I HATE THIS PLACE!

You are probably thinking, hold your horses negative Nancy.. Just hear me out! I gained the inspriation for the title from a lady that I recently encountered at Trader Joe's. This lady said  "I HATE TRADER JOE'S" much louder than she realized (And it was a busy day for the workers and shoppers). I'm pretty sure every single person stopped and just looked at her flabbergasted. Luckily, she ended the sentence by saying "because they are just too darn good."

If you have any idea what Trader Joe's is, your first thought is probably that it is some hippie organic store that has insane followers.... or you are me and you are like TAKE ALL OF MY MONEY!!! Let me tell you, once I was a non believer about the greatness of Trader Joe's... but if you go there once, you will be sucked in to its festive goodness!

This blog post will touch on my numerous favorites from Trader Joe's, and the few things I have not enjoyed (and they are few). The sad thing is that other than here in Pennsylvania, I've only been to a Trader Joe's once, so I'm rather new to the store in and of itself. Despite my newness to it, I have quickly become a big fan, and sometimes Josh has to persuade me that we don't actually need anything... but sometimes it is difficult to fight the urge! I think he is addicted to it now as well!

My favorite things from Trader Joe's!

• Mixed Nut/Almond Butter:
• Josh and I are nut butter fanatics, and we have bought the mixed nut butter multiple times.We also LOVE using the Almond butter with apples, bananas, smoothie bowls, and obviously sandwiches. We start to panic when our nut butter supplies run low!

• Mediterranean Hummus:
• This hummus is great with veggies, salads, and DUH pita chips.. DELICIOUS!!!!!! We tried to stray from its path, and quickly returned. It has such an authentic flavor, and I love the amount of pine nuts they put in. I think this type of hummus is way better than anything else you would get at Walmart of Costco.

• Spiced Cider/Cranberry Sparkler:
• Josh and I have already bought the cider like 4 times this season.... I might need to take a break since I'm trying to eat healthier. I'm a huge fan, and it is super delicious plain and with a gallon of whipped cream.  Yes, I meant to put gallon. I've never actually bought the Cranberry sparkler, but I've sampled it a ton and I've had it at some parties. It is super flavorful and would be great for any Christmas or seasonal get together.

• TREATS, TREATS, AND MORE TREATS 
• Pumpkin Ice Cream
• Salted Caramel Gelato
• Jingle Jangle Ice Cream
• Cookie Butter Ice Cream
• Mixed Macaroons
• Raspberry Tart: (What I had on my birthday)
• Sweet Potato & Marshmallow Pixie Pie: (MY ALL TIME FAVORITE)
• Triple-ginger cookies:
• Let's be honest... Anything from their holiday collections are probably delicious!  There are so so SO SO many things we haven't tried, and if we had the funds.. we would have tried and finished them all by now.

•  Fruits/Veggies:
• If you are needing to pick up some fruits/veggies for your dinner, I think Trader Joe's is a great place to go, but you definitely need to look at prices and see what is the best deal, and what you are willing to pay. For instance, Josh and I wanted to buy some apples, it was like 70 some cents per Pink lady apple, but the organic Honey Crisp apple bags were like three dollar something, and even though they were smaller, we got a lot more for the price. Other than apples, we also like to pick up our Zucchini, Yellow Squash, Bananas, asparagus, other squash, and peppers here. If you can't tell, we like squash. We don't always buy our veggies here, but if we don't need a ton, then its not a bad place to go.
• If you are in a pinch, their pre packaged salad mixes are great to take to parties, and depending on the ones you choose, they aren't super expensive. 

• I would put a picture here, but I would like to think that y'all know what your vegetables and fruits look like.

•  Frozen Food: 

• Beef and broccoli (my personal favorite)
• Orange chicken (Josh's favorite)
• Pita Bread
• Sweet Potato Fries:
• Whenever I make some at home, they never taste as good as the one's from Trader Joe's!
• Naan:
• I like to make my own naan, but if you're in a pinch, their packages are only a dollar something and you get four large pieces. Its probably cheaper per naan piece to make your own, but sometimes convenience is better than the price.
• Gyoza:
•  Josh and I went to the Asian market and bought some gyoza, but they all had MSG, which isn't a fond ingredient in our home. The gyoza from Trader Joe's are delicious and free of MSG.
• Let's be honest... if I am going to be buying some frozen meal, I would definitely feel more comfortable buying it at trader Joe's. Their ingredients are a lot better, and are pretty well delicious!! They also change what they have on their shelves quite often, so every time we go, there is something new. We really haven't tried too many things, so let me know what you love!

