My wife bought this “MISO RAMEN SOUP”. Now she loves ramen and will usually buy her favorite, Korean Shin Ramen, which is very good. It costs more. She made this and when I asked her what she thought her review was pretty short: “I’ll never buy this again”
Inside the cup there’s some noodles which don’t look like the dried ramen you are used to. These are straight wheat noodles which look semi-dry (pre-boiled?). There’s not a lot of noodles. There’s a dried packet of stuff (the soup) plus a little clear packet, which we thought was one of those drying packets and almost threw it away. Nope, its part of the ramen set; The clear packet contains a little bit of oil you add along with the dry packet of miso soup.
I tasted her ramen and here’s what I thought of this product.
The Good: The broth was actually pretty decent. Better than I expected. It tastes like a Japanese miso soup broth. There was even a piece or two of wakame (seaweed) floating around in the soup. Some umami from seaweed and mushrooms. The Ingredient list reads fairly natural; you don’t see wierd names of chemicals just dried ingredients. Broth 7/10
The Bad: Ramen? Well they really messed up the “ramen” part of this “miso ramen soup”. Noodles are lousy. We both thought the noodles were not very good and to add insult to injury they are very skimpy with the noodles. These noodles are not dry but a little flexible, like a semi-dried, pre-boiled noodles? They barely had any texture or bite to them after the recommended six minutes. Very MEH as they should be the star. Noodles 5/10
The Sodium content is listed as 870, which is almost 40% of your daily recommended level of salt. We cut that down by only using about 3/4 of the packet. Naturally that will make the broth a little less strong. It was fine for us. All instant ramen tends to have quite a bit of sodium. Always check the labels. This really applies to all the Asian products at TJ’s.
If you decide to actually try this, it may be better if you try adding a poached egg and chopped scallions as they suggest.
$1.89
I had an idea that since the broth was not bad but the noodles are Meh I thought one might combine this with the packet of cheap ramen dried noodles you might have in the house. I used to get them 5/$1 a few years back!
If you want good ramen, Korean Shin Ramen runs rings around this and most instant ramen though it costs more.
I think my standard Go To for an excellent all-around coffee at TJ’s is their very good COLOMBIAN SUPREMO coffee beans. In fact many consider the Colombian Supremo coffee as the #1 coffee at TJ’s. Still this nice looking package in the NEW ITEMS section caught my eye the other day as I saw this was from Ecuador. Reading the label, well they made it sound worth trying, plus I am not sure I’ve ever had a coffee from Ecuador and was curious what that might be like. In short however I was disappointed and didn’t like this coffee. Now, it had a nice aroma and smelled really nice when I ground it. However when I brewed it up (in a Moka pot) I found it not at all what I expected to taste like and thought it tasted somehow off? I found the brewed coffee to be thin and bitter, and way more acidic than what I was expecting, almost “African”. I tried it a few more times with slightly different grinds and ratios to see if I could improve it, but still found it turned me off somehow. Especially by comparison to the balanced coffee flavors in their Colombian Supremo. If you’ve want a good tasting medium roast whole bean coffee at a decent value get that big can with the colorful Colombian toucan. Or the Azmari BUNNI coffee, which is terrific.
Ecuador Zamora small lot coffee was $9.99 for a 13 oz bag. I would PASS on this one however a few of the small lot coffees have been very good like the MEXICAN La Laja (and an Indian one I had) so it’s kind of hit or miss. As one reader pointed out in the Comments, pre-pandemic back when Trader Joe’s offered small cups of coffee to sample you could get an idea of what one actually tasted like. Ah, the Good Old Days….SIGH!
