It took me a long time to visit a Trader Joe’s grocery store. One of the reasons was that it wasn’t located conveniently to our home. The other was that I never saw any sales for it. I heard that they sold a lot of fresh and organic products, which made me think they were also expensive. But after a move and a few of their clever fliers, we tried Trader Joe’s, and there are a lot of good deals.
Yesterday, I posted about a recent shopping trip to Trader Joe’s, so today, I wanted to share some of the items that we pick up frequently. I’ll also list a few items that we avoid buying at Trader Joe’s.
By the way, Trader Joe’s does accept manufacturer’s coupons, although they don’t put items on sale.
Here are some of my favorite good deals.
Milk
Most of time I try to purchase whole milk for the kids that is free of hormones. This can get pretty expensive at the regular grocery store. Organic milk can cost twice as much. Trader Joe’s has the best price I have seen on both hormone free and organic milk. It tastes fresh, too.
Fresh cheese
Buying fresh cheese in the store can be almost double the cost at Trader Joe’s. From fresh mozzarella to parmesan to brie, the cheese here is the most inexpensive for the quality that I can find.
Two-Buck-Chuck
This is a little stretch, since we rarely eat red meat in our household, but many people I know take advantage of this great deal on ground hamburger.
Bananas
Bananas have a really low regular price of just $.19, or about $.50 a pound. This is hard to beat at most regular grocery stores, even when there is a sale.
Here are some things I avoid
Chicken
Hormone free is a good thing, but honestly they don’t offer family size packages. Since I have a larger family, I need a discount on bulk chicken. So, I tend to wait until it is on sale at the grocery store and combine it with coupons. (But the chicken sausage is a great deal, and I use it as an ingredient is a larger meal.)
Frozen Pizza
Trader Joe’s has a great selection of frozen pizza. But, I found that the portion size was small. I can make my own for much less (I avoid buying frozen pizza at the regular grocery store, too).