We Couldn’t Leave Trader Joe’s Without These 5 Items

It’s your favorite thing each week to be able to go through the aisles of Trader Joe’s. Their shelves are like an endless trove of curiosities for food lovers, and there’s always something new to see and get yourself tucked into.

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And, since Trader Joe’s is always changing up what they have in stores, there’s always something new for us to taste test as well. So, each week we make an effort to get five products that we’ve never seen before, regardless of whether or not there a new addition to Trader Joe’s product catalog in order to let you all know whether or not they’re worth trying it out yourselves. These are the five things we couldn’t leave the store without this week.

Synergy Living In Gratitude Kombucha With Collina Strada

As someone one who really likes kombucha in its own right, this is very nice tasting. That said, you will not enjoy the drink if you don’t already really like kombucha and the flavor of turmeric. Luckily for me, I really like both of those things, but the drink isn’t very sweet, and it has that same acidic, tangy, fermented flavor that kombucha is known for. All of that in mind, you could also taste the subtle nuances of the root vegetables and seasonal warming spices in a way that was delightful and created a nice contrast from the typical fruity of flavors that we see in kombucha.

Neufchatel Cheese

As far as we can tell this is not a new product for Trader Joe’s, but we haven’t seen it at our location up until this point. It’s interesting because we really didn’t know what to expect and how much it would taste like cream cheese. The box compares itself to cream cheese, but you never know how accurate those kind of things are going to be. It actually was very similar in the end though. Perhaps a bit less tangy, but still just as cheesy and spreadable. I would just say that it has a bit of a more gritty texture compared to your typical cream cheese, likely due to the fact that it has a lower fat content.

Shawarma Chicken Thighs

We love trying the marinated meats available from the protein section at Trader Joe’s for you all since it’s one of the biggest gambles that you can make in purchasing your groceries. Not only is the price higher than most other goods in the store, but you don’t know if the marinade is any good. And if it’s bad, there’s really no recovering from it. Luckily for us, these Shawarma Chicken Thighs were deeply fantastic. They have complex, warming spices that penetrate the meat all the way through. The strong presence of cinnamon makes these nuanced, and these are one of the only marinated meats we’ve tried from Trader Joe’s that haven’t needed any additional seasoning.

Pumpkin Ginger Hold The Cone

The Hold The Cone ice cream collection at Trader Joe’s is iconic and beloved for a reason. Every flavor we try seems to be better than the last, and this wasn’t any different. But as a particular highlight, we’d like to mention how great the decision was to make ginger a stronger, more prominent flavor in these cones. And, since it wasn’t dipped in the typical dark chocolate, the flavor of the ice cream was really the star of the show.

Organic Mediterranean Style Salad Kit

Trader Joe’s salad kits are kind of hit and miss for us. They’re never bad, but sometimes they’re just so lackluster that they wouldn’t be worth purchasing a second time. But, that wasn’t the case with this one. If a greek salad is your thing, but you really don’t feel like doing all the prep work, then I’d say this is a good option for you. I’d maybe add a couple cucumber slices, tomatoes, and olives, but hey, as is I was totally satisfied too. My one caveat is that after you combine everything and toss it together, leave it to rest for around 10 minutes to give the sun-dried tomatoes and greens a chance to tenderize.