While my first Trader Joe’s haul of 2021 was focused more on eating low carb and healthy, my second haul was focused more on balance. That means I didn’t hesitate to pick up a few sweet treats or carb-heavy new items to try out. We only live once right? It does take some will power, but I firmly believe we can have our cake and eat it to, so to speak.
Of course, I’m continuing to try and eat as many low carb meals as possible which I will hope balance out my occasional indulgences here and there.
Haul Date: January 23, 2021
Haul Cost: $230.39
New Items
NEW items are marked accordingly in my post, and I’ll be reviewing them in a separate monthly recap post. This goes for new items to the store, and new-to-me items that I will be trying for the first time!
Meal Plans
These are the different meals I have planned with the ingredients I got in my balanced Trader Joe’s haul this trip!
Note: I do keep other ingredients on hand to incorporate with these meals, which I detail in sections below. Some ingredients are also leftover from my previous haul, so I will try to make good use of the rest of my items to eliminate as much food waste as I can.
Breakfasts
- Sour Cream Coffee Cake muffins with apples or grapefruit
- Coffee Cake slices
Lunches
Lunches planned this round are very similar to my previous two weeks. What can I say, we’re creatures of habit!
- Cobb Salads
- Turkey Taco Salads
- Turkey Cheese Wraps with fruit & nuts (and hard boiled eggs for the hubs)
- Vegetable Samosa Burritos (pre-packaged)
- Hatch Chile Chicken Wraps (pre-packaged)
Dinners
- Shrimp Tacos
- Low Carb Chicken Fajita Casserole
- Shawarma Chicken Rice Bowls
As a reminder, we do cook three meals a week with Blue Apron and tend to order takeout at least once a week, so these meals are meant to be in addition to those.
Beverages
Give me all the fizzies!
- Blueberry Lemonade Sparkling Water
- Sparkling ACV: Lemon & Strawberry; Ginger & Lemon (NEW items!)
- Sparkling Yerba Mate tea
Coffee Cake & Muffins
- Gluten-Free Cinnamon Coffee Cake Muffins (NEW item!)
- Cinnamon Crumb Coffee Cake Mix (not new…but it has been gone from the store for a bit and it’s back!)
Here’s that bit where I was talking about balance. Are Cinnamon Coffee Cake Muffins and Coffee Cake healthy? No. They have carbs. They have sugar. But, they taste good!
We’re talking about balance in this post. So, instead of a whole muffin, we’ll have a half muffin with some fruit. Or one serving/piece of the coffee cake. Treat yourself in moderation!
Fruit
I’m not a big fruit person, but definitely felt a craving for some natural sugars this round.
- Lemons (for lemon water)
- Grapefruit (for breakfasts)
- Honey Crisp Apples (for breakfast). I soak these in Kosher salt water for about 10 mins and they keep in the fridge without going brown for days!
- Mangoes for breakfasts or afternoon snacks
Cobb Salads
I detailed how I build out my cobb salads in my previous post, but this is definitely a highly-requested lunch from my husband!
Ingredients Bought: Lettuce, chicken, bacon, tomatoes & blue cheese dressing.
Ingredients on Hand: Blue cheese crumbles, eggs and red onion from my previous trip.
Turkey Cheese Wraps
These wraps are so easy to make and love that we can get Folios at Trader Joe’s. Tasty and low carb!
Ingredients Bought: Folios Parmesan Cheese Wraps, peppered turkey breast, green onion, bacon, and onion chive cream cheese.
Ingredients on Hand: Shredded cheddar cheese
Turkey Taco Salads
Again, I talk about more details on how I build my tacos salads in my previous haul post. Putting a taco salad together isn’t rocket science though. It’s mostly tedious just cutting up all the components!
Ingredients Bought: Lettuce, ground turkey, cilantro, black olives, salsa, and taco sauce.
Ingredients on Hand: Sour cream, pepper jack cheese, red onion, Green Goddess dressing, and limes.
Note: I will also use these same ingredients to make shrimp tacos (I have low carb flour tortillas and frozen shrimp on hand already).
Chicken Fajita Casserole
This meal is inspired by a low carb recipe I found online! Casserole-style dishes are some of my favorite things to make because they are generally pretty easy, and are forgiving in terms of room for error.
Ingredients Bought: Chicken thighs, red bell peppers, and pepper jack cheese
Ingredients on Hand: Yellow onion, cream cheese, and taco seasoning (for the chicken and peppers). I’m also adding jalapenos for a spicy kick and sliced black olives.
Chicken Shawarma Bowls
Chicken shawarma bowls are delicious and easy, especially with Trader Joe’s Shawarma Chicken. I have a frozen pack of thighs to use from a previous trip, so I thought I would get the necessary ingredients to make the bowls.
Ingredients Bought: Lettuce, tomatoes, Tabbouleh hummus (NEW to me!), and Dolmas.
Ingredients on Hand: Jasmine rice, Shawarma chicken thighs, red onion, and sour cream (to make my sour cream tzatziki sauce)
Seasonings
I love the seasoning blends from Trader Joe’s, especially because they are super affordable!
- Taco Seasoning (for my turkey taco salads)
- Citrusy Garlic Blend (to cook the shrimp in for tacos) – NEW item!
- Za’atar Seasoning Blend for the Shawarma Chicken bowls – NEW item!
Misc. Snack/Lunch Items
These were some new items I picked up, mostly because they were new to the store. I also threw in some Mac and Cheese to add to my growing collection for my future Trader Joe’s Mac and Cheese showdown!
- Vegetable Samosa Burritos (vegan) – NEW item!
- Hatch Chicle Chicken Wraps – NEW item!
- Pepperoni Mac & Cheese Bowl – NEW-to-me item
Snacks
Snacks are essential for mental health. Nuff said!
- Ghost Pepper Potato Chips – a favorite TJ’s chip of ours
- Super Sour Scandinavian Swimmers – one of our all-time favs
- Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups – another one of our favorites (always kept in stock in our pantry)
- Almond Butter Almonds – NEW item!
- Dry Roasted Salted Almonds
- Ginger Chews – NEW-to-me item
- Organic Creamy Almond Butter – NEW item! (to snack on with apples and honey)
Frozen Treats
These frozen treats are repeat favorites, and we always have some in our freezer! They are nice and refreshing, and don’t feel as heavy as eating ice cream.
- Lime Fruit Floes
- Fruit Frenzy Bars (with Raspberry, Lemon & Strawberry)
- Raspberry & Vanilla Cream Bars
Houseplants
I am slowly building my houseplant collection, but added a few extra to my cart this trip since I got some new shelving to put up in the house. Plus, I want to start adding some greenery to my home office!
Misc. Items
The rest of the items I got from this trip include:
- Better Than Leftovers dog treats – had to stock up! These are great – nice and soft of my old dogs’ teeth.
- Grapefruit Hand Soap
- Shea Butter & Coconut Hair Mask (NEW-to-me item)
- Brussels Sprouts (to pair with pan seared filet mignon steaks that we already have on hand – frozen)
Do you think that this was a balanced haul?
Stay tuned for my January NEW item recap!
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