Trader Joe's Gyro Slices

The neighborhood I grew up in was very Greek. How do you know your neighborhood is a little bit Greek? Well, if you identify a little too well with the movie My Big Fat Greek Wedding then you know you are in a Greek neighborhood.

Or if most of your neighbors have statues that are primarily in the nude, then you might find that statement to be true too. I was surrounded by some amazing Greek restaurants and even carts that just sold gyro. Let me tell you, that Gyro is on point.

Trader Joe's Gyro Slices are nowhere near the quality that you would get off of a spit. I've been to a number of street carts, or street meat as we New Yorkers frequently call them. Those run laps around this product. You can't hope to match the quality of a Greek Restaurant or street cart. Probably for a few reasons, the first of which being that this is mostly beef in place of lamb.

Next, the sear that Gyro gets on those large spits can't be replicated at home or in a pan. The slices in a gyro sandwich are also not necessarily uniform in the way they are packaged here. However, this package does not financially set you back what a single gyro sandwich will. In fact, you can easily build 2 generous gyro sandwiches out of this package.

On the flip side to all of this with some lettuce, tomato, red onion, Tzatziki sauce, and some pita bread you can make your own and call it a decent if not downright affordable alternative.

The key to enjoying these is to get the outside crispy. So when it says microwave these, please use a bit of caution as you are losing an opportunity to add that extra layer of taste and texture.

For $3.99 this did not taste bad but was nowhere near the quality of the authentic gyros. But if you want to shell out for a gyro here around NYC you are looking at shelling out something closer to $10. In fact, for $10 you can make two solid gyros using this package and a handful of ingredients.

However, if you take a moment and realize this is prepackaged refrigerated gyro meat that you can do at home, it isn't terrible either.

My gyro slices ended up in a pita, with lettuce, Trader Joe's Tzatziki Dip and I had two pleasant meals. If you don't have a good Greek establishment, then this is a reasonable substitute.

Would I buy this again? While Trader Joe's Gyro Slices are a long standing favorite in the refrigerated aisle I prefer the local goodness we have here. But there are times when I do reach for this in place of my usual gyro run for an inexpensive lunch.

Here is the visual run down of what you get if you buy this product:

The box of Trader Joe's Gyro Slices:

The nutritional information:

The ingredients:

How to prepare:

After being heated and placed on a pita:

Want to see more items I've reviewed from Trader Joe's? Click on Thoughts & Reviews of Trader Joe’s for a searchable list.

Did you try it? Let me know what you think in the comments section!

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