I’m sure you too have noticed Trader Joe’s prices continue to creep up. And up. This despite inflation supposedly actually getting better, and even coming down a bit. Almost every time I go to TJ’s lately I notice increases. Some things up 29 cents, some 49 cents. For example the Soy Milk has been $1.99 for a long time The other day I pick it up and notice the sign now says it $2.29. I see the same 29 cents increase on the tofu I regularly, it was $1.99 for a long time. Now $2.29. Jack Cheese that was $4.99 a pound went up to 5.49. These are just a few examples. I could not even begin to list how many products have gone up again recently. Price hikes of 10-15% or more? So it seems like I get sticker shock at the register every time I go recently. Are these increases actually justified? Since inflation has come down a bit and since gas prices have come down. Or are they taking advantage of the situation where people are expecting increases – and get them.
Feel free to share your thoughts about these price increases in Comments.
PS – I just saw one slightly positive – a downward price change on eggs. Egg prices had gone through the roof oer the last six months due to a bad bird flu outbreak among other things. However I noticed some prices moved down a bit recently (TJ’s Jumbo eggs were $4.99. Recently I noticed they went down to $3.99) March 2023
Another update (eggs): One positive I see at least is that prices on eggs are still going in a downward trend! Jumbo eggs: $2.99 April 2023
(NOTE: Since when I originally wrote this, Trader Joe’s came out with another flavor called, “SPICY GARLIC AND SESAME SAUCE” (black package). I recommend that version (black)over this one (red) as the sauce in that version is much better than this one! (But the cooking ideas in this post apply to both)
Trader Joe’s Squiggly Knife Cut Style Noodles with Soy and Sesame Sauce
One could easily call me a noodle loving foodie, as I will go for most any Asian noodle dish you put in front of me.
So when I first saw these Trader Joe’s Noodles they looked very promising. Not to mention they say “Made in Taiwan”. Asian wheat noodles like these with ruffled edges are quite typical and prized as the ruffle edges hold onto a sauce. I often see these type of noodle for sale, dried in a Chinese/Asian supermarket. So nice to see them at Trader Joe’s as for most of us that is way more convenient.
Soon after Trader Joe’s came out with these noodles I learned they really blew up on social media like Tiktok and Instagram. They became such a big thing that trying to find them at Trader Joe’s became next to impossible (at that time). These were selling so fast, shelves were emptied almost as soon as they were filled*. Things got so nuts, that “food scalpers” were even actually RESELLING THEM for profit* for way more than they cost! Argh!!%#@$
(Update-2, Aug 2023) Things seem to have calmed down with these noodles, and I’m able to find them on on the shelves.
(2025 ; this MIA issue doesn’t seem to exist anymore, they are way easier to find now, almost always on the shelves)
So my first big question was : Why are they so popular? Are these really that good? I had a feeling one simple reason was simply the price.
For $4.99 for a package of 4 (or $1.25 each) I was pretty sure people basically were viewing these as “dollar ramen”. And I mean the cheap kind, $1 ramen (or 2 for $1) and NOT quality Korean or Japanese ramen packages that cost $4-5 each.
I grant you these “squiggly noodles” look better than cheap $1 ramen. Though, if you only cook them as them as directed, meaning just eat these noodles and the (frankly crappy) “soy and sesame sauce” these come with, my answer to the question, “are they that good” is qualified on how you make them. Make these exactly As Is (noodles plus sauce packet)? Like that, these are at best, Mediocre. Make them as directed on the package and I give these maybe a 4/10.
HOWEVER I think these noodles have POTENTIAL , if you bother to fix them up! Make a little effort to fix them up a bit and you can come up with a tasty noodle dish.
(I found their “Soy and Sesame” sauce pretty crappy)
So my suggestion is do not even bother with the included (crappy) sauce packet. Its not good. “Soy and sesame” sauce? Ha! Just check the ingredients which reads as mostly chemicals. I say don’t use that cheap crappy “sauce”. ADD YOUR OWN SAUCE. Yes you heard me. To fix these up use the noodles plus your noodle! (again, the black package has a much better sauce!)
Consider the noodles a blank canvas that you will fix up. With a little effort you can turn these noodles into a decent tasting noodle dish. Basically you will make some sauce, and likely add some of your own things.
Then they go up to perhaps 7/10.
