Trader Joe’s Rants & Raves (mostly raves, a few rants)

“This fully cooked entrée option takes less than an hour to reheat in the oven. Marinated in a brine of salt, sugar, black pepper and garlic herb butter. “

I didn’t try this (so not a review) but I recently noticed this item the other day and it caught my eye. It’s in the refrigerated case with TJ’s fresh and frozen turkeys. Being cooked I definitely can see this as something that might appeal to many people who don’t want to cook a whole turkey but still want to have turkey on the table that looks home made. It’s a half breast of turkey that was brined, then cooked “sous vide” (a cooking technique chef’s love as it keeps meat juicy and tender). TJ’s says it all this needs is about 40 minutes in the oven to reheat.

Most of the packages I looked at seemed to total around $32 to $40, running around 3 to 4 pounds each. Sure $10 a pound for turkey breast isn’t exactly cheap but then you are paying for a lot of convenience and work and time saved. Plus say you only like white meat anyway, there will be less waste and left overs. If one has this all you need to do is maybe add a package or two of TJ’s turkey gravy ($1.49) and some of their frozen sides like mashed sweet potatoes, French green beans. I could imagine one can come up with an almost home made T-Day pretty easy. This item seemed a bit popular and was even sold out the next time I went to TJ’s.

TJ’s says:

https://www.traderjoes.com/home/products/pdp/brined-bone-in-half-turkey-breast-fully-cooked-060840

“Our Midwest supplier splits a full turkey breast, leaving the bone in, and marinating it in a brine of salt, sugar, black pepper, and garlic-herb butter. The Half Breast is then seared, and slowly cooked sous-vide. It’s not an exaggeration to say this approach produces a moist, juicy, and tender Half Turkey Breast with rich, slow-roasted flavor-and in just 40 minutes, versus the multiple hours it takes to cook a whole turkey. Find our Fully Cooked Brined Bone-In Half Turkey Breasts (about 2.5 pounds each on average) in our refrigerated deli section.”