My first visit to Trader Joe's!!

Today the family and I decided to visit the Trader Joe's that was recently built in our town. My hubby hates going to Whole Foods, because of the crowds and limited space to shop comfortably and of course, he hates the prices.  We thought Trader Joe's would be the same but we were very wrong.  Although the building was smaller, there were less people there.  This could very well be because it is new in the area but there was a parking lot full of cars and I was still able to move around comfortably in the store. 

The first thing I noticed when I arrived was the lower prices.  The prices were lower on many produce items compared to Whole Foods.  However, Trader Joe's has gotten a lot of backlash about their produce because a lot of it comes from other countries.  I did not see a huge selection of items that were from local farms.  Whole Foods, although more expensive, has a lot of items to choose from locally.  Despite some backlash I can say that the produce looked great!   The meat looked good; the organic meat looked awesome, but pricey as usual.  The best thing that I seen on my quick visit was the uniqueness in the items they carried.  Although I was afraid to try to try some of these items, I did purchase a few things while I was there.  I bought the Trader Joe's Next to Godliness dish soap, some grape seed oil, two cuts of rib eye beef, mushrooms, bag of apples, two red pears, ground pepper, and pizza dough.  My total came out to 30.33 with tax.


Okay hubby thinks I could have gotten that at Wal-Mart for a lot cheaper but the meat was a great deal and I know Wal-Mart meat would have been a little more expensive.  I know I would not have found the grape seed oil or the red pears in my local Wal-Mart and if it had it would have been ridiculously expensive ( I had just went to Wal-Mart in search of the Grape Seed oil , my search was fruitless).    I used to be a die hard Wal-Mart shopper until I started comparing prices to Kroger and other stores and I noticed that the quality was better in other stores and I was not really saving much by shopping in Wal-Mart, especially when it comes to meat.  Do not get me wrong, I still shop at Wal-Mart just not exclusively.  Anyways guys overall, I enjoyed my trip to Trader Joe's, everyone was helpful and I will more than likely be a frequent customer.  I will let you guys know about my upcoming trips and what the best items are to purchase from there.  Reviews coming soon!! Thanks for reading!

Yoli G