Hi my name is Nicole, and this evening, I visited my first Trader Joe's, and I am speechless. A little history. I grew up in Baltimore, Maryland in a household of healthy food. My parents always cooked all my meals. I am now 42 years old, and living on my own. My ENTIRE adult life, I have struggled with feeding myself, (not literally feeding myself, like fork to mouth.)I have no problem eating what other people cook for me (family members or friends,) but have not ever been able to, or had an interest in cooking or taking care of myself with food, but I love to eat. My Mom (who lives in North Carolina) has tried everything: Sending Tik Tok videos with simple recipes (my email is full of I watched videos), bought me an Echo Alexa to encourage me (with reminders "time to eat something!) New York Times recipe subscription, cook books, pictures, daily phone calls, etc. To no avail, I just simply do not cook, or prepare food, yet I love to eat! I am not sure how I have made it this long on Door Dash deliveries, frozen pizza, and frozen TV dinners. For the past year, my Mom has been saying "I googled Trader Joe's, you are only 2.3 miles from there, I wish you would go. I wish we had a Trader Joe's here! Please go honey."
Tonight, I took her advice (after it being about the 100th time she asked me,) and I visited Trader Joe's. And tonight, my relationship with food, and "feeding myself changed."
I am literally speechless, and almost moved to tears. Within 2 minutes of being in the store, I started to recognize food from my families kitchen. Familiar snacks (or similar,) a huge selection of cheese, Brie, Mozzarella, Prosciutto, salami, chicken tikka masala, spinach, almond slices, and in addition,tons and tons of frozen meals that I could eat!! After I relaxed, and stopped wondering "do all of these TJ regulars "know this is my first time?" Moving my cart awkwardly out of the way, apologizing for lingering too long by the vegetables, I shopped for 2 hours.
When I was finished, I felt like I was a TJ regular. Employees were friendly, and made good suggestions, and helped me feel welcomed.
Here's where it gets good, when I was checking out, Krista, and I started talking. I told her it was my first time at TJ. She was genuinely happy for me. As she scanned my food, she made suggestions, when she got to the Chia Seeds I said "what do I do with these?!" (my Mom told me to buy them,) and without even looking, Krista said "there is a good recipe on the back for pudding, you should try it!" Then Krista told me about the history of TJ, how they don't carry debt (big fan of that-that's the way I live,) how they have Control, of what goes in to their products with ingredients, 98% of the products labels are Trader Joe's.
Then Andrea came over (or was it Amanda?) and started help bagging, and said "I see you like cheese, did you get the 'Unexpected Cheddar Cheese'?" I said "no, but I should have! I will go grab it," and she said "no, no, I'll go get it for you." Both women then told me about the wine, and how delicious it is. I was so happy when I left Trader Joe's. I came home, started eating Olive Tapenade, pita chips, pomegranate, Fig and olive crisps, and I made myself a chicken breast and asparagus, completely on my own. Like followed a Tik Tok video, and cooked the chicken breast and asparagus for MYSELF, and ate all of it.
Trader Joe's is my new store. I am already a TG regular, and I have only been there once. Thank you, thank you, I have SO much gratitude that TG, has pushed me into a new food relationship. I will no longer shop anywhere else, and will share this story (although I am sure my Mom will beat me to it) with friends and family.
I will no longer be hungry now that I have Trader Joe's.
Thank you, thank you, thank you! read more