The package says: “Cook the Noodles in boiling water for four minutes, drain, then toss in the Sauce and prepare to be pleased.”
I did that and was not very pleased at all. Very mediocre. If you do it bare bones, simply cook these and mix with their packet of crappy “soy/sesame” sauce (again — the other “spicy garlic” version in the black package actually has a sauce that is way better which comes as two sauce packs).
Cooking (as per the package’s instructions):
The very first time I made these, I did it exactly as it says on the package: “Bring 4 cups water to a boil. Add noodles. Cook 4 minutes. Drain and add sauce packet”. Result? A big Meh. So mediocre as the sauce packet that comes with this version kind of sucks. If you only cook noodles and mix in the packet you will end up with an extremelymediocre noodle dish.
Now while these aren’t superb noodles, the noodles are decent enough. They have potential. The ruffled edges are actually great at holding sauce. So you need some kind of good sauce with these.
So my first advice about TJ’s Squiggly Noodles (Soy/Sesame) is simple. Come up with your own sauce. Add other things. Do this and these noodles can become a dish you will really enjoy. It won’t take much effort. Really!
So the second time I made these noodles I took a different take. First, I knew I would add my own sauce, and not use that packet it comes with. I also thought I would use these noodles to make a Stir Fry dish. So here’s what I did.
First I cooked (or more like par-boiled) the noodles. I reduced the time from 4 minutes to 2 minutes. I am par-boiling them as they will be cooked more stir frying them then adding some sauce.
Cook 2 minutes, drain them, and run under cold water. Put drained noodles in a bowl temporarily. Mix in 1 tsp of oil, stirring to coat (this helps noodles from sticking together).
In a wok I sautéed chopped garlic, ginger, green onions and a few veggies I had in the fridge for a minute in a tablespoon of oil. I pushed those things up the side of my wok and poured in a little more oil I made a scrambled egg in the center of the wok. When the egg was about 75% cooked I tossed in the par-boiled noodles, and stir fried everything together for about a minute or two. Now I added my sauce* mixture and stirred everything gently to coat the noodles. I gave them 30-60 seconds like that to come together and let the sauce reduce a bit.
I plated the noodle dish, tossing on some chopped scallions, cilantro, sliced cucumber. Drizzled on a bit of Toasted Sesame Oil. Wow, this noodle dish was so much better it wasn’t funny. These noodles now tasted good! Here’s the dish (and yes I know I should have cut the cucumbers way thinner!)
So most important is make or add your ownsauce. Add a few things. Here’s some basic ideas….
(Quick basic Chinese saucerecipe: In a small bowl add 2 cloves garlic, crushed. Add 1 tbl soy sauce, 1/2 inch fresh grated ginger. 1 tsp brown sugar. Add 3 tbl of water and mix well.
OK, that’s a start. If you want more flavor consider adding : 1/2 tsp oyster sauce, 1 tsp black vinegar (sub: rice vinegar), toasted sesame oil, 1 tsp Gochugang. ) A heaping tbl of crunchy peanut butter can work great in a sauce with these noodles. If you use that, mix it with 2 tbs water to thin it out.
Oh come on, is that too much work for you? Ok, then just use a prepared Asian sauce for example TJ’s SOYAKI sauce plus Chili Onion Crunch. Maybe TJ’s GOCHUJANG sauce mixed with 2 tbls water, 2 cloves of crushed garlic and some Soy sauce. Maybe TJ roasted sesame oil.
Still too much work? Fine, add some soy sauce, butter and black pepper.
Almost anything will be better than the poor “soy and sesame” sauce this comes with. If you insist on using the included packet, use no more than half of it, then add a little a bit of low sodium soy sauce and a clove of crushed garlic, and peanut butter thinned out with some water. Toss on Chili Crunch.
Of course you can add veggies. Proteins. Just look in the fridge or freezer and see what you have that you could add. With just a bit of effort will figure out what you like on these noodles.
