Dried Fruit

• individual cashew packs are awesome #portioncontrol
• sesame honey almonds
• chili almonds
• dates and figs

Dairy

Okay, so we don’t do a ton of dairy in our house either.

• I like the Goat Milk Cheddar at LOT.
• They also carry plain Fage yogurt which is great with stevia drops or to make PB Yogurt bars or PB dip.  
• Personally, I avoid the super sugary TJ brand yogurts unless I’m planning to have them as dessert.

Meats

We buy 90% of our poultry, meat, and pork from Butcher Box but it’s fun to pick up fun extras at TJs like:

• uncured black forest ham and uncured pastrami
• uncured black forest and applewood smoked bacon
• uncured peppered turkey bacon
• fully cooked maple chicken breakfast sausage
• all their chicken sausages
• frozen turkey bolognese “just sauce”
• frozen turkey, chicken, and bison burgers

Eggs

• Big fan of the organic free range omega 3 eggs, but I don’t consistently buy them.
• Love the 100% liquid egg whites.

Dips

• hummus, all kinds
• tzatziki dip
• reduced guilt guacamole and other guacs

Frozen

Some of our favorites are :

• cauliflower crust pizza with cheese
• cauliflower pizza crust
• frozen green beans
• frozen potato mix
• frozen brown rice
• frozen steel cut oatmeal
• frozen cauliflower rice (I buy this ALL THE TIME)
• other frozen veggies
• frozen wild-caught tuna steaks (LOVE THOSE)
• other frozen wild-caught fish

Shelf Stable

• all the nut butter including almond, peanut, cashew, sunflower, mixed nut butter (BUT NOT THE FLAX PEANUT BUTTER, you can’t actually digest flax that isn’t ground)
• all the baking flours including almond and coconut flour
• all the baking things period
• wild brown rice (I make it in the IP)
• turkey chili
• canned beans
• canned tuna (I like the skipjack)
• Chocolate coconut water
• almond milk unsweetened vanilla
• vinegars
• salad dressings
• marinaras (I’ve liked all I’ve tried)
• cold brew
• harissa salsa is my favorite salsa EVER

Treats

It’s super easy to get caught up and buy all the TJs treats.  My general rule of thumb is to limit us to only having one new treat in the house at all times.  That being said some of our staples might be:

• 72% dark chocolate
• dark chocolate covered salted almonds
• gluten-free snickerdoodle cookies (Mr. Hungry’s favorite)
• PB dark chocolate cups (OMG THE BEST)
• wine – I like their wine (I actually don’t drink wine anymore because I don’t really like feeling hungover after 4 ounces of liquid so I pass on that, but I always liked TJs wine in the past!)

What items did I miss that are on your TJ’s Staples list?!?!?!?! (Healthy and not as healthy!)

Related:

• Clean Eating Pantry Essentials
• 10 Practical Tips to Save Money Eating Healthy 
• Which Foods To Buy Organic
• Egg Whites vs Egg Yolk Standoff
• Is PB & J a Health Food?
• Health Benefits of Chia
• Health Benefits of Shrimp
• Can Bacon Fit Into A Healthy Diet? (National Bacon Lovers Day)
• Eggs:  Super Bad or Superfood?
• Is Bread Healthy?
• Health Benefits of Hempseeds