Triple Ginger Brew

Price: $2.99

Rating: 6/10

After declaring that I hated Ginger Ale as a kid, I've finally discovered a deep love for both ginger ale and ginger beer as an adult. There's a bar near our apartment that serves an extra strong ginger beer (non-alcoholic) that's used mostly in mixed drinks so that the strong ginger flavor doesn't get lost when it's mixed. But since I've become a big fan of super strong ginger flavors, I usually drink it straight out of the bottle, which makes most people cough when they try (according to both my boyfriend who frequently starts choking when takes to big a sip, and then bartenders who have all watched other people have the same reaction). So when I saw this Triple Ginger Brew, I had to try it. I'd wanted to try some last year, but it was pulled off the shelves due to bottles exploding before I had a chance. After a year of waiting for it to come back, I was pretty psyched to finally try the ginger ale that has so much ginger flavor it's literally exploding with it, and when I did I was....a little disappointed to be honest. It's definitely got a strong ginger flavor, more so that most other ginger ales, but it didn't pack the intensity that I was expected. I was expecting something closer to Reed's Extra Ginger Brew Ginger Beer (which you can also get at Trader Joe's) that's so strong it'll tickle your nose when you drink it, and this just wasn't at that level. However, I'm also probably one of the only people who's insane enough to want a flavor that strong. If you're a normal ginger ale soda drinker who's looking for an extra ginger kick, then you'll probably love this stuff. If you're a snobby ginger-beer-with-so-much-ginger-kick-it'll-make-your-eyes-water kind of person like me though, it's probably best just to pick up some Reed's instead.

Cioppino Seafood Stew

Price $5.99 (only enough for 1 full meal for 1 person)

Rating: 9/10

I’d been eyeing this seafood stew for a while, but hadn’t gotten around to trying it due to the $5.99 price tag. The bag says this should be good for 2 servings, but given that it’s only 170 calories in each serving, that would be an incredibly small meal if you were eating it by itself. Unfortunately those 170 calories contain 80% of your daily sodium intake, but I didn’t realize this until AFTER eating the whole bag at once. But onto how this tastes.

This stew is a mix of mussels, cod, shrimp, and scallops in a tangy tomato sauce with a good dose of garlic. I was actually shocked at how good it was. I’d expected I’d probably like it, but nowhere near as much as I actually did. The only thing missing was a piece of garlic bread to go with it. Even though I hate winter, this stew was so good I’m actually looking forward to coming home on a cold winter day and heating up a bowl of this for dinner. The bag of seafood is all raw, so you have to cook it up when you’re making it, but it’s pretty easy. I’d recommend adding the larger pieces of fish first though, and then adding everything else two or three minutes later so your shrimp and scallops don’t come out rubbery.

Seville Orange Marmalade

Price: $?

Rating: 2/10

I'd never really had orange marmalade until a few years ago when I was in Morocco on vacation, where they seemed to serve it with every breakfast. So when I saw this, I was excited to try it out. Unfortunately, I hated just about everything about this. 



The consistency is very jelly-like and not easily spreadable, and there's pieces of orange peel in it which I found very strange. I could have gotten past this, but it was so overly bitter that it was basically inedible. I did try mixing this with some goat cheese at one point and putting it on french toast with a little bit of syrup, but it still wasn't great. Maybe if you mix it with mascarpone to offset the bitterness it might work, but honestly it's probably a better idea to just not buy it.

Shrimp Soft Tacos with Tomatillo Sauce and Cotija Cheese

Price: $3.69 for 3 tacos (which is enough for one serving)

Rating: 1/10

As you can probably tell from my rating, this is one of the worst Trader Joe's purchases I've ever made. The only real way to make these frozen tacos is to microwave them, which should have been my first indication that these wouldn't be great (microwaving shrimp? yuck!). But I'm a huge fan of tacos, as well as a huge fan of shrimp, so I figured I'd give them a shot. I heated them up in the microwaved and was met with a truly unpleasant smell as they were cooking. I wouldn't really describe it as a fishy-smell or anything, but just a general bad food smell. It was actually noticeable enough that even my boyfriend pointed it out. At this point I should have abandoned these tacos to the trashcan, but I decided to soldier on. The texture of the shrimp was kind of rubbery, and there was barely any "salsa" or cheese that I could identify. It didn't taste awful, but it wasn't good. I thought maybe I could dress it up with some salsa, but after trying Green Dragon salsa, some tomatillo salsa from the fridge, Tabasco sauce, Valentina Hot Sauce, and Hatch Chile Salsa, I finally gave up on the idea that these were somehow salvageable and threw the last taco away. There are some times where I think that maybe something would be great for someone else and that they just weren't great for me, but I honestly don't think anyone–other than maybe someone who is actually starving–could possibly eat these and think that they were anything less than terrible. Just don't do it. If you want shrimp tacos, pick up a bag of fully-cooked shrimp, some soft tortillas, and a jar of salsa and make these yourself.

Salted Caramel Coconut Cookies

Price: $3.49

Rating: 3/10

I saw these on the shelf in August and thought to myself that these were definitely going to be a winner. We're all wrong sometimes. I expected these cookies to be packed with tasty coconut and caramel, but was incredible disappointed. There was definitely a coconut flavor, but you could barely taste any caramel or saltiness. It basically just tasted like an boring coconut cookie without much else. I tried to get into these several times after eating that first cookie, but I finally gave up after about 1/3 of the box and just returned them.

Blueberry Breakfast Biscuits

Price: $2.49

Rating: 4/10

I’ve never been a huge fan of things like these biscuits, but I was pretty excited when I saw these after having some similar looking blueberry biscuits on a flight and being thoroughly impressed by them. Unfortunately, while the biscuits on my flight were packed with blueberry flavor and had a soft, almost cookie-like texture, these weren’t at all the same. Instead, these had only the tiniest hint of blueberry, and had a more mealy texture. They kind of tasted like the health food version of the yummy ones I’d had on my flight. I think it took me about 3 months to finish the box of these after buying them because I was so unimpressed.

Honey Crisp Apple Cider

Price: $2.99

Rating: 9/10

I've always been a big fan of juice, but I've tried to cut back over the past few years just due to the amount of sugar. When I saw this unfiltered cider though, I had to get some. The first year I lived in NYC, in 2009, I was sick all winter and one of my favorite things to drink while I felt like crap was unfiltered apple juice. For some reason, a lot of people I've mentioned this to turn up their noses at the "unfiltered" bit, but I would actually argue that unfiltered juice (or in this case, cider) is way better than filtered. Why? Because I've found that with apple juice, there's a tendency to have juice that's a bit on the syrup-y side. You might not notice this if you've never had unfiltered juice before, but I definitely noticed after I started drinking unfiltered. The unfiltered juice, by comparison, has a much smoother, almost silky kind of texture. I've also read that unfiltered can be healthier, as the extra filtering for regular juice removes some of the nutrients. But this isn't a health blog, so I'm more concerned with taste here, and unfiltered just has a better taste and texture.

As for the taste of this particular Apple Cider, I thought it was pretty great, as you might be able to tell from my 9/10 rating. It had a good, smooth flavor that wasn't too sweet, and actually tasted like real apples. My only complaint about this is that I generally prefer my cider to have some spices added for flavor, and there wasn't much in here. If you're looking for a warm tasting cider, this probably isn't it, but it's pretty good when you don't go into expecting a spiced cider kind of flavor. I'll definitely pick some up again!