Fearless Shopping at Trader Joe's

Trader Joe's has a wide array of cooking oils for you to choose from. But, where to begin?! There's avocado, sunflower, grapeseed, olive and canola oil, coconut oil-- you name it, they have it.  The question you might be wondering upon looking at the shelf is, what do I need and what would I use some of these oils for? Before we get started, it's important to understand smoke point .  Smoke point is the temperature at which a particular oil begins to breakdown and thus start to smoke, stink up the kitchen and release what's called free radicals . Oils that have low smoke point are better for drizzling and dipping, not for cooking with-- as they are adverse to high temperatures than those with high smoke points.  Also, if possible-- it's also a great rule of thumb to go with expeller or cold-pressed processed oils, which is the process of extracting the oils by pressing it out of the seeds rather than using chemicals. Trader Joe's grapeseed oil, for example, is o

Welcome to Fearless Shopping at Trader Joe's . Some of you may be acquainted with Trader Joe's Fearle ss Flyer -- which is their periodic newsletter of new and upcoming products. It's full of great tid-bits of information and new things to try. I highly suggest subscribing and/or picking up a copy when you find it at your local store.  I have varied experience in life-- from working at Habitat for Humanity and other various nonprofits to working in the technology industry. I even started studying for a period of time to become a sommelier (a wine and spirits guru). I've served tables, worked retail, etc. I even worked for a Trader Joe's in Maryland while studying for my bachelors degree at American University.   This also isn't my first blog. A decade or so ago I started writing about my personal weight-loss journey and continued writing through my gastric-bypass surgery. It meant a lot to walk through that journey with friends and family, sharing my experience