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I concur. I can't find anything other than all purpose and wheat flour. No bread flour, or anything more obscure like rye, spelt, etc. Similarly, they sell a si

I concur. I can't find anything other than all purpose and wheat flour. No bread flour, or anything more obscure like rye, spelt, etc. Similarly, they sell a single sea salt, alongside tons of trendy mixed salts. Want iodized salt? Go find a big grocery store. I do find tons of snacks and TV dinners, which I enjoy. But if I'm stocking up on essentials, I'd rather go to a big store. And yes, I do find obscure flours at big stores, most recently 00 and rye.

koala_man 4y ago
Someone said that his favorite part of shopping at Trader Joe's is afterwards when you go to a supermarket to buy all the stuff you need. Safeway has everything I'd want from Trader Joe's at this point, and I don't have to do two trips.
- justinlloyd 4y ago
  TJ's for us is "we need these specific store brand items" or "I need to restock my Blackthorn cider." And unfortunately TJ's has removed three store brand products in the past two years, so the number of reasons to go there is rapidly diminishing for our household.
zeroonetwothree 4y ago
But that's exactly why TJs is cheaper. You gain price and sacrifice variety.
robonerd 4y ago
It's not just food either, trader joes is lacking many of the non-food goods that other grocery stores almost universally have. Need aluminum foil or parchment paper? You can't buy those at trader joes.
- dragonwriter 4y ago
  > trader joes is lacking many of the non-food goods that other grocery stores almost universally have. It's almost like their business model is “don’t devote lots of floor space to stuff you can get anywhere so price competition drives margins to zero”. .
  - robonerd 4y ago
    I'm aware.
CameronNemo 4y ago
This is indeed why Trader Joe's could never be my entire grocery shopping experience. Even staples like dry black beans are unavailable. God forbid you want to bake something... They have a couple interesting products that I can't get elsewhere, and they don't have lots of products that I can get at literally any other grocery store.
- mattl 4y ago
  What are you using the dried black beans for that a can won’t suffice?
  - sbf501 4y ago
    Not OP, but the texture is different. Soak some black beans overnight then cook them, and compare them to rinsed canned beans. The latter are slipper and spongy, the former are lighter and have better texture.
  - triceratops 4y ago
    They're cheaper, take up less space, no processed crap from all the goo in the can, you can cook them to whatever firmness you want...should I keep going?
  - watwut 4y ago
    They taste differently, it us very noticeable. So, soups and sauces. The dried beans soup is my favorite, canned beans soup is crap.
floren 4y ago
I couldn't even find plain white sugar the last time I looked. They have small bags of "raw" sugar, which is fine for putting in coffee, but not good enough for many baking needs.
sbf501 4y ago
Way off topic here, but Anna napoletana tipo "00" changed my life.
- nathanaldensr 4y ago
  00 flour is great for baking and pizzas!
  - sbf501 4y ago
    I had to adjust my hydration when switching from all-purpose to 00, but it is definitely a superior structure, especially with a 48-hour ferment and a little diastatic malt.
justinlloyd 4y ago
On a side note: Purchase a bag of vital wheat gluten, a 2lb/1Kg bag will last a very long time. The difference between AP flour and bread flour is the gluten content. You can bring any regular AP flour up to the highest gluten level that a high gluten bread flour brand like King Arthur will produce. One tablespoon of vital wheat gluten exchanged for one tablespoon of AP flour for every two cups/240 grams/2.4oz of AP flour is a provides a good high gluten ratio. I use it regularly in my bread recipes and pizza dough recipes. I only keep bread flour on the shelf for those days when I am feeling lazy or need a very specific brand of bread flour for one specific recipe.
- tony_cannistra 4y ago
  I also find that adding gluten to rye-heavy doughs makes them rise far more easily (and generally just behave better).

koala_man 4y ago

Someone said that his favorite part of shopping at Trader Joe's is afterwards when you go to a supermarket to buy all the stuff you need. Safeway has everything I'd want from Trader Joe's at this point, and I don't have to do two trips.

justinlloyd 4y ago
TJ's for us is "we need these specific store brand items" or "I need to restock my Blackthorn cider." And unfortunately TJ's has removed three store brand products in the past two years, so the number of reasons to go there is rapidly diminishing for our household.

zeroonetwothree 4y ago

But that's exactly why TJs is cheaper. You gain price and sacrifice variety.

robonerd 4y ago

It's not just food either, trader joes is lacking many of the non-food goods that other grocery stores almost universally have. Need aluminum foil or parchment paper? You can't buy those at trader joes.

dragonwriter 4y ago
> trader joes is lacking many of the non-food goods that other grocery stores almost universally have. It's almost like their business model is “don’t devote lots of floor space to stuff you can get anywhere so price competition drives margins to zero”. .
- robonerd 4y ago
  I'm aware.

CameronNemo 4y ago

This is indeed why Trader Joe's could never be my entire grocery shopping experience. Even staples like dry black beans are unavailable. God forbid you want to bake something... They have a couple interesting products that I can't get elsewhere, and they don't have lots of products that I can get at literally any other grocery store.

mattl 4y ago
What are you using the dried black beans for that a can won’t suffice?
- sbf501 4y ago
  Not OP, but the texture is different. Soak some black beans overnight then cook them, and compare them to rinsed canned beans. The latter are slipper and spongy, the former are lighter and have better texture.
- triceratops 4y ago
  They're cheaper, take up less space, no processed crap from all the goo in the can, you can cook them to whatever firmness you want...should I keep going?
- watwut 4y ago
  They taste differently, it us very noticeable. So, soups and sauces. The dried beans soup is my favorite, canned beans soup is crap.

floren 4y ago

I couldn't even find plain white sugar the last time I looked. They have small bags of "raw" sugar, which is fine for putting in coffee, but not good enough for many baking needs.

sbf501 4y ago

Way off topic here, but Anna napoletana tipo "00" changed my life.

nathanaldensr 4y ago
00 flour is great for baking and pizzas!
- sbf501 4y ago
  I had to adjust my hydration when switching from all-purpose to 00, but it is definitely a superior structure, especially with a 48-hour ferment and a little diastatic malt.

justinlloyd 4y ago

On a side note: Purchase a bag of vital wheat gluten, a 2lb/1Kg bag will last a very long time. The difference between AP flour and bread flour is the gluten content. You can bring any regular AP flour up to the highest gluten level that a high gluten bread flour brand like King Arthur will produce. One tablespoon of vital wheat gluten exchanged for one tablespoon of AP flour for every two cups/240 grams/2.4oz of AP flour is a provides a good high gluten ratio. I use it regularly in my bread recipes and pizza dough recipes. I only keep bread flour on the shelf for those days when I am feeling lazy or need a very specific brand of bread flour for one specific recipe.

tony_cannistra 4y ago
I also find that adding gluten to rye-heavy doughs makes them rise far more easily (and generally just behave better).