For us, swinging by Trader Joe’s is a daily pleasure, and the mood truly brightens in the fall and winter. Before we became regulars at Trader Joe’s, grocery shopping often felt routine and dull. Yet the store’s vibe and its assortment create a place we actually want to be.
Because we shop there so frequently, we end up trying a wide range of their products. When we walk out of the store, we usually have a clear sense of which items we’re most eager to test, so we’re bringing you along for the ride, dear readers. Of everything we grabbed at Trader Joe’s this week, these are the things we simply couldn’t leave without and our take on them.
Pumpkin Pie Chardonnay
Trader Joe’s took a while to stock the viral Pumpkin Pie Chardonnay, but once it landed, we knew we had to try it so you could see how the online chatter stacks up against reality. Fortunately for us, it lived up to the hype. It wasn’t excessively sweet, delivering a balanced taste between the crisp white wine and the warm pumpkin-spice notes.
And, we were quite worried that the pumpkin pie flavor might come across artificial, but that fear was unfounded. It tasted like authentic, cozy spices we associate with the dessert, without any candle-like artificial aftertaste. I wouldn’t call the wine itself exceptionally remarkable, but there’s nothing notably wrong with it either. Not that wine snobs are necessarily grabbing this bottle, but they might consider looking at something else if they were weighing it.
Cheese Tortellini
Just Like Your Grandma’s Stuffing Chicken Sausage
As big fans of breakfast sausages, this was an exciting product to see stocked at Trader Joe’s. Not only is it perfectly seasonally appropriate, but it just sounds like it would be delicious too — and it was. I would say that it has a more mellow flavor than we are anticipating, but it definitely has that very herbaceous, slightly vegetal flavor that you want from stuffing. We wouldn’t necessarily rush to repurchase this, but we happily finished the package over the span of a week.
Beef Mini Tacos
As always, one of the standout experiences of shopping at Trader Joe’s is a stroll down the frozen foods aisle. And, this week we decided to pick up some simple and easy meals that we could turn to on lazy nights. As for these beef tacos, they were good, but not great. Honestly, I think this would be a great base for other flavors and ingredients, but on their own they’re incredibly bland as they really just are a corn tortilla shell with seasoned beef inside. A really good sauce, some queso fresco, and some kind of herb or veggie would really turn these around.
Spicy Pork Kimbap
We’ve been regularly enjoying the tofu and vegetable version of the kimbap at Trader Joe’s for some time now, but when we saw that they were introducing a gochujang pork version, we were intrigued to say the least. Not only is the flavor of the pork great, but the sauce is really what makes the roll itself more enjoyable to eat due to the moisture that it provides. No longer does it feel like this roll needs additional sauces or flavoring agents to feel really powerful on its own. Now it’s more of a complete feeling dish that genuinely impressed us.
