Trader Joe's/Whole Foods Market

[surgtech1956]

In my area there isn't a Trader Joe's or Whole Foods Market, but I'm going to be going through a city that has. What type of products are available? Is it worth going there? What's the dif between the two?

[ilima]

In my area there isn't a Trader Joe's or Whole Foods Market, but I'm going to be going through a city that has. What type of products are available? Is it worth going there? What's the dif between the two?

Whole Foods is sometimes called Whole Paycheck. It has a very large selection of food and wine. But it is money.

I've never been to a Trader Joe's, but it is supposed to be much more budget friendly.

If I had to pick one, I'd go TJ's.

[Pedal Wench]

Definitely Trader Joe's. Huge selection of interesting nuts (lime/chili, black pepper cashews, tamari almonds, etc.) and snacks, dried fruits, their to-die-for ginger cookies, great frozen foods -- hmmm, I need to go shopping!

[Cataboo]

I love trader joe's. Whole foods is great - but it's really expensive, if $20 a lb for salmon or $5 for a loaf of bread or like $5 for a bell pepper is okay for you, then it's okay for you.

Trader joe's is a lot more reasonably priced - they don't have fresh meats, but they have a good selection of frozen meat & vegetables. I love the dried fruit at trader joe's - dried mangos, dried hibiscus flowers, dried bananas, and a lot of the more exotic asian fruit.

Grapeseed or olive oil is pretty well priced at trader joes, cereals, etc. They do have this nasty habit of discontinuing whatever is my current favorite trader joe's product.

[surgtech1956]

Thanks. Sounds like I'm going to make a stop at Trader Joe's(have to make sure I put my little cooler in the truck for refrigerated items).

[ridenread]

If you are a coffee drinker Trader Joe's also has some really awesome whole bean coffee. We stock up on large cans of dark roast whenever we go

[Pedal Wench]

My favorite TJ item: Flattened Bananas. It's like banana jerky - thinly sliced lengthwise, then dehydrated. Yum! Kinda chewy - like raisins - and intensely banana-y.

[GLC1968]

Hmmm, I like Whole Foods 100% better than TJ's. Maybe my local TJ's sucks compared to others...but they had lousy and expensive produce and 98% of their products were prepared items or snack foods. I wanted to buy basics or speciality items for making my own things and they carried none of it (like no rye flour!).

If you like convenince foods, you'll love it. They have rows upon rows of prepared frozen foods to chose from... If you would rather make your own from scratch, head for Whole Foods instead.

Our TJ's doesn't even have a very good wine section and I thought they were supposed to be known for good, inexpensive wines!

[Cataboo]

I guess it depends on what you go for. Whole foods does have a nice bulk section.

I tend to either get my produce at Costco, farmer's markets, or at Korean grocery stores. Usually nothing can beat the selection & prices on the latter. Costco's great if you want 5 lbs of organic spinach for $5.

Whole foods has a ton of packaged prepared foods as well.

I hven't noticed a problem when looking for ingredients from scratch at Trader joe's, but I don't live near one, so I really just pop in when I get a change and buy a bunch of the dried fruit.

[ny biker]

I haven't been to a Whole Foods in a long time, and I've never shopped there regularly, but I think they are bigger than TJ's and carry a wider variety of products.

I like the whole wheat cinnamon British muffins at Trader Joe's. And some of the fresh soups in their refrigerator case. I used to like the pizza bagels, but they don't seem to carry them anymore.

[Biciclista]

At Whole foods you have to be careful or you will spend a lot of money, very true. But you don't HAVE to buy all the expensive stuff, it's just there, the fancy chocolates and cheese, the prepared foods with fancy names, truffles, whatever; you name it. They also carry an incredible amount of gorgeous fresh fruit and veggies and if there's something special you like and have trouble finding elsewhere; they probably have it.

Trader Joe's on the other hand has a much smaller selection of everything
and is def. more working class.
They have a great frozen foods department.

both stores are great for chocolate.

[ny biker]

And at Trader Joe's, they wear Hawaiian shirts.

[PamNY]

Trader Joe's and Whole Foods are completely different. Trader Joe's is more fun, and some items are a real bargain. I like their nut butters; teas and coffees are good, too.

I don't like Whole Foods; I'd suggest it only if there are specialty items you can't find where you live.

Pam

[Norse]

I adore Trader Joe's. And it is actually less expensive than so-called discount supermarkets. Just give yourself plenty of time to stroll up and down the aisles, and plenty of room to bring stuff home.

[sgtiger]

Never actually shopped at TJ's, but I've had their humus and chocolate covered cookies of some sort. Yum! I've lived sorta near a TJs in all my previous addresses but they're kinda out of the way from my normal errand routes so I don't shop at them. There are a lot of places in Oregon and Washington that carry the kinds of items that both places carry, so I guess I've never felt like I was ever really missing anything. I shop at Whole Foods, on occasion, because they share a parking lot with the closest REI. Usually I go in to get a couple of items that are hard to find elsewhere (mostly skincare products) and look around for specials on produce.