Trader Joe's blog and cooking.
If keeping Kosher is a must, then the products listed here will be OU labeled. But quality can vary, fortunately, that's why you have this site!
From Soyaki to the snackable Spicy Cheese Crunchies find hundreds of reviews of Trader Joe's products and see which ones are worth your time and which ones you may want to consider leaving on the shelf!
Trader Joe’s is finally bringing us some real food in addition to a whole bunch of snacks. So if Trader Joe’s Shakshuka Starter is in any way unfamiliar to you, perhaps you are more familiar with a similar dish that can easily be made at home: eggs in purgatory. What’s the difference you ask? Here, the difference is spice.
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Here is a quick work place truth: some time after lunch and before it’s time to go, I am some how hungry. If I were still working at an office job, I would have hit the vending machine. However, where I currently work there is no such thing anywhere near me. For better or worse. So that has left me with a plethora of snacks in my desk drawer to avoid spending money at the local stores.
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If there was one holiday product, that I wish I could go back are review because it would have been helpful, were the Mini Peppermint Meringues. I loved and adored them. They were delicious, crisp, and melted in your mouth like it never happened. And for the most part, you could have had a relatively large serving of them and still felt pretty guilt free. Best of all, they were straight up excellent. Now, we have Trader Joe’s Chocolate Chip Cocoa Meringues to add to our carts.
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I’m pretty sure every candy sale that I’ve ever done or witness that involved a case of chocolate, ended with the packs of Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups being sold out first. And there is good reason for it: it’s just delicious. On the shelves of Trader Joe’s we’ve seen the addition of two new “cups” style candies: sunflower seed butter, and this almond butter.
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A bagel and a schmear. As a life long New Yorker, I’m pretty sure there is a certain amount of Yiddish that has been added infused into the local lexicon. And when it comes to bagels there is a reason for this.
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Neapolitan. The classic pairing of vanilla, strawberry, and chocolate. We first saw this recently with the seasonally available Neapolitan Joe Joe’s. Now we are seeing it in Trader Joe’s Neapolitan Puffs Cereal. Soon, we will revisit this combination where it all started: in ice cream but with Joe Joe’s. Yup, they seem to be capitalizing on that varieties success.
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There is something special about the holidays and Trader Joe’s. I’m not mentioning this because Valentine’s Day is coming up. I’m reflecting on this past holiday season. As a foodie, going in there was almost as exciting as going into FAO Schwartz as a kid. Now kids won’t even know what that is. Alas, Trader Joe’s has found a way to extend the holidays for just a bit longer. And perhaps your waistline too. …
Trader Joe’s sells Umami take two. Yes, this isn’t Trader Joe’s first dive into selling us something that is simply just umami. A couple years ago they sold Umami paste. That paste was all sorts of umami from tomatoes, to mushrooms, parmesan cheese, olives, balsamic and other forms of umami. This product is clearly different.
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While Trader Joe’s seems to make an effort to embrace a lot of dietary needs, there seems to be one group who has been sorely left out of so many of the new products I’ve tried this year: the low carb crowd. It seems like the vast majority of the items hitting shelves is sugar laden.
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Behold, the second Hot Cocoa themed item of the year (possibly the third if you count the return of the salted caramel hot cocoa). The previous appeared in the Hot Cocoa Toaster Pastries but one thing was missing: the marshmallows.
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Just in time for school to start are Trader Joe’s ABC Bars. I’m not sure if they chose the letters to coincide with the start of school or it just is one big Jackson 5 reference that they were running with based on the fact that these are Almond Butter Cocoa Bars….
The Fearless Flyer should land on Monday. In the meanwhile, I’m gearing up for my fall/winter body with all the goodies on shelves. Aside from the usual pumpkin offerings, it seems they have been branching off even more.
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So, I want to make sure I’m not bombarding you all with everything pumpkin. Because this year, it seems that the seasonal flavors are being fanned out to include more apple and maple. Both are welcome additions. I welcome them even more if they are done well….
The pros: Trader Joe’s Hot Cocoa Organic Frosted Toaster Pastries is new and dressed up for cooler weather.
The cons: Seasonal based on the appearance of the packaging. Depending on your feeling on frosting, mine were not evenly frosted. Some would prefer if the frosting was left off.
The verdict: …
The pros: Trader Joe’s To the Power of Seven Green Organic Juice Blend is new and capitalizes on green juice popularity.
The cons: The primary flavors are celery juice, ginger spice, and apple. For something that should be healthy, I personally wasn’t blown away by the nutritional information of this product.
The verdict: …
The pros: Trader Joe’s Soyaki is the best of two worlds: soy sauce and teriyaki. Yes, this is the viscocity of soy sauce with many of the flavors of a teriyaki.
The cons: The sodium is quite high in this. In fact, 1 tablespoon is 21% of what you have in a day. When I’m marinating something, I never use a tablespoon.
The verdict: …
The pros: Trader Joe’s Cheese Blintzes are a pretty good blintz that is frozen and relatively easy to prepare.
The cons: These begged for a fruit topping like what is pictured on the box.
The verdict: …
The pros: Trader Joe’s Chile Lime Seasoning Blend is a solid blend found in the spice aisle.
The cons: The name here should be reversed. It should be called lime chile as that is the order of dominant flavors.
The verdict: …
The pros: Trader Joe’s Neapolitan Joe Joe’s is the newest flavor of Joe Joe’s to hit store shelves.
The cons: The pairing here might not be everyone’s favorite.
The verdict: …
The pros: Trader Joe’s Mint Chip Ice Cream is one the best mint chip ice creams that I’ve ever had.
The cons: Don’t look at the nutritional label. Just. Don’t. Do. It.
The verdict: …
The pros: Trader Joe’s Island Soyaki is different from other teriyaki sauces on the market and slightly different than the similar sounding Trader Joe’s Soyaki.
The cons: If you don’t like pineapple, then you should skip this item. This also tastes very salty, so you might be better off using this sparingly if you are going to marinade something.
The verdict: …
The pros: Trader Joe’s Spicy Cheese Crunchies are meant to be a healthier alternative to the similar to Flamin’ Hot Cheetos. These are also listed as gluten-free.
The cons: This is not quite an exact copy to the original.
The verdict: …
The pros: Trader Joe’s 8 Mini Croissants are new and replace the frozen ones you have to proof. Don’t worry though, the Chocolate and Almond croissants are still in the frozen aisle.
The cons: If you imagined (like I did) that these would be about the size of say a crescent roll, then you will be surprised by how much they puff up. This bag is not resealable. They are made in Belgium.
The verdict: …
The pros: Trader Joe’s Mini Dark Chocolate Mint Coins are new and seem to be pretty obvious with what they are meant to taste like. There are 8 cookies in a serving.
The cons: The box was mostly empty. Six ounces of cookies isn’t much, but then again neither is the price.
The verdict: …