•    Nuts/Dried Fruit:

• Other than big bags of pecans, I buy most of my less needed nuts and dried fruit from here. I love their raisins, dried mango, macadamia nuts, their dried unsweetened coconut flakes, cut up almonds, and pumpkin seeds. I use a lot of their loose ingredients to make granola at home. I recently made pumpkin spice, dark chocolate granola for Josh.

 

• Live Plants: 
• Basil: 
• I bought basil in probably August and it lived for over two almost three months. If you know me, that is a long and happy life! These dang plants normally last like 2 days for me... maybe less. With how long it lived and how much it produced, it totally paid for itself many times. PLUS it was only like three dollars and came in a little bio degradable pot! I love pizza and I added the basil to many recipes.
• Succulents: 
• My succulent was... I'm thinking 5-8 dollars. I honestly don't remember. We bought it in August as well and it is also still alive. I'm currently trying to convince it that life is worth living, but overall the fact that I haven't truly killed it yet is obviously a high-five to Trader Joe's.

•   Fire Roasted Red Pepper and Tomato Soup:

• This is to die for.  Josh and I bought it on a whim for a quick dinner one night, and it ended up being great. It was only two something dollars, and fed both of us very well! We were crazy full and it paired well with some grilled cheese sandwiches. The traditional tomato soup is good, but this brings it up a notch.. or two. Josh is a big fan of this.

• MISC: (aka I forgot about them until now, and I don't want to change my formatting... #lazy)
• Their pumpkin spice cinnamon rolls (Only available in the fall). We only bought these once, and for a very good reason. They did not last long.
•  Teriyaki Sauce- Soyaki:
• The price isn't bad, the ingredients are great, and tastes 100% better than some of the cheaper stuff that you will get at other grocers. Delicious in stir fries!
•  Bold and Smoky Kansas City Style BBQ:
• This BBQ sauce is the most traditional flavor.. but with a little more umph (not indicating spicy). We have used it a few times, and I love making baked chicken with this! So so good. They have so many other flavors as well, but I'm a sucker for a traditional BBQ flavor.

 Let me know if you like Trader Joe's meats and cheese/dairy sections. We normally buy that kind of stuff at Costco, but if there is a good recommendation, we will check it out!!!

Not a Fan

•  Tomato basil hummus:

•  I thought this sounded like a good idea, but it looked gross upon opening and kind of tasted like what you imagine the packaged tomato soup tastes like that Campbell's sells... before its mixed with the milk. Super concentrated and really gross. Pass on this and get the other hummus listed above. 

• Sushi:
• We should have known this wouldn't be the greatest, but we were really hungry one night and needed a quick dinner. It wasn't terrible, but I would have rather spent my money on something different. I guess its not that bad of a deal though when you only spend 6 dollars on enough food that completely fills you and your husband. What made it sub par was the rice. It was super concentrated and resembled the texture of mochi (SP?). Makes me think that it wasn't very fresh... but that totally makes sense at the same time. Its not like I watched someone make it.

• Dark Chocolate Pumpkin Brittle Bark 
• This was a seasonal item that Josh actually really enjoyed. I'm not a huge fan of dark chocolate, so I wasn't going to be a huge fan of it from the beginning. Even though Josh really likes it, we've had it for a while and we still haven't finished it. If something lives on that long in our home (especially from Trader Joe's) it probably means that it isn't our favorite. I thought it tasted pretty bland and the the dark chocolate was a bit overwhelming. I'd pass on this and try some of their other seasonal delicacies. 

I hope that this post is helpful for you and your endeavors at Trader Joe's! Josh and I would love to know what your suggestions are, and we will let you know if we like them!! Also, check out Trader Joe's website because they actually had recipes there that use some of their ingredients! It is awesome. Let me know if you try anything that I mentioned in this post!

Thank you!!

~Anna Wilson