Trader Joe’s Product Reviews – YEA/NAY/MEH – 2025 Edition

Culture, Media, General
824

Not sure if I mentioned this elsewhere, but I don’t think I did here:

https://www.traderjoes.com/home/products/pdp/bourbon-vanilla-bean-paste-076862

I use this exclusively for ice cream. most of the recipes I’ve found call for 1-2 tablespoons of extract if you aren’t using vanilla beans, which, well, I don’t have that kind of money. In something like ice cream, though, without baking away most of the alcohol, it leads to a distinctly boozy flavor. Not to my preference.

This paste is MUCH cheaper than other ‘name brand’ versions, and while I don’t have a comparison to other brands, in ice cream, at least, this works really well, and the price is right.

Verdict: YAY

3 Likes
825

MEH, cranberry shortbread cookies. A decent but nothing of note cookie with small bits of cranberry mixed in. The cranberries act like super-glue when chewing them

1 Like
826

Bummer. I got but haven’t opened them yet.

827

trade them in on Nantucket cranberry pie from TJ’S or chocolate covered brandy flavoured figs…. both are repeat seasonal and excellent.

2 Likes
828

I found 4 boxes of the chocolate covered figs I’d put away in a closet last year … I’m confident they’re still good. (I already bought new boxes, too!)

1 Like
829

Had to toss this after eating 1/4 of bag in 5 minutes :joy:

830

What? Are you talking about the Hot Honey Popcorn? You threw it into the garbage because you liked it too much?

831

You threw it into the garbage because you liked it too much?

that and the 900 calories I was on my way to consuming

3 Likes
832

Is that the calories in a whole bag? For reals?

833

Actually around 1050 but who’s counting.

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834

(post deleted by author)

835

yup, but I’d already eaten about a quarter so I was staring another 900 or so in the face :rofl:

1 Like
836

I’m going to give a qualified yay to the hazelnut and cocoa filled crepes not because they taste anything like a fresh crepe but I learned by accident that if you overcook them, say 30 seconds total in the microwave, the crepe becomes leathery and the whole affair tastes closer to warm candy than pastry.

A 65-cent guilty pleasure. I spotted a giant box at costco and immediately looked away before I could do the math…

837

Now I’m scared too. Is it the butter that makes the calorie count so high? I’d given a bag to a friend and he ate the whole bag on his 45 minute drive home from work late at night. He can’t understand why he can’t lose weight … needs to lose about 30 lbs, doesn’t look fat but is getting a belly.

838

You’d be surprised how many people underestimate their daily calorie intake!

4 Likes
839

So true. I’ve been using a food tracker (MyFitnessPal) for nine years. It’s amazing how the calories pile up. Especially if you go out to eat. The food tracker forces you to face up to how much you eat. Which is why many people refuse to use them.

3 Likes
840

I have a pretty good handle on my food intake, but I don’t obsess about it… which is almost as unhealthy as being entirely unaware.

841

I have an old fashioned non-technical system…. it’s called a belt. When it starts getting tight, its time for less calories :melting_face:

4 Likes
842

My “cooking” in a microwave is usually limited to warming certain pastries, cookies, etc… you know - all the healthy foods. Over time, I’ve become sort of an expert, most small things benefit from 8 or 9 seconds, which improves them (even if it softens them) but not a second longer or they get worse.

1 Like
843

It looks like each 30g serving has 11g of added sugar. If that is the case, a can of coke is diet food

2 Likes