My Trader Joe’s Favorites

Here’s what staples I love and stock up on at Trader Joe’s!

Every time I show a photo of my Trader Joe’s haul, I get a LOT of questions about my favorites to buy there. Trader Joe’s is one of those places where there are SO many good things, but sometimes you need someone to tell you about them. I find that going to Trader Joes is much more enjoyable when I go first thing in the morning or right before they close. You have to spend some time really looking and reading labels to find the best things. There are a few instagram accounts that are helpful to follow too, since they share new releases and reviews of products. There really is a cult following at Trader Joes and sometimes items will sell out day after day when they’re seasonal.

Since both Hannah and I love Trader Joe’s, we both shared our favorites! I buy as much as I can of my healthy grocery staples from Trader Joe’s and then supplement with Whole Foods and Publix for the rest of my grocery store staples.

Click here for a downloadable shopping list that you can print and take with you to the store!

My Trader Joe’s Favorites

Produce

They have GREAT prices on organic products, so I always buy organic if they have it. I’m particularly uptight about buying organic for anything on the Dirty Dozen list and for anything without a peel and I’m able to find almost all of these items at Trader Joes.

Cauliflower

Broccoli

Carrots

Honeycrisp or Fuji Apples

Baby Bella Mushrooms

Lemons

Mixed Greens

Arugula

Spinach – Great for smoothies!

Baby kale

Pre-shredded Brussels Sprouts

Bell Peppers

Hericot Verts

Bananas

Organic Berries

Sweet Potatoes

Baby Potatoes

Onions

Fresh herbs – cilantro and parsley

Broccoli Slaw Mix – I don’t buy pre-made salad mixes often, but I LOVE this one. I can’t have the dressing right now since I’m breastfeeding and Thomas doesn’t tolerate dairy, but if you do well with dairy, be sure to use it! 🙂

Kohlrabi Vegetable Pasta – Hannah LOVES this as her noodles for pasta dishes. Recently she’s been doing a red sauce with sweet Italian sausage and even her non-healthy-food-loving husband loves it. It has more texture than zucchini noodles but it’s still just as healthy!

Refrigerated section near the produce

Green Goddess Salad Dressing – dairy free!

Carrot Ginger Miso Dressing –  (Hannah’s pick) great with carrots for a snack, or use it for a more traditional asian ginger salad.

Steamed and Peeled Baby Beets

Steamed Lentils

Pre-grilled Chicken – Both plain and balsamic rosemary. I use this with so many salad recipes when we don’t have time to grill chicken or don’t have leftovers. The balsamic rosemary chicken is really amazing.

Medjool Dates – (The perfect pre-run snack!)

Sour Cream – A fridge staple for most. Hannah always gets sour cream and cream cheese at Trader Joes.

Oat Milk Brown Sugar Coffee Creamer – Hannah’s FAVORITE Trader Joe’s item. If you can find it in stock, snag two. These come in little half cartons, and you’ll be wishing you had more than just one once you try it.

Pantry Staples

Ezekiel Sprouted Bread – I don’t always have time to make my own whole wheat bread so I keep this in the freezer.

Organic Super Bread – Amazing for toast.

Canned and dried beans

Organic Brown Rice – If you’re in a pinch, they also make frozen brown rice in the frozen section that you just microwave for 3 minutes. Not ideal, but good in a pinch.

Whole Wheat Pasta

Rolled Oats – I buy the big blue bag since I use it in so many recipes, like my oatmeal bake, buckwheat oatmeal cookies and energy balls

Chicken broth, vegetable broth

Raw nuts (almonds, walnuts) – great for homemade runner’s energy balls

Roasted and salted pecan halves

Unsweetened dried cherries – I love these for salads.

Canned Tomatoes – I keep diced and whole peeled on hand. I always buy San Marzano brand if they have it.

Pre-chopped garlic – I weirdly hate crushing and dicing garlic (even though I have a garlic press) so I keep this in the fridge at all times

Coconut Milk

Pineapple Salsa – for world’s easiest crockpot chicken recipe

Olive and Herb Mixed Nuts – AMAZING if you can find them

Maple syrup

Coconut Sugar – I prefer to bake with this over white cane sugar.

Dehydrated rainbow carrot snacks – These grew on me. I was meh on them at first, but now I love them. They’re great for a super crunchy snack!

