The pros: Trader Joe's Spicy Thai Shrimp Fried Rice is a relatively spicy rice dish that will need some supplementing of protein in order to bring it up to the standard of a meal.
The cons: I thought of this more of a side than its description of being a meal. For 4 servings to be in this bag, I would not consider 2 shrimp to be a meal. They were heavy handed on the Thai Chilis. Not even a lot of veggies on this one either.
The verdict: For $4.99 I had higher expectations. This should have been called "Spicy Thai Fried Rice with some Shrimp." There were only about 10 shrimp in the whole bag. It was spicy but not overly flavorful. The shrimp were unimpressive. I tolerated eating it but I would not go out and buy this again. I had to add some protein to this "meal" to feel full.
The bag in the freezer aisle:
The nutritional information:
The ingredients:
The description from Trader Joe's:
How to prepare:
What you actually get in the bag. See that tiny little bag? No, that's not stuff I didn't move out of the way for the picture. That's actually all the shrimp you get compared to that much rice.
The shrimp and yes, that's a small mixing bowl. A small fraction of the size that the bowl of rice goes into:
The end result. The shrimp were like a game of Where's Waldo:
Will I buy this again? No, for a lot of reasons. There were way too many Thai Chilis in this which made it quite hot. Also, there was a huge lack of shrimp in this dish. There are better options at Trader Joe's.
Want to see more items I've tried at Trader Joe's? Click on Thoughts & Reviews of Trader Joe’s for a searchable list.
My wife, who is Thai, (born and raised) hates this dish. The beauty of Thai food is the freshness of the ingredients. This is the antithesis of Thai food. For the record...I didn't hate it. It was fine, but definitely not worth the fight to try and get it again.