(AGAIN, noodles in the the red package has a pretty bad sauce, but sauce packs that come with the black package is pretty OK! I would only buy the black package of noodles)
TJ’s “SQUIGGLY NOODLES” $4.99 (4 noodle packs). “Product of Taiwan”
I would suggest try them at least once as a stir fried dish, as I detailed above. You could come up with a great sauce topping the way Aaron of “Aaron and Claire” makes this (Check out Aaron’s Chili Garlic Noodles recipe from YouTube). With ground pork or ground beef you can make a fantastic noodle dish. Even if you just add a runny fried egg, soft scrambled eggs or a 6 minute soft boiled egg on top, that can make these better. Chopped scallions and Cilantro if you like it. A really nice topping could be my hack for easy CharSiu made with TJ’s Carnitas Pork. Proteins? Sliced Baked tofu. Sliced chicken. I usually look through my fridge and whatever leftovers I find that could work go into my dish. TERIYAKI CHICKEN MEATBALLS!? For sho’
Watch Aaron, of “Aaron and Claire” doing a Garlic Chili Noodle dish (video). One could definitely try this with these noodles which look like noodles he is using. I’ve watched so many of Aaron’s cooking videos, and I know this has really upped my cooking game for making Korean & Asian dishes especially using noodles. So check him out too if you want to up your noodle game.
920 mg SODIUM (Note: That is nearly 1/2 the recommended amount a person should eat in a day. As some packaged Asian foods have very high Sodium levels be sure to check the label when shopping for them).
Check and you will see way, way too many chemical names listed, at least for my tastes.
This was a “Meh” for me. Just wasn’t too crazy for this vinaigrette which was one of those “sounded better than it tasted” items for me. Two tasters in our house didn’t go for this dressing and didn’t like it. I found the maple taste off putting and didn’t work at all. As opposed to honey which I like in a salad dressing. Frankly I can easily make a very good Vinaigrette myself in about 3 minutes using with oil, vinegar and Dijon mustard (optional, crushed garlic). Put these in a glass jar and shake shake shake. Frankly we prefer my Homemade Vinaigrette way over any dressing I can buy generally. However what I do think is worth buying at Trader Joe’s is their Asian Sesame Dressing which is excellent. TOASTED SESAME SALAD DRESSING. We just love that one so much. That is worth the same price as this one, $3.49. This one for us at least was a miss and a “meh”.
This was a “Meh” for me. Just wasn’t too crazy for this vinaigrette which was one of those “sounded better than it tasted” items for me. Two tasters in our house didn’t go for this dressing and didn’t like it. I found the maple taste off putting and didn’t work at all. As opposed to honey which I like in a salad dressing. Frankly I can easily make a very good Vinaigrette myself in about 3 minutes using with oil, vinegar and Dijon mustard (optional, crushed garlic). Put these in a glass jar and shake shake shake. Frankly we prefer my Homemade Vinaigrette way over any dressing I can buy generally. However what I do think is worth buying at Trader Joe’s is their Asian Sesame Dressing which is excellent. TOASTED SESAME SALAD DRESSING. We just love that one so much. That is worth the same price as this one, $3.49. This one for us at least was a miss and a “meh”. I won’t buy this again.
This is not really a review, because I never tried this. Personally I would never, ever buy something named “Pumpkin Spice Hummus” as I consider even the name a crime against nature. In Arabic the word “hummus” means “chick peas”. Hummus has garlic, lemon and tahini – and yes spices (like Salt, Pepper, Cumin or Allepo Pepper) Certainly not Chocolate and not these “flavors of pumpkin and warm Fall spices, vanilla and a touch of maple syrup“. If you want pumpkin pie filling, buy that. Don’t dishonor “Hummus” by making it into pumpkin pie filling with some chickpeas thrown in. So I can’t believe they make and sell this stuff, while at the same time deciding to pull many great Trader Joe’s products (too many to list) which are discontinued to make room for new products – like the Pumpkin Spice Hummus.
