Trader Joe Fans, Walmart & Aldi Fans Plz Help

BIG fan of TJ's. My 10m old was eating the frozen spinach from there, just broke it off in chuncks, frozen green beans (great teething tool and more nutritous than the teething ring...)frozen pineapple tidbits, frozen wild blueberries (they are smaller than regular blueberries, so not a choking hazard), frozen petite peas (again, smaller than regular peas). Applegate Farms Deli Meat which has no sodium nitrates (which can cause anemia in kids under 2 if they eat too much of it), she LOVES their hummus, I buy their bags of avocados and make her own little guacmole using their pineapple salsa. She likes their snap pea crisps. White cannelli beans, garbanzo beans, black beans are ok from the can. If you can buy them in bulk, soak them over night, they lose the enzymes that causes gas and bloating. I would stear clear from canned fruits and veggies, frozen is always better. Canned foods are higher in sugar and sodium and contains higher levels of BPA from the can itself.

Good Luck!
J. W. MPH
Wellness Educator

There is some controversy about giving babies Tofu, or any SOY products. I am a vegetarian, who eats a lot of Tofu, and my husband and I decided to NOT give it to our daughter, at least not this young (my daughter is 10 months too).

I shop TJ. I've been buying my daughter their hummus, organic fruit --apples, pears, black berries, plums, peaches, bananas, avocados -- organic vegetables --broccoli, cauliflower, carrots-- and a variety of frozen products. I buy their frozen blue berries, mixed berries and veggie burgers. Any cheese is OK for babies except soft cheeses. Cheese is hard for their stomachs to digest, so moderation is key. My daughter eats all varieties of cheese --even smelly artesians! I'd start with something mild, like a Monterey Jack or MILD Cheddar. If you want to give them American cheese, I'd highly recommend deli cheese because it will have less sodium in it then the Kraft singles.

I give my daughter canned black beans all the time. Since they are cooked, you don't have to worry about the skins.

TJ sells very good frozen greenbeans. I just cook them, and typically throw a little cream cheese on them to make them more appealing to her. They also sell frozen asparagus, etc.

All the suggestions you've gotten so far are great. I have given my kids tofu (in moderation) I buy a can of low sodium veggie broth (or chicken) and store the tofu soaked in that so it has some flavor. They have an alphabet pasta that kids think are fun and it's multicolored (spinach and such). Hummus is a great option and any veggies. I would serve the veggies plain so your kids learn to like the flavor (not needing butter or anything else to eat them) TJ's has skinless chicken sausage in the meat case. It's all natural no yucky stuff. They're small too so you can use just one.
They have lots of organic crackers and snacks too, just be sure to check the ingredients. They have good O's cereal (like cheerios) and a strawberry yogurt flavor that has bits of dried strawberries. Their cereal bars are good too. They're called "A strawberry/blueberry/apple walks into a bar" pretty clever. Those would be good if you cut into pieces.
It takes time to get through all the stuff, but it's great to ask for suggestions from other people about what's good.
Good luck!

See one of my previous posts dated 12-10-08 asking for Trader Joe favorites. Alot of helpful replies.