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Category: Food Items (Page 4 of 26)

Trader Joe’s Mandarin Orange Chicken Review

August 21, 2024 / / 1 Comment

My daughter is a huge fan of orange chicken with rice, and thus she had this frozen mandaron orange chicken when she saw it at Trader Joe’s. I’d gotten it in the past, though I tend to skew prepared food I can’t warm up in the microwave or the air fryer. You need to cook this in the oven or sautee it on the stovetop.

She wasn’t super fond of this, though I did overcook it. She thought it was fine, but not as good as what you can get in a restaurant. She wasn’t too sure she’d get it again.

The 22 oz package costs $5 and is enough for two meals. Rice is not included.

Signature Select Ultra Thin Crust Garlic Chicken Alfredo Pizza Review

August 21, 2024 / / 0 Comments

Pretty tasty

I was surprised at how tasty this pizza was. I don’t usually like thin crust pizza, but it is a great way to save carbs. And this one is really ultra thin. The cheese and the alfredo sauce combined so that it looks like there is a lot of cheese. It was flavorful and loved the little bits of oregano. The caramelized onions provided the occasional burst of sweetness. The chicken didn’t contribute much more than protein. In all, I’d get it again.

Regular price is $7, but I got it on sale for $4.50

Trader Joe’s Family Style Meat Lasagna review

August 21, 2024 / / 0 Comments

I still prefer Stouffers

Trader Joe’s Family style meat lasagna is not bad. It’s a perfect acceptable dinner for two, when you add a side salad. It says it should feed four – maybe if they are children and/or are eating a salad and some bread to fill up. It’s not overly cheesy, not overly saucy and particularly memorable, but it will do. Alas, it isn’t as good as Stouffers. It taste more home made and less commercial, but not as good. It’s just $7, so it does make for an affordable meal.

Trader Joe’s Linguine with Pesto & Tomatoes Review

August 20, 2024 / / 2 Comments

Another failure

I like a lot of Trader Joe’s frozen pastas, but this one was a failure. The dish is pretty much what it sounds like: linguine with pesto and tomatoes – but the pesto just wasn’t very tasty, there wasn’t much of it, and I was thoroughly unimpressed. Adding Parmesan helped but not enough. I wouldn’t get it again

Trader Joe’s Chicken Shawarma Bowl Review

August 19, 2024 / / 1 Comment

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.

Aplenty Parmesan Garlic and Herbs Pita Chips Review

August 9, 2024 / / 0 Comments

They are very flavorful, perhaps too much.

Aplenty is one of Amazon Fresh’s private label brands – I got these a couple of weeks ago when I ordered from Amazon Fresh for the first time. I got the chips to eat with hummus, but the flavor is too strong for hummus or anything else to stand up to it.

The flavor of these Aplenty Parmesan Garlic and Herbs Pita Chips is hard to describe. At first, it just tastes and feels like fake butter – the type used on popcorn. The ingredients say it’s high oleic sunflower oil, which is supposed to have a neutral flavor. Later, the intense flavor of the cheese and the seasoning explodes. One of the ingredients is citric acid, and the chips are surprisingly sour.

In all, I don’t really like them and I don’t think I’d get them again.

The 8oz package of chips is $2.90

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