I've been trying to get to one since they opened in KC. But I live a long ass way from the Ward Parkway one, and it seems silly to go to the one in Leawood. You can't take advantage of one of the more important aspects (cheap, decent wine).

My Favorite stuff at TJs:

carne and pollo asada meat in a big plastic bag
etamame beans
onion and garlic toritillas (or onion and something)
pico de gallo salsa
canadian bacon
meatloaf
meat and chicken lasagna
4 cheese pizza (or maybe 5)
spring herb salad mix
albacore tuna in oil
some of the ready-to-eat Indian stuff
port salut cheese
chocolate bon bons
almond crunch cereal (so addictive)
italian chopped salad

Sheesh! You'd think TJ was the all-end-all. It's ****ing Aldi with excellent marketing to the dumbasses.

They are popular because they offer quality at value. I fail to see how marketing has anything to do with it, as their circulars are newsletter format and I never bothered to even read it until I'd been a shopper for a good long while, and they don't advertise on radio/TV.

Their rep grew for me in this mannner, I'd browse their aisles, find something that looked tasty. Try it, love it, go back for more. Not everything is a hit with me, but what is a hit keeps me coming back.

If anything, their PRODUCTS are their own marketing, which is as it should be.

And actually Aldi has benefited greatly from its association with TJ. Their staples are still on par with store brand/generic, but they've added some great salsas and cheeses and a few higher end offerings, particularly frozen seafood.

Yeah... it's Aldi for people who think they're too good to be shopping at Aldi...

Trader Joes is just like Target.. Women cant get enough of those two stores. When women love your shit you're gunna get plenty of business.

Their peach juice is amazing.

I get a lot of funny looks, but this is exactly why I use the mini shopping cart for kids. It's the only way to navigate through the place with all the Kansas crowd.

FWIW, we shop at Aldi as well as TJ, Hyvee, Price Chopper, or anywhere else that has what we like for a price we are willing to pay.

Try the Mission St Ale's The brown is one of my favorites. 5.6% too

Orange chicken, fried eggplant, marinara in a green can, goat cheese, and flowers (to justify the beer) are bought every visit.

Produce usually is not that great of a deal.

The parent company is actually Aldi's and all of their products are re-branded.

This.

The frozen Chinese food (ie. orange chicken) from Aldi is superior to any other supermarket brand, including PF Chang's-in-a-box, and is on par with many of the decent restaurants around here.

ROFL

:thumb:

It's funny to me that Aldi/TJ are suddenly awesome food choices. I suppose that 888 International will be the next best thing for the uniformed.

http://888intlmarket.com/

You're an idiot, not even worth the CP meme version of said statement.

ITT: People hating on cheap food.

...I don't get it.

I think Stewie is just totally jelly of my lemon triple ginger ice cream from TJ's. They must've been out when he went to get some.

Is there a website that reveals what the real brands are behind the Trader Joe’s packaging?

As a wholesale food producer, I’m not a big fan of the place – I think the people that created these things that everyone seems to love should get recognition for it.

I'd like to know as well; there are no TJs in my area and I'd love to be able to procure some peachy awesomeness.

That place is cool! I love keeping weird Japanese candies on my desk at work just to see the looks I get. It's also a good place to shop if you like eastern cooking or sushi making. I can buy lo mein noodles in a 10-pound box, and they're the only place I know of that carries masago.

you need to hook up some recipes. My apartment is literaly right behind one of these 888 markets, and I would love to try to make some asian stuff, but am completely lost when it comes to cooking that style of food.

Include pics of the ingredients, since everything in the store is in chinese (or whatever).

My dad is a HUGE tea connoisseur so I get him those Chinese teas from there. He digs them.

Trader Joes sells quality while Aldi sells garbage. You're typically on the very wrong side of things so your disdain of Trader Joes only further confirms it's Awesomeness.

Why do you think people wearing uniforms would especially like 888 International Market?

bullcrap. The stuff is good and reasonably priced, except for the milk, I ain't paying $7 per gallon. But most of the stuff in there is unique and tastes good to me and it's cheap. I see no problem shopping there. My only complaint is that it's too damn small.

Bullshit. It's the same stuff. The only difference is TJs is trendy with the food and offers more kinds of products.

So what? It's still cheap and tasty. I don't understand why everyone is hating on it so hard.

it seems decent quality to me. I'd shop at Aldi's, but I never seem to have a quarter to use a ****ing cart. What kind of shit is that anyways? locking up the carts, went there once to shop, didn't have any change, saw that you had to put in a quarter for a ****ing cart that you will use to put stuff in so that they can charge you. So I just got back in my car and went across the street to Target instead. Never been back, never will.

They're being trendy by hating on what's trendy?

I only buy my hamburger at McGonigles. /cp

that's commonplace in the hippie community of lawrence.

The quarter thing is to save on personnel. You get the quarter back when you return the cart to the queue. That way they don't have to hire someone to round them up from the parking lot.

Wrong.

They have some great crackers as well as salsa/pico. I do not have one here but shop when I am in a town with a TJ. Good wine selection as well.

Trader Joe's is ok the prices are great but I prefer Sam's Club.

Costco >>> Sam's

I haven't been there in years but someone bought me a membership at Sam's so I can't really complain.