Holland: The Trader Joe’s experience

I had been to Trader Joe’s before a couple of times before but had never bought anything while I was there. I was always left confused as to why almost everyone I know raved about how great the store is.

This was probably mainly to do with the fact that all the way up through maybe my senior year of college, I was a very picky and therefore very simple eater. Pasta was my staple food, and I rarely branched out into any crazy flavor combinations with other meals either.

Starting from when I would go up from South Carolina to see my godmother, also named Monique, in Spotsylvania in my later years of college, I started branching out a bit. She would make me try delicious vegetables and unique flavors, from spaghetti squash made into noodles for a healthier alternative and all the way to salads with more than just cheddar cheese, ranch and iceberg lettuce on them.

I’m talking beets, apple, strawberries, grapes, dried cranberries, walnuts, fancy fruit vinaigrettes and more. That may not seem like much, but it spurred me into broadening my horizon even more down the line.

My picky eater past had me missing out on a bunch of delicious foods and flavor combinations. I used to not even touch any kind of seafood and now my favorite food is sushi; I love shrimp in almost every form and I just had some delicious salmon for dinner a week ago.

So, visiting Trader Joe’s now that I’ve had my more interesting food awakening was eye-opening. I got some pumpkin-flavored oatmilk to put in my coffee, some umami seasoning, furikake seasoning, fancy feta and brie cheese and I would have gotten more if I had space in my cooler to hold it before I drove back home.

I had gone to Greensboro mainly to attend a fly-fishing seminar at the Orvis store there, which ran pretty late and with the dinner plans I had afterwards, and I didn’t want to risk all the goodies I wanted going bad before I could enjoy them.

I arrived relatively early in the afternoon, getting to the store around 4:30 p.m. with the intention of just buying single portion brie cheese to make a specific dish.

The store ended up being full of items that may not have interested me before with my mediocre cooking and plain eating habits, but sure do interest me now. Especially living in Martinsville now, the market for semi-unique food items is somewhat limited.

I saw vegetables I hadn’t seen since the last time I went into a Whole Foods, extremely fresh-looking meat products, interestingly flavored milk substitutes, all kinds of mushrooms, a plethora of seasonings and just an all-around diverse shopping experience.

I also took the time to stop by a store called Sprouts, which I had never heard of before. They had similar items to Trader Joe’s along with bulk seasoning options, an overflowing and flourishing vegetable section, interestingly flavored meat options and more.

Now that I’ve been making the conscious decision to branch out and try new and interesting foods and flavors, I know where I need to start shopping. Aldi, Kroger, Food Lion and Walmart offer a lot, but sometimes you just want to make something that’s a little extra special—at least I do.

Next time I go shopping there, I’ll make sure to bring a bigger cooler along with me. And with the interest I have in buying more of their stuff, I might just make a visit solely to go shopping at those stores.