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Tag: Trader Joe’s (Page 3 of 6)

Trader Joe’s Chicken Shawarma Bowl Review

August 19, 2024 / / 0 Comments

Disappointingly insipid

Shawarma, in both its lamb and chicken varieties, has become quite common in the US, as Arab/Middle Eastern/Mediterranean food trucks and restaurants have become popular. And putting foods traditionally wrapped in tortillas or breads into bowls has been a thing here for quite a while. It’s thus not surprising that Trader Joe’s would offer a frozen Chicken Shawarma Bowl. What is surprising is how flavorless it is. The bowl has rice, spiced chicken, red peppers, tiny pieces of spinach and pickled onions and is supposed to have a spicy garlic sauce. There is some spice into the dish, but very, very little flavor either in the individual ingredients or in the dish as a whole. It’s edible, but I definitely would not get it again.

Trader Joe’s Pork Shu Mai Dumplings Review

August 13, 2024 / / 0 Comments

My husband loves them

Trader Joe’s has been carrying these frozen Pork Shu Mai Dumplings for a long time, so they must be quite successful. That’s not surprising because they are very good. The shells are soft and chewy, and work well microwaved. The filling is very flavorful, without the chewy, annoying texture of shrimp which I so hate. It has a fragrant lemongrass flavor which I really like. The dumplings did scream to be dipped in some soy sauce, however.

They were $4 for a 9-oz box.

Trader Joe’s Breaded Cheddar Cheese Curds Review

August 11, 2024 / / 0 Comments

Just OK


I’m a fan of fried Mozzarella, but mostly in theory. In practice, it often has too much breading, it’s too oily and the breading competes with the cheese for flavor. These Breaded Cheddar Cheese Curds from Trader Joe’s suffered from exactly the same ailment. Though I air fried them without adding any additional oil, there was enough of it in the breading that they tasted and felt oily. And the breading was too thick. Cheese curds have an even more subtle flavor than Mozzarella, so they really couldn’t stand up to the breading, and at times I forgot that I was eating cheese in the first place.

After eating a small batch several days ago, I haven’t felt compelled to eating any more and I’m afraid I’ll actually throw out the rest of the bag.

These were $5, which is not cheap.

Trader Joe’s Panzerotti Pizza Bites Review

August 11, 2024 / / 0 Comments

Not Trader Joe’s finest

I hate to say it, but these Panzerotti Pizza Bites were a disappointment. These pastries consist of pizza dough filled with a mixture of tomato sauce and cheese. The first problem was the dough: it tasted of old oil. It actually reminded me of the 50-cent fruit pies I used to get at the supermarket during college because it was all I could afford. As I heated them up in the microwave, the texture was different – bready and somewhat chewy. Unfortunately, there was also too much dough and not enough filling – and the filling had too much sauce and not enough cheese, making it unpleasantly acidic.

They are $4 and made in Italy, but not worth your while.

Trader Joe’s Mediterranean Style Hummus Review

August 11, 2024 / / 0 Comments

Surprisingly not great

Hummus has been associated with Trader Joe’s for at least as long as I remember shopping there – and that’s about three decades. It was one of the first places to carry it and I wouldn’t be surprised if it was instrumental in popularizing it. That said, I rarely buy hummus at Trader Joe’s as my trips to TJ are sporadic, and hummus is more of a staple at our house.

Still, hummus is surprisingly expensive in he US, so when I saw this 16-oz tub of Mediterranean Style Hummus for just $4, less than the price of the 8-oz tubs at the supermarket, I had to get it. Alas, I’m not a fan.

The couscous came with pine nuts and dried parsley on top. The latter was just too bitter and didn’t add a good flavor to the hummus. The pine nuts add crunch, but that’s not what I’m looking for in hummus. the hummus itself was too sour and it’s borderline bitter, it just has too much lemon juice. It’s almost to the point of burning my throat. For that reason, I wouldn’t get it again.

Trader Joe’s Carne Asada Burritos Review

August 6, 2024 / / 1 Comment

These al-beef burritos miss the mark

I was excited when I saw these Carne Asada Burritos at Trader Joe’s. I love all-meat burritos and these ones seemed to be just that. Indeed, all they have is chopped meat cooked with chilis and cilantro. Unfortunately, I wasn’t thrilled with either the taste or the consistency.

I heated them up in the microwave according to instructions, wrapping them in a moistened paper towel and heating them for 2 minutes. The tortilla wrapping was hard in parts and not as chewy and elastic as I want flour tortillas to be. Also, as the burritos are rather small, they were wrapped two or three times around the filling, making them too thick.