There. Having ranted enough about this and getting it off my chest, guess what? I saw the case today in TJ’s where this is sold and ….It was all sold out! It’s popular. People do dig this stuff – and I am clearly in the minority as a “hummus purist”. Give me the Roasted Garlic Hummus anyday; that’s the humus I will stick with.
Why Americans Go Crazy For Pumpkin Flavored Stuff is an interesting and fun read!
I came across these two links here recently and want to share them for the insight into Trader Joe’s and discontinued products. Now to we consumers, it may be “my favorite item” at Trader Joe’s. But to Trader Joe’s “its just business”. You may think of Trader Joe’s as a supermarket but it is not a “supermarket”. Think of them as a specialty food vendor. Compared to a regular supermarket, which may stock 40,000 items, an average Trader Joe’s store only stocks 4,000 items. So limited shelf space. If a item doesn’t sell enough Units, to the decision makers at Trader Joe’s, that is a found to be a “slow sales item”. These items will likely be discontinued and be replaced with some other product. We, the consumer have little or nothing to do with it, other than the sales numbers. Read the transcript below of the INSIDE TRADER JOE’S podcast to get insight into how they decide these things.
Its not happy news for us consumers. Unfortunate that’s the way it is. Pretty much “don’t take it personal, it’s just business”. This is why even when I love an item, I know in the back of my mind “don’t fall in love”… because it may dissapear one day. Or if I really like it, I may buy a few of them if they can last….
“What can you do if your favorite TJ’s item is discontinued? Honestly, there’s not much you can do to bring your favorite groceries back once they’re gone. However, if you want to talk about it, there’s the Trader Joe’s Discontinued 🙁 Facebook group (and yes, the sad face is part of the group’s name).”
Tara: Hey, Matt, what happened to the Peach Salsa? Matt: In case you missed it, Trader Joe’s Spicy, Smoky Peach Salsa, it was discontinued. Tara: Yeah, I noticed cuz it’s my favorite salsa of all time and now I can’t buy it. This is a good topic for another I-C-Y-M-I Edition of Inside Trader Joe’s. Matt: I-C-Y-M-I, in case you missed it. Tara: These mini-episodes give us an opportunity to address some of the questions our crew members hear from customers most often. Matt: And keep asking. The crew loves to answer questions. Matt: Thinking about getting rid of products, discontinuing products. More often than not, it’s not an indictment of the product itself. Tara: What gives? Matt: Well, you know, oftentimes we’ll use a phrase and we probably overly rely on it, slow sales. What does that really mean? What it means is that there weren’t enough customers interested in buying the Peach Salsa to have it continue to make sense. Because if you don’t have high volume or growing volume, the costs of producing and handling a slow selling product are such that it doesn’t make business sense for us. And if you think about how small our stores are, and on a relative basis, they’re smaller than most grocery stores. And how few products we have? On a comparative basis, we have a lot fewer products than other grocery stores. We just physically don’t have room to carry things that aren’t popular, as disappointing as that is to hear and experience. Tara: So there’s another piece of this, Matt, that I think is kind of important. And it’s what we don’t do to put products on our shelves. Matt: How so? Tara: So a lot of retailers work with the companies that make their products, the Consumer Packaged Goods Companies, to put products on shelves using something called slotting fees. So the Consumer Packaged Goods, the CPG Companies pay the retailer, the grocery store for shelf space. So even if a product doesn’t sell very well, and even if you see it in the store and it’s covered with dust, it’s not going anywhere until the Consumer Packaged Goods Company decides it doesn’t make sense to produce that product anymore. Matt: Ah, now I get it. It’s the classical play of making money anywhere other than with a customer buying something at the cash register. Tara: Right. And at Trader Joe’s, the only way we make money is when the customer buys something at the cash register. So apparently I didn’t buy enough Peach Salsa. But that means that that product hasn’t earned its place on our shelves. We’re not getting paid by the producer of that product to keep it on the shelves. And our business model says let’s develop something new that might sell better and make more