Product Review: Trader Joe's Shrimp and Green Curry Frozen Meal

I was craving Thai food the other night and I had remembered that I recently purchased this frozen meal from Trader Joe's. It looked appetizing, huge and delicious, let's see if it tastes as good as it looks!

Instructions say to "poke holes" and microwave for 3 minutes.

After 3 minutes, the rice was piping hot, but the curry was still frozen. I had to scoop out the rice and continue to zap the curry. It was finally hot after another 3 minutes. I must add that this looks like vomit. Yum.

Lets Break it Down by Components:

Shrimp: There were only 4(!??) Trader Joe, I expected more from you. tsk tsk. They were nicely cooked however, not rubbery nor too stringy

Curry: Delicious. Spicy,  and not too watery or oily. If you gave this to me and told me it was from a restaurant, I wouldn't have known the difference

Rice: Jasmine rice, fluffy but a bit grainy. What you would expect from frozen precooked rice

 Vegetables: Okay I don't know what the hell this is, but it tastes like little bombs of bitter mushy vomit. Tricking me into thinking it was a pea, this was much much more disgusting. I like peas. I hate this thing.
Price: $5.00
Verdict: Just okay, but pretty good for frozen. If anything, the rice is what will fill you up. The amount of shrimp is disheartening and the vegetables were bitter. I would not buy this again.

Product Review: Trader Joe's Smoked Salmon & Spinach Filled Crepes

Lately I have been trying to spend frugally and packing my lunch for work. Unfortunately this slowly transitioned into an extremely boring "make my own" salad phase. I could take no more... if I eat one more healthy leafy green I just might turn into the Jolly Green Giants wife. So in order to still be frugal and not die of lunch boredom, I figured to get a ready to cook meal instead of buying lunch. Since Lean Cuisine and Smart Choice options seemed pathetic and sad to me, I looked in Trader Joe's for some alternatives. Low and behold, the salmon crepes. I have seen these in the store for a while now and decided to give it a try.

What it looked like straight out of the box, they were nice and plump, my mouth drooled with anticipation

Smoked Salmon & Spinach Filled Crepe

It took about 6 1/2 minutes to fully heat 5 of them, I had to stop and flip them halfway through. Each were about the size of an iPhone. The crepe itself held up nicely to the heat of the microwave and was chewy and fun to bite into. The filling was kind of weird. The "cheese" part of the filling had the consistency of bad pudding and tasted very bland. There were not many pieces of salmon and each bite tasted inconsistent. Sometimes I got a bite with an extreme smoked flavor, other times I had wished I sprinkled salt on it.

Price: $ 3.99

Verdict: Trader Joe's, you have disappointed me this time! The only part I liked was the crepe itself. It held up wonderfully in its journey from frozen to heated state. Maybe they should just make frozen crepes, so for lunch all I need to buy are some banana's and nutella...mmmm!

Trader Joe's

142 East 14th Street
New York, NY 10003-4170

www.traderjoes.com