Trader Joe's blog and cooking.
The pros: Trader Joe’s Roasted Garlic and Herb Butter Spread is one of two new butter spreads available at Trader Joe’s.
The cons: While this container isn’t expensive, this works out to over $11 a pound. I think you can do better in terms of price.
The verdict: …
The pros: Trader Joe’s Shredded 3 Cheese Blend makes for a wonderful addition to salad, quesadillas, tacos, or any other place where shredded cheese would be appropriate. The product melts very well and is a tasty combinations of three cheeses: Mozzarella, Monterey Jack, and Cheddar. Comes in a resealable bag.
The cons: Nothing stands out.
The verdict: …
The pros: Trader Joe’s Buffalo Milk Butter has less cholesterol than regular butter. It tastes pretty much like regular butter. Trader Joe’s Buffalo Milk Butter is made from grass fed buffaloes in India.
The cons: While on the cholesterol front it’s healthier, it is just as caloric as regular butter. You won’t notice the pink Himalayan salt. Doesn’t melt as quickly as regular butter. Doesn’t spread as well as regular butter either.
The verdict: …
The pros: Trader Joe’s Cultured Salted Butter competes with the rich European butters like Kerrygold. This is very rich with a slight tang from the lactic acid.
The cons: The packaging is an issue if you plan to bake with this. There are no units of measurement other than telling you it’s 8.8 ounces. As table butter it’s hard to serve in the current wrapper. More expensive per pound than regular butter.
The verdict: …
The pros: Trader Joe’s This Fig Walks Into a Bar is organic, flavorful, some nutritional value, tasty, inexpensive compared to other organic snack bars.
The cons: The entire line of “This Insert Fruit Name Here Walks Into a Bar” cereal bars are addicting, it’s just a matter of which flavor you’ll enjoy. I found this to be the sweetest of the bunch.
The verdict: …
The pros: Trader Joe’s This Mango Walks Into a Bar has good tropical flavor, reminds me of a Nutrigrain bar, nutritionally it’s not a total loss or just empty calories.
The cons: Easy to eat a few of Trader Joe’s This Mango Walks Into a Bar in a sitting.
The verdict: …
The pros: Trader Joe’s This Apple Walks Into a Bar is tasty, organic, low fat, affordable, portable and not a source of completely empty calories.
The cons: Easy to eat a few of these in a sitting. If you buy the strawberry flavor, the packaging of the individual bars looks almost identical to these….
The pros: Trader Joe’s This Strawberry Walks Into A Bar is low fat, organic, portable, tasty and contains whole grains.
The cons: Addicting. So easy to eat more than one of these in a sitting. Individually wrapped package looks a lot like the apple flavor. Other flavors the individually wrapped bars are different colors.
The verdict: …
The pros: Trader Joe’s Reduced Guilt Guacamole is a tasty guacamole that might surprise you (as it did me). A nice amount of heat. Nice chunks of fresh veggies.
The cons: You might eat half the container without realizing it.
The verdict: …
The pros: Trader Joe’s Spanakopita has a dozen tasty appetizer sized spinach pies that are read in about 20 minutes.
The cons: Probably not the most authentic. What you could get at your local Greek restaurant will be closer to the real thing. Some of them were very much frozen together and difficult to pull apart before putting them in the toaster oven
The verdict: …
The pros: Chocolate lovers unite for Trader Joe’s Chocolate Brooklyn Babka. So chocolatey that if it weren’t for the layers, you would think you are eating a decadent chocolate brownie.
The cons: Addicting if you like chocolate. Tofu is a surprise ingredient here, so if you have a soy allergy, be aware it’s present here.
The verdict: …
The pros: Trader Joe’s This Blueberry Walks Into a Bar is organic, flavorful, some nutritional value, tasty, inexpensive compared to other organic snack bars.
The cons: Addicting. Easy to eat more than one of these.
The verdict: …
The pros: Trader Joe’s Creamy Toscano Cheese Soaked in Syrah is a tasty cheese. Would make for a great appetizer with crackers or as a snack if you enjoy the flavors of cheddar or parmesan.
