• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Is it just me or does some of Trader Joes food go bad incredibly fast?

Status
Not open for further replies.

harSon

Banned
I like Trader Joes as much as the next guy, and it's the most convenient store for me to get to, but I swear their bread, bagels, tortillas, etc. go bad ridiculously fast. I swear their sliced bread starts to go bad a few days short of a week. Where as a loaf of bread from Safeway will remain good for weeks, a loaf from Trader Joes seems to rot within 5-6 days. I know I could probably prolong the shelf life by placing their products in a fridge/freezer, but considering I share a fridge with 3 house mates, I have to be careful as to how much space I occupy.
 

R2D4

Banned
Isn't that why you are buying overpriced food at Trader Joes? So you get food with no preservatives?
 

water_wendi

Water is not wet!
R2D4 said:
Isn't that why you are buying overpriced food at Trader Joes? So you get food with no preservatives?
i havent been there in a while but their prices seemed to be pretty competitive the last time i was there.
 

harSon

Banned
R2D4 said:
Isn't that why you are buying overpriced food at Trader Joes? So you get food with no preservatives?

I buy it because I don't have a car with me at college, and Trader Joes is a 2-3 minute walk from where I'm living, while Safeway is a 10 minute bus ride... And outside of fruit, their prices are pretty damned reasonable. Their bread and butter is their preprepared frozen foods <3
 
R2D4 said:
Isn't that why you are buying overpriced food at Trader Joes? So you get food with no preservatives?
Trader Joes isn't overpriced? Certain items can be a bit more expensive than your typical super market but it's not Whole Foods.
 
D

Deleted member 8095

Unconfirmed Member
water_wendi said:
i havent been there in a while but their prices seemed to be pretty competitive the last time i was there.
Their prices are a little higher than my local grocery stores but they aren't as expensive as Whole Foods.

Edit: I see I was too slow :(
 

R2D4

Banned
water_wendi said:
i havent been there in a while but their prices seemed to be pretty competitive the last time i was there.


I'm in the midwest and they just opened a TJ in Des Moines and the prices were high for what you get. I can get just as healthy food at Hy-Vee. But I didn't mean to thread crap. But the food is going bad faster because of the missing preservatives.
 

harSon

Banned
They need to add some damned preservatives then. I purchased a package of 6 begals over the weekend, and have since eaten one everyday including the day I purchased them, and I realized today that they had already gone bad....
 

water_wendi

Water is not wet!
DUFFMCWALIN said:
Seems like most ppl aren't used to how quick food goes bad without preservatives.
i know, right? Totally crazy. i remember growing up hard cheese would have mold growing on it within 3-5 days. i havent seen mold on cheese in at least a decade.
 
Their baked goods (bread, tortillas, flatbread, etc...) go very quickly. I either try to use it within a couple of days, or it goes in the fridge or freezer. The rest of their stuff holds up pretty well.
 

Yaweee

Member
harSon said:
They need to add some damned preservatives then. I purchased a package of 6 begals over the weekend, and have since eaten one everyday including the day I purchased them, and I realized today that they had already gone bad....

That kind of defeats the purpose of the store, i.e. to appeal to people scared of preservatives.
 

harSon

Banned
Yaweee said:
That kind of defeats the purpose of the store, i.e. to appeal to people scared of preservatives.

They could always give customers an option. Similar to how they currently sell non-organic and 'organic' eggs.
 
Yaweee said:
That kind of defeats the purpose of the store, i.e. to appeal to people scared of preservatives.

Is that the point of it? I have a Trader Joes near me and never really saw the appeal to be honest.
 

warthog

Member
harSon said:
I like Trader Joes as much as the next guy, and it's the most convenient store for me to get to, but I swear their bread, bagels, tortillas, etc. go bad ridiculously fast. I swear their sliced bread starts to go bad a few days short of a week. Where as a loaf of bread from Safeway will remain good for weeks, a loaf from Trader Joes seems to rot within 5-6 days. I know I could probably prolong the shelf life by placing their products in a fridge/freezer, but considering I share a fridge with 3 house mates, I have to be careful as to how much space I occupy.

What? You got bread that stays good for weeks? THAT'S crazy imo. The bread I buy stays good for maybe 3-4 days max. (good as in "nice to eat", not like there's mold growing on it that fast)
 

R2D4

Banned
harSon said:
They could always give customers an option. Similar to how they currently sell non-organic and 'organic' eggs.


I guess the customers option is to go to Trader Joes or go to a regular grocery store. That is their gimmick though.
 
Trader Joe's has very good prices, though it's slightly inconvenient to get to. Cheapest milk around. I love their frozen stuff, and they're my go-to for party food.
 

Tobor

Member
There are many items at Trader Joes that are actually cheaper than the regular supermarket, and made by the same manufacturer. Pita chips, for example.
 

Monroeski

Unconfirmed Member
harSon said:
They could always give customers an option. Similar to how they currently sell non-organic and 'organic' eggs.
They only have so much shelf space available and no preservatives is what practically the entire concept of the store is based around.

This is like saying all video games should have a toggle to switch between real time and turn based action.
 

water_wendi

Water is not wet!
rainking187 said:
Is that the point of it? I have a Trader Joes near me and never really saw the appeal to be honest.
The lack of preservatives is not the appeal of Trader Joes (in fact, ive never even considered it until this thread). Trader Joes was the place i got unique and unusual foods and alcohol. The prices on things (especially alcohol) always seemed low enough to me. The problem i have with TJs is that its always busy, parking is a bitch, theres not many locations so it can be a hassle to get there, and the super unique items you find will likely be the last time you see them.

edit: looking on their website i can find no mention of preservatives (or the lack of) anywhere.
 

