I Love Trader Joe’s
I love Trader Joe’s. Anyone who knows me in real life knows this to be true, most of all, my husband, who has to listen to me tell him how much food I got for some small amount of money just about every week. Or point out to him how many of their products are organic and not at all high-priced, or how kind the staff is there, or how family friendly they are, etc.
So when I was perusing the comment section in a post of Kelly The Kitchen Kop’s recently (this is a new blog for me), and I saw someone mention that they believed that the Trader Joe’s brand was completely GMO-free, I honestly thought it was too good to be true. (GMO is Genetically Modified Organism). Here is a store that has fair prices with a huge selection of organic items, great products, and now they are so far ahead of the curve that they are already GMO-free? That would be amazing and oh, so convenient!
So I decided to contact them myself to find out.
Here’s me:
I read today on a blog that all of the Trader Joe’s products
are free of GMO’s. Is that true? I hope so! That would make me so, so
happy. I love Trader Joe’s and do most of my grocery shopping with you,
so this would truly be great news.Thanks,
Beth
Here’s them:
Hi Beth,
You read correctly. Any product with the Trader Joe’s label is
guaranteed to be GMO free. You can also view this statement on our
website. http://www.traderjoes.com/static/lists.htmlThanks for shopping with us at Trader Joe’s!
Sincerely,
Tiffany
Trader Joe’s
Customer Relations
And that link up there (in case you don’t feel like following it (and I have no idea why I couldn’t find that page when I searched for this information myself (and this is now a TRIPLE parenthetical!))) . . . ahem. The link up there assures us that the Trader Joe’s logo means “NO artificial flavors, colors or preservatives; NO genetically modified ingredients; NO MSG; and NO added Trans Fats.”
Buying organic is the only real way to know you are avoiding GMOs unless you are specifically dealing with a brand that says it is GMO-free. This is because companies do not have to tell you they use genetically modified ingredients and you can’t know by just looking at the label. And know that the use of GMOs is VERY common. For example, think about how often soy or corn shows up in some form or other in virtually every product sold in a grocery store (pretty much everything). And guess what the biggest GMO crops are. Right. But now you have at least found one store brand that you know will be without any GMOs, whether the product you happen to be purchasing is organic or not.
No, this is not an ad. I got nothing for free from TJ’s. “Tiffany” doesn’t even know I was going to write about this. I just find it to be that awesome. I love Trader Joe’s.
Plus, their stuff is just plain yummy!
So funny because I love it so much, too! Unfortunately, we did not have TJ in Charleston. When we told some of our friends that we were moving to the Philly suburbs one of the first things they said was “You have to go to Trader Joe’s! You will love it!”. They know me so well. I have been shopping there ever since we arrived here.
What are your TJ favorites?
Ha! We just trekked into Atlanta to go to one today! There are 6 (SIX!) North of the city; ZERO south. There’s a huge need for it in Peachtree City/Newnan (TG Gods, are you reading?), yet they keep saying there isn’t. Agh!
I like getting Agave Nectar for my tea there. I filled my cart while I was there too
Wow that is AMAZING! Now I need to petition them to come to Canada.
Jenn
I love TJ’s. I wish they loved me enough to have a store closer than 90 miles away. *sob*
I wish we had a Trader Joe’s around here because I keep hearing awesome things about them, but I haven’t ever been in one.
I’m soooooo happy to hear this. I may link to this post soon. I love TJ’s too! My neighborhood just tore down a KFC and a bank is being built. Why couldn’t it be Trader Joe’s?! Have you seen this video? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OdB7GDZY3Pk Even though I love the store, I hate it when they stop carrying stuff I love. When there are 4 different flavors of JoJo cookies, why discontinue the PB/chocolate first?? Well, maybe it’s a good thing…
I love Trader Joe’s too! SO MUCH that we have to drive over an hour to get to it, but it’s WORTH IT.
Steph
awesome. good to know. if only one weren’t so far away…
I have Trader Joe’s envy and desperately wish there was one near us. Whole Foods? Down the street, of course. Alas, we are on a budget.
No Trader Joe’s in CO. No IKEA. No In-N-Out.
We have nothing.
The ironic thing is TJs would do REALLY WELL here. They’d clean up.
That is AWESOME! I’ve recently begun making trips to TJ a regular on my rounds. Now I have another reason to love them!
That’s a relief to know! There are also some clues on the stickers…this was all news to me. I got this from the midwestgreen.wordpress.com blog.
“…A four-digit number means the produce has been conventionally grown using synthetic pesticides and fertilizers. A five-digit number beginning with 8 means the produce was genetically modified. And a five-digit number beginning with 9 means you’re getting organically grown goodies. (Note: This number isn’t found in barcodes. It will typically be printed on a sticker affixed to an item.)”
Sooo…what are your favorite things to buy there??
Look at that! I just checked my apple and sure enough - 5 digit number starting with 9! I feel like organic items tend to be pretty well-labelled as such. I mean, if it’s organic I think they want to flaunt that, right? But where this would really come in handy I think is to watch out for that number starting with the 8, especially since they don’t have to share that info about whether or not it has been genetically modified. Good tip!
This is great to hear! I love Trader Joe’s, too.
We just got some veggie panang curry with jasmine rice the other day (it was in their circular last week) and my whole family LOVED it and wolfed it down. We also got some frozen naan bread and had a great meal of it, you should check it out. I will say it’s a bit spicy but the only one who wouldn’t eat it was two - just so you know.
[...] homemade, whatever - the one above is the frozen roll-out crust from Trader Joe’s, because Trader Joe’s is my friend), strategically placing each individual item so that no child can scream that something green might [...]