Trader Joe’s is one such store which many of us go to. Here you can buy stuff which is hard to find in normal grocery stores like Safeway and Albertsons. Folks, if you don’t want to share which stocks to buy righ now 🙂 can atleast share which such stores you go to and what do you buy from there. May be others can use your tips and grocery list next time they visit the store.
I usually go toTJs and buy following things:
Persian cucumbers (they come in a box of 5 )
Fresh basil leaves (makes good pasta and lasagna)
Soy cheese (mozarella, cheddar etc.)
Vegan Ice cream sandwich of tofutti brand (one of our friends had got it at our house and we loved it)
Multigrain waffles (no eggs)
Tom’s tooth paste (has no animal products and you get one for the kids with different flavors )
Other such store is “Wholefoods” where you can crush your own peanut butter (no sugar added)
Waiting for your responses..
Mascarpone Cheese….
Whole Foods is another store where we visit often….they have a variety of FlaxSeeds products, cereals, freshmade almond and peanut butter
When we were i Santa Clara we used to go to Traders Jose/Whole Food (my colleague calls it Whole paycheck) often. Either of them is not close by in Milpitas hence been a while since visited these two store. Komal has one close to her work so just request her to get standard things we use like Tahini Paste, MultiGrain waffle Mix, Small Pizza base like India to make Indian Pizza.
Another store I go to is Ranch99 store for fruits. I feel they have more variety of fruit at cheaper rate then Albertsons/Safeway and better quality then Indian store. They often have tender coconut on deal for 80cents. In additional to all standard fruits seasonally they have Litchi, Manila Mango (like Indian Langada), and Persimmon.
Thanks for the list of items Amisha from TJs. Its been so long since we went there (due to none being closeby). Now your article has motivated me to go there and try a few of those things that you mentioned.
TJ’s list – Cream line Yogurt (Malai), Pizza dough, Pasta, Black Beans, Trader Joe’s French Chocolate Truffle (Yummy), Frozen Veg, Tofu,
Olive oil, Butter, Flowers, Banana’s……..
Now that Dimple mentioned MANGOES, I HAVE to go to Ranch99 :-). Have never been to that store before.
Other such “hat ke” store is Pasha Market on Stevens Creek. It is (I think) Pakistani grocery store. They have Arabian dark brown color, soft dates. Also round shape biscuits called “Digestive cookies”. They are no where else to see.
I agree, TJs’ pasta are good.
TJ’s – Whole wheat pita bread, flavored hummus/dips (check the labels though), the lentil soups are yummy as well, multicolored potato chips(i forget the name).
Ranch 99 mangoes are good, but i hate the smell 🙁
Indian stores (have been buying it from ICC for last few yrs) also has Mcvities Digestive biscuits and they are yummy.
TJ’s also carry a fruit & veg wash (don’t remember the name) which contains all natural ingredients. I use it especially on grapes that has lot of powdery residue and items which are wax coated.
Lunardi is a chain of grocery stores in San Jose. Smaller than Safeway/Albertsons but their produce is reasonably good & really very fresh compared to the former two.
Lot of variety in fruits and vegetables and their breads/bakery good too.
Recently, TJ has introduced Indian vegetable masala burger patties in a freezer section. They are very delicious with indian spices in them. I buy shelled soybean in a freezer sec, ready to use. Pasta sauce is also good.
Oh man…this post is so bad for my tummy. I am taking a printout and heading out to TJs this week. Its been so long I almost forgot the goodies that are in TJs.
Hamare Paas Derasar Hai, To Tumhare Paas TJs hai :-((
Fresh Herbs like rosemary, thyme, basil are much cheaper at TJ’s as compared to Albertsons/Safeway…TJ’s Soy Mango/Vanilla Ice Cream is our favorite
Yeah, the article name should had been “Shop at TJs”.
I saw the Indian style burgers last time but was hesitating to buy them. Now I will try them out.
That’s true fresh herbs are cheaper in TJs.
They sell avacados (4 in a pack) for $2.49 which is a good deal.
