Well hello first Trader Joe’s haul of 2021! My first haul of the year from TJ’s was a rather healthy haul, and I was pretty proud of myself for not picking up a load of sweet treats. I probably join a large percentage of the population with a reset on my eating habits at the beginning of a new year. After digging in to all those sweets and other goodies from the holidays, I’m sure we all feel the need to detox a bit and get back on the healthy eating track.
In this post, I share what I bought in my first haul of the year, along with the meals I have planned for a two-week period (I try to stick to twice a month shopping trips to Trader Joe’s). We cook a lot with Blue Apron (three meals a week) and get takeout occasionally to help support our local restaurants, so these groceries are to fill in the gaps.
Haul Date: January 9, 2021
Haul Cost: Around $250
New Items
If you see a NEW item marked, I’ll be posting a separate recap for the month with a review for every new item I tried (even if it’s just new to me, and not necessarily new to the store). I usually do my recaps seasonally, but I’m going to try a monthly recap this year to see how it goes!
Meal Plans
These are the different meals I have planned with the ingredients I got in my haul this trip!
Breakfasts
- Keto Ham & Cheese Egg Bites
- Low Carb Breakfast Burritos
Lunches
- Cobb Salads
- Turkey Taco Salads
- Teriyaki Turkey Rice Bowls
- Turkey Cheese Wraps
Dinners
- Shrimp Burrito Bowls
- Salmon Cakes & Shishitos
- BBQ Chicken & Veggies
Beverages
To keep things light, and help curb alcohol cravings, I like to stock up on fizzy beverages like sparkling waters and teas! Items I got this trip:
- Spindrift blackberry sparkling water
- Blueberry Lemonade sparkling water (NEW ITEM!)
- Sparkling Yerba Mate tea – individual bottles (one of my new favorites)
- Synergy Gingerade kombucha
Keto Egg Bites & Breakfast Burritos
Keto egg bites are a super easy breakfast prep item to make and you can switch up between ham and breakfast sausage. I use this recipe from Maebell’s Kitchen.
Ingredients Bought: Eggs, shredded cheese, cream cheese, smoked ham & green onion
Ingredients On Hand/From Different Stores: Coconut flour, baking powder, Tortilla Factory low carb tortillas & hot Italian sausage
For the breakfast burritos, I simply scramble eggs with green onion and seasonings, cook up some breakfast sausage, and assemble the cooked ingredients in a tortilla with some shredded cheddar. So easy to grab and reheat in the microwave for a minute or two!
>>Read More: Low Carb Breakfast Meal Prep Ideas
Cobb Salads
My husband claims his favorite lunch salad for me to prep is the Cobb! He grills up the chicken, I fry up the bacon (well, technically bake it), and then I assemble everything in nice meal-prep bowls, ready to go. The only thing that gets left off is obviously the dressing (and he’ll take a small container of buffalo sauce to add on occasion too).
Ingredients Bought: Chicken breast, blue cheese dressing, avocado, red onion, blue cheese crumbles, mini heirloom tomatoes (not pictured), and eggs (not pictured).
I don’t know why I included the pepper jack in this pic because it goes to the tacos salads, lol!
Ingredients on Hand: Romaine lettuce & bacon.
Turkey Taco Salads/Shrimp Burrito Bowls
Taco salads and burrito bowls are probably my all-time favorite meals to throw together! They also use similar ingredients so I can maximize my money.
Ingredients Bought: Ground turkey (not pictured), sweet peppers (not pictured but it’s in the snack pic below), salsa & cilantro (forgot to include it in the pic – wow, I suck at this!) Green Goddess salad dressing, guacamole to go, red onion, jalapenos, sour cream, heirloom tomatoes, limes, and rice (for the burrito bowls).
Ingredients on Hand: Taco seasoning, black olives, shredded cheese, lettuce, and shrimp/black beans (for the burrito bowls).
For the make ahead portion of the salads, I’ll cook up the ground turkey in a tablespoon or two of the taco seasoning and taco sauce for moisture (I use Trader Joe’s brand). For the salad assembly, I do lettuce, cheese, red onion, olives, jalapenos, tomatoes, and cheese. I heat up the turkey and add the remaining ingredients at the time I eat the salads.
Because I work from home, I have everything easy to grab from the fridge. If you’re taking these to the office, it would be good to get smaller containers for the remaining ingredients or omit some of them to make assembly less cumbersome.
