The weather outside is changing here in New York and in October things don't get better. This time of year you can easily find yourself wearing a winter coat in the morning and wishing for shorts by the afternoon. With the chill in the air I got out a bottle of wine that I had purchased over the summer at Fruit Yard Winery's Funvalia Spiced Wine. You're not going to find this wine in most local places. If you don't live in the Finger Lakes area of New York, you'll have to either travel there (which we did) or place an order and have it shipped....
Trader Joe's Vegetable Fried Rice
The pros: Quick, easy, fast, microwaveable. Trader Joe's Vegetable Fried Rice has a different assortment of veggies than standard fried rice. I've never had edamame in fried rice before.
The cons: Â Low protein. Most fried rice contains at least some scrambled egg, while this had none. This would be a good side dish but would need something added to become the main dish.
So you are in the mood for Chinese but don't want to call for delivery or don't wish to leave your house. This is good, but a not great solution to that problem. In about five minutes you'll have fried rice. However, if you are hoping for authentic Chinese-style fried rice you'll have to look elsewhere.
The rice was cooked through and tender without being mushy. It had some flavor of soy, but perhaps you'll want to add a touch more to ramp up the flavor here. The veggies too were cooked through and kept their texture. However, as a blend, this is a bit out there. There was edamame, peas, carrots, corn, with a minimal amount of leeks thrown in.
This one was just ok with me. I honestly preferred the Trader Joe's Chicken Fried Rice over this (and yes, even though it contained almost no chicken). It was good with a very different blend of veggies, but sometimes if you crave the stuff from the Chinese restaurant, you'll want to stick with Trader Joe's Chicken fried rice, but I honestly liked Trader Joe's Japanese Style Fried Rice the best of all the fried rice available, although the Chimichurri Rice is very well done too if you like cilantro.
The bag in the freezer section will set you back $2.69 and this is what you get:
The nutritional information and the ingredient list:
How to prepare:
The contents of this bag in a bowl ready to go into the microwave:
After 4 minutes in the microwave:
What did I think about this? It wasn't a bad dish, I just didn't love the veggie combination. I was truly looking for a bag of fried rice that would remind me of my favorite thing to get at the Chinese food restaurant. If you would enjoy edamame, corn, carrots, peas, onions, and peppers in your fried rice you'll like this. I was looking for a more traditional take. So I won't be buying this again. Do I think you should avoid this? No, just keep in mind the flavors you like and the veggie combinations you and your family will eat and go from there.
Want to see more items I've reviewed from Trader Joe's? Click on Thoughts & Reviews of Trader Joe's for a searchable list.
Trader Joe's Tarragon Chicken Salad Wrap
The pros:Â Trader Joe's Tarragon Chicken Salad Wrap is a quick grab and go in the refrigerated section.
The cons:Â As good as Trader Joe's freezer section is, the refrigerated section does not hold up as well, which is both confusing and disappointing. This was not even a really good chicken salad to be honest. I had much higher expectations. The garbage can ended up eating mine.
The verdict:Â Â ...
Trader Joe's Root Vegetable Galette
The pros: Trader Joe's Root Vegetable Galette has individual components that are are good. The pie crust was crispy, the filling tasted like stuffing.
The cons: Visually this looks like stuffing in a pie crust and it tasted that way as well. I'm not sure that either one of those really needs each other. If you want really crispy stuffing put some in some mini cupcake containers and bake them. You'll get a crust without adding a lot of calories.
The verdict: ...
Trader Joe's Panko Breaded Calamari
The pros: Trader Joe's Panko Breaded Calamari is a good value as you get a whole pound of calamari for $5.49. Good lucking making it that cheap or ordering it out that cheap. The taste was pretty close to what you would get out only slightly less tender but well done.
The cons: Â Once people realize it's in the freezer section, it may become hard to find. They could cut down on the amount of trash this creates. The box was shrink wrapped and the was another plastic bag inside the shrink wrapped box.
The verdict: Â ...