There used to be quite a few items you could get at Trader Joe’s that cost a buck or less. There aren’t as many now. There are a few pasta items that still cost 99 cents but this is one I am going to single out. As you can see, its Trader Joe’s ORZO, which is 99 cents for a 1 lb bag.
Orzo is that rice shaped pasta frequently used in Greek and other cuisines. I find orzo just so handy and so useful and very good. So here’s my Ode To Orzo.
The number one thing I love about orzo is the fact of how fast it cooks. Orzo is a pasta that takes just five minutes! It takes longer to boil the water for it.
Many meals when I realize I don’t have enough food I find myself reaching for the Orzo, because it’s ready in no time at all and its pasta so super tasty. All I need to do is dump a cup of orzo into boiling salted water. After five minutes, it’s done; just drain it, add it to a bowl and give it a a nice amount of butter (or olive oil). Grind on some black pepper. Taste if and see if it still needs a sprinkle of more salt. BOOM; your buttered orzo side dish is ready. Optional; Grate on some cheese. Parmesan, Pecorina, Grana or cheddar or goat for that matter.
You can equally expand on buttered orzo with adding a vegetable to that. Perhaps diced fresh zucchini which is a lovely combination especially with some feta cheese for a Greek dish. The Zucchini can cook in the water along with the orzo and be ready when the orzo is in about 5 minutes. Or even easier vegetables? You can use a frozen vegetable. Maybe French Green Beans? Or frozen peas? The green beans can go in with the orzo (about 5 minutes). Add the peas about the last minute or two before the orzo is cooked as those are ready very fast.
It’s great for adding to soups or stews as well. Chicken soup with orzo is fantastic and comforting.
Orzo is fantastic to make whole dinners around. For example, a ONE POT dish of Garlic Butter Chicken Orzo; here’s the recipe.
So this is why I always have some orzo in the cupboard, and suggest you should as well. If not, the next time you are at Trader Joe’s just grab a a package of what I think is one of the handy dandiest items there that only costs 99 cents! The 99 cents pasta (spaghetti, capellini, orzo, etc) and cans of beans there are good ways to stretch your dollar at Trader Joe’s.
“It’s made with a base of rich and fluffy Whipped Cream Cheese that’s been mixed with a tangy sun-dried tomato spread, Parmesan cheese, garlic, and a series of savory seasonings, all of which work together to evoke the taste of cheese Pizza on the palate.”
So here is another one of those Trader Joe’s products that came out and seemed to blow up all over social media.
Sometimes I find the things that go viral worthy of the hype, however sometimes they leave me with the opposite impression, with an “I don’t get it” feeling.
So how does this product strike me? Somewhere in the middle I think.
Everything But The Pizza Whipped Cream Cheese Spread has sun-dried tomatoes, garlic, Parmesan cheese and spices. Kind of imagine taking some whipped cream cheese, and mixing in marinara sauce. Tasted right out of the tub on a spoon, I would say you might find it tastes kind of “strong”. This definitely needs to go on something or with something.
I tried it on a toasted bagel which one of the things everyone says is Da Bomb. For one thing, if you do that at least toast the bagel so you get some of that crusty chewy effect you want. I thought that combo tasted pretty good. Just not earth shattering as claimed that on a bagel it “tastes like a pizza”. If I was going in that direction, I would prefer the classic muffin pizza. English muffin toasted up with a little tomato sauce and melted mozzarella. I grant you there is slightly more work involved.
I thought the best thing to do with this is to add it to some pasta. Thin it out with some pasta water, milk or cream or even mix in some marinara sauce. You can end up with a nice creamy pink pasta sauce. It did kind of work for me with pasta. What I ended up liking it on, believe it or not, was actually putting it on some pizza!
I had a thought when I was making some pizza from scratch of adding some to my pizza. When it was all toppped, I put a few dollops of this all over with all the other things using two teaspoons. After baking, it came out of the oven with those creamy bits now caramalized a bit. Some creamy bites with lots of flavor. Pretty good!!
I think with pasta, or on a pizza, this stuff is worth trying out. This is one of those you have to try it for yourself and see what you think items. Invent some uses that you like.
All in all I was just a little bit under impressed with this in comparison to all the hype and viral plaudits I saw online about it, however your mileage may vary. Let us know what you think via the Comments
This TikTok’er “hated on it” but discovered she likes it using it to make an open egg sandwich, using toasted sourdough bread:
Another TikTok’er suggest eating it on raw bell peppers, as kind of a crudité dip. So try it with other things like carrot sticks, celery sticks and the like….
