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Well, summer is in full swing with this haul, especially since I stocked up on items to prep for our family’s 4th of July BBQ. Nothing says summer like Independence Day in America, am I right?
There were also some exciting new items that I picked up in this haul, some of which have become my favorite new items of 2021. I can’t wait to write about them in my June new item recap!
Haul Date: Jun 26, 2021
Haul Cost: $236.58
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
I generally shop at Trader Joe’s two weeks at a time (I just hate going to the grocery store weekly).
Also, I do keep other ingredients on hand to incorporate with these meals, which I detail in the sections below. Some ingredients are also leftover from my previous haul(s), so I try to make good use of the rest of my items to eliminate as much food waste as I can.
Here’s what I planned for this haul:
Breakfasts
- Brunch Bowls (with eggs, hash browns, spinach & veggie sausage)
Lunches
- Chicken, Rice & Broccoli Bowls
- Turkey Wraps
- Cobb Salads
Dinners
- Chicken Tacos
- Hot Dogs
- Bean & Cheese Burritos
- 4th of July BBQ
We do also 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.
Here’s what I got in my June 26, 2021 Trader Joe’s haul!
Beverages
Let’s kick this off with the liquid stuff! Drinks I got in this haul:
- Sparkling Green Tea with Pineapple Juice (NEW to store)
- Sparkling ACV Drinks (with Ginger + Lemon)
- Watermelon Lemonade Sparkling Water (my absolute new favorite sparkling water)
Breakfast Bowls
Next up, we have ingredients for breakfast or brunch bowls. Sometimes I eat a late breakfast which counts as lunch (kill two birds with one stone eh?).
Ingredients Bought:
- Frozen Shredded Hash Browns
- Meatless Breakfast Patties (one of my favorite veggie sausages)
- Mexican Style Shredded Cheese
- Baby Spinach (love to mix fresh spinach in with my scrambles)
Ingredients on Hand: I was already stocked up on eggs from our local farm delivery!
Cobb Salads (Lunch)
For one week of my husband’s lunches, we went with the trusty Cobb Salad, as we have so many other weeks this year thus far! What can I say…it’s one of his favorites.
Ingredients Bought:
- Romaine Lettuce
- Shredded Cheese Blend
- Blue Cheese Dressing
- Red Onion
- Grape Tomatoes
- Apple Smoked Bakon
Ingredients on Hand: We already had some chicken thighs frozen, along with our farm fresh eggs which I hardboiled for the salads.
Turkey Wraps (Lunch)
Wraps are always an easy go-to for lunches. They are great for prepping ahead (if you get the right tortillas that don’t get soggy), and are quite filling.
Ingredients Bought:
- Peppered Turkey Breast
- Dijon Mustard
- New Zealand Organic Sliced Cheddar
- Red Onion
- Romaine Lettuce
- Flour Tortillas (and in case you’re wondering, they hold up well in the fridge for a couple of days after prepping the wraps!)
Chicken, Broccoli & Rice Bowls (Lunch)
As I was looking to get some extra protein in my diet, I decided to start meal prepping chicken, rice and broccoli bowls. Super healthy, tasty, and pretty easy to prep.
Ingredients Bought:
- Broccoli
- Peri-Peri Sauce (NEW to store) to drizzle over my chicken
Ingredients on Hand: We already had some chicken breast in the freezer, and I always keep a stock of brown rice for whatever occasion arises.
Chicken Tacos (Dinner)
Ahhh, tacos! One of my all-time favorite meals. We definitely have tacos several times a month, whether we make them or simply do takeout. I was also thinking of what would make an easy family meal for 4th of July weekend (outside of the day we chose to BBQ of course). Tacos are always a hit!
Ingredients Bought:
- Chicken Thighs
- Wheat & Corn Flour Tortillas
- Romaine Lettuce
- Fresh Limes
- Mexican-Style Shredded Cheese
- Sour Cream
- Organic Medium Salsa (a new favorite)
- Guacamole to Go
- Red Onion
Hot Dogs (Dinner)
Summer always screams “hot dogs” to me, and it’s definitely a guilty pleasure that we indulge in every now and then! Trader Joe’s Brioche Hot Dog Buns are simply amazing, and the A&H Kosher Beef Dogs that Trader Joe’s carries are probably one of my all-time favorite hot dogs.
My preferred hot dog toppings: fresh red onion, Sweet & Spicy Pickled Jalapenos (from Trader Joe’s), pickle slices, and mustard (in this case, we also had the Dill Pickle Mustard stocked up).
What’s your favorite way to eat hot dogs? Any special toppings?
