Trader Joes=Thumbs Up!

We finally got a local Trader Joe’s.  I went today and I’m pretty excited about what I found, and I loved their great prices, the amount of organic produce available, and the surprise of some not-so-typical items–like chocolate covered pomegranate seeds!   Mmmm.  Another huge plus for me?  No high fructose corn syrup in their foods!

Here is what I bought today.  I have a pretty full freezer, and meals are still coming for dinner, so I mostly needed produce and some snacks.

1.Bananas
We eat them sliced on cereal, spread with peanut or almond butter, or just plain.  19 cents a pound!

2. Organic Cheese Sticks
Great for getting some protein into my kids.  Good for snacks or in a lunchbox.

3.  Organic Spring Salad Mix
I have a salad every day with my lunch and most evenings with our dinner.  I should have bought 2 bags!

4. Whole Wheat Pizza Dough
This was only 99 cents!  It was in their refrigerator section.  I had a friend bring a bunch of homemade tomato sauce that she froze in muffin tins and then threw the discs in a freezer Ziploc.  I will use a couple of those for the sauce.

5. Fresh Mozzarella Cheese
I will slice this into rounds and use it on our pizza.

6. Asparagus
I love to use these in our breakfast omelets or just sauteed’ in some olive oil, or even as a pizza topping.  Leftovers are great chopped and thrown cold on top of a salad.  I keep reading about how important it is for breast cancer patients to eat asparagus, so I am!

7. Brussel Spouts
Another veggie that is great for cancer.  I am trying to become friends with Brussel Sprouts.  As of now, I only like them when paired with way too much butter!  At Trader Joes, they come in a bag that you can throw into the microwave to steam them.  Easy!

8. Organic Broccoli
I usually buy and cut up myself, but the price was great on the bag of pre-cut broccoli.  We eat it raw as a snack, chop it up over a salad, or I steam as a side dish.

9. Sweet Peppers
I  love these.  They are small, sweet and so colorful.  Love the red, yellow and orange.  Full of antioxidants.  Great chopped over salads or in an omelet, thrown in rice pilaf or a stir fry.

10. Clementines
As I wrote about here, these are the best little snack.  Great for the girls lunch box.  Easy to peel, full of vitamin C.

11. Sweet Potatoes
I have the best recipe for Spiced Sweet Potatoes that I will post soon.  I love to cut into wedges, drizzle in olive oil and roast them at 350 degrees along with a wedged onion and a few whole cloves of garlic.  It makes the house smell great.  The whole family loves them roasted this way.

12. Organic Apples
Gala for snacking.  Granny Smith for juicing.

13. Sunflower Seeds
I use these to give my salads some crunch.

14. Sea Salt

15. Romano and Parmesean Shavings
I love that these are fresh.  Great with crackers or sprinkled on pasta or salads.

16. French Cut Frozen Green Beans
Yum.  A vegetable that all 3 of my girls will eat without grumbling!

17.  Organic Carrots
We eat them cut into sticks, steamed as a side with dinner, grated onto salads.  I uses them for juicing every morning.

18. Organic Whole Milk
We are not big milk drinkers so I only buy 1/2 gallon per week.  We use it over cereal, in recipes or in creamed soups.

19. Multi grain Crackers
We eat them with cheese slices as a snack.  I use them in my girls lunches in place of chips.

20. Olive Oil
This huge bottle of cold pressed extra virgin olive oil was only $7.00.  It comes with a spout, which I love.

21. Organic Whole Wheat Bread
I hope it is good, because the price sure is!

22. Avocado
I’m not a big fan of Avocados, but I know they are really healthy.  I found a recipe for Avocado Salad Dressing that I am going to try.

23. Butter Sticks
I wish they had organic, but they didn’t 🙁

24. Black Peppercorns
Comes in a pepper mill.  Cool.

25. Organic Beans-black, kidney and pinto
They were only 99 cents a can!  We just open the can, drain and rinse.  I put them out in a bowl cold and the girls will snack on them if they are just sitting there.  I use them in wraps and sprinkled on salad, and in chili, of course!

26. Baking Soda
Needed some, ran out.

I was pretty impressed with the selection of frozen berries, but I didn’t need any as my freezer is full of them right now.  I also really loved their nut selection and the variety of frozen vegetables.

Another thing I noticed– the workers were not in typical uniform black polyester pants-lol!  They were wearing cool Trader Joe’s t-shirts and jeans.  I found myself happy for them…:)

Do you have a Trader Joe’s in your area?  What are your favorite things to buy from there?

Wanna know more about Trader Joe’s?  Here is an interesting article about them from Fortune.