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Category: Food Items (Page 2 of 25)

Trader Joe’s Garlicky Pasta Review

September 21, 2024 / / 0 Comments

It’s definitely garlicky.

Trader Joe’s has a lot of frozen pastas – makes sense, pastas are cheap – and this Garlicky Pasta ($4.30) is good, though not my favorite. It was very garlicky, but it has too much of a one-tone flavor. It did feel too oily/fatty, unfortunately. It did need something else, so I tried adding Parmesan cheese, but that made it too salty.

The spaghetti is cut in half, which makes it hard to roll onto a fork, but it’s still too long to scoop with either a fork or a spoon. It’s just a bad length.

In all, I’m glad I tried it but I wouldn’t buy it again.

Trader Joe’s Taiwanese Green Onion Pancakes Review

September 20, 2024 / / 0 Comments

An unexpected treat

I have had green onion pancakes at Chinese restaurants over the years, and I have never been overly impressed. Still, when I saw these Taiwanese Green Onion Pancakes ($2.50) at Trader Joe’s I still had to get them – don’t ask me why.

My first impression was that they were just OK. They didn’t much in the way of flavor – they were slightly salty. I did like the chewy consistency, which reminded me of Thai roti. While they are quite oily, they still felt pretty dry and screamed for something to dip them into. I tried chimichurri – but it didn’t work very well. They were delicious with honey mustard dressing, of all things. I thought they would be even better with Thai yellow curry, and they might be. But I got some Trader Joe’s yellow curry to try them with, and the curry was horrible.

You heat up these pancakes on a pan, but it only takes a couple of minutes per side and it leaves you with a clean pan that you can reuse without having to wash. I already bought more.

Signature Cafe Smoked Rib Tips Review

September 20, 2024 / / 0 Comments

Not bad when on sale

Every Friday, Safeway has a bunch of items on sale for just $5 – and these always include a deli entrée. Sometimes it’s chicken in some permutation, sometimes it’s their sandwich, and sometimes it’s ribs. Lately, they’ve been featuring “rib tips“. They are usually $10.50/lb though I only buy them when they’re on sale for $5/lb.

They are pretty good. Nobody would confuse them with E&J’s, but the rib tips are tasty and not overly fatty. They can be a little tough, however. The BBQ sauce is pretty standard – what I now know is Kansas City style. Even my daughter likes them.

Trader Joe’s Cacio e Pepe Gnocchi Review

August 29, 2024 / / 0 Comments

A solid – but not too solid – dish

I’m a fond of Trader Joe’s frozen gnocchi dishes and this Cacio e Pepe Gnocchi is no exception. The gnocchi were large, pillowy but with some weight in them – they really just that the perfect density. They come in a mild creamy cheesy sauce that is brightened by what you would swear is freshly ground pepper. If you like the flavor of black pepper, you’ll enjoy these.

The package should serve two if you add a salad. I cooked them according to instructions in the microwave, and that worked very well. It sells for $3.50

Trader Joe’s Mini Cheeseburgers Review

August 28, 2024 / / 0 Comments

Microwave burgers suck, these are no better.

I don’t know that I need to say anything more about these Mini Cheeseburgers than what I wrote on the title: they suck. They don’t suck any more or less than any other microwaved burgers out there. Microwave is just awful for burgers, it makes them taste boiled. These ones taste exactly like the White Castle frozen burger you can get at the supermarket. At $4.50 for 3 burgers, they’re actually more expensive than the White Castle ones. Needless to say, I wouldn’t get them again.

Trader Joe’s Bambino Pizza Formaggio

August 27, 2024 / / 0 Comments

Convenient but unremarkable

I found these Trader Giotto’s Bambino Pizza Formaggio – single-serve cheese pizzas – to be extremely generic as far as frozen pizzas go. They are fine, but there is nothing remarkable about it. My daughter liked them because she can easily cook them in the air fryer. And they’re the right size when you want a light meal. But otherwise, they’re unremarkable.

The package of four sells for $4.

Trader Joe’s Tortilla Española Review

August 27, 2024 / / 0 Comments

A complete failure

The first trip Mike and I took after we were married was to Spain, and decades later I still hold fond memories of those amazing tortillas. They were cheap, filling and so delicious. I was thus pretty excited when I found this Tortilla Española at Trader Joe’s – only to become immediately disappointed after trying it.

The tortilla was too eggy and too dry – despite the fact that it did feel oily. The onions, if they were there, managed to provide no flavor whatsoever. It was just a dense, unappealing, flavorless mess. It may very well be that this is not a dish that freezes well and that its appeal is on it being freshly cooked. In any case, this should be avoided at all costs.

I threw out most of it. TJ’s sells this for $5.50.

Trader Joe’s Organic Cheese & Tomato Pizza Review

August 27, 2024 / / 0 Comments

As generic as they come

Trader Joe’s Organic Cheese & Tomato Pizza is as generic a frozen pizza as you can imagine. It tastes just like every other frozen cheese pizza out there. The dough is on the thin side, so it was crispy even though I cooked it on a baking sheet. The sauce was inoffensive, the cheese a bit on the scant side. There was just nothing remarkable about it. My daughter liked it because she thought it tasted like cheeetos, but I definitely did not get that.

It’s made in Italy, which in this case is a minus – because if you’re going to ship something in an energy-guzzing frozen container all the way from Europe to California, it should be better than average. At $6, it was equivalent in price to supermarket pizzas when on sale.

In all, I wouldn’t get it again for myself, but my daughter might for herself.

Trader Joe’s Caesar Salad Review

August 23, 2024 / / 0 Comments

Better than Safeway’s

My daughter is a huge fan of Caesar salads, she’s gone through periods where that’s all she had for lunch. This was her first time trying Trader Giotto’s Caesar Salad with Caesar dressing and she became a fan.

The lettuce felt fresher and she thought the dressing was tastier. In addition, it had croutons, a big plus for her. At 8.5 oz, TJ’s salad is also considerably larger than the Caesar salad at Safeway, which is 6.25 oz and includes chicken, which my daughter doesn’t like. It’s also cheaper – $3.50 for this salad vs. $4.50’s for Safeway’s. On the other hand, the TJ salad had an expiration only three days after we bought it, which means we couldn’t stock up on them.

In all, I think we’ll pick up a couple every time we go to TJ’s

Trader Joe’s Roasted Garlic Hummus Review

August 22, 2024 / / 0 Comments

This hummus was very creamy. It had a mild roasted garlic flavor which wasn’t too overwhelming – always a danger with roasted garlic. It had the right amount of acidity. I’m not sure that I’d buy it over plain hummus, but it was pretty good.

The 8oz tub is $2.30, a great price vis a vis supermarket hummus.

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