Bean & Cheese Burritos (Dinner)
Another guilty pleasure (and just plain flippin easy to make) are bean and cheese burritos! I grab ingredients for dinners like this when I’m just feeling lazy and also when I know I’m going to need some comfort food.
Ingredients Bought:
- Flour Tortillas
- Refried Jalapeno Black Beans (I like these more than refried pinto beans)
- Mexican-Style Cheese Blend
- Red Onion (to saute with pepper before adding beans – but also okay raw)
- Taco Sauce (probably the best taco sauce around!)
Ingredients on Hand: Sour Cream
4th of July Fixings
My husband is very into BBQ’ing for holidays, so of course we had to celebrate 4th of July with a little family BBQ! We also bought items from our local Raley’s (like ribs, Cornish game hens, and fresh local corn), but I tried to get as much as I could on my trip to Trader Joe’s.
Herbed Potato Salad
If you’ve ready some of my other blog posts (specifically, my Blue Apron posts), you’d know how much I do not like mayonnaise. Mayo is typically a popular ingredient for potato salads, but since I’m not a mayo fan, I like to make this herbed potato salad recipe from the Cookie & Kate blog. It is full of flavor, and you’ll never miss the mayo!
Ingredients Bought:
- Organic Red Potatoes and a mix of small multicolored potatoes
- Green Onion
- Celery Hearts
- Parsley
- Red Onion (this is my own addition)
- Dijon Mustard
- Lemons (woops, forgot to include it in the photo!)
Ingredients on Hand: Olive Oil
Bean Dip
Bean Dip is hands down my favorite party snack. I am all about savory food, and there’s just something about bean dip that draws me to it!
Traditionally, I’ve made a very basic 7-layer dip with very minimal changing it up, but my friends semi-recently brought over an elevated bean dip that I swear was one of the best I’ve ever had. So, since then, I’ve been trying to up my bean dip game and came up with the below concoction.
Ingredients Bought:
- Refried Jalapeno Black Beans (these have more flavor that the typical pinto refried beans)
- Guacamole (I like to make my own, but I just did not have ripe avocados to work with)
- Sour Cream and Whipped Cream Cheese (to be mixed together with taco seasoning – this adds such a richness to the dish!)
- Unexpected Cheddar (super sharp white cheddar that adds all the salt you need)
- Green onion
- Organic Salsa
- Blue Corn Chips for dipping
Note: I am not sure why I put a red onion or black olives in the picture with these ingredients as I definitely did not use them!
Corn Salad
Last in the lineup for 4th of July dishes was a fresh corn salad. I was really wanting to prep side dishes ahead of time so that I didn’t have a stressful rush to get anything done at the same time the meat came out of the smoker.
Ingredients Bought: Fresh basil, red onion, grape tomatoes & limes
Ingredients from Other Stores: Fresh local corn (we live in an area where corn is a local crop) and feta cheese.
Fresh Fruit
Aha, here are the lemons that were meant to be in the picture above with the potato salad ingredients!
I also bought plums, grapes and cherries to go with my husband’s turkey wraps for lunch, and to just have as afternoon snacks.
Snacks & Sweets
And would it really be a Trader Joe’s haul without some good specialty items? I try really hard to restrain myself and only choose a select few treats each visit (which if you are an avid Trader Joe’s fan, you’d know how hard that really is!).
- Rice Cracker Medley (a favorite new snack of mine)
- Almond Flour Chocolate Chip Cookie Mix (I actually bought these as my dessert for our 4th of July BBQ. It’s one of my favorite cookie mixes!)
- Lemon Baton Wafer Cookies (these are a seasonal item that I love. Lemon anything is my jam! I picked up two because I knew they wouldn’t be around for long)
Frozen Treats
Okay, I lied. I went a little overboard on the treats this trip. Ice cream is my sweets weakness!
- Tangerine Cream Bars (NEW to store) – C’mon…I could not resist these!
- Wildberry Cheesecake Ice Cream (NEW to store) – A new seasonal item I just had to pick up, mostly for my husband who is a cheesecake fan.
- Fruit Frenzy Bars (because hot summers warrant cold popsicles)
Misc. Items
Last but not least, I had to get another damn plant. LOL. My Trader Joe’s store had two money trees left and I just had to have one. Goodness, who knew houseplants were such an addiction?
I also stocked up on dish soap and tuna, because why not? No really, I like to keep cans of tuna on hand for a quick lunch, whether it’s to throw on top of a salad or simply eat with some rice cakes.
Were there any exciting new items you also picked up in June 2021 from Trader Joe’s? Stay tuned for my June 2021 new item recap. There are some really great things from this haul and last haul worth the buy!
Happy Shopping!
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