There are certain groceries we love at Trader Joe’s stores above all other grocery stores. Read on to find out why!
I LOVE Trader Joe’s grocery stores.
They sell so many great healthful, natural and organic products for lower prices than you’ll find elsewhere. There are several stores in the Twin Cities area (St. Paul, St. Louis Park, Maple Grove, Minnetonka, and Woodbury), but none of them are as close to where we live as I’d like. So when I do get to a Trader Joe’s store I make sure I stock up on my favorites.
Here are ten groceries we love at Trader Joe’s, and why I recommend them!
Clockwise from bottom right:
1. Chocolate Chip Brownie & Oat Bars. $2.29. These are soooo good. They’re so chewy and taste just like brownies. And they snuck in 20 grams of fiber per bar! I’m ADDICTED to them.
2. Uncured Turkey Bacon. $2.99. This is the most healthful bacon I can find, as it is uncured, and it tastes great. It tastes a bit like ham, but can be baked or pan fried to a nice crisp. I freeze the bacon until I need them – it thaws in the fridge in a day or so. It’s very versatile – I’ve used this bacon in soups, sandwiches, and egg bakes.
3. Organic Tomato & Roasted Red Pepper Soup. $2.79. SO creamy. Great with crumbled crackers on top. Great to keep at work for lunch. There are several servings in a container and it will stay fresh refrigerated for about 7 days,
4. Nuremberg Bratwurst. $3.29. They had samples of this in the store one day and I was hooked. Tastes great wrapped in crescent rolls (they sell those, too) and baked.
5. Fish sticks. $4.99. A bit pricier than you’d find for fish sticks at stores like ALDI, but these are better for you and it’s worth it. They have 30% less fat than regular fish sticks (9 grams for 6 sticks). I like that they’re pre-cooked in expeller pressed canola oil, which is the healthiest kind of canola oil (see below). Great for the kids!
6. Organic Low Sodium Chicken Broth. $1.99. Made with chickens raised without the use of growth hormones or other stimulants. In other words, happy chickens!
7. Tartar Sauce. $1.99. No preservatives or artificial colors or flavors. And it tastes better than other tartar sauces I’ve tried.
8. Turkey Burgers. $2.99. Sold frozen. For a quick lunch, I’ll take one out of the freezer, grill it on my electric grill plate and have a yummy and juicy turkey burger in about 10 minutes! My 2-year-old Thor loves these, too.
9. Canola Oil. $3.79. I’ve read in books that the best and most healthful kind of canola oil you can buy is expeller pressed because no chemicals are used to produce it, but it’s hard to find. On the label: “Trader Joe’s Canola Oil is mechanically extracted without the use of chemicals or additives.” 33.8 fl. oz. container. I used it for stir-frying and wherever vegetable oil is called for.
10. Breaded Eggplant Cutlets. $2.49. These are really good baked and served with pasta and marinara sauce. Great vegetarian alternative to pasta with meat.
There are SO many other Trader Joe’s foods I could rave about.
For example, their whole wheat hamburger and hot dog buns (not dry like some other whole wheat buns, and my 4-year-old Heidi loves them!), Sweet Apple chicken sausage (the BEST), their Tempura chicken (sweet & sour, from the frozen section), to name a few.
If you haven’t visited a Trader Joe’s store yet, I recommend it! They have great candy and flowers there, too, if you’re looking for great gift ideas. Kids get a free lollipop if they can find the hidden stuffed chicken in the store. Heidi calls it “the lollipop store!”
Why I don’t get there as often as I want…
If there was one closer to us I’d do most of our grocery shopping there. Visit their website for information. Also see my review of Trader Joe’s from a few years ago.
Tom Garcia says
Trader joe’s uses canola oil in the majority of its branded products, but they are not labeled GMO.Whether the canola oil is organic, or expeller pressed, it is still a GMO product.All canola oil is a GMO product, which is extremely dangerous to ingest.I will never purchase a product with canola oil, and if everyone did the same,this dangerous oil would no longer be our food products.The Trader Joes employees are told that canola oil is not a GMO, boy are they “brainwashed