Trader Joe’s ORGANIC CAESAR SALAD KIT

04 Mar 2025 1 Comment

by promacnyc in All Natural, cheese, DIY, fresh, General, New, News, organic, Pantry, recipe, Recipes, review, snacks, Staple, Trader Joes, Uncategorized, update, WhatsGoodAtTJ? Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,


“Trader Joe’s ORGANIC CAESAR SALAD KIT with croutons, shredded Parmesan and a creamy Caesar dressing.”

I have read that this salad kit is pretty popular among the fans of Trader Joe’s. So I had to finally check it out. Before we begin with my review I should state a few times over the years I’ve made Caesar Salad myself. I mean the real deal. From scratch. Even making croutons (homemade ones are fantastic). Plus making the dressing (Ummm, with ANCHOVIES!)

If you’ve ever done that, or had a Caesar Salad in a decent restaurant then you know how good a real Caesar Salad can be. I mean the Real McCoy is fantastic. So good. You should try making one yourself at least once. Outside of the dressing its really basically three ingredients : lettuce, croutons, cheese…

Here are a few links to give you ideas (Natasha’s recipe looks good. But leaves out the anchovies. So another link with a dressing that has them…. )

Caesar Salad Recipe

https://www.onceuponachef.com/recipes/caesar-salad-dressing.html

https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/229063/classic-restaurant-caesar-salad/

Naturally you can make this salad into something substantial by adding a protein on top of your salad. I could easily see one putting slices of cooked chicken or a piece of cooked salmon on top. Do that and you have a complete dinner, especially with a bit of good bread.

So having said that, let me review Trader Joe’s ORGANIC CAESAR SALAD KIT.

A bag can serve 2 with other food or maybe one very hungry salad lover.

For a packaged kit, it’s pretty good. Does it compare to my homemade one, or one from a good restaurant? Of course not but for just something Grab and Go, again pretty decent. For convenience, I can easily understand why people go for it. Just toss this in a bowl and voila a passable Caesar at a fair price ($4) and all in all fairly tasty and satisfying.

The Romaine was nice and crisp, the crouton very crunchy and are bite size rather than too big for your mouth or fork. So pretty good. But I have a few qualms.

Romaine lettuce – Nice and crunchy! However I did find a few bad pieces which I threw out but only about 6-10. Anyway as with all packages of salad, be sure when you buy it to examine it carefully for quality. Check dates on the packages. Get the best date you can find. If possible, try to use it the day you buy it, or the next one.

Dressing – Again, pretty decent, creamy and tasty (however no anchovies!) Of course its not going to match up against a “real” fresh made Caesar dressing. I did think it tasted decent for a commercial dressing. Looking at the ingredients though no “anchovies” listed and the main flavors of a classic Caesar Salad are Anchovies and Parmesan. In most recipes. Anchovies can be controversial.

They give you plenty of dressing. I would suggest add it stages. Don’t put the entire bag of dressing at once. Add about half or 3/4 of the bag of dressing, toss the salad, see what it looks like and if you think you need more then add the rest. You want salads well dressed but not drowning.

(TIP — Fresh LEMON really help this salad so if you have a lemon handy, squeeze on about 1/4 to 1/2 a lemon. Fresh lemon juice will definitely improve the overall taste of this salad quite a bit.)

Cheese – I thought this was one place they do the typical Trader Joe’s skimping. They don’t give you very much grated cheese and its just OK. Not actual Parmigiano I am pretty sure. So I added some of my own cheese, I shaved on Grana Padano with a vegetable peeler. Add cheese if you have some. It will help improve it.

Croutons – The croutons are OK but nothing special. They are well baked (dark) and fortunately bite sized. VERY crunchy. However these seem to be just baked bread. Actual croutons are seasoned. These croutons are nice and crunchy bordering on too hard however they will soften a bit of course when you add dressing.

The quality of these croutons here are not as good as Trader Joe’s packaged croutons – which are very good. Which makes me think. Couldn’t one come up with a pretty easy Caesar Salad yourself just by buying a few ingredients from Trader Joe’s?

I certainly think so. Get a package of Romaine lettuce hearts. A package of TJ’s good croutons. A bottle of Romano Caesar dressing. Some cheese (Parmesan, Grana Padano or Pecorino) With those ingredients you could could make your own Caesar salad which will be better than this one in about five minutes. You could have enough for a few days too and I am guessing it will work out to $2-3 a portion?

So this gets a thumbs up mainly for the convenience, as TJ’s Caesar Salad Kit is Grab and Go and if not great, its pretty decent and OK.

Would I buy it again? Well honestly I am not sure about that. Maybe only if I had to come up with something fast? Frankly I would probably DIY it and buy some Romaine lettuce, croutons, and a bottle of dressing at Trader Joe’s and make it myself with only a little more time and effort.

Now could you open up a can of anchovies and add some (mashed up with lemon juice) to this Kit? Why not!? You would have a way more authentic salad.

Trader Joe’s ORGANIC CAESAR SALAD KIT $3.99

Trader Joe’s HARVEST APPLE SALAD KIT (seasonal)

27 Nov 2024 8 Comments

by promacnyc in All Natural, cheese, condiments, DIY, Dried Fruits and Nuts, fresh, General, New, News, Prices, Products, Rave, review, seasonal, Trader Joes, WhatsGoodAtTJ?, Xmas season Tags: , , , , , , , ,


“SPRING MIX, UNEXPECTED CHEDDAR, APPLE CINNAMON CHIPS AND PECANS WITH AN APPLE VINAIGRETTE” (THIS IS SEASONAL)

Some of Trader Joe’s prepared salads are are bit hit or miss. With this (seasonal) Harvest Apple salad however both of us were impressed. We found it quite good, so I’m going with calling this one a HIT.

