Tag: team:news

Do you love the look of having fresh flowers in your kitchen, but don’t want to make the effort of having to constantly keep them watered or switch them out with a fresh bouquet every few days? While the smell of fresh flowers is certainly a treat, if you prefer something that lasts a little bit longer (and requires little to zero maintenance), then you’re going to love the latest Trader Joe’s home decor find now back at stores: wooden reed flowers.

These flowers are exactly as they sound; they’re gorgeous bouquets made from thin, finely trimmed pieces of wood. You’ll find different flower variations to choose from, including carnations, peonies, roses, poppies, and more. The flowers are attached to thin wooden stems that can be trimmed to perfectly fit the vase of your choosing. Each small bouquet is sold at $4.99 plus tax.

Along with these wooden reed flowers, Trader Joe’s is selling dry accent focal for $3.99, as well as dried cinnamon and lavender if you’re looking to make a unique dried bouquet. All of these are sold under $5, which isn’t much at all — especially when you factor in how much you’ll be saving on flowers by buying a bouquet that will last forever. “I still have mine from last year,” writes @traderjoesobsessed after posting about the triumphant return of this TJ’s home decor find.

While shoppers say these flowers are “so pretty” and make for the “perfect Mother’s Day” gift, other TJ’s regulars say that these flowers can be a pain to dust. However, if you delicately dust your dry bouquet with a feather duster or small dust blower, this should make it easy to keep these flowers dusted and looking good as new for months (and maybe even years) to come.

Shopping at the grocery store can be overwhelming enough given all of the options we have, especially when it comes to buying produce. Is it healthier to buy organic rather than conventionally grown produce? And if so, if you can’t afford organic produce, does that mean you’re actually eating unhealthy food, even though you’re buying a fruit or vegetable? These questions can feel challenging, especially when reports are constantly being released with data about pesticide residue on the food we eat, such as the recent data published by Consumer Reports.

After analyzing 59 different common conventionally grown fruits and vegetables, the report stated that 20% of these foods “posed significant risks” due to pesticides present. To find this data, Consumer Reports analyzed USDA test results of over 29,000 individual food samples and concluded that 12 foods were presented with “bigger concerns” based on their level of pesticides. The team of scientists at Consumer Reports set these particular standards and feel the legal limits the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) sets for pesticides in food is “far too high.”

This isn’t the first time an organization outside of the USDA has made a claim that pesticide levels are too high in food. The Environmental Working Group released The Dirty Dozen 2024 list where they point out 12 different fruits and vegetables contaminated with pesticides. The group’s goals is to educate consumers about farming practices for their food.

Both of these organizations have concluded that choosing to eat organic is healthier for you in terms of lowering risk. However, this particular claim is far from true. The Alliance for Food and Farming (AFF) points to research in the Journal of Toxicology which found choosing organic produce over conventional did not result in a reduction of consumer risk because residues on conventionally grown produce was so low or not present at all.

Plus, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) pesticide program found that 99% of the foods sampled had residue levels far below the EPA safety standards, and 27% of food didn’t have any detectable residues. Keep in mind, pesticides are used in both organic and conventional produce.

But what about our health? The Consumer Reports analysis mentions how pesticides have been suspected to potentially interfere with the body’s hormone and neurological system, and also cites other research including increased risk of cancer, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. However, a majority of the research is coming from farmers working with pesticides directly rather than through consumption of our foods, which is why pesticide use is heavily regulated by the EPA under the Worker Protection Standard, and any research regarding consumption of pesticide residue is still too minimal to make any sweeping health claims.

Plus, the number of these fruits and vegetables you would have to actually consume to cause any risks is high. For example, according to the AFF, an adult woman would have to consume 453 strawberries in one day (with the highest amount of pesticide residue on them) to cause any health risks based on EPA standards. Blueberries are also high on both lists, yet an adult male would have to consume 18,519 in a single day before experiencing any side effects.

Lastly, washing your produce helps a lot. The Food and Drug Administration suggests washing fruits and vegetables with tap water (no soaps) before consuming them to remove residues on your produce, and to also eliminate traces of anything else that could be on your food like bacteria, and yes, even insects. After all, our produce is grown in the dirt.

Basically, buy the produce you want. Just be sure to give it a rinse before eating!

Getting sick of making the same boring lunch week after week? Ready to try something new that requires absolutely zero effort on your end? (Besides having to pick it up, of course.) Thankfully Costco understands the frustration, which is why the store is always offering easy grab-and-go options over in the fresh prepared food sections of the warehouse. And we have a feeling you’re going to love the latest fresh deli find Costco just dropped: a Tuscan Chicken Wrap made with the grocer’s iconic rotisserie chicken.