Trader Joe’s ORGANIC RADIATORE pasta is a relatively new addition to the pasta shelves there. They were introduced along with the square rigatoni pasta, which I also gave a great review.
Want to know the translation of “radiatore“? Funny enough it means what it sounds like: “radiator”. Because that’s what these look like. Little radiators.
The shape has all those nooks and crannies which are perfect for taking in and holding a lot of sauce. By the way, did you know the Italian government recognizes about 300 different pasta shapes?
A 1 lb package goes for $1.99. It’s a high quality, bronze die cut pasta, imported from Italy and made from organic durum wheat semolina.
I made this pasta for dinner last night with Trader Joe’s TOMATO BASIL MARINARA sauce (a bargain at $1.99 and it’s excellent). OK, as I am a “cook” and can’t just open a jar and be done with it, I did add two cloves of garlic and a 1/2 shallot sauteed in a tablespoon of olive oil then added a 1/2 jar of the sauce (for two portions). Trust me it made it even better but you could go the easy route and just open a jar.
These radiatore cook pretty fast due to shape, in about 9 minutes. I probably took them out a minute before that (ie, pre-al dente) as I would cook them more in the sauce. I dumped the drained pasta into my pan with my sauce, added about a 1/4 of the pasta water, tossed them over and over for about a minute to let them marry and absorb some sauce till al dente.
I was going to serve peas on the side but as I was making this, my wife suggested I just toss everything in together. Which was actually a great idea as the peas add a nice flavor and texture and got into the nooks of the radiatore. Grated on some of my favorite TJ ROSEMARY ASIAGO which I especially love with pasta.
The texture and taste of this radiatore pasta was perfect and we really loved this dish we came up with “radiatore with peas in tomato sauce” which can now go into rotation. Try this combo! Super easy and delicious, not to mention a bit healthier with added vegetable protein. A little salad and bread made it all perfect.
The best thing? Pantry meal. Everything came out of the pantry (and freezer) so a perfect idea for when “you don’t have anything” in the fridge.
Delicious easy dinner for two, which probably cost less than 3 bucks.
Equally good would be the simplest pasta using this radiatore; just Butter and Cheese. Use lots of both.
I would buy these again. — (UPDATE: I looked for them today to buy more and didn’t see them on the shelves…. )
PASTA WITH PEAS recipe (pasta al piselli)
Toss your pasta into salted boiling water. Whatever time it says on the package, you will subract one or two minutes for “pre-al dente”. In a pan or pot, put a tablespoon of olive oil, and a nice pat of butter. (optional) Add 2 cloves of sliced garlic, and cook till golden. You could also add in 1/2 shallot too if you have one, or a 1/4 onion.
Add your favorite jarred (or homemade) sauce to the pan. When the pasta is “pre-al dente” (tests a little hard) add that to the pan and cook, adding in some pasta water (1/4 cup?). Toss in some frozen peas (1/2-1 cup as you wish) Toss everything over and over to mix and cook for about a minute or so, cooking the pasta just till it becomes al dente. That means “to the tooth” just after the pasta is no longer hard to bite and not soft or mushy. Italians hate overcooked pasta.
Plate and top with a nice amount of freshly grated ASIAGO cheese (or Parmagiano or Pecorino) and serve. Bread and a salad will round this out nicely into a dinner
Portions: for two people I usually figure about a 1/2 lb (half the package) pasta, and for sauce about a 1/2 jar but your ratio may vary. Again, Italians like just enough sauce to coat the pasta well but not to have pasta swimming in sauce the way most Americans think you make it.
They would be absolutely perfect to serve to guests over the holidays!
These are a wonderfully delicious French butter cookie, coated with a layer of excellent chocolate.
Trader Joe’s says this: “These Cookies are, indeed, made for us in France. The usual cookie-dough suspects—flour, sugar, egg yolks, milk, leavening, and salt—are combined with cultured French butter (13% of the recipe) to create a dough that is shaped into thin rounds. The baked biscuits are coated in rich, Dark Chocolate (40% of the recipe), yielding an exquisite Cookie that is at the same time: smooth, crunchy, chocolate-y, and buttery!”
Even if these didn’t have any chocolate, you would say these were great butter cookies. But they were dipped in chocolate, coated with a nice generous bit of excellent French chocolate too, which puts them out of this world.
These were a big hit with both of us. We really found these to be a super delicious treat.
My only problem with these? There’s way too few of them in the package! So you may want to buy at least two.