Pasha Market board says Bangladesh’s store. Digestive biscuits are originally from UK. I have tasted 3 different flavours sent by my brother while we were in India.
We had tasted Digestive cookies first in Stockholm.
Oh yeah, Indian Masala Burger is good. We can’t wait TJ’s to go public ;-).
Had tasted mcvities(mcvities is from UK – original digestive) in Bombay(u get it in most of the stores in Bombay).
Whole foods – Thai curry pastes.
We go to Swagat an Indian Restaurant and Sweets shop in Milpitas near Derasar and buy amazing pickles from there…mango takku, ginger pickle, cauliflower pickles…courtesy Sejal and Jatin we picked this from them.
I was trying to think this store. One of my friends referred to me. Finally I remember. Milk Pail Market (European) store is specialty for cheese, chocolate, and grocery. They have all kinds of cheese and chocolate. I haven’t been there for long time, but it’s good store.
The Milk Pail Market
2585 California Street
Mountain View, CA 94040
(650) 941-2505
http://www.milkpail.com
Milk Pail market also carries good fruits & different kind of breads. It feels like small farmers market over there.
I visit Milk Pail regularly and prefer their fruits & vegetables. I feel the produce stays fresh for longer time. It gets really crowded over the weekend.
Also Milk Pail has amazing Peach Ice Cream..not sure iif it has eggs…
Does ” Milk Pail Market” have several locations or just one Mountain View?
Draeger’s Market – is one more specialty store where a lot of my colleagues go. there is one in menlo park and san matoe… not sure how big of a chain is this. i have gone there to get something for lunch a few times – soups, sandwich, salad bar (liked the food)
Can SwamiNarayan’s Indian Snack Shop at Milpitas be considered a Specialty store? We had heard that the snacks from BAPS store are usually great but among the 4 things that we got from there 3 are just ok. 4th item is still to be tried. Nothing great about it.
Anyone else have good experiences with their stuff? Maybe we did not buy the right goods.
Forgot to add that we recently visited Trader Joe’s this past weekend and bought some of items mentioned here. 🙂
Did not find any burgers labelled “Indian” or “Masala”. So got the the normal veggie burgers.
TJ run out very quick on Indian Burgers. We like chakri and nadiyadi bhusu from BAPS. Haven’t tried their sweets.
He was offering us Nadiyadi Bhuso but we did not take it :-(( and instead took jalebi (below avg), kachori (below avg), anjeer kaju katri (avg), methi ghatiya (still to be tried).
Next time we will try those 2 (bhuso and chakri).
Kesar Peda from BAPS was excellent. We had eaten this at Tushar/Kunjal’s place when Kevali was born.
From BAPS, we tried Tikha Ganthia (below avg), Adadia (avg), white peda (below avg).
Milan has great Jalebis but dont like their Fafdas they add just too much soda….Most of us tried their Jalebi at the spring picnic 🙂
I think in terms of Jalebi, Rangoli is good. But it has to be fresh. Difficult to figure out when these guys make the jalebis. Milan’s Jalebis are just average.
Haven’t tried Jalebis from Rangoli. We get good Jalebis made fresh everyday (of course we do not get them everyday :-)) from a local Indian store – Laxmi Bazaar. Like the other sweets from Rangoli.
2 thumbs up for the cream line yogurt from trader’s joe. Just tried it and it was YUMMY.
2 thumbs up for the “Veggie Burger Patties with Authentic Indian Spices” available in TJs. I hope this one is the same that was mentioned by Vandana.
(Thanks for the recommendation, Vandana)
We tried them this weekend and were very happy. In fact i think this can be used as patty for aloo tikki also. Cook some choley and spread it over and should taste yummy as well. (Not tried this yet).
Good suggestion Prashant. Went yesterday to TJ and I think they were out again. I will have to well stock it next time.
Dimple brought the Three Layer Hummus from Trader Joe and it is Simply AWESOME.
It contains Hummus + Cilantro and it just tastes yummy when eaten with sourdough bread.