Here's What's In Our Trader Joe's Haul This Week

One of the reasons I love shopping at Trader Joe’s is because it feels like the crossover between a farmers market, an international store, and a grocery store. And it’s available all days of the week. It feels more interactive than a typical grocery store and invites more curiosity to your food shop.

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You’ll always find something you didn’t know you needed, or even wanted. But, sometimes those end up being our new favorite items (at least, while they stay on shelves). That’s why every time I go grocery shopping at Trader Joe’s, I try something new just for the fun of it. And sometimes I try quite a bit more than just one thing. This week, there are five interesting items from my Trader Joe’s haul that I think you all should know about.

All Mixed Up Ice Cream: This is one of the new items that have recently been introduced in Trader Joe’s, and with as much as they’re trying to fit in to the pint, I knew I had to try it out and see whether or not they executed it well. Surprisingly, this is one of the best pints of ice creams I’ve had from Trader Joe’s in a very long time. The texture of the vanilla ice cream base is creamier than it usually is. The swirl of peanut butter is a nice addition and not overwhelming since it’s only in the bites you choose for it to be. And the mix-ins are nice because it adds interest whilst not being so packed for that it feels like you can’t taste the ice cream itself. Plus the rainbow sprinkles make it feel like even a cozy night bundled up on your couch is worth a celebration.

Rating:
9.5/10
Sporks
“PB & J” Filled Crêpes: We’re on the precipice of back to school season now and with that comes the inevitable desire to snack on that beloved childhood flavor combination: peanut butter and jelly. These crêpes are individually wrapped as well, so they would even make a great school time snack. But it’s still just as delicious and satisfying for people of all ages to enjoy. The crêpes themselves are thin and tender, and the peanut butter and jelly are well balanced and well distributed. Eaten warm or straight out of the package, this is a perfect way to elevate mundane snacking in this busy seasons of life.

Rating:
9/10
Sporks
Deli Sandwich Style Potato Chips: If you like a Cuban sandwich, you would love these chips. They taste pretty much exactly like ham, mustard, and pickles somehow dusted themselves over a crunchy potato chip. They are good, although I don’t think I could see myself eating an entire bowl of these anytime soon. I think these are the kind of chip that actually lend themselves very well to being a part of a sandwich itself. The flavor already matches perfectly and every sandwich needs a little layer of crunch.

Rating:
7/10
Sporks
Mango & Passion Fruit Squares: There’s definitely distinct pros and cons to this snack. First off, they are extremely sticky, and they’re individually packaged quite tightly making them very difficult to remove and enjoy without feeling icky. And the stickiness translates to actual consumption of the snack as well in that it feels like any fillings you may have in your teeth might be at risk. However, I would say that it is made up for in the snack’s flavor. Where a lot of dried fruit jellies and strips have a hard time not just tasting like apple juice, the flavors of these are strong enough and bold enough where they can actually shine. It’s a unique way to eat the tropical flavors of summer, made more portable by their individual packaging.

Rating:
7.5/10
Sporks
Caro Sugo Datterino Cherry Tomatoes & Roasted Garlic Pasta Sauce: This pasta sauce is the new counterpart to the fan-favorite Caro Sugo sauce. And this time it’s sweeter since it’s made from cherry tomatoes and it has roasted garlic in it. The thing I really like about the sauce is that you can actually very much taste the garlic in it, which I don’t find with many grocery store tomato sauces. I will say that this is definitely a more acidic sauce than the other variety, but I would just add some extra salt when you’re preparing everything for a delicious pasta dinner.

Rating:
8.5/10
Sporks