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...