Trader Joe's Master Thread

[Deal Guy]

Shoprite and Stop and Shop have weekly flyers, where some basic staples like cereal, soda, paper towels, ect, are extremely cheap that week, but obviously they cant have those prices every week.

Aldi on the other hand, has year round cheap prices, just not as cheap as some of Shoprite's weekly specials.

How does trader joes compare to either a shoprite or to an Aldi? Do they have weekly flyers and sales?

[mmgfarb]

Shoprite and Stop and Shop have weekly flyers, where some basic staples like cereal, soda, paper towels, ect, are extremely cheap thar week, but obviously they cant have those prices every week.

Aldi on the other hand, has year round cheap prices, just not as cheap as some of Shoprite's weekly specials.

How does trader joes compare to either a shoprite or to an Aldi? Do they have weekly flyers and sales?

They do have flyers but I don't think they really have much in the way of sales. Their products tend to be pretty well priced to begin with for most staples so the lack of sales isn't that big of a deal.

[Yonah]

One more note on Kashrus - let's call it L'fnei eever doesn't apply to Trader Joe's.

Trader Joe's has a lot of Trader Joe's branded products, but almost all of those products are manufactured by third parties in different places - and - most importantly - With Different Hashgachas

Cases-in-point:
- Trader Joe's brand sour cream has three varieties - Light, Regular and Organic - each of them has a different hashgacha
- Trader Joe's Joe-Joes, are generally O-U Pareve, but some seasonal versions are DAIRY - i.e. the Pumpkin Joe Joes - and have a diferent hasgacha - Kof-K D

The bottom line - always check

[srap]

...
Trader Joe's has a lot of Trader Joe's branded products, but almost all of those products are manufactured by third parties in different places - and - most importantly - With Different Hashgachas...
The bottom line - always check

+1  One Gluten Free bread (Multigrain IIRC) was OU, whereas all the others on the same rack were OV!  I thought it was a mistake, but no, it really exists (a Vaad of St. Louis hechsher).
Check out TJ's five or so page kosher list.  It is an EXCELLENT compilation of symbols, organizations, mashgichim, phone numbers, plus.

[moko]

Check out TJ's five or so page kosher list.  It is an EXCELLENT compilation of symbols, organizations, mashgichim, phone numbers, plus.

a lot of it is outdated

[grodnoking]

OV!  I thought it was a mistake, but no, it really exists (a Vaad of St. Louis hechsher).

CRC recommended

[srap]

a lot of it is outdated

A lot?  Possibly some?  Maybe only a few?  I actually don't know the answer, but the Hawaiin shirted TJ guys adamantly stood behind the integrity of TJ while I was questioning the OV.  Based on that I would think it may be important for them to keep their reference list updated.

[grodnoking]

A lot?  Possibly some?  Maybe only a few?  I actually don't know the answer, but the Hawaiin shirted TJ guys adamantly stood behind the integrity of TJ while I was questioning the OV.  Based on that I would think it may be important for them to keep their reference list updated.

Trader Joe's seems to have a fairly basic assumption on what a hechsher is, which most non jews have, and believe that it shows a better, more clean and inspected product, which is what Trader Joe's aims for in their stores, and therefore they really want to have as many kosher products as they can.
I'm not sure how much of it is for the jewish customers.

[moko]

A lot?  Possibly some?  Maybe only a few?  I actually don't know the answer, but the Hawaiin shirted TJ guys adamantly stood behind the integrity of TJ while I was questioning the OV.  Based on that I would think it may be important for them to keep their reference list updated.

17 that I know of plus many duplicates.

[dealfinder11]

Trader Joe's seems to have a fairly basic assumption on what a hechsher is, which most non jews have, and believe that it shows a better, more clean and inspected product, which is what Trader Joe's aims for in their stores, and therefore they really want to have as many kosher products as they can.
I'm not sure how much of it is for the jewish customers.

I believe this used to be true, however as of late, as new products come out, I feel like companies are comfortable with a "certified vegan" or "certified fair trade" symbol, and have neglected to go thru the hassle and spend the money on getting a Hechsher.

[srap]

17 that I know of plus many duplicates.

Are you a mashgiach?  If you  PM me or print the list here, I will forward it on to them.

[moko]

It's already been sent to them several times.

[googwallet]

I love Trader Joe's. We stock up rice pasta, butters, spices, ice cream, canned foods, some produce, nuts and cereals. Usually at the Court St. location, I have the biggest cart in sight (unless there are other frum Jews there), most of the typical customers at this location seem to just buy a few things on their way home from work..

I found this Freakonomics podcast on Trader Joe's very insightful. Tj's also has their own podcast.

http://freakonomics.com/podcast/trader-joes-rebroadcast/

[lifetimedeals]

The pas yisroel sour dough bread is reletively cheap and is a good sour dough bread.

Does it say pas yisroel on the packaging?

[whYME]

Does it say pas yisroel on the packaging?

IIRC yes

[sguitarist18]

CRC recommended

+1 but -1.

The organization is on the CRC's recommended list, but it seems they no longer use the OV symbol, as a number of organizations have started using the same symbol to indicate vegetarian status.

https://www.stljewishlight.com/vaad-has-new-hechsher-after-companies-use-circled-v-for/article_9a3464fa-c1ad-11e8-b346-0f3d3307d846.html?source=post_page---------------------------

[grodnoking]

+1 but -1.

The organization is on the CRC's recommended list, but it seems they no longer use the OV symbol, as a number of organizations have started using the same symbol to indicate vegetarian status.

https://www.stljewishlight.com/vaad-has-new-hechsher-after-companies-use-circled-v-for/article_9a3464fa-c1ad-11e8-b346-0f3d3307d846.html?source=post_page---------------------------

Smart move. But he can make a fortune over this. His symbol is patented from many years ago.
But he'll probably eventually lose the cases due to it being common use. I wonder how patent law works if something becomes common use after you patent it, but for a totally different reason...

[sguitarist18]

In the meantime, though, some people probably still think they're eating kosher as long as it's got the OV symbol.

[yungermanchik]

+1 but -1.

The organization is on the CRC's recommended list, but it seems they no longer use the OV symbol, as a number of organizations have started using the same symbol to indicate vegetarian status.

https://www.stljewishlight.com/vaad-has-new-hechsher-after-companies-use-circled-v-for/article_9a3464fa-c1ad-11e8-b346-0f3d3307d846.html?source=post_page---------------------------

https://ovkosher.org/
This is their new symbol:

[Thingywingy]

Does any one know what the hechsher is on their soy pareve ice cream?