The pros: Trader Joe’s Hummus with Freshly Ground Horseradish is a recent addition to the dips of the refrigerated aisle.
The cons: Does not bring the heat that you might expect.
The verdict: …
Trader Joes Review
Trader Joe’s Buttermilk Pancake and All Purpose Baking Mix
The pros: Trader Joe’s Buttermilk Pancake and All Purpose Baking Mix works well for pancakes and waffles and is priced right.
The cons: Nothing really stands out.
The verdict: …
Trader Joe’s Cookie Butter Sandwich Cookies
The pros: Trader Joe’s Cookie Butter Sandwich Cookies have cookie butter in them.
The cons: These should be redone and sold as “double stuff.”
The verdict: …
Trader Joe’s Wild Salmon in Yogurt and Mint Sauce
The pros: Trader Joe’s Wild Salmon in Yogurt and Mint Sauce is easy to prepare.
The cons: Not great overall. You are better off doing a bit of meal prep yourself. Also, I’m not sure what purpose the tomato serves. It was just there for color and did not add much here.
The verdict: …
Monteli Organic Pizza Crusts
The pros: Monteli Organic Pizza Crusts are organic, frozen, reasonably sized for 1-2 people per pizza, delicious too.
The cons: This is way over packaged with plastic. Mine weren’t frozen flat so adorning this pizza was slightly more challenging.
The verdict: …
Trader Joe’s Ruggedly Adventuresome Cowboy Bark
The pros: Trader Joe’s Ruggedly Adventuresome Cowboy Bark is uniquely named and very rich.
The cons: This product isn’t really bark and it isn’t appropriate for cowboys. Maybe if this were chocolate covered jerky the name would be more fitting.
The verdict: …
Trader Joe’s Pecan Pralines
The pros: Trader Joe’s Pecan Pralines are a dangerous combination that are a touch sweet, salty, buttery, nutty, and crunchy.
The cons: It would be easy to eat way more than a serving or perhaps a whole box of these.
The verdict: …
Trader Joe’s Asian Vegetables with Beijing Style Soy Sauce
The pros: Trader Joe’s Asian Vegetables with Beijing Style Soy Sauce is a solid blend of Asian veggies with a thick and flavorful sauce.
The cons: Nothing stands out.
The verdict: …
Trader Joe’s 5 Cheese Greek Spiral
The pros: Trader Joe’s 5 Cheese Greek Spiral is crispy and cheesy.
The cons: If there were 5 cheeses in this, then they became indistinguishable once they were baked together.
The verdict: …
Trader Joe’s Chocolate Pecan Pie Bar
The pros: Trader Joe’s Chocolate Pecan Pie Bar is a solid option in the baked good aisle. It’s a reasonable sized dessert if you are having company.
The cons: Like most Pecan Pies, this one does not shy away from the calories. However, one serving is quite a generous size. Would be better if this had some bourbon flavoring to it.
The verdict: …
Trader Joe’s Sparkling Pressed Apple Juice Beverage
The pros: Trader Joe’s Sparkling Pressed Apple Juice Beverage is new to the canned drinks.
The cons: This was not very sparkling or delicious.
The verdict: …
Trader Joe’s Grilled Cauliflower
The pros: Trader Joe’s Grilled Cauliflower is one of a number of cauliflower options available in the freezer aisle. This is also priced the same as Trader Joe’s Rainbow Cauliflower.
The cons: While priced the same as Trader Joe’s Rainbow Cauliflower, this is not organic. This also wasn’t as good either.
The verdict: …
Trader Joe’s Gochujang
The pros: Trader Joe’s Gochujang is new to store shelves and adds a completely different hot sauce that some might not be familiar with.
The cons: If you have never worked with this type of ingredient, then you might not appreciate it fully. This hot sauce has some funk to it which might not garner everyone’s appreciation. It’s best to try this with something and not on its own.
The verdict: …
Trader Joe’s Pesto Gouda Cheese
The pros: Trader Joe’s Pesto Gouda Cheese looks different and tastes different. It is also an eye catching color.
The cons: This pairing does not work well. It will go moldy quite quickly as well.
The verdict: …
Trader Joe’s Mushroom Medley
The pros: Trader Joe’s Mushroom Medley are quick and easy mushrooms that can used in place in of freshly sautéed mushrooms.
The cons: Not as low-calorie as some other frozen vegetable options, but not terrible either. They are simple in flavor as they only contain mushrooms, olive oil, salt, parsley, and garlic.
The verdict: …
Trader Joe’s Blondie Bar Baking Mix
The pros: Trader Joe’s Blondie Bar Baking Mix is a super quick and easy baking mix that makes a reasonable amount of blondies.
The cons: While the box does not mention it, these pair very well with nuts too.
The verdict: …
Trader Joe’s Falafel Mix
The pros: Trader Joe’s Falafel Mix is a new mix that is vegan and gluten free and very easy to prepare.
The cons: You won’t be able to make this instantly as the box requires you to wait 30-60 minutes before cooking. You can’t skip this step.
The verdict: …
Trader Joe’s Sriracha Shrimp Bowl
The pros: Trader Joe’s Sriracha Shrimp Bowl is new to the frozen aisle and is a pretty good entree option that has a reasonable amount of calories.
The cons: While this is an improvement over so many of the single serve entrees, it wasn’t something that would be difficult to make on your own.
The verdict: …
O&H Danish Bakery Pecan Kringle
The pros: O&H Danish Bakery Pecan Kringle is a seasonal offering at Trader Joe’s. If you were a fan of previous flavors, then you’ll probably enjoy this one too. This is perfect for either breakfast, brunch, or dessert. This is far more affordable at Trader Joe’s than on the bakery’s website.
The cons: This is a seasonal offering. While mine did not come out of the bag in a photogenic way, it still tasted fine. In other words, mine was super flaky.
The verdict: …
Trader Joe’s Carrot Ginger Miso Salad Dressing
The pros: Trader Joe’s Carrot Ginger Miso Salad Dressing is very similar to the dressing that I’ve had in most Japanese restaurants. This dressing is also vegan.
The cons: This is more perishable than regular dressing.
The verdict: …
Trader Joe’s Frozen Blueberries
So, Trader Joe’s is many things, but basic is not one of them. One or perhaps two blueberry varieties are common. Usually an organic and an non-organic variety is pretty standard for most grocery stores. Trader Joe’s frozen blueberries come in four different varieties at four different price points.
So unlike most reviews where I look at a single product , I’ll go through what to expect from this line of frozen blueberries.
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Trader Joe’s Mini Milk Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups
The pros: Trader Joe’s Mini Milk Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups are addicting and a better balance of peanut butter and milk chocolate than the full sized ones they sell.
The cons: Addicting. It’s not hard to sit and eat the whole container.
The verdict: …
Trader Joe’s Fresh Atlantic Salmon
The pros: Trader Joe’s Fresh Atlantic Salmon is farm raised salmon in reasonable sized pieces available at Trader Joe’s. This is one of two refrigerated options: wild and farm raised.
The cons: Color is added to this. That makes me wonder what color this might actually is before the color is added. Not as cheap as getting it from Costco, but certainly not sold in the same quantity.
The verdict: …
Trader Joe’s Green Dragon Hot Sauce
The pros: Trader Joe’s Green Dragon Hot Sauce is a delicious condiment that is super versatile.
The cons: Don’t let the cartoonish dragon fool you. The dragon on the Sriracha sauce looks meaner, but this probably has more fire to it.
The verdict: …
