trader joe's food

WIP!!!

i eat a lot of food from trader joe's. the stuff they have is usually pretty tasty, inexpensive, and not terribly bad for you. they also have a lot of stuff that is very easy to prepare which is nice when i'm low on spoons!

here are my notes on some of their food items

frozen meals

• paneer tikka masala, chicken tikka masala, butter chicken: pretty good !! they are reliable quick meals and taste yummy, i have to add some salt though
• chana masala, baingan bharta: i find these to work much better with rice but the package doesn't include any, so i have to make my own. makes it take a bit more effort
• vegetable biryani: mediocre. the "vegetable dumplings" are actually pretty good, but the rice is weirdly acidic. it almost tastes like they just put too much citric acid in it?? also why does it have lima beans, i do not think they go well with this
• pizza bianca: yummy !! however the whole thing is too much for me to eat in one sitting, but it's not enough food to be a meal for two people. idk i usually figure something out
• baladi sourdough pocket bread: extremely good, can heat in toaster oven (400°F, 5 minutes). good texture and taste, absorbs sauces well
• pad see ew: extremely bad, do not buy !!! has extremely strong flavor of uncooked garlic and ginger. i genuinely do not understand how they fucked up this badly. it is inedible
• hashbrown patties: pretty good! you can microwave them for 1.5 minutes or so which makes them easier to prepare, they get a bit mushy but still tasty. wonderful vehicle for salt
• japanese style fried rice: yummy, rice and soy sauce and edamame yay :3 not quite as good a value as the other vegetable fried rice they have but i don't like that one as much
• vegetable fried rice: it's ok but there are some vegetables in there that i don't like (a long stringy one idk what it is). the eggs in it are good though!
• kanom krok thai coconut pancakes: they never seem to cook quite right :( but they are still yummy. idk i will get them occasionally when i specifically want that taste
• kimbap: yummy however recently it hasn't been cooking quite as well as it used to and idk why. the rice ends up weirdly hard and crunchy. i might wait a few months then buy another to see if they've fixed it
• thai vegetable gyoza: i've been eating these for probably a decade now. they're pretty good ! nothing exceptional but they are good
• whole grain waffles: can make these in toaster oven. they taste very yummy on their own !!! much better than the version that isn't whole grain
• bbq teriyaki chicken: pretty yummy !! goes great on white rice, is a good low cost meal for multiple people. can be a bit annoying to cook but tends to be worth it
• japchae: pretty good! not always in the mood for it though

more stuff idk