The filling itself was too spicy and too wet for my taste. It had some nice smokiness, but it was otherwise under seasoned. All in all, I wouldn’t get them again.

The 14oz package with 2 burritos costs $5.



See other reviews of food items at Trader Joe’s.

Trader Joe’s Super Strawberry Sorbet Review

August 6, 2024 / / 0 Comments

Good but Generic

When I grew up in Argentina, ice cream was a special occasion treat. It was a time when home freezer weren’t good enough to keep it frozen, so commercial brands specialized in cones and bars that you’d buy and eat as you went. When we wanted ice cream, we had to go to the ice-cream store. And it was (and is!) expensive – a treat we’d only get after we got our report cards (fortunately they came every two months during the school year).

I’d always order a cone with dulce de leche granizado ice cream and either pineapple or strawberry sorbet. I’ve been chasing those memories of those amazing sorbets ever since – nothing can ever match those childhood memories.

It’s thus not surprising that Trader Joe’s Super Strawberry Sorbet didn’t come close either. It’s good, don’t get me wrong, with bright, intense strawberry flavor. But it’s a tad too sweet, a tad too creamy, and a tad too processed. On the plus side, I didn’t like it enough to feel compel to eat more than few spoons of it.

What turned me off more than anything was the texture. I think the weird creaminess comes from the maltodextrin, a high glycemic index carb which acts as a binder and adds a gummy texture.

The pint package was $4, which is cheaper than supermarket brands at regular price (but I only buy ice cream when it’s on sale).

Trader Joe’s Raisin Rosemary Crisps Review

August 6, 2024 / / 0 Comments

Trader Joe’s makes these crisps in several flavors: fig & olive, strawberry & jalapeño, stollen – a raisin & lemon and orange peel holiday flavor – and raisin rosemary. I tried the latter and I’m a fan.

These bready looking crackers are very, very crispy – though buttermilk is their first ingredient. They probably need a bit more salt, though I imagine that’s supposed to be provided by whatever you dip them in. I very much liked the hints of rosemary flavor and the sweetness of the flavor.

I ate them with hummus, which wasn’t the best combination, as the flavors didn’t really meld, but I think they’d be great with cheese. I’ll definitely get them again.

They were $4 at our Trader Joe’s.

Ingredients are buttermilk, wheat flour, cane sugar, sunflower seeds, raisins, flax seeds, millet, sesame seeds, baking soda, salt, dried rosemary and black pepper. They have 90 calories per 11 crackers, with 16 g carbohydrates, 6 g sugar, 125 mg sodium, 2.5 g of fat and 3 g of protein. They’re made in Canada.

See reviews for other Trader Joe’s products.

Trader Joe’s Gnocchi alla Sorrentina Review

August 5, 2024 / / 0 Comments

A family favorite for twenty years

Update 9/24. The last batch of these gnocchi we bought – and it was several packages – was a failure. The gnocchi themselves were dense and crumbly. It felt as if they had used too much flour, or perhaps changed the quality of the ingredients. I hope it was just a bad batch, as they are close to inedible in the present iteration. I’ll probably wait a while before buying more, to make sure I don’t get more from the same batch.

Trader Giotto’s Gnocchi alla Sorrentina has been a favorite in my family for almost twenty years. My mother introduced me to these gnocchi when my oldest daughter was a toddler, and we have all enjoyed them over the years. We don’t go to Trader Joe’s frequently (parking is a pain), but when we do, we bring back many bags of this gnocchi.


The gnocchi are made in Italy and come in packages of plain gnocchi and pats of frozen sauce and cheese. When these melt, on the stove or in the microwave, they cover the gnocchi with the sauce.

They’re really as good as home made. Indeed I was surprised, when I finally made the home made version, how similar it was to the packaged ones. At $3 per package, they are probably just as cheap as making them yourself.

The gnocchi can be dense if you cook them uncovered in the microwave, so cover them or heat them on the stove. The sauce has a bright, tomato flavoring and just enough cheese – I actually wonder if less than in the past. It’s just good.

Trader Joe’s Lemon Baton Wafer Cookies Review

August 4, 2024 / / 1 Comment

Delicious!

Trader Joe’s Lemon Baton Wafer Cookies are special treat. If you are restricting sugar or calories, or simply watching your wallet, just one cookie provides such a burst of flavor – in addition to a satisfying crunch, to satisfy a craving for sweets. While the lemon flavor is very intense, it’s neither overly sweet or sour, just perfectly lemony.

They come in a very well sealed tube. At $2.30 for the tube, they’re pretty affordable – as long as you don’t eat them all in one sitting (which I’m proud to say, I didn’t).

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