"Recently, at least once a day, you can find me singing: "Pass the cranberry sauce, we're having mashed potatoes!" in my best Linda Belcher voice. It's a compulsion that I don't try to control - just like the carb-loading you'll also find me engaging in around this time of year. My favorite part of Thanksgiving is undoubtedly the sides. Mac and cheese, stuffing, cornbread - you name it, I'm probably eating it. And while I usually opt for homemade everything, Trader Joe's got me curious: Can pre-made Thanksgiving foods stack up to the DIY versions?"
"With that in mind, I went to my local store and grabbed a whopping 17 Thanksgiving items. In other words, the holiday came early for me this year (which I wasn't totally mad about it). Now, some of Trader Joe's Thanksgiving foods were great; the ones toward the top of my list could easily substitute for the homemade version. But not everything was a winner, and you're better off avoiding my bottom picks."
"However, because the package says to just lift a corner of the plastic top before putting it in the oven, the stuffing merely steamed rather than holding any texture. The result was a mushy, almost gluey stuffing that failed to satisfy a craving. It was bland beyond being pretty salty, and the apples and cranberries didn't come through at all."
A shopper sings a Linda Belcher line daily and loves Thanksgiving sides, favoring mac and cheese, stuffing, and cornbread. Seventeen Trader Joe's pre-made Thanksgiving items were purchased and tested against homemade versions. Some Trader Joe's items performed well and could substitute for homemade dishes, while others underperformed. Ranking considered flavor, texture, and whether products offered genuine convenience over making dishes from scratch. Items that were bland, mushy, or easier to prepare at home scored poorly. The Trader Joe's cornbread stuffing steamed during heating, resulting in a mushy, gluey texture with muted apple and cranberry flavors.
Read at Tasting Table
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]