Trading at Joe's Place
I got this idea from S'kat at S'kat and the Food. We recently got our very first Trader Joe's in the Hampton Roads area of Virginia. I was just beside myself they finally had seen the error of their ways of only doing business in the Northern VA, Washington DC area. I had written two letters more than several years ago begging them to come and give us more choices besides the Heritage. I am all for competition and Heritage really doesn't seem to have very much of it. I also begged Whole Foods too. I still have hope that they will come here and fill up some huge empty box store spaces.

I wasn't able to make the 45 minute drive from my house through the Hampton Roads Bridge Tunnel before Christmas to spend quality time at Trader Joe's but went yesterday for a spending freenzy. S'kat had already been and did a blog entry about what $100 would buy at TJ's. So I thought I would give that concept a try and see how our purchases differed.

TJ's was crowded and people looked like they were high on the fact that they had a new place to buy organic and unusual foods that regular grocery stores around here don't normally carry. My husband and I just started at one end of the store and the high began. Here is the list of everything that we bought and it came to $97.04. If you read the whole list you will notice a theme in some of the items. This theme goes along with the 10 Foods I Can't Live Without.

1. Whole Grain Rye Bread
2. Low Fat Kettle Chips
3. Baked Blue Corn Chips
4. Papudums, Tandori Masala Snacks
5. Black Mission Figs
6. Chocolate Covered Espresso Beans ( My sister-in-law from Dallas got me hooked on these babies and they really do equal a cup of coffee for me!)
7. Kitchen Basics Beef Stock (stranglely enough my local Farm Fresh only carries the Chicken and Vegetable stocks-wonder why they don't carry beef?)
8. Pomegrante Juice (My husband saw a thing on TV about how Pomegrante juice is good for you on the Today Show on Saturday.)
9. Villa Tialia Grapefruit Soda (curosity got the best of me-I don't make it a habit of drinking soda.)
10. 5 lbs of Mc Intosh apples (I have been on an apple kick)
11. Whole Wheat Hamburger buns (I really have sticking to my guns about eating whole wheat breads and they discovered they made whole wheat buns-I was tickled that I could have my Boca burger on a whole wheat bun. I know, I know, it's just silly.)
12. Dried Pesto Tortellini
13. Garlic Basil Penne
14. Garlic Basil Rotelle
15. Dry Roasted and Salted Pistachio nuts
16. Dry Roasted Salted Almonds
17. Thai Lime Chili Cashews
18. 2 bags of dried Blueberries
19. 1 bag of Mixed Berry Medley
20. Dried Cinnamon Apple Rings
21. Dry Roasted Pine Nuts
22. Multigran Breton Crackers
23. 1 lb fresh Asparagus
24. 5 lb Clementines
25. 4 pack of assorted flavored Goat Cheeses
26. 3/4 lb. Ghirardelli Semi Sweet Chocolate

I didn't buy any meats or frozen items because we left the ice chest at home by accident. Next time I think I will concentrate on those items. I have to say that I had a great time and think that shopping at Trader Joe's will have to be done with a great deal of personal restraint. I could have spent my whole monthly budget in there. While I am not eating organic as a regular thing, I found that there at lots of items that I do like that happen to be organic. All in all, it was a day out and I know I will be a regular customer, but one who has a list and a set amount to spend.