customers happy. Matt: And that approach can feel and sound so cold-hearted, and yet it’s important that we maintain our objectivity about what really is or isn’t working, what really isn’t selling because ultimately customers do let us know if they like something or not. Tara: Yeah, and I’ll be honest, when I went to buy it that one day a few weeks ago, I was just so sad standing there in front of the salsa selection in the store. And then I thought, okay, I’ll try something new. The great thing about discontinued products is it almost always means there’s something new coming soon. You can always find new things on our shelves. A lot of our stores have like a new product section where they’ll highlight a whole bunch of things that have recently shown up in the stores. It’s kind of fun to try something new. Matt: So I see why I, and maybe this is the missing salsa edition, but if you’re looking for the Double Roasted Salsa, which was one of my favorites, which was sadly discontinued, you might consider trying the Guajillo Salsa, which I find to be a nice albeit slightly spicier replacement. Tara: And I also have taken to the Pineapple Salsa to replace the Peach Salsa if I’m in the mood for something that has a little sweetness to it. So, there are options. We, you know, we don’t have every product in the world, but we do have some good options. Matt: We work hard, the product development team, the tasting panel group, they work on things by tasting them. They think these things make sense. They think that they’re delicious. They think they’re worth customers’ time and attention. And if that doesn’t pan out in that way, well, we’ve gotta move on. Of course, there can be reasons other than slow sales. Um, if there are quality issues or that we determined that the value that we once had is no longer as strong. If we are facing different competitive pressures on a given product. And yet, overwhelmingly, the reason for things to be discontinued at Trader Joe’s is a lack of interest, slow sales. Tara: Yeah. Tara: I’m Tara Miller. Matt: And I’m Matt Sloan. Tara: In case you missed it. That’s why your favorite product might have been discontinued it. Thanks for listening.
If you are a fan of one of the best wine shop’s New York City had (Trader Joe’s on East 14th Street) you will be very shocked and saddened by this news. The wine shop is HISTORY.
Trader Joe’s sole New York WINE STORE, next to a regular Trader Joe’s on 14th Street near 3rd Avenue. This was my favorite wine shop in NYC. Great curated selections, great prices. Nice knowledgeable staff. They say they are looking for a “better location”? (I hope the next location might be the Upper West Side) There is very old New York “blue law” that states a company like Trader Joe’s can only have ONE store in the state. So this was the only TJ’s Wine Store in the whole state of New York.
Why so suddenly?
Reddit thread said it was issues with NYU who owns the building it’s in which is a dorm and having liquor so close by. One reader said they heard it closed because the workers were talking of unionizing.
Though I’m not vegetarian, I like to try vegetarian foods occasionally and see if they are any good. As far as Indian food goes, well I happen to love, repeat, love Indian cuisine. I think it’s one of the great World Cuisines. Certainly the greatest vegetarian cuisine, and I’ve eaten my fair share of Indian food in some really good restaurants which we happen to luckily have here in NYC.
Trader Joe’s does sell a few quite tasty Indian food items. Some are quite good and I’ve give good reviews to quite a few of them.
So I thought I would try Trader Joe’s VEGETABLE MASALA BURGERS. The picture on the package looks enticing plus they are are called “Masala Burgers with Authentic Indian Spices“.” Masala” indicates “mixed spices”.
To be honest when I tasted this, all I could think was that line, “Authentic Indian Spices?”. I find this very plain and lacking in spices. Yes I agree Indian food is not always highly spiced, but generally very flavorful. So my short review is these are Just OK and not terribly exciting. I gather from the feedback here that these Masala Burgers are actually pretty popular, despite what I think. Vegetarians especially seem to appreciate these vegetarian / vegetable burgers.
I just find them a bit too Meh myself. For example, in a dish like Masala Dosa filled with potatoes is basically mashed potatoes however the potato filling has a ton of flavor with assorted spices. I just wish these were a bit more like most of the potato fillings you would find inside say a Masala Dosa.
