The pros: Trader Joe's Cheese and Garlic Croutons have a good cheese and garlic flavoring to them. Comes in a very pretty packaging.
The cons: Considering this bag only four ounces of croutons, these are very overpriced. Some of the croutons were not bite sized.
The verdict: My husband enjoy a good salad every now and again. It's usually not the lettuce that excites us. It's usually the toppings. It's the mix ins that can take a healthy item into a calorie bomb too. Nutritional details aside, one of the things we enjoy about a good salad is the addition of a crunchy element beyond the lettuce. Croutons tend to be one of our go to mix ins.
I had noticed that Trader Joe's sells a pretty small bag of croutons near their freezer items with all the other crackers. However, I did not look very closely at the price. For $3.29 for four ounces which is the equivalent of over $13 per pound for bread that is essentially stale, this item is far from being a good value.
Lack of value aside, most croutons are cut into bite sized pieces. Some of these were anything but bite sized. It was a mix of single bite pieces but some that would require at least two bites. That is a it problematic considering you are biting into stale bread which might cause some people pain, if not an unnecessary trip to the dentist. The flavor here is basic: garlic and parmesan. It's garlicy without having to be concerned with becoming a vampire slayer. It's got a good amount of salt from seasonings and the parmesan cheese. However, the flavor here wasn't enough for me to justify the cost of this tiny bag.
Overall, they tasted good, but for $13 per pound you a loaf of french bread, a container of good olive oil, and some seasoning and probably have change left over compared (and you'll have more croutons than a pound). So this item isn't a good value, it wasn't bite sized, but did have good but not amazing flavor. I wouldn't reach for this again. I would rather go into the bread aisle and make my own.
Here is the visual rundown of what you get if you buy this product:
The bag of Trader Joe's Cheese and Garlic Croutons:
The nutritional information and the ingredients:
Would I buy this again? No. Trader Joe's Cheese and Garlic Croutons taste fine, but are a bit of a rip off considering you are really buying stale bread. They were good, but not $13 per pound good.
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