This year, I tried my first Trader Joe’s Fall Haul, and I must admit, I’m pretty impressed! I wanted to share with you some of the great things we found on this super fun and festive haul!
Best Trader Joes Haul Finds:
To start, when you walk into Trader Joe’s during the fall season, it’s like heaven. So much fall stuff everywhere from pumpkins to flowers, to pumpkin sweets and leaf-shaped tortilla chips. It can be very easy to get a little crazy if you aren’t careful!
Tomato Feta Soup
So starting from the left, we got this Tomato Feta Soup which was AMAZING with the Parmesan Crisps (maroon label bag behind the tomato soup). Such an easy, and warm and cozy meal that takes like 5 minutes to prepare. We just heated up the soup on the stove in a pot and it was ready to go. Simple, yet incredibly delicious!
Mini Pumpkins and Gourds
We of course had to get a few fresh gourds and pumpkins because there’s nothing that reminds me of fall than bumpy gourds.
Wines Galore
Trader Joe’s has a great selection of affordable, delicious wines. We got the Phantom bottle (the middle bottle) because the label is really spooky and it looks cute on our counter for the season! lol. We’ll wait to drink that one. The other two we got were TJ’s Reserve wines, and they were very good!
I learned that “reserve” means the winery sold the grapes to Trader Joe’s so they could put their own label on the wine. So oftentimes these come from high-end wineries, but you don’t have to pay for the markup for the expensive “branding.”
Pumpkin Spice Coffee
Okay, to be honest, we’re pretty big coffee drinkers and love fall flavors and deserts. The Pumpkin Spice Coffee did not do it for us. (to the right of the three wine bottles, in the back, under the pumpkin) This may have been one of the only things we really weren’t a fan of from this Fall Haul. Something about it was just… too much.
Cinnamon Witches Broom
This is in the plastic bag on the front, center of the photo under the maple butter. It’s a little broom thing that smells like cinnamon, and it smells so fall. My friend suggested putting it in the pantry so that’s what I did! Now, every time I open my pantry it smells like cinnamon, spice, heaven and makes me want to bake hella fall treats. It’s so good, and for under $1 very well worth it to add some extra fall vibes to your home.
Organic Maple Butter
So this maple butter is actually super good, and surprisingly the only ingredient is maple syrup. The way it’s processed, gives it the thick, creamy texture, but there’s not actually any butter in it, so it’s actually vegan if that’s your thing. I’m sure it would be amazing on toast, but I have yet to try that.
So far, I’ve put a little bit in my oatmeal which was VERY good. I also used it to make basic chocolate chip cookies instead of regular butter (along with the bourbon vanilla extract) and the hint of maple definitely took those cookies to the whole next level. These subtle hints of warm and sweet flavors are the perfect way to elevate the standard chocolate chip cookie.
Cinnamon Bun Spread
This Cinnamon Bun Spread smells so freakin good. Like I wish it was a candle. So far, I added this in my oatmeal with the maple butter, and as I mentioned, it was hella good.
Although, on one of the Trader Joes Instagram accounts, I saw someone grab a tube of Pillsbury dough and smear this stuff inside, and then roll it up and bake it and it was like a cinnamon roll. It looked very very good and super easy to make.
I bet it would also be good to warm up on apples like a warm cinnamon apple dessert!
Pure Bourbon Vanilla Extract
This stuff is way too good. Like I honestly should have bought multiple to stock up and have throughout the holidays. It’s just like way better vanilla extract. That hint of bourbon really just takes it to the next level and makes anything you add it to, so much better.
Crunchy Chili Onion
These were a random buy, but they’ve been so freakin good so far! You can pretty much put them on any veggie that you roast in the oven and it adds the tiniest kick with a little crunch and flavor. Last night, we made Asian bowls, so we roasted cubed sweet potatoes and brushed this on there and it made it delicious!!
Sea Salt Caramel Chips
(located in the gold bag on the bottom right of the pic) As I mentioned above, with taking the chocolate chip cookies to the next level by using the maple butter and bourbon vanilla, I also added these caramel chips. I also did chocolate chips, just half the amount. Just to make it clear, these may have been the best chocolate chip cookies I’ve ever had. All of these unique, yet subtle flavors just made them so incredibly good. And can you imagine biting into a chocolate chip cookie and having hints of melted caramel inside?! Talk about TO DIE FOR.
If you take anything from this post, let it be the tips about chocolate chip cookies. I honestly want to go stock up on these ingredients, just to have them in stock for the next few months so I can keep making the cookies lol. Will definitely need to get that recipe up on the blog asap for ya’ll!
Sirarcha BBQ Sauce
This sriracha bbq sauce isn’t super fall, but it’s a great staple to have on hand. The other night, for dinner we marinated the chicken in this and then baked it and then brushed a bit on top before serving and it was delicious. It’s a great change in bbq sauce so it has a little bit of spicy flavor and goodness. Definitely recommend having this on hand.
Spicy Honey
I’ve used this multiple times so far, and I love it. When we made the Asian bowls, the sauce called for honey and I used this instead. We also used it for a spicy honey mustard breaded chicken recipe from Half Baked Harvest and it totally added some extra zing to it.
This is another one of those things that are just great to have in your pantry to take any basic meal to the next level. Another grat Trader Joe’s Haul find!
Coconut Hair Mask
As for beauty, I was recommended this hair mask by a friend and I must say, I’m pretty impressed. I believe it was less than 5 dollars and it left my hair feeling silky smooth and smelling like coconut which is never a bad thing! For how affordable it was, I really like it and will likely replace it once it’s gone. I like to do hair masks about once a week to keep my ends hydrated and my flyaways tamed!
Honey Mango Shaving Cream
We had just run out of shaving cream at home, so I got this while at the store, and I like it. I mean shaving cream is shaving cream, but this one is great, affordable, and you get a lot and don’t need to use a lot when shaving. This will probably last us a few months. A great buy at a great price no doubt.
Brazil Nut Body Butter
Ok so when we were doing this whole Trader Joe’s Haul, the workers were going crazy over this Brazil Nut Body Butter, telling us to grab them because it would sell out quick. So I obviously had to try it to see what all the hype was about. I honestly think it’s a dupe for Brazilian Bum Bum Cream. It makes your skin super soft and smells very good. It’s pretty fruity but not too perfumey or fake smelling. As mentioned with the other beauty finds, it was a great find at a very great price. I believe this was also under $5. It would also make the perfect gift in a gift basket or stocking stuffer!
Green Goddess Dressing
This dressing is so good and so incredibly fresh. I love it on any type of salad. It’s a healthier dressing too without any creams, sugars, or heavy oils, which I love. I definitely recommend having this on hand for any quick veggie-packed salad you need to make.
Carrot Ginger Miso Dressing
Another one of my favorite dressings from this Trader Joe’s Haul was the Carrot Ginger Miso Dressing! This one has more of an Asian vibe, but it is so freakin good! I love it on any salad really, but it’s definitely good with Asian-style salads. I love it. Super fresh and a great change in flavors, which seems to be the theme of this post!
BBQ Coffee + Garlic Rub
This is not very fall either but we’ve been getting this rub for years now. It’s so good, and if you’re a coffee lover you’ll definitely dig it. It gives your meat a bit of a smokey flavor and can be used on chicken, pork, or red meat. It’s very good and a nice change in flavors for more basic meals. I bet it would be even better if you grilled with it, but we don’t have a grill so we haven’t tried that yet.
I hope you liked this post about my most recent fall Trader Joe’s Haul! Let me know in the comments below if you’ve tried any of these items or have any other suggestions of what to try!
