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Hey there fellow Trader Joe’s fans! It’s been a while since I did a Trader Joe’s haul recap! But I’m happy to be back to writing about how I balance my groceries between all my favorite stores.
My ultimate goal with these posts is to give others ideas on planning and preparing easy meals with ingredients from Trader Joe’s. My meals typically aren’t super Pinterest-worthy, but are simple, easy to make, and prioritize protein (for the most part).
I also love writing about some of the fun new items they come out with each season/year!
This Trader Joe’s haul is from the end of January, which meant there was a lot of Valentine’s Day goodies to choose from. Valentine’s Day isn’t a big holiday for me, but I always love some holiday-themed goodies. So, I picked up a few things as a treat to myself in addition to my regular grocery list items and some new/seasonal items.
Here’s a recap of my January 2024 Trader Joe’s haul!
Meal Plans
I generally shop at Trader Joe’s once a month, alternating with Sprouts and supplementing items from Thrive Market. I do keep other ingredients on hand to incorporate with these meals and some ingredients are also leftover from my previous hauls.
Here’s what I planned for this haul in terms of meals:
Breakfasts
- Bagels and cream cheese
- Bagel sandwiches with sausage and eggs
- Sausage and eggs with cauliflower pancakes
Lunches
- Turkey wraps
- Leftovers from dinners
Dinners
- Tacos, burrito bowls & tacos salads with ground beef, carnitas, birria or shredded chicken thighs
- Chicken tikka masala rice bowls
- Shawarma chicken rice bowls
- Soup dumplings, green beans and rice
- Chili and rice
- Stir fry noodles
Haul Date: January 28, 2024
Haul Cost: $274 (and some change…)
Breakfasty Things
Breakfasty things recap:
- Bacon (for breakfast tacos or just to have with some eggs)
- Chicken Breakfast Sausage Patties (new item!)
- Everything Bagels & chive and onion cream cheese (I swear, this is the BEST cream cheese)
- Cauliflower pancakes (to use in place of hash browns – love these)
I have been patiently waiting for Trader Joe’s to come out with a breakfast sausage patty and am glad they finally did! These are super delicious and at 140 calories and 13g of protein for two patties, this is a solid addition of protein to the morning routine. Cook them up on their own or add them to a bagel breakfast sandwich like I did!
Lunch Items
I already had quite a few items in the pantry for lunches leftover from my previous Sprouts haul, so I didn’t have to grab too many things for lunches (especially when we get leftovers from a lot of dinners too).
In this haul, I grabbed ingredients to make easy turkey wraps, which are also packed with protein! I make two wraps with two slices of turkey each, one slice of cheese split up between the two, and an assortment of veggies. This gives me roughly 40 grams of protein for lunch.
- Ingredients Bought: Carb savvy whole wheat tortillas, hickory turkey breast, pepper jack cheese slices, romaine lettuce, roma tomatoes, green onion, and baby dill pickles
- Ingredients on hand: mustard!
Dinner Ingredients
You probably don’t need to guess what my favorite dinners are based on the photos below, but I got a lot of different options for tacos and burrito bowls this trip! They are such easy weeknight dinners.
Tacos, Tacos & More Tacos!
In this haul, I bought ground beef, carnitas, chicken thighs, and their frozen birria to make an assortment of street tacos or burrito bowls with rice. When I’ve had too many carbs in one day, I just leave out the tortillas and rice and make taco salads. So many choices!
- Ingredients bought: grass-fed ground beef, carnitas, beef birria (frozen), chicken thighs, Sonora-style tortillas, salsa, sour cream, shredded cheese, red onion, roma tomatoes, and guacamole to go
I like buying the individual guacs because I have really bad luck with avocados going bad too fast. Is it more packaged waste? Yes. But sometimes I need the convenience. Sorry, environment.
Chicken pro-tip: When choosing packs of chicken thighs for taco or burrito bowls, I always grab the biggest pack I can find. That means there’s usually enough leftovers for either my husband or myself to have for lunch the next day!
Birria Taste Test
This was my first time trying the Trader Joe’s frozen birria and I was super excited because we love birria tacos and burritos! However, I am sad to report that I was not a big fan of the birria. While the flavor was pretty good, my package essentially turned into birria soup and there was not enough meat to constitute a substantial meal for two of us. It looked nothing like the photo on the package and there is NO way this one package contained 64 grams of protein.
Not a repeat buy.
Shawarma Chicken Bowls
Trader Joe’s pre-marinated meats also make for an easy weeknight meal! I generally like to have the shawarma chicken thighs in rice bowl form, but you could also buy pita bread for shawarma pitas or even simply just make a shawarma chicken salad for a lower carb option.
