I have always wanted to visit Trader Joe’s but unfortunately, New Orleans didn’t have one…until NOW!  A new store was built an opened here recently, and I tried (and failed) to wait until the initial “newness” wore off before I embarked on my first Joe’s Journey. 

Is that a thing?  Can we call it a Joe’s Journey?  Maybe not.  

So I finally made it to the store (that opened last week) today, and it was still surprisingly crowded for 1:15 in the afternoon.  I only had 30 minutes to play around because I needed to pick up the big boy from school – that was probably a good thing.  Everything in the store I felt deserved a little look-see, but without a ton of time, I had to snag whatever caught my eye and looked delicious.  That also meant I wasn’t getting anything refrigerated or frozen, which limited what I was able to pick up.  Here’s a pic of all my fun finds from Trader Joe’s for today: 

I knew I wanted to look for cookie butter and the two buck Chuck wine because that’s all the chatter I’ve ever heard about Trader Joe’s.  But when I got into the store there were so many things to see! 

I started in the bread section and grabbed some Blueberry Raspberry Oat Bran muffins and Pumpkin Bagels.  Yes, bagels made with pumpkin flour and pumpkin pie spice.  They’re not overly huge, either. Since I really love bagels for breakfast, this is one thing I’m excited to try.   I also saw the Trader Joe’s brand of cereal bars, which all say “this (fruit) walks into a bar…”  Kind of funny, which made me want to grab the pumpkin ones.  Am I sensing a theme here?  Then I went to the prepared foods section and found a pesto chicken sandwich to eat in the car on the way to pick up the big boy and egg salad made with only egg whites.  I love egg salad sandwiches, but I’ve never had it with just egg whites – another fun Trader Joe’s find that I can’t wait to sample.

I walked through the refrigerated and frozen foods and found some fun things that I couldn’t pick up but might grab on a future visit.  Pre-sliced cheese for small parties (or for my cheese connoisseur of a 4 year old),  frozen macaroons in pretty colors, and interesting ice cream flavors to name a few.  There’s also about a million different kinds of salsa.  Since I’m the only one that eats salsa in my house, that will have to wait for a special occasion. My time was ticking down, so I had to move on quickly.

A quick run through the wine section led me to pick up two bottles of white wine, neither of which are part of the “two buck Chuck” brand.  But hey, I splurged a little by spending $4.99 right? Teehee. I took a peek at the specialty beers and can’t wait to try some of these with my brother at Thanksgiving.  I guess we will be doing a TJ’s Beer review later.  Thoughts on that one? 

Finishing up my trip, I grabbed some gnocchi to try in a future recipe, a huge gallon of unsweetened iced tea, and delicious-looking pumpkin butter in a jar.  I make my own pumpkin butter, which you can check out here.  But, since the pumpkins have just begun to come out and it’s been hot, hot, hot here, I figured buying some to tide me over for a month or so wouldn’t hurt.   Then I saw the lemon curd!  Oh boy, oh boy.  What am I going to do with this little gem?  Stay tuned on this.  I might just eat it with a spoon. 

And along came the cookie butter.  There were three different kinds in our store: pumpkin spice cookie butter, crunchy cookie butter, and cookie cocoa swirl.  Which one did I get?  Well, it wasn’t the pumpkin thankyouverymuch.  🙂  I ended up with the cookie cocoa swirl, which I am going to use to make a fun dessert very soon.  And also, I will probably eat it with a spoon.  Living on the edge, aren’t I?

At the checkout, I picked up some maple walnut blondies, which I thought I would use for tonight’s dessert after dinner.  But it didn’t last…I ate one as soon as I got home.  And it was amazing.  It tasted like butter pecan ice cream, made into a cookie, and then not baked all the way.  I swear, it was like nothing I ever tasted, and I enjoyed every bite.  This is the only thing I’ve tried from my trip so far, but I’ll keep you guys posted on the rest. Everything in our basket cost right under $49!  I couldn’t believe it…

And here’s my cutie pie in the checkout line.  By the way, we LOVE our Binxy Baby shopping cart hammock.  We use it all the time, and this is NOT sponsored – I mean, I totally wish it was because we just love it and like to take pictures in it.  

What are you guys getting from Trader Joe’s that I should look for next time?

Until next time, Ya’ll!

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