Trader Joe’s has this around the Holidays like its a bit special, and we thought it was a bit special due to the included additions. Inside with the lettuce are some little plastic bags with dressing and the additions to add, specifically some apple chips, some unexpected grated cheddar and some pecans, all staying crunchy wrapped up. It’s these 3 additions plus the dressing which really made this into something a bit special. So good I can imagine you might think this came out of a special salad place or restaurant kitchen, where they would easily charge you about three times the price of this one which is four dollars.

I found the dried apple crisps were the special component here. I really loved those. The apple chips added a nice texture and taste to the greens for contrast. The pecans were excellent as well. There aren’t a ton of nuts here but as with most TJ’s stuff, just enough. Not a ton of grated unexpected cheddar either but this cheddar does add a nice taste (Next time I would add more, just grate up a hunk of that yummy Unexpected Cheddar )

Dressing: I liked the included “apple vinaigrette” which matches well with all the other ingredients. Additions you could add? This would be even better with a bit of cut up fresh apple. Maybe some dried cranberries?

TJ’s calls this salad “seasonal” meaning you will see it around the Holidays starting pre-Thanksgiving through Xmas or so. Meaning this would be great for some guests/fancy up a dinner and of course all it requires is putting the stuff in a bowl!

In addition to being “just a salad” this would be good for “beefing it up” into something more substantial by topping it with most any protein. Perhaps slices of chicken or steak, or baked tofu for that matter, or additional cheese, if you wanted to make this into a protein with salad thing.

(packets here, half used)

Trader Joe’s HARVEST APPLE SALAD kit, $3.99. I’d say one bag is about enough for about 2 people as part of a dinner. Or one salad lover. Again, add some sliced chicken on top of this and you could make this a nice balanced lunch or dinner.

TIP: with any of these pre-packed salads I always find these soft lettuces go bad pretty quickly, after 2 or 3 days, so use them asap. I always pierce the bags with a knife when I get home to make a few airs holes which I think adds a little more shelf life. Or open bag and put in a paper towel to absorb moisture and stay fresher longer. Also check for any odd bad leaves. One mushy leaf will make them all go bad fast.

Trader Joe’s PEANUT & CRISPY NOODLE SALAD KIT

23 Jul 2022 2 Comments

by promacnyc in Asian, condiments, fresh, Products, Rant, Trader Joes, Uncategorized, vegetarian Tags: , , , , , , , ,


“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!

TJ Fresh Mozzarella Log (w/ CAPRESE SALAD recipe)

02 Sep 2019 4 Comments

by promacnyc in All Natural, cheese, fresh, General, Products, Rave, recipe, Recipes, Trader Joes, WhatsGoodAtTJ? Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,


 

RAVE

I think I can get this review in just in time for End of Summer when one can still find excellent tomatoes. The perfect thing to pair with juicy farm fresh tomatoes is this Trader Joe’s Fresh Mozzarella Cheese Log. Unlike the firmer low moisture “pizza” mozzarella, fresh mozzarella is a softer milky fresh cheese. Fresh mozzarella is perfect for pairing with tomatoes, basil and good virgin olive oil for a super easy and delicious classic: a “Caprese Salad” (Insalata Caprese) Caprese Salad is the simplest of Italian salads, with sliced fresh mozzarella, tomatoes and fresh basil leaves, dressed with olive oil. Like a Pizza Margherita, it features the colors of the Italian flag: green, white, red.

This mozzarella is shaped as a log and is pre-sliced into rounds which makes this super convenient and easy. Open it, and put the rounds of cheese on a plate with sliced tomatoes. You can arrange them artistically, alternating tomato and round of cheese if you want to impress but even just cutting the slices into quarters and tossing with cubed tomatoes is fine! Douse with some good extra virgin olive oil of course! Sometimes I add a few capers and a little of the caper liquid.

With some good bread you have a super easy dinner or lunch and a small slice of heaven ready in minutes especially if you can find great tomatoes. Serve this salad to guests and they will love it. And the fresh mozz is good of course just eaten as is, put on a cheese plate, or used to make a terrific sandwich.


A 1 lb package is $4.99 ($5.99) which for fresh mozzarella is as usual, a pretty good deal chez Trader Joes.

RECIPE CAPRESE SALAD (INSALATE CAPRESE): Layer alternating slices of tomatoes and mozzarella on a plate or platter. Tear up a good number of fresh basil leaves and sprinkle them all over everything. Drizzle with some good extra-virgin olive oil and season with salt and pepper to taste. (OPTIONAL: some jarred capers with some of their juice, or a very small amount of a vinegar especially Balsamico) Serve with a nice crusty bread.

(Post Summer) If you can’t get great tasting beefsteak tomatoes get the small cherry egg shaped Italian tomatoes Trader Joe’s carries. They are a little expensive but are really tasty, cut in half, and mix up with cut up mozzarella. Can you make pizza with this mozzarella ? Yes, it will give up some more liquid so a super hot oven is important.