For the shrimp burrito bowls, I cut up all the fresh ingredients (minus olives), make the rice, heat up some beans, and sauté the shrimp in taco seasoning. Throw it all together in a bowl for a delicious and filling meal!
Teriyaki Turkey Rice Bowls
At first, I thought I’d make teriyaki turkey meatballs, but it turns out that cooking the ground turkey in crumble form was a bit easier for me to manage (not to mention less messy on the hands). This was an easy and delicious success!
Ingredients Bought: Ground turkey, Soyaki sauce, fresh ginger, green onion, jasmine rice, and baby bok choy cabbage.
Ingredients on Hand: Fresh garlic & coconut aminos.
Meal prep is simple with this recipe. Fry up garlic, ginger and white bottoms of the scallions in some olive oil, add the ground turkey and brown, adding in coconut aminos (or soy sauce if you prefer). Then, slowly add in teriyaki sauce and taste to your liking.
For the bok choy, I only sautéed it in fresh garlic, olive oil, and salt. Everything gets assembled in microwave safe bowls ahead of time and topped with fresh green onion.
BBQ Chicken, Veggies & Baked Potatoes
This is a no frills grill ’em up dinner! BBQ the chicken with the sauce, grill up the veggies, and bake the potatoes (serve with sour cream, melted cheese, butter, and green onion).
Ingredients Bought: Chicken breasts, Sriracha BBQ Sauce, zucchini (although I forgot I had asparagus that needed to be eaten sooner), sour cream, cheese, and green onion.
Ingredients on Hand: Potatoes, butter, and asparagus (see above)
Salmon Patties (Keto-Friendly)
Salmon patties from Cast Iron Keto are one of our favorite low carb dinners to prepare.
Ingredients Bought: Canned Sockeye salmon, green onion (for topping), yellow onion, eggs (not pictured), avocado, and shishito peppers (served blistered on the side)
Ingredients on Hand: Almond Flour, capers (not in the recipe but we like to add them) & butter.
Optional: We top ours with a sour cream sauce my husband makes that includes sriracha, a little bit of red wine vinegar, and a mix of a few spices (one of these days, we’ll post a recipe for this).
Snacks
Keeping things light in the carb department, these are the snacks I opted for on this trip:
- Cashew Fiesta Dip (a NEW item for me – not new to the store) & sweet peppers for dipping
- Cauliflower Crisps (a relatively NEW item to the store)
- Teriyaki Turkey Jerky (why is jerky so expensive!)
- Thai Chili Lime Almonds (a NEW-to-me item)
Pantry
We tend to cook a lot at home, whether it’s with Blue Apron or simply on our own. We are always needing to stock up on some essentials!
- EVOO – Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- Avocado Oil Spray (NEW item!)
- Spicy Brown Mustard
- Hot Crispy Habanero Peppers (NEW item!)
Spices
I really needed to stock up on our spices that we were running low on, and love that most of the TJ’s spices are only $1.99!
- Onion Salt (great for just about everything – not too salt-heavy)
- Cayenne Pepper (we love spicy food)
- Everything But the Elote (great for eggs & breakfast potatoes)
- Organic Cumin (we love to use this for any Mexican-style meals & eggs)
- Garlic Power (an essential pantry spice!)
Household Essentials
I pretty much exclusively use Trader Joe’s hand soaps and dish soaps in my house, and supplement the laundry detergent when I haven’t made any bigger online orders for the larger bottles of Ecos detergent.
The Pink Pomelo Grapefruit hand soap is my favorite and they carry it year round!
Dog Treats
My dogs may get a little spoiled, but I like making them happy! Granted, they really would eat anything. These are soft medallions/circles of salmon and sweet potato. And being that there’s salmon in them, they are very smelly!
They were definitely a hit with the pups, and I just break off little pieces of one at time rather than giving them a whole treat (gotta worry about weight control).
Misc. Items
The remaining items from this shopping trip included:
- Kimchi to use as a side/accompaniment to Blue Apron Asian dishes
- Peppered Turkey Breast to wrap up in Folios Parmesan Cheese wraps with cream cheese and green onion
- Habanero Ghost Pepper Salsa for snacking with chips; also for taco salads
- Lime & Fruit Popsicles: My compromise for a “sweet treat”
- Sansevieria (Snake Plant): I love the TJ’s plants – so affordable and cute!
Stay tuned for my second January haul, and January new item recap!
How do you like to start off your new year – eating healthy or trying more seasonal goodies?
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