I like this time of year, when they stock Tofurkey roasts. I always thought they’d be able to sell them year-round (i would certainly buy them), but you can usually only get them in November and early December.
One of my frequent purchases that seems to go in and out of stock are the vegetarian meatballs. They’re great in a marinara sauce over pasta. You can find similar items in stores like Henry’s and Whole Foods, but they’re outrageously expensive in comparison to the TJ’s brand, and taste virtually the same.
I have noticed that although they have kept their wonderful generic NY Cheesecake, it has gone down in size (about 1/3 or more smaller) but the price remained the same. They probably figured most people wouldn’t notice.
Welcome to what the Consumerist website calls the Grocery Shrink Ray, which has been zapping products all over the country of late.
Personally, in most cases i’d prefer that they leave the size the same and raise the price. Reducing the size, especially when they go out of their way to make the new packaging identical to the old, seems pretty dishonest to me.
They break my heart on a regular basis. Brandy beans? Seasonal, but if you blink, you’ll miss them. Southwest Flatbread? Gone. Canned crab claws? Gone. Kosher salt??? Why would anyone discontinue SALT?
Count me as another fan of the gorgonzola gnocchi. And the garlic naan, which I cannot live without.
I’m pissed off that I can’t find fleur de sel caramels anymore I can find chocolate-enrobed caramels with fleur de sel on top, but they just aren’t the same.
All I know is if someone takes away my triple ginger snaps, heads will roll!
Heh, not to be a dick or anything, but can I just say I am glad to live in a place where Trader Joe’s isn’t the only place that stocks that kind of stuff?
I really missed the Thai tuna in curry sauce packets last time I went. Are those still gone? It’s a 30 mile drive to the nearest one so I don’t go that often.
i’ve had the same problem with a lot of their baking products, specifically their white chocolate (don’t stock ghirardelli blocks anymore, used to have chips year-round, now xmas only, and 30% more expensive) and hazelnut meal (they don’t stock this at all anymore; i LOVED it for many baking applications but now they only have almond meal)
i still love trader joes but i am always sad when something i liked disappears
I believe this is inherent in Trader Joe’s business model. They are able to offer low prices on luxury treats compared to regular grocery stores by a) not having the overhead inherent in making sure they always have staples on hand and b) altering their selection of treats to what is likely to be most profitable at the time.
I asked one time and they said that a product has to sell at least $2500/month over the entire chain for them to keep it going, so that explains a lot of the stuff going bye-bye. I’m bitter about not being able to get the Thai style chicken pizza and now they don’t even carry the chicken barbecue pizza any more! The chicken gyoza went away for a while but now it’s back so I don’t have to kill anyone. If they ever stop carrying the cashew butter, though, heads will roll since my SO is allergic to legumes and cashew butter allows him to have the peanut butter experience without so much dying–and he looooooves the cookies I make out of it. Oh yeah, almost forgot–they used to have all these fabulous dried tortellinis with different fillings, but now it’s pretty much cheese or pesto or maybe mushroom if you’re lucky. Dammit!
All you people who have TJ’s that can carry liquor–do they still sell the Rothschild’s VSOP brandy? That stuff was wonderful, and incredibly cheap, but Oregon doesn’t allow liquor sales in grocery stores. Bummer.
Damn, and Trader Joe’s was my default place for Ghirardelli white chocolate, and it takes me half an hour to get there. World Market was my main place, and it’s 25 minutes there and they rarely have it. Now I’ll have to shell out bucks for the Belgian stuff.
They had Ghirardelli white chocolate? I loooves me some good white chocolate! On my rare visits to TJ’s (mainly to drool over all the sweets) I’ve never seen it. Plenty of varieties of chocolate chocolate but no white.
My sister introduced me to TJ’s spicy tartar sauce yesterday. It was good, with a little hot peppery kick, but it was much thicker than average tartar sauces. Made it hard to spread evenly on my fish. You could forget about dipping it.
She also told me that you really have to watch the sodium content in a lot of TJ’s foods. She says often it’s surprisingly high for what is generally considered healthy food.
Do you substitute straight into a classic peanut butter cookie recipe? I’d love to try this with almond butter and cashew butter.
/hijack
Back on track: If they ever stop carrying the cashew butter, you can find it at Whole Foods and Fresh Market. I think my local Harris Teeter carries it too. It’s becoming a more stocked item now.
Maybe it’s because I remember when most everything that didn’t come in a can was “seasonal,” and I miss the year-round white chocolate chips and appreciate the reminder that they are “in season” at TJ, but I have trouble getting it up to be disappointed that caviar and escargot, both of which come from living creatures with specific life cycles and environmental requirements, might be seasonal.
on a related note, i was at Whole Foods over the weekend and it seemed much more reasonably priced than i remember… i actually bought some stuff! unheard of!
I love vanilla paste, but it’s so expensive! TJ’s has it every once in a blue moon, and it’s half the price. But it’s always a crapshoot whether or not they’ll have it when I go. Drives me crazy.
I can find chocolate-enrobed caramels with fleur de sel on top, but they just aren’t the same.