Trader Joe’s Favorites

Trader Joe’s is known for being a fun store to both explore and find good deals on relatively healthy food. If you are lucky enough to live near one or just happen  to be able to venture into one while you’re traveling, there are some unique items there to include on your staples or fun foods list. 

Personally, I’m about 30 minutes from the nearest Trader Joe’s, so it isn’t part of my weekly shopping routine, but I do enjoy the chance to explore it. Part of what I like about TJ’s is that a lot of relatively healthy food is readily available, and packaged food from TJ’s tends to have a much better ingredient list than most. I don’t like to include a ton of packaged food in my family’s weekly grocery plan, but realistically we do use some to get through the week. They also have a lot of things like mixed spice blends that are staples for our weekly meal prep. Here are some of my favorite items to grab when I’m shopping there. Hoping this helps you make the most of your TJ’s experience or even open your eyes to new foods at your current grocery store.

Starting with produce, we love their ready-to-cook and eat vegetables, which really help when weekends are crunched and there’s little time to meal prep.

Non-dairy milks without a lot of additives and cage-free egg whites. I’d also add greek yogurt, eggs and hummus to this list.

Healthy, high-quality cooking fats.

Delicious, affordable coffee in every form imaginable!

Chicken and pastured meats ready to cook; decadent, delicious cheeses, simple tortillas and whole-grain oatmeal for when we are in a pinch.

Frozen vegetables and berries ready-to-eat without a ton of sodium or sugary sauces already added, which again are so helpful for the never ending meal prep.  Not pictured cauliflower gnocci and pizza crust. It’s yummy. Get some!

All the seasonings, simmer sauces and splashes of flair available make meal prep a breeze. A lot of the seasonings I use as rub before I grill or the simmer sauces over onions and meat in and InstantPot make for ready to go delicious protein for dinner. We also love the 21 Seasoning Salute, which is not pictured below. We use the Yuzu sauce with sushi for a citrusy kick instead of soy sauce.

Jerky for a protein-packed snack that’s lower in sugar than many jerky options.

My all-time favorite treats and snacks. They have nuts and dried fruit at great prices as well and many don’t have added flavorings or sugar, but not as a rule. Be careful to read labels and moderate all of these treats. They are dangerous!

So those are my go-tos. What would you add to the list?

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