So much of the cult of Trader Joe’s is built on FOMO over new products. And though supply chains seem more stable this year, people are still hoarding and reselling TJ’s products on ebay and elsewhere. Well, I’ve got two new products that you definitely SHOULDN’T be worried about missing: Trader Joe’s Caramel Apple Mochi and Trader Joe’s Sea Salt Chocolate Chip Cookies.
I was dubious about the caramel apple mochi to begin with (apple is just a weird flavor for ice cream when you don’t have chunks of apple or pie crust pieces in it.. But I figured, ok, just get it. You might be surprised. Nope. It’s odd and sort of artificial tasting like those lollipops. I’d rather just have caramel ice cream, or even pumpkin! I ate one and put them back in the freezer trying to decide if I’ll return them or not. Let me save you the $4.49.
Now for the cookies. So Trader Joe’s actually has three varieties in these bagged cookies. I only bought the regular Sea Salt Chocolate Chip and the Gluten Free Oatmeal Coconut. You get four cookies in a bag and they ran about $4 a bag (I think the GF ones were $4.49, and the regular was maybe $3.69). But basically they’re $1 per cookie.
The Sea Salt Chocolate Chip are totally unremarkable. Boring. Not any better than a standard supermarket bakery cookie. The chocolate isn’t anything special. I ate half of one and haven’t opened the bag since. I went to the my local Co-op and got a basic chocolate chip cookie from their bulk section and it was $1.49 for one. And it was 1000% times better than the Trader Joe’s cookie.
The Gluten Free Oatmeal Coconut was on the sandy side. And though the label said it had raisins, I’m not sure it did. Maybe just one or two. It was fine, but nothing to write home about. Between the two I definitely liked it better than the regular chocolate chip.
So, even if social media has you thinking you’re missing out on the best stuff at Trader Joe’s, don’t worry. Some items there’s nothing to miss out on.