The new Tuscan Chicken Wraps feature all of the fan favorite flavors customers love. Each wrap is stuffed with rotisserie chicken, tricolored bell peppers, red pepper pesto, and black olives, all wrapped in a yellow tortilla then sliced into proper servings. Grab a clamshell package at just $6.99 a pound (priced between $17 and $18 total) and you get four prepared wraps with a sun-dried tomato dipping sauce to pair. These wraps make for a perfect easy lunch if you’re feeding a few people at a time, or even as an easy meal prep item if you need something for lunch (or dinner!) that week but don’t feel like cooking.

Shoppers are particularly excited for these wraps, especially after the success of Costco’s previous deli wrap offerings, like their Asian-inspired or Southwest wraps that one shopper said he “bought every other week” because of how convenient and delicious they are. “Wow, these look delicious,” writes one shopper over on Reddit. “Whelp, I guess I’m going to Costco tomorrow,” jokes another after learning about this new deli find.

Costco has certainly been busy when it comes to its selection of prepared ready-to-go foods coming from the retailer’s deli and evolving sushi counter, which has ready-to-go sushi rolls and bowls that can be made with fresh fish right in front of the customer. Needless to say, if you’re having a hard time deciding what to have for lunch and would rather not put in the effort of preparing something, a trip to Costco would be a good idea!

For Aldi shoppers, Wednesdays are always the most exciting day of the week. Why? Because the popular discount grocery store releases all of its new weekly finds, and we have a feeling you’re going to love one of the latest products from its Crofton line of cookware: beautiful glass fruit bowls.

Aldi has two different fruit bowls for shoppers to choose from. One is clear with a wood base, around 8 inches in diameter and around 6 inches tall. The second is an elegant gray bowl with a ribbed design that is shallow yet slightly wider, measuring at 10 inches in diameter and 5 inches tall. Both of these bowls are hand-wash only, but when you see how delicate they are, you’ll understand why. These bowls are beautiful to look at and should absolutely be handled with care.

The best part? They’re sold at such an affordable price. These Crofton bowls are only $12.99 each, making them the perfect centerpiece for your kitchen table for all of your fruit needs. Or maybe they can serve as some kind of decorative centerpiece with homemade potpourri, like these DIY scented pine cones.

Not only do these fruit bowls work well as a centerpiece full of delicious fresh fruit, but they can also work well as a serving bowl for any of your delicious fruit salads and leafy green salads this summer. You can never go wrong with this berry pineapple fruit salad, or this ultimate summer salad with sweet peaches and juicy cherry tomatoes.

Along with these gorgeous fruit bowls, Aldi released a line of grilling cookware that is going to get you ready for the summer season ahead. There’s a grilling barbecue caddy for $14.99, a BBQ frying and roasting pan for the grill for just $9.99, a grill mat for $9.99, and grilling utensils like tongs, a brush, and a spatula for $3.99 each. There’s even a grilling pizza set for $12.99 in case you want to attempt pizzas on the grill this summer, which we highly recommend!

Sick of having to wait on the checkout line at the grocery store? Aldi understands your pain, which is why, in partnership with Garbango, the store is testing out an entirely new way to pay for your groceries while skipping the checkout line altogether with its new Aldigo technology. Shoppers will be able to simply grab their items, pay at a station, and walk out. No scanning necessary.

“It’s exciting to see a checkout-free capability live in one of our stores,” says Eric Traxler, vice president of IT at Aldi, in a statement. “Aldi is continuously looking for new ways to be innovative and provide a best-in-class experience for our shoppers, and Aldigo is a great example of that in action.”

This particular system relies on computer vision technology and artificial intelligence to keep track of what’s in your cart, so you don’t have to. Shoppers simply download the Garbango app, add items to their carts at the store, then scan the QR code and pay through the app, all while cameras around Aldi stores keep track of what shoppers are grabbing. This way shoppers can avoid lines, making for an even more efficient shopping experience.

Amazon has attempted this type of model before with its AI-powered “Just Walk Out,” but Aldi is the first major grocery retailer to attempt this type of tech. Garbango’s CEO, Will Glaser, says this partnership is a “pivotal moment” for the grocery industry by launching the company’s tech in a store like Aldi, which experiences a lot of foot traffic.

The Aldigo technology has been tested by both companies since 2023, but this is the first time it is appearing in a store for customers to use. Currently Aldi is only testing this technology out in one of their stores, located in Aurora, Illinois, a suburb outside of Chicago. There are no plans for expansion of this tech in other stores at the moment, but if the test is successful, this checkout-less way of shopping could reach an Aldi store near you and completely change the way you shop for groceries as you ditch the line for good.