- Ingredients bought: Shawarma Chicken Thighs, heirloom tomatoes, cucumber, red onion, and Greek yogurt/lemons to make fresh tzatziki sauce
- Ingredients on hand: Brown rice, kalamata olives, harissa, dill, and garlic
The cucumber and red onion adds a nice fresh crunch to my rice bowls and I like making my own tzatziki sauce fresh – whether it’s with Greek yogurt or sour cream! Using a good Greek yogurt always adds extra protein though, so I’ve been gravitating towards that lately.
Tikka Masala Bowls
Another go-to weeknight meal for us is chicken tikka masala rice bowls. I previously purchased four packs of the Trader Joe’s tikka masala sauce on my haul in December which is why it’s not pictured here. It’s so delicious and pretty easy to make (well, my husband does the cooking part but he makes it look easy).
- Ingredients bought: chicken breast and organic jasmine rice
- Ingredients on hand: Trader Joe’s packaged tikka masala sauce and Trader Joe’s Ajika seasoning (cook the chicken in this for optional extra flavor before cutting into cubes and adding the tikka masala)
Chili & Rice
Chili and rice is one of my all-time favorite comfort foods and I could eat it weekly! My husband has pretty much perfected his chili recipe and I’ve been requesting it regularly this winter. Nothing says cozy more than a hot bowl of chili! I had some extra cans of ingredients from a Sprouts haul in December so I got a few more things to complete the meal.
- Ingredients bought: grass-fed ground beef, Jasmine rice, shredded cheese and red onion
- Ingredients on hand: canned kidney beans, chili beans, tomato sauce, fire-roasted diced tomatoes, tomato paste, and green chilies
Stir Fry Noodles
Trader Joe’s makes noodle night super easy with their Thai Wheat Noodles! Just pick a protein, stir fry some veggies, add a sauce and toss in the noodles. Our stir fry noodle dishes typically take less than 30 minutes to whip up. Choose a quick-cooking protein like ground turkey or pork or even shrimp (my favorite!) and dinner is ready!
- Ingredients bought: Thai wheat noodles, bok choy, broccoli, bell pepper, red onion, ginger, and Kho Sauce (we add just a bit of Kho Sauce to our existing sauce recipe)
- Ingredients on hand: ground turkey (previously frozen) and sauce ingredients (soy sauce, sesame oil, rice vinegar, gochujang paste, and fresh garlic)
Soup Dumplings, Green Beans & Rice
And here is the real reason why people love Trader Joe’s so much – easy prepared foods! I’ve heard some pretty rave reviews about the soup dumplings so I got a couple of packs to try at home (because we LOVE soup dumplings).
To have as a side, I also grabbed their new frozen garlic shiitake green beans and stocked up on Jasmine rice. I haven’t gotten to try the dumplings just yet but will soon!
Snacks
Snacks this round were nice and simple with Greek yogurt and fruit or dried mango, nuts and fruit. I also had to sneak in some Scandinavian Swimmers, which are my husband’s favorite candy from Trader Joe’s.
Misc. Items
Miscellaneous haul items recap:
- Cleaning spray – I really love the earthy scent of the cedarwood and sage
- Hair Mask – I love this stuff and basically use it as conditioner for my thick, wavy hair
- Lemon Ginger Seltzer water – this is my favorite sparkling water as has zero calories and it actually tastes good! The ginger lemon flavor is very soothing.
- Roasted sunflower seeds – these add a bit of protein and texture to my tuna salad bowls
Valentine’s Day Goodies
And now for the fun stuff! I was, of course, tempted by all the festive pink items out for Valentine’s Day. It’s not my favorite holiday, but I will use any excuse to buy treats.
V-Day Item Recap
Most of these aren’t actually Valentine’s Day seasonal items but are some things I thought would fit the holiday theme.
- Conte Priuli Prosecco Rosé: I’m on a bubbly kick lately and want to try all things sparkling from Trader Joe’s. This was delicious and great price point!
- Mini Heart Cookies: Chocolate cookies covered in dark chocolate in sprinkles – my favorite of the treats from this haul! They also paired best with the pink prosecco.
- Dark Chocolate PB Cups: These are one of my all-time favorite Trader Joe’s items and paired well with the prosecco too.
- Dark Chocolate Cherries: This was my first time buying these and they were delish.
- Strawberries & Cream Gelato: A new seasonal item from Trader Joe’s. I thought this was just okay but I think it would have paired pretty well with the prosecco had I remembered to take it out. You definitely want to get a bit of the strawberry and vanilla together in one bite.
- Rose hand cream: And who can resist the best hand cream that Trader Joe’s makes – not me! I always grab one (or two) every year.
Have you tried any of the items I got in this haul? And more importantly, do you love tacos as much as I do?!
Stay tuned for next month’s haul.
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