Trader Joe’s Vegetable Masala Burgers are made primarily with potatoes and to me, I think of this basically as a mashed potato burger with a few veggies. My wife how eats basically everything told me one was enough for her.
The concept is not bad, I just find the execution not as good as some of TJ’s other Indian foods. Again, many which are outstanding (and I see Indian people buying at Trader Joe’s)
One burger has 140 calories.
HOW TO COOK : These are fully cooked but you still need to brown them. Cook them in a skillet for 3-4 minutes per side in a little butter and oil until they look golden brown and delicious. They should get nice and crispy looking on the outside. The crispy texture makes these. Don’t microwave them as they will not get crispy.
TIP: If I had some curry powder I would sprinkle a bit on next time I made these.
I think they needed a little something to them to jazz them up. I think you will want some kind of sauce with these. Maybe Sriracha or Peri-peri sauce. Zhough. Bomba. Magnifisauce. At the very least I would add a little garlic or even garlic powder on these if you make them. The thing that perked this up a little bit for me was putting on a little TJ’s TAMARIND SAUCE, basically a tamarind chutney sauce. Perhaps some CHILE CRISP would be good for these?
I think these may really benefit matching with either Trader Joe’s GARLIC ACHAAR or Mango Chutney
My wife told me “one was enough” which was not a good review from her as she likes most anything I cook. So personally we didn’t find these as good as some other Trader Joe’s Indian frozen items. But again, they seem popular and a few readers have written in that they really like these Masala Burgers, especially if they do something to it to jazz it up. I have two good friends who are vegetarian who told me she loves these TJ’s Vegetable Burgers and buys them all the time. As they say, to each his own.
These might be worth checking out to see what you think, especially if you need vegetarian options.
Trader Joe’s does sell quite a few tasty Indian foods which I find quite good in the frozen section. For example, the super tasty CHANNA MASALA (chickpea curry) which I love as well as the BHAINGAN BHARTA (eggplant) and superb PALAK PANEER (spinach) entrees. All three of these I find excellent. Some people really like the Samosas too. Perhaps you could pair these Masala Vegetable Burgers with the Palak Paneer spinach dish, or Channa Masala for a good combo?
Vegetable Masala Burger $3.49 (4 burgers, 10 oz)
(NOTE: Contains Wheat, bread crumbs)
INGREDIENTS: POTATOES, CANOLA OIL, CARROTS, GREEN BEANS, BREAD CRUMBS (WHEAT FLOUR, SUGAR, YEAST, SALT), BELL PEPPERS, ONIONS, CORN, WATER, SALT, SUGAR, SPICES, GINGER, CELLULOSE GUM, GREEN PEPPER, CITRIC ACID, TURMERIC
“CRISPY NOODLE SALAD KIT: The crispy part of the kit includes a package of tiny fried rice “CRISPY NOODLES”. The problem? After you put on dressing? These become “Not Crispy” Noodle bits.
Pros: The Asian style Peanut Dressing they give you is tasty. It’s a bit similar to TJ’s Organic Sesame Dressing (so you could make something like this yourself using that dressing)
Cons: Cabbage as the first ingredient in the salad. I thought it was cut way too big so the salad is a bit tough and too chewy. The softer Romaine lettuce, not cabbage, should have been the first ingredient IMO, plus this cabbage should be sliced thinner. However the main problem with this whole idea for a “Crispy Noodle salad kit” is obvious. The moment you mix in those “crispy noodles” (which are tiny, see pic) with the dressing and mix it all in, the “crispy noodles” become not crispy, of course. Maybe if they used some larger kind of crispy noodles, maybe like the kind you get in a Chinese restaurant? For me, these little fried rice noodles are a Fail. We both though this salad just wasn’t good. I won’t buy it again. Its goes for $3.99. You want crispy? What might work is add some lightly crushed PLANTAIN CHIPS to this. Or croutons.
update: a fan of this reported in the Comments they’ve reduced the amount of noodles for one thing. Shrinkflation!
Trader Joe’s Rants & Raves (mostly raves, a few rants) 
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