passing on Trader Joe’s Organic Popcorn for the old-school Jiffy Pop experience over the stove

I'll pass on Jiffy pop, thanks, but I can't be the only one who finds Trader Joe's food to be hugely overrated.

I can't be the only one who finds Trader Joe's food to be hugely overrated.

I don't rate Trader Joe's food.

The Consumer Reports blind-taste testers seem to like some Trader Joe's stuff, fwiw

granting that they are unable to properly deduct for trendiness, many would say

I love it. 2990 words on the next step in analyzing the BBWAA awards and the conversation revolves around popcorn. I should've included the Orville Redenbacher haiku I cut at the last minute. :) Seriously though, guys, thanks for reading. I tried to go all out on this one.

I don't rate Trader Joe's food.

Well, that's odd. Didn't you once write a cookbook for TJ's?

It. Never. Happened.

Tj: depends on the item in question; they're hit and miss...

Tj: depends on the item in question; they're hit and miss...

Trader Joe's doesn't make food, they buy it and put their own label on it. They sell a cider beer that tastes almost exactly like Woodchuck, for instance -- and coincidentally is brewed in the same town as Woodchuck. By coincidentally I mean it says "BOTTLED BY AMERICAN HARD CIDER CO." right on the label.

Most of what you buy in Trader Joe's is name brand food in different labels. The mac and cheese is probably Annie's, from what I can tell. The canned pasta comes from Full Circle, I think. It's just cheaper than buying the name brand equivalents. In most senses it's very similar to Aldi's, which shouldn't be surprising since they're both owned by the same family (the founder of Aldi's in Germany split the company in half when he died so each of his sons would have a company to run; one of them gets to use the Aldi's trade name in the US and the other operates under Trader Joe's.)

Trader Joe's is nice, but I'm a Wegmans man.

I haven't really found a grocery store in DC that I really like. I have a Harris Teeter's and a Safeway by me but both have severe limitations. Safeway's deli section and meats section is pretty weak. HT is supposed to be big in the fresh prepared food category but the store by me is very disappointing in that regard. Space issues also play a part in both stores having a much smaller list of goods than I'm used to having.

I don't like Trader Joes because it's Excellent, I like that it's pretty good and cheaper than the Annie's and Woodchucks and whatever other name it displaces on my wife's unnecessarily expensive shopping list. If she goes to TJ's and then finishes up at the usual places it saves me money and the quality is close enough. I'm happy to spend on food, but man, she can find ways around common sense sometimes...

8: Right.
Never tried Aldi's, incidentally, until recently. I've been very picky in what I'm willing to buy from there, but so far, so good.
As for "BOTTLED BY AMERICAN HARD CIDER CO." - I thought their vendor agreements precluded that from being on the label?

10: Have you tried Wegman's? That's the grocer of choice for my DC buddies.
HT is big time overrated, IMO.

There isn't a Wegman's near me.

There's no Trader Joe's near me, but I've shopped at Aldi in Arlington TX since it opened a couple of years ago. Excellent wine, coffee, cereal, dark chocolate, paper products, and other staples, very cheap. "Picky" is indeed the best advice: you can't get everything you need there. But I shop every day, and often at different places, so the occasional Aldi run suits me just fine.