We Do This Because We Love You

The last time we checked, the prices were not the same at the two Trader Joe's stores within driving distance of our home. That was about a year ago. We don't really see the sense in driving to the farther away Trader Joe's very often, so we haven't been there in a long time, but ANYWAY. We just wanted to mention this because we post the price of each item, but you may find that you pay more or less at your local store.

Today, especial for you, by Robert:      They're almost gone, because they rule.  These are Trader Joe's Cornichons!  They're tiny, French-style pickles.  Ingredients: Cucumbers, water, vinegar, salt, onions, mustard seeds, tarragon, garlic, pepper, flavor. How do they taste?:  They are quite crunchy and tart, with tarragon and mustard notes. What do we love?: (1) The crunch, the tart, the size, the utter deliciousness.  They offer more vinegar bite, and a decidedly different flavor profile than American, or Italian, pickled produce products.  If you need your pickles sweet, this is NOT your pickle, but if you're ready for something different, please enjoy! What do we not love?: (1) About a year and a half ago they disappeared, then returned with a new formula involving slightly less pickling spices, herbs=slightly higher sour content, relative to French pickle flavor.  They may now be too sour ...

End of the school  year! Chaos and mayhem! Taking a week off. We need to buy some more stuff to review, anyway. We kind of ate it all before getting the information off the back. Oops. It's time for some fun, frozen stuff, don't you think? Okay. Next week, then.

I am not even going to try to address the people who are like, "What is this gross cereal? Are you 80?" If you are not interested in fiber, I don't know what to say to you. I don't hate you or anything, just, well, some of us need some fiber, OKAY? Ingredients: organic whole grain wheat flour , organic wheat bran , organic evaporated cane sugar, organic oat fiber, sea salt, organic caramel color, natural vitamin E. Nutrition Blend : niacinamide, vitamin C, niacin, iron, zinc, vitamin B6, riboflavin, thiamin, folate, vitamin B12. How does it taste?: The underlying assumption I (Shin Ae) have with a cereal like this is that taste is secondary. Maybe even tertiary. The point is 9 grams of fiber . Also, 6 grams of protein, which is nothing to shake a stick at when it comes to a breakfast cereal. (I am not even trying to use geriatric-themed sayings, it is just HAPPENING. SPONTANEOUSLY.) Anyway, how does it taste? You mean you still want to know? Okay. Uh. A little swee...

Here is something my kids begged for: lemonade! Specifically, mango lemonade. Not because they're fancy, but because the lady at the store gave them a sample then we could never stop hearing about how "good it is, Mom, it's SO GOOD! PLEASE BUY SOME! PLEASE! Please?" Ingredients: Filtered water, organic evaporated cane sugar, organic mango puree, organic lemon juice concentrate, natural flavors. How does it taste? To me (Shin Ae), an adult who does not generally choose to drink lemonade, it is less than awesome. Considerably less. I like powdered lemonade mixes, and I like freshly-squeezed lemonade, but this is something in-between the two, and it's not so good. It's made from concentrated lemon juice, and you can definitely tell. You know that lemon juice you can buy at the grocery store in the green bottle? What is the name of that stuff? Oh. Just, "lemon juice?" Okay, well, that's the stuff I mean. If you like the taste of that, you will l...

Just so everyone knows, we won't be reviewing any Trader Joe's wine because our Trader Joe's doesn't sell it. Maybe you should send us some.

Fruity Flakes. Something which does not look or taste like it sounds. We saw these in the store and really couldn't understand what in the world they were supposed to be. Never mind that there was a picture of them on the side of the box. We didn't see that at the time, so it did not exist. We were going on instinct that day. Anyway, the picture on the box doesn't really help you understand the NATURE of the Fruity Flake, in our opinion. Here is a better picture of MORE Fruity Flakes than are shown on the side of the box: Okay. There. So, hopefully you can see that these are basically chewy fruit snacks shaped like squares. We think the "flake" in the name is misleading. It made me (Shin Ae) think I was going to be eating something along the lines of fruit-flavored lichen, which, while interesting, sounded gross. These are decidedly NOT gross. Ingredients (Apple-Watermelon flavor): fruit (concentrated apple puree, apple juice concentrate, watermelon pure...

Okay! We will start at the beginning, which means what we've got in the house right now. Trader Joe's Freeze Dried Strawberries, unsweetened and unsulfured. Pretty simple. PRETTY AWESOME. Ingredients: Freeze dried strawberries. How do they taste?: Really, really good. Four out of four people in our family like them. They taste like...strawberries. Less squishy. Otherwise, similar. Squish isn't a flavor, but you know. It adds a certain SOMETHING to the fresh berry, right? What we love: (1) They aren't sweetened, so that's nice if you are trying not to eat added sugar, obvs. (2) Unsulfured. In our opinion, this always tastes better. I (Shin Ae) am always put in mind of the very bowels of hell when I taste sulfur, which is not masked by the flavor of any food, no way, no how. I even get really sad when I taste it in wine, which is pretty much always. HATE SULFUR. Anyway, none of that here, so that's a win. (3) Our kids like these. Freeze-dried fruit in ge...

We are not trying to tell you what to do. We do not think we are specialer than you are. We do not think that you don't know how to taste and eat food. We are not foodies. We are people who shop with kids and like to have an idea of what we're looking for before we go in the store. We like to get things others have recommended because that's a good way of trying things we wouldn't normally try. When we eat something delicious, we want to tell someone. We also want to post information for those who are shopping with special diets in mind: gluten-, nut- or dairy-free; whole foods; etc. Maybe have some discussion about why we think something is delicious or disgusting or meh, if you feel like it. Rob works as a chef* and I stay at home with my kids. I mean, I DO things while I'm at home, but I don't feel like listing it all. It's kind of a lot. Maybe just don't worry about what I do and even though I am logged in somewhere, I'm not necessarily sit...