I am in MD for the week from NYC and boy am I excited to have my car (i drive in nyc too, but its not the same) and nice luxurious CHEAP grocery stores. I am trying to think of things to buy- I can't buy too much fresh/frozen food because of the drive- I only have one cooler so only for special things. What should I stock up on??? Espec. from Trader Joes.
I want:
1)some sort of thai iced tea mix- any recs??
2)condensed milk for this
3) emergen-c
4) dried mangos
5) i am making magnolia cupcakes and bringing them back
6) buying ingredients for vegetarian chili- canned beans, etc.
7) almonds
8) maybe some lean cuisines or some good frozen meals that arent too pricey- any recs??
9) some boxed meals- i know tuna helper was posted about- any other good ones?
10) these dried persian berries my mom puts in saffron rice
11) possibly frozen salmon from Costco/BJ's
12) a box of cereal- so excited that they aren't $6 here!
I like the frozen mexican dishes and perogis at TJs, they also have cheap morningstar sausages (veg) and lots of frozen vegetables. Their frozen french onion soup is delicious too!
they have good vaccum sealed Indian dishes - these are super easy to make too, sometimes they have frozen garlic naan bread.
I'm in love with their spicy black bean dip... I buy 3 jars whenever I go. Its so good!
i buy whole wheat english muffins there. laughing cow cheese there (i add honey and put it on an english muffin....sooo good). i buy a ton of frozen veggies there, cheese tortelini (sp?), dried fruits and nuts. tons of frozen food items to have on stock (mandarin chicken for the bf, dumplings, toooooons of frozen fish, fruit). everything is so good. i haven't tried any of the pizza yet, but that's next.
the dried fruits and nuts are life savers for me. also, they have TJ brand superfood which is about $2 cheaper than the odwalla kind.
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"i tell you one lesson I learned
If you want to be something in life, You ain't gonna get it unless, You give a little bit of sacrifice, Oohh, sometimes before you smile you got to cry.." -The Roots
I love their wine, cheese (there are so many varieties), tortilla soup, frozen spinach lasagna and egg plant parm. I also love total greek yogurt...I don't know if that would be worth taking on a car ride though.
my grocery purchases included: garlic naan tandoori naan potato & onion curry box (that i didn't see in the store had tuna in it, which i hate!) trader joe's choco hazelnut spread tj's choco soymilk choco almond milk orangina meatless meatballs vegetable potstickers small cheesecake milk chocolate bars with hazelnut frozen mango chunks 2 buck chuck (actually 3.39 in ohio) shiraz, cabernet sauvignon and sauvignon blanc balsamic vinegar
probably more stuff i don't remember...but mostly frozen items.
magnolia cupcakes are from the magnolia bakery in nyc. they have a cookbook, and i stole the recipe. when i'm at home i make them, because we have all the ingredients (sticks of butter, sugar, eggs, flour, vanilla, etc) that I don't have in my kitchen here. if you would like, i can post. Please keep up the grocery suggestions, i'm always at a loss when i go shopping.