The cons: Not quite as much wine taste as I would have liked. There wasn’t as much “soaked in syrah” flavor as I was looking for.
The verdict: …
The pros: You should get about 9 servings in this container. That makes Trader Joe’s Sipping Chocolate an affordable chocolate drink. A surprising amount of fiber per serving. Even though sugar is the first ingredient, it didn’t taste tooth achingly sweet.
The cons: Slight chalky taste, not the same quality chocolate as a Godiva or other higher end retailer. Chocolate didn’t dissolve as nicely as I would have liked. Will need some adjustment based on your taste.
The verdict: …
The pros: If you love the taste of fresh mozzarella but hate the idea of packing it for yourself because it is messy, then look no further than Trader Joe’s Fresh Mozzarella Sticks. This is all the taste, some of the moisture and it’s prepackaged for your convenience.
The cons: If you are hoping for Polly-O String Cheese or anything similar to that, you might not like this because it won’t meet your expectations.
The verdict: …
The pros: Trader Joe’s Organic Creamy Tomato Low Sodium Soup is gluten free, organic, low sodium, and vegetarian if any of that is a concern for you. Otherwise, a very tasty cream of tomato soup. I did have to adjust the salt levels as this is low sodium and I thought a pinch of salt brought out it’s best flavor.
The cons: You’ll want to bring something salty to the table. I can imagine some people will say that this soup is flat. I’d say, you should bring your own salt shaker. Once adjusted to your liking it’s pretty darn good. If you are bringing this to work, bring your own microwavable container. Lack of directions other than don’t put the container in the microwave.
The verdict: …
The pros: Trader Joe’s Chocolate Chip Scone Mix are super quick, very easy, minimal mess, just add water (just use a measuring cup filled to between 5-6 ounces to get the right measurement rather than that stupid suggestion of 1/2 cup + 3 TBSP). Buttermilk scone mix means these are light as a feather when you are eating them.
The cons: Trader Joe’s Chocolate Chip Scone Mix are light as a feather and even lighter on the chocolate chips. Were best cooled from the oven. The next day they were noticeably drier.
The verdict: …
The pros: Trader Joe’s Apple Cinnamon Goat Cheese has tasty partially cooked apples on the outside.
The cons: The cheese has a taste and texture I can’t get past. It’s tangy like goat cheese but spicy like cinnamon. It even has a gritty texture like cinnamon.
The verdict: …
The pros: Trader Joe’s Spizzico di Pizza is a quick and easy appetizer or snack especially if members of your household are already familiar with pizza bites. These are similar except they are not bagels, they are somewhere between pita bread and pizza dough.
The cons: It’s a freezer pizza so don’t expect this to blow you away in terms of flavor.
The verdict: …
The pros: Trader Joe’s Pumpkin Cream Cheese has pumpkin spice flavor to a cream cheese spread. Mild flavor of pumpkin without feeling like you are eating a container of puree. Gentle touch of cinnamon here too. A welcome break from just plain cream cheese.
The cons: Would probably be even better if there was a whipped variety. This cream cheese is very dense and heavy.
The verdict: …
The pros: If you take the texture and firmness of a mozzarella cheese, the taste of a cheddar cheese with a splash of herbs you would have Trader Joe’s Italian Bigonda Cheese.
The cons: If you don’t like dried herbs like the ones listed in the ingredients in your cheese, then you should pass on this. Although I personally hate caraway seeds and fennel seeds they didn’t play a strong role in this cheese. The parsley and chives were more noticeable visually and in flavor.
The verdict: …
Trader Joe’s Baconesque Popcorn is like a mullet. Business in the front and party in the back and makes no sense whatsoever. This is popcorn that looks like regular popcorn, but just when you think there is no bacon flavor, it hits you. For a bacon flavor I was astounded to see an “OU” on the bottom front. For those of you who are unfamiliar with this label, it means that it is Kosher. For those of you who require further explanation, Kosher and Bacon don’t mix. But some how a strong bacon flavor comes through. It also mentions the OU-D which means there is no meat in this product which on the surface means that this is a crazy oxymoron. But it’s tasty. So here is what you get:…
