Tee-jays

And other winter rambles

San Buenaventura Beach, Ventura, California. Channel Islands in the background

I didn’t set out to write a food focused essay but sometimes that is just the way things go. You know me by now. We do spend a LOT of our time when in the US ‘catching up’ with favourite foods. Mexican food of all kinds and incredibly fresh sushi are the main things we miss living in the UK. Yes, you can get them but they are just not the same, especially since we don’t live in a big city.

When we are staying put for awhile and feeding ourselves, one of my favourite stops in the US is Trader Joe’s (nicknamed “tee-jays” or TJs).

TJ’s is a medium-sized grocery store chain that has slowly expanded out from its Southern California roots. It was purchased a long time ago by the European-based Aldi grocery founder, who thankfully has left it pretty much alone. I have heard from friends that sometimes you can find TJ’s products in Aldi stores in France or Spain. I haven’t yet found any in the UK.

TJ’s is very personality-driven, with lively and funny signs and product names. They focus on value, fresh ingredients and innovation. They watch food trends closely and mimic with their own-brands that are less expensive and often more flavourful than the original.

Customers are truly passionate about their favourite products, and there is always a lively discussion among friends who share recipes and tricks to make interesting meals and snacks using TJ products. It’s a social coup to be the first to bring a TJs ‘own brand’ of a newish product to a gathering.

As an indication of their customer’s loyalty, there are well over 50 facebook groups pertaining to Trader Joes (I actually stopped counting at 50; I have no idea how many there actually are). Groups include ‘favourite trader joes recipes’, ‘plant based trader joes’, ‘keto trader joes’, ‘recipes and meal ideas’, ‘healthy meal ideas for mom’s and families’, and so on.

When I had teenagers living at home, TJs was a godsend. Everyone liked different foods and often needed to eat at different times. Their frozen foods are mostly additive-free, and allowed me, a non-meat-eater or preparer, to keep interesting meat meals on hand for my kids when they did want to eat meat. Their snack foods are delightful and tasty, and not full of a bunch of unpronouncable flavourings. Even though I was the ‘mom who didn’t have soda’, I did have many different juices, all courtesy of TJs. Teen friends often came over after school and ate whatever they could find, so apparently, even without soda, the pickings were ok at our house. Thanks TJs!

Our favourite frozen chicken dish; a current selection of TJ snack foods. Photos from the TJs website.

When we visit the West Coast, we enjoy discovering the current food trends. One popular food group the last few years is individual bagged salad mixes with interesting ingredients and flavourful dressings, all in one package. Ones we have tried this trip are: Avocado Ranch complete salad kit (average-tasting we thought), Broccoli and Kale Slaw (really tasty), and possibly our favourite so far: Lemony Arugula Basil Complete Salad Kit. Yum! So good I forgot to take pictures of that one.

Bag of salad; ingredients

As you can see in the photos, the main downside of these salads is the excessive packaging. After our trip, I’ll have a record of the ingredients, and can assemble and make bulk versions of these salads for ourselves. I justify our limited purchases when we travel as flavour research! For our at-home lunches this past week, we have been splitting a salad bag between two of us and also eating some clever seedy-nutty crackers with locally made jalapeno-jack (for non-US readers, Monterey jack is a mild, white cheese) and goats cheeses. Finishing off with fresh fruit and chocolate.

I also discovered they have started carrying a knock-off of my current favourite (and expensive) dip: an almond - chipotle spicy dip that works well with raw veggies, tortilla chips or crackers. Did I say it’s spicy? It’s also filling and vegan. Leftovers from last night are being added to our lunch today! End of TJs infomercial. 😄

Favourite dip!

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On a slightly different topic (not all food after all!), we have been staying with friends in Ventura (southern California) for the last week, doing some work, and getting outside everyday in the glorious sunshine. There has been an unseasonably warm spell, and aside from not having packed any clothes for warm weather, it has been wonderful for my mental and physical health. Almost every day we have been for a long walk on the beach, and have noticed a few changes since we were last here in mid-August.

In late December there were very high surf conditions, including a freak large wave that washed across the beach and down a few streets leading away from the beach. There was property damage to houses and businesses adjacent to the beach. The beach itself has been re-sculpted and much of the protective dune system has been scraped away or in places has been replaced and built up higher, in both cases far beyond typical winter seasonal beach changes.

The storms that caused these high surf conditions are being called ‘once in a millennium’ events. (Yes, I too see the irony in calling multiple storms ‘once in a millennium’). It is also an El Niño year, which means there are likely to be multiple heavy rain storms along the coast of California this year. Indeed, despite our warm weather the past few days, another set of very wet storms is arriving in a few days. Thankfully we are heading elsewhere!

But all these visual cues illustrate the accelerating effects of climate change in our daily lives. Later, as we watched a harbour patrol boat practicing training exercises, I was reminded of the harbour rescues that happened during the catastrophic fire in Lahina, Maui last year. Some people had nowhere else to go except to jump in the ocean, and most were lucky enough to be rescued by harbour patrol boats. Afterwards, those rescue boats had to find a safe place to land somewhere along the flaming coastline.

I wondered if the boat training I was seeing in the harbour has been recently modified to include fire rescues from the water? Maybe since we are in fire country they have always been thinking about that. In any event, it was a reminder again of the changing conditions that mean we think more strategically about escalating natural hazards wherever we are. During our last visit to this part of the world, we had two earthquakes and a hurricane; not unheard of, but not common either.

But in the meantime, on this day, a gentle breeze was blowing balmy air from the inland heat, and we were embraced by its warmth. We were seduced into calm thoughts by the metronomic sounds of waves crashing into the shore followed by the hollow crackling burble over cobbles back out to sea. The avocets were picking their way gracefully along the sand and stones; we followed, breathing deeply, and deeply grateful for being just here, just now.

Marina Park, Ventura, California

Thanks friends, for being here with me, and a happy first day of February to you all! Hope you are well and keeping up your spirits if you are in the wintery northern hemisphere, and not too hot if you are in the summery southern hemisphere. I am in another location now and it’s back to winter-like conditions. But having had a week of sun, I am a renewed soul. Wishing you all a healthy week ahead.

Let me know—if you are a Trader Joe’s fan—what the current special items are you look for when you shop there. I am always excited to learn about new foods!

Until next week,

xo Sabrina

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