Nuts about Rosemary Mix – Seasonal, but if you can find this, grab it! Both Teri and Hannah are obsessed.

Peanut Butter Pretzels – Hannah loves these for a snack! They have salted and unsalted options and the salted is her favorite.

Scandinavian Swimmers  – Gummy candy…I wish these weren’t so dang good. They’re like sour patch kids but larger and better. And the bag is resealable, which is a major win.

Sweet Potato Chips

Umani Seasoning – this is SO good on avocado toast and scrambled eggs. And pretty much anything savory. Trader joes has the BEST seasoning blends. If you’re a ranch person, snag the ranch seasoning too for on top of carrots!

Chili Lime Seasoning – SO good on chili or rice! You could also put this on top of any mexican dish. Or salmon! See, it’s great for everything.

Everything But The Bagel Seasoning – Truthfully I’m not into this myself but it has a cult following. If you’ve never tried it, snag this for sure.

Red Pepper Flakes – I get lots of my spices at Trader Joes since the prices are great. This might sound strange, but their salt and pepper grinders are kind of amazing too.

Frozen

Gone Berry Crazy Chocolate covered strawberries

Gone Bananas Chocolate covered bananas – Even better than the strawberries.

Organic riced cauliflower – I put this in smoothies and saute it as a side dish.

Frozen organic berries – I use these for smoothies, and Thomas also likes to eat them.

Peeled and deveined shrimp

Hold The Cone ice cream cones – These are the perfect tiny size. Hannah is obsessed with them (one her favorite Trader Joes products) and they have an oat milk option for us non-dairy people. You’ll love this size for your children (but you may want to grab two for yourself ;)).

Fried Rice – Hannah loves this for an easy dinner with some chicken on top. You can just warm it up in a skillet and you’re done!

Cauliflower gnocchi – I think this is okay but the broccoli kale gnocchi one is nasty. Definitely get the cauliflower one.

Pastry Bites with Feta Cheese & Caramelized Onions – This is on my list to try. If they’re good, they’d be a great item to bring to a dinner (and easy!)

Dairy + other refrigerated items

Kerrygold butter

Greek Yogurt – the almond butter coconut flavor is delicious and their plain nonfat greek yogurts is good too, even though I typically hate fat free stuff.

Almond and Cashew non-dairy yogurt – Thomas and I both love this

CHEESE! My favorites are pecorino romano, goat cheddar, chevre (great on baked chicken), any of the wine-infused cheese, and Unexpected Cheddar. If you’re hosting this spring, make such an easy cheese plate or board with everything from Trader Joes.

Chocolate Hummus – I think this is discontinued and I am SO sad.  I was skeptical and then addicted. If you can find it, grab it. It’s shockingly amazing, like thick pudding. I like it on pretzel crisps.

Mozzarella Style Shreds – It’s the best and cheapest vegan cheese I’ve tried. And I’m picky!

Coconut Whipped Cream – AMAZING on dessert (Hannah’s pick). You can also put this in your coffee for a sweetened coconut creamer. It’s a fun treat with strawberries also.

Fresh salsa – If you can find the corn and chili tomato-less salsa, snag it! It’s sweet and spicy at the same time.

Hummus

Guacamole

Pizza Dough – Hannah loves this for homemade pizzas. She adds mozzarella and the TJ pizza sauce. And always basil and pineapple. (Tommy and I love pineapple on pizza paired with chicken and jalapeño.)

Sweets

Dark chocolate – I love the 100% absolute dark chocolate and the Pound Plus bittersweet chocolate with almonds

Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter cups – everyone loves these!

Almond Butter cups

Dark Chocolate Almonds with Sea Salt – you’ve been warned. These are SUPER addicting.

Ginger Chews

Croissants – Hannah’s favorite treat

Drinks

Wine – Hannah loves the Oyster Bay Sauvignon Blanc and the Emma Reichart Rosé

Beer – Tommy loves the Dogfish Session Sour

Kombucha – Teri loves the GT and Tribucha

Fresh flowers – Hannah loves peonies and ranunculus (which are hard to find there, but if you’re lucky grab them!). Teri likes the white roses or hydrangeas

Spindrift – Grapefruit is Hannah’s favorite.

Okay, your turn! What are your Trader Joe’s Must-Haves?