Post Punk Kitchen Forum

I've had the TJs cheese twice now in some carrot and onion quesidillas and while the cheese melts and has an unoffensive taste, it's nothing I'd be clamoring to buy again. Also, the smell of it out the package makes me want to spew. (Relevant: I hate Daiya).

I fully endorse their 85% dark chocolate though. Melted on toasted walnuts with salt and maple syrup is especially tasty.

Finally tried the Nacho Kale Chips, yummy but more expensive than I'll spend on a regular basis. The crumbs are being saved to top a baked potato later. Still no coconut chips, but they now have shredded coconut, sweetened, of course after I needed it for the holidays. The Coconut Strips are yummy to snack on, not too sweet. I hope they still have them next time I want to make my own trail mix.

I haven't used the cheese since my first pizza, which it added a nice creamy-ness too, but I think it's just like people told me with Daiya when I found the texture revolting (okay, and I still mostly do) - less is more!

darn, i was just at TJ's, didn't think to look for nacho kale chips.

i've also noticed that my TJ's doesn't carry some of the stuff y'all mention here. i think the only soy ice cream they carry is vanilla flavor. i know other PPK'ers have mentioned other flavors. oh well.

i have yet to buy any processed vegan fake meats, but i did see that my TJ's had some tofurkey priced reasonably. are the tofurkey italian sausages any good? i noticed that TJ had their own brand of that as well..... and chicken/pork/beef fake shreds....

I was at TJ's the other day and went on the hunt for kale chips because I wanted to try them. They're almost $4 for a tiny bag! Pass.

are the chocolate chips still vegan? or did they switch?

When TJ's runs out of something temporarily (which is often) they tend to remove the shelf tag and fill the space with something else until it comes back in. So it doesn't necessarily mean that they don't carry the other flavor, but that they were out of it. I'll often go and only find the vanilla, then the next time they have both.

I don't care for the Italian sausages. The kielbasa ones are okay, but I've never seen them at TJ's. I prefer Field Roast Apple Sage sausages. I think my dislike for the Italian is because I don't like fennel. The TJ's brand Italian sausages aren't vegan; they contain egg whites I think. The beefless beef is vegan, as are the shreds. We like all of those.

They have a cross-contamination warning, basically... "May contain milk." But there are no milk ingredients listed.

They have a cross-contamination warning due to the kosher symbol on the package. They are Kosher-D (officially dairy for those who observe Kosher Jewish Dietary Laws) due to the possibility of cross-contamination (I read online that TJ's either switched who manufactures the chips OR the equipment is also used to process dairy stuff too, I forget which one). Basically they have to put the Kosher-D (designating the product as dairy) to avoid a recall if there was cross-contamination. The chips are vegan though. And very tasty!

My TJs has been out of the kale chips since Oct 31 so I haven't tried them but I want to try them if they ever get them back in stock. I got a bag of cheezy kale chips at WF a few months ago and they were pretty good but for $6 for a little bag I can live without them.

i got the new black & white rice snack rolls! will report how they are later!

I got some a couple of weeks ago, and I like them. They aren't real sweet, and kind of remind me of a rice cake with slight sweetness, but it's a good "I really just want to crunch on something without spending many WW points" snack.

They were sweeter than I thought - which was good I was thinking they might be bland! I had two last night with some decaf and almonds before bed. They remind me of Corn Pops or something!

So looking at my freezer, its a bit crowded. Part of me wants to just throw the TJs unturkey roast away but I'm wondering if there is anything I can do to save it? A way to hide its texture in a food item? Any suggestion? I just don't want to spend time/effort to make something and not want to eat it.

So the problem is that it is mushy, right? Maybe thaw it and cut it into little pieces and fry it so it will be crispy? Then add the little crispy bits to fried rice, use to top salad, roll into spring rolls, etc. I wouldn't add it to a stew or anything to wet or it will probably just get mushy again.

I have texture issues so pretty much with any loaf/roast thing (even Field Roast), what I like to do is bake as directed, then let it cool enough to slice and pan fry each individual slice. I did that with the TJs roast and we loved it; it got a bit messy with the stuffing and some was lost, but I wasn't really into the stuffing anyway.

Oh man, the coconut chips! Devouring a bag right now and wishing I'd bought more.

This is the only roast that I haven't liked. It is mushy and rubbery at the same time. I think I should try the pan frying and cutting it up. I may be able to deal with it in salad or something or fried rice.

Oh god, those coconut strips. I think I'll store the rest of the bag in the basement.

I was in a health store recently and picked up a bag of some other brand's coconut chip and they were just as good! And a dollar more. Thank you, TJ's!

Cheese update: Used a bit on a pizza earlier. No issues. A little goes a long way! Have not tried it out of the bag, but won't be.

The cheese is acceptable, I've decided. It's, uh, more glue-y than Daiya, for lack of a better word, and I don't think it tastes quite as good, but it's reasonably priced and TJ's is way closer to me than WF, so when I get a pizza craving, I might satisfy it that way, and just make sure I have lots of other toppings. I don't think I'd use it for anything I serve to omnis, though, because Daiya is just better (my bf is a-okay with sharing a Daiya-topped pizza with me).

I'm trying to figure out why my roast came out so good compared to everyone else's. I was trying to roast a bunch of things for Thanksgiving at all different temperatures, so I think I roasted my roast for LONGER, but at a slightly lower temperature than was called for. All I know is that mine didn't come out mushy at all--I actually really liked it, and my bf thought the bite he tried was pretty good too. So maybe the trick is to mess with the cooking time/temperature?

Did you try it? I thought it was really good and I didn't think it was mushy at all.

ETA: I baked it as directed, using my Pampered Chef Deep Covered Baker, and following the directions that included the potatoes, carrots, onions, and celery.

Yeah, my husband bought 2. We cooked the first one as directed and I thought it was pretty gross. Others had said they thought it was the gardein roast but it totally is not.

I love the kale chips. I think $3.99/bag is reasonable since the raw restaurant down the way charges $9/bag for theirs.
I still haven't had the coconut chips or whatever y'all were all excited about. They've been out for ages.

I am not a huge coconut fan. I like it ok, but I don't go out of my way for coconuty things.

But those chips? HOLY MOLY. Dang, they are SO GOOD. Next time, if I can stop myself from destrying the entire bag in my car, I will put some on some of the TJ's coconut ice cream (which by the way, does NOT taste like coconut)