$2.99/package (4.76 oz)
Someone at my local TJ’s came up with “try with a dollop of peanut butter”. Yeah, baby.
Trader Joe’s says: “For a taste of Turkey at home, allow us to introduce you to Trader Joe’s Simit Turkish Sesame Bread. Simit can be found on street carts and bakeries throughout the country, and although these beauties may resemble bagels, they are distinctly different.
Simit is not boiled (like bagels), just baked, and have a characteristic twist throughout. While its interior is chewy and nutty, its exterior is crispy and dense. Our Simits are made “Ankara style,” on the smaller size, conveniently-sized, with a crisp texture. Sticking to tradition, these circular breads are coated with a molasses-based solution that adds a bit of shine, helps with browning, and allows sesame seeds to encrust their surface.” (TJ)
NEW at Trader Joe’s for Sept/Oct 2025 are these fabulous Turkish Breads called SIMIT, which are made in Turkey for Trader Joe’s. Find these frozen along with other breads like their frozen Naan.
Simit come in a package that has 4 round breads, wrapped in packs of 2, to stay as fresh as possible. It’s $3.49, or about 90 cents each. In Istanbul there are carts with sells simit. A little search on Google says on the street in Istanbul they typically sell for about 10-20 Turkish lira ($0.25-0.50) and a bit more in a bakery.
I had read these they were coming to TJ’s and kept waiting to see them. When I finally saw they arrived at my local TJ’s, I grabbed a package to try and review. So how are these? Well, here’s my honest review. Are they worth buying? YES!!!!!!
Trader Joe’s did it again with a delicious bread find imported here from another land. Wow, are these simit breads terrific. I give these a 5 stars RAVE! Delicious. I just loved how these taste and at the texture of the outside versus the soft inside.
These are little Artisanal breads, which you can tell are hand rolled. They are encrusted all over with sesame seeds. When you are warming these up, and they get start to get toasty you will smell the sesame in the kitchen. Yes, the shape of these may remind you of a bit of a bagel, though simit are very different and unique. They are just baked, not boiled first like bagels. They are the tiniest bit sweet on the outside. These look like they were twisted together then rolled by hand. So they’re not as easy to cut open say as a bagel. They separated when I tried to cut in half horizontally and I found them best to just take one and rip a bite off as I went if I wanted to, or rip them in half and dip them or put butter or whatever on them.
They were great just plain by themselves but were fabulous with other things like different kinds of butter, olive oil, cheese, olives, cream cheese and scallions, jam, you name it, you will love it. I loved them alongside some scrambled and sunny side up eggs, where I dipped the simit into the yellow yolks! Yummy!
HEATING: Take them out of the freezer and leave them about 15 minutes to defrost. Then toss in a 350 oven for about 4-5 minutes. – OR – Just so you know, I made mine on the stovetop in a cast iron pan. About 4-5 minutes a side on low-medium, until they looked golden brown and flipped it over. That easy method worked fine too. If you have an air fryer that probably will also work.
My wife loved these as much as I did. We are eating them with many things. Tonight for one, they well go great with LENTIL SOUP.
Simit are $3.49 for 4 breads (14 oz) Frozen
I would buy these again
How to eat Simit – Simit is a versatile bread that can be enjoyed in many ways throughout the day:
For breakfast: Pair it with traditional Turkish breakfast items like feta cheese, olives, cucumbers, tomatoes, and a glass of Turkish tea.
With spreads: Serve it with savory dips such as hummus or a red pepper dip. For a sweet option, top it with butter, jam, or Nutella. I liked them with a little cream cheese.
As a snack: Warm them and eat it plain
As croutons: Cut it into pieces and toast until crunchy to use as a topping for soup.
Very short ingredient list. No Preservatives. We like that!
I found it a bit difficult to cut the Simit lengthwise to use for a sandwich as they are twisted and cutting them tended to make them separate. However they taste just as yummy.
If you are Turkish and try these, please let us know what you think…. UPDATE. We’ve heard from a few Turkish people who said they “taste like home”. One reader left this Comment: “Just tried today. Real deal. Just like the simit in Turkey.”
“A savory, focaccia like bread with light chewy texture, studded with briney black and Kalamata olives”
This bread is a bit unusual and one of Trader Joe’s more “gourmet” breads on offer. I think it’s worth trying especially if you are an olive fan.
This is a French style FOUGASSE, a bread typically associated with the South of France. Kind of a cousin to Focaccia. Trader Joe’s Olive Fougasse has both Kalamata and Black Olives. It’s loaded up with olives and has a great olive flavor. I love olives and I really liked this bread. FOUGASSE can be shaped in many ways, some quite artistic (see link for images of different Fougasse breads)…..