BlueTsunami

there is joy in sucking dick
BlazingDarkness said:
WTF kind of bread stays good for weeks?
In the UK our bread is good a few days, a week max, and then you chuck it out

Generic white bread in America can take a Nuclear Holocaust

And when I used to go they had some awesome pre-cooked frozen rack of BBQ ribs.
 
OP- make room in your fridge, problem solved



rainking187 said:
Is that the point of it? I have a Trader Joes near me and never really saw the appeal to be honest.



Not at all.

the appeal is that they sell gourmet-style stuff at cheaper prices, which coincidentally don't have preservatives. They don't focus on organic at all, but some of their stuff is organic. So you can find mango chutney salsa salmon (just making up some shit here) for $5 a lb or something. Or some kettle chip equivalent for $2 a bag. They do have kind of an emphasis on health food--they have a pretty amazing selection of nuts and dried fruit. But on the other hand, they sell chocolate covered peanut butter pretzels and ice cream cookie sandwiches.

Trader Joes finds companies/people that are making these kinds of unique food, buys them out, and repackages them under their store name....so it's a whole grocery store full of that kind of stuff. They don't do sales because it's already very reasonable (like someone said, slightly higher than a normal grocery store, but way cheaper than Whole Paycheck...I mean, Whole Foods.)

My only complaint is the produce section is usually kinda weak and expensive.
 

Ourobolus

Banned
I understand the appeal of Trader Joe's, but I usually only go there for specific food that I just like more than, say, Safeway or Giant. Their 7-layer dip is really good, for instance.
 
Reminds me of the food I used to get in Rotterdam. Delicious, reasonably priced, but went bad quickly.

I didn't mind, but adjusting to that took a while.
 

Borgnine

MBA in pussy licensing and rights management
Trader Joe's is always packed to the gills with super hot MILFs. Worth paying a few extra bucks just for that.
 
My roommate shops exclusively at Trader Joes, despite us living within walking distance of a Shaws/Star Market.

It's kind of weird that we have nearly identical bottles of everything in the fridge, just with a different supermarket brand on the cover. I really don't see the difference, and it's not like preservatives are making you fat, eating that extra slice of all-natural pie will make you fat.

Edit: While we're on the subject of women in supermarkets, I'm convinced that some young ladies go there looking to be hit on. I was browsing through the vegetable section yesterday at the front of the store when this absolutely gorgeous woman walked in dressed like she was ready to go downtown. She managed to 'accidentally' bump into me a few times in 3 or 4 other sections of the store. If I didn't have a gf...
 
In NYC Trader Joes is cheaper than most grocery stores. The 14th St. one is a zoo but the BK and Chelsea ones are really nice. It is the only place I go these days. Have a good regular grocery list that the girlfriend and I get.

We get tortillas every time and have never had them go bad quickly. Had a block of cheddar go moldy early, but we could have contaminated it. Their milk tends to have shorter dates than other stores organic milk. In general organic milk always has a way longer expiration period than regular milk. You would think it would be the other way around.

Trader Joes is great, favorite grocery store by far. (Excluding Wegmans which is not in the city, oh man Wegmans is the best)
 
D

Deleted member 17706

Unconfirmed Member
Sho_Nuff82 said:
My roommate shops exclusively at Trader Joes, despite us living within walking distance of a Shaws/Star Market.

It's kind of weird that we have nearly identical bottles of everything in the fridge, just with a different supermarket brand on the cover. I really don't see the difference, and it's not like preservatives are making you fat, eating that extra slice of all-natural pie will make you fat.

Edit: While we're on the subject of women in supermarkets, I'm convinced that some young ladies go there looking to be hit on. I was browsing through the vegetable section yesterday at the front of the store when this absolutely gorgeous woman walked in dressed like she was ready to go downtown. She managed to 'accidentally' bump into me a few times in 3 or 4 other sections of the store. If I didn't have a gf...

Some people don't want to consume all of those toxins.
 
joeyjoejoeshabadoo said:
That video is shockingly accurate.
That really was! I didn't realize the "disappearing items" thing was so common. I guess I'll stop being on the lookout for those unique items I remember.
 

Ulairi

Banned
water_wendi said:
i know, right? Totally crazy. i remember growing up hard cheese would have mold growing on it within 3-5 days. i havent seen mold on cheese in at least a decade.


You were buying shitty cheese then with a bunch of junk in it. Wisconsin has some of the best cheeses in the world and it last a long as time, if I didn't eat it so quickly.
 

richiek

steals Justin Bieber DVDs
The TJ's English muffins get moldy after a week, while Thomas' English muffins last alot longer.
 

water_wendi

Water is not wet!
Ulairi said:
You were buying shitty cheese then with a bunch of junk in it. Wisconsin has some of the best cheeses in the world and it last a long as time, if I didn't eat it so quickly.
Did Wisconsin cheese take long to spoil in the 80s?
 

JGS

Banned
I'm sure it's been said, but this is a good thing.

I actually have the same problem at Kroger. I get their bakery bread and if you don't eat in within a couple of days it's a goner.

Their baked breads are so good though- from a cheapskate's perspective at least.
 

elostyle

Never forget! I'm Dumb!
Trader Joes is a discount store with a nice paint job.

There unbranded stuff is not unbranded because it's some specialty. It is because it's the cheapo bought in bulk stuff. There regular stuff anyways, they have some fluff too.

Their secret is that they don't actually carry that many different items. The concept is the same as the Germany based Aldi chain of discount stores. Incidentally, both chains are owned by the same person.

Aldi didn't have barcode scanners for the longest time. Every new employee had to memorize a three digit number for each item the stores carried.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top Bottom