We baked it up as directed.Like a few breads Trader Joe’s sells, this one comes slightly underbaked, so you can get “fresh baked bread”. It’s needs to finish baking for just about 5 minutes so just pop it into hot oven (or air fryer?) for about 5 minutes. It will smell heavenly when you take it out. Its crusty, soft and chewy inside, Herby and Olive-y. My wife and I really enjoyed eating this with a pasta dish.
This would be great with many things, including I think goind with your cheese board, charcuterie board or butter board.
If you see a Fougasse in a bakery they would probably be selling them for 6-8 bucks. Trader Joe’s price is $3.49 (12 oz)
Ing. include flour, water, sea salt, yeast and herbs. It has No preservatives. Use within a day or two after buying or freeze it. I would buy it again.
“The galette is a treasured tradition among French bakers, dating back over a thousand years to the time of the Norman Dynasty…Inspired by a beloved regional variation of galette known as Broyés du Poitou, Trader Joe’s French Galettes Butter Cookies are made especially for us by an esteemed French bakery near the historic city of Nantes. They use a traditional recipe that includes French cultured butter to produce a satisfyingly crisp exterior, and crumbly, wonderfully melt-in-your-mouth interior…. they make a great companion to a bowl of ice cream or platter of fresh cut fruit. And since each box contains twelve Cookies, they’re great for sharing when you’ve got folks over for dinner—if you haven’t already eaten them all yourself, of course.” – Trader Joe’s
Three of us tried these new Trader Joe’s GALLETTES/French butter cookies which are made for them by an “esteemed French bakery” in Nantes, Brittany (a place famous for butter).
Here’s my honest review – SO GOOD! I just loved these. Very buttery. Very French, just a classic.
They are of course loaded with butter with a hint of sweetness. Think French “shortbread”. Grownup cookie.
Ingredients are short, sweet and simple; they include flour, cultured butter, starter, sugar, eggs, salt. Like you would make them. Simple. Natural. No preservatives.
We enjoyed these after dinner with tea, and they were great with tea. Of course they will be equally delicious with coffee, or milk, or just by themselves. Maybe with a little of your favorite jam. Or as Trader Joe’s suggest, pair these with ice cream (Mon Dieu!)
There are 12 cookies in the package wrapped to stay fresh in pairs of 4 cookies. Calorie wise, 2 Cookies have 180 calories (or 90 cals each)
Again, just classic and elegant. These will impress anyone you have over.
I’d say these are a Must Try especially at $3.49 (almost 8 oz)
Trader Joe’s website doesn’t mention “seasonal” or “limited” so hopefully these will stay around! My fingers are crossed they do as these are Keepers.
“Moist, flavorful pumpkin spice cake with cream cheese frosting”
It’s FALL and Trader Joe’s is of course coming out with all the pumpkin items; This one is a very good MINI SHEET CAKE with a cream cheese frosting on top of a moist cake with the typical pumpkin spices. The cream cheese frosting is good even though found it to be a bit on the too sweet side. Even the frosting has a slight taste of the pumpkin spices. The cake was quite tasty, moist and flavorful. The spices were well balanced; not overpowering as they can be sometimes. This has just the right amount.
We loved the cake with coffee and tea, which balanced out it’s sweetness.
Trader Joe’s says : “You’ll fall for the moist, spongy crumb, flavored by pumpkin purée and warm spices, including cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger. A rich, cream-cheese frosting is piped on top, lending an upscale bakery vibe and providing a classic flavor-pairing for the Pumpkin Spice profile.”
I like most of the mini sheet cakes and this one is quite good. My favorite will always be the Chocolate Ganache one but this one is a Fall Limited Edition one, which I think you and your family will like during TJ’s “pumpkin season”.
This is a great Fall item. I would buy it again.
$5.99/18 Oz (up about 50 cents since the last time i got sheet cake)
I haven’t tried this before but I saw BACON CHEDDAR was a featured item in their Fearless Flyer so I thought I would check it out. It was something as I kept tasting it, I kept saying to myself, OK let me try just one more bite, and a little bit later after some more taste testing, I noticed I ate a good hunk of it! I don’t usually buy processed cheese (like American cheese) but I have to say this tasted good, a little smokey with savory notes from the tiny pieces of applewood bacon in it. Semi soft. This will melt easily so good to cook with. You can slice and add to a grilled cheese sandwich to add a smokey bacon note to it.
Says “while supplies last” which I assume means a limited item.
“Trader Joe’s Bacon Cheddar Cheese is handcrafted for us in upstate New York by a master cheesemaker with extensive experience in traditional European Cheddaring techniques and an instinct for blending. Aged for 18 months, the Cheddar is full flavored and mildly sharp with firm, smooth texture….merged with pieces of our very own Trader Joe’s Uncured Applewood Smoked Bacon, which contribute richly savory, sweet-smoky character to every bite. From snacking on while watching a game, to serving as part of a charcuterie board…..baked potatoes, French fries, burgers, broccoli, apple slices, macaroni, biscuits, quiche… ” (from the TJ Fearless Flyer Aug 2025)
“First, there’s that its stone baked, with a wheat flour crust, which our supplier imports all the way from Italy. Next, there’s the impressive array of toppings piled high on every pie: zesty tomato sauce; a savory trio of mozzarella, Parmesan, and Romano cheeses; sweet roasted bell peppers and onions; savory crumbles of Italian sausage; and finally, delightfully spicy slices of uncured pepperoni.”
Apparently Trader Joe’s / Trader Giotto) Pizza Parlanno is said to be quite a customer and crew member favorite. The proof of which it’s been around for 15 years.
I hadn’t tried this yet so finally got around to trying it for a review.
My honest review is: Both my wife and I really enjoyed this pizza. We both gave this a big thumbs up.
It’s a kind of “half and half” pepperoni / sausage- one side sausage and roasted peppers and the other side pepperoni.
The favorite of the two sides for us both was the sausage side, having much more flavors from lots of different things. It has crumbled bits of (cooked) sausage plus roasted red bell pepper, green pepper, roasted onions, plus the tomato sauce and the cheese. The small pieces of uncased pork sausage was good. I can really taste fennel seeds, which for me makes it really taste Italian. I loved the roasted red and green bell peppers.
Personally I am not a huge pepperoni pizza eater as I usually find pepperoni too greasy and oily but here the uncured pepperoni on this was tasty, thin and not at all greasy. Didn’t curl up either. Stayed flat.
The (imported) crust on the Pizza Parlanno is on the thin side. More crunchy than chewy, it kind of reminded me of the “bar pizza” style though its not that thin. The crust held up and didn’t bend under the toppings. I make my own dough on occasion so am quite picky. I would prefer a crust a bit thicker with more chew however the crust is not bad and pretty crispy.
I baked the pizza quite well as I read that you should get this well browned and really take Trader Joe’s suggested time of “bake for 10 minutes” with a huge grain of salt. Every oven is a bit different but 10 minutes as they list is probably not enough time to go from frozen to ready so plan to give it a bit longer, an extra two minutes at least, if not more. I did more like 14-25 minutes in total? I just watched it closely towards the end and let it it get just to the point where it’s really browned which is how I like pizza.
Originally I thought the pizza looked like it might be a little big for two people. Ha! I thought my wife and I might not eat the whole pizza at one go. That we might leave a slice or two for the next day. But guess what? I was wrong . I was so good, the two of us ended up devouring the whole thing. Along with an arugula salad. We said, it’s never going to be as good as right now fresh out of the oven.
COOKING: Pre-heat your oven to 450. If you own a pizza steel or stone put that in. Depending on your oven it may take 15-25 minutes to get to temp. When oven is ready, slide the pizza onto the steel or stone. If you don’t have those, just put on a baking sheet and put that on the center or top rack. I put foil underneath the pizza, for easy clean up. Bake the pizza until it looks very well browned. They say 10-12 minutes at 450 but I think it will be more like 12-15 minutes depending on your oven). Take it out and let it cool for about 2 minutes before cutting. I cut ours into 4.
Figured at 4 slices to the pizza this states, 330 calories per slice.
This pizza makes a very easy snack or meal in about 15 minutes, all for about the price of what you might pay for a pepperoni slice at a pizza joint. For just over five bucks, you can not go wrong with this pizza, if you like sausage, etc.
I gotta say, pretty amazing for $5.50.
I would buy this again.
Trader Giotto’s PIzza Parlanno $5.49 (18.2 oz)
Toppings: Italian sausage, uncured pepperoni, roasted bell peppers, and roasted onions. Crust: Stone-baked wheat flour crust. Sauce: A savory sauce, described as not spicy or sweet. Cheeses: Mozzarella, Parmesan, and Romano. Customer Favorite: A popular item at Trader Joe’s, often praised for its flavor and topping variety.
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