At least 27 hearty, healthy meals for 150.00. Featuring Trader Joe's PT 1

For the longest time, I thought that Trader Joe's was just another Whole Foods-too expensive, too trendy and too out of my league. That image was not helped by the fact that most of the Trader Joe's I was even aware of-and there weren't too many around-were couched in affluent well-off (READ: White) neighborhoods.

I didn't live in those neighborhoods. So like other upscale type groceries, I could only fantasize about going to them maybe once or twice a year, on a special occasion. Otherwise, it was me and Aldi or Wal-Mart or K-Mart or Garden Fresh and high end was simply the national-chain grocery store for me.

Until someone schooled me that Trader Joes is owned by Aldi's.....or vice-versa. It was two brothers from Germany and each started the other. I don't know what that means other than it turns out that both stores have similar sales models in that overhead is down which keeps prices to the consumers down-and at least with the case with Trader Joe, there is a big emphasis on quality.

So, I had to research before I went to see what kind of products they carry and I was incredibly surprised to find an almost cult-like following. It seems that when TJ's wins over fans-it doesn't mess around. Entire blogs have been started and dedicated to trying out and reviewing all the different TJ products-from their desserts to their frozen meals to the meatless meats and all else in-between.

YouTube is filled with videos of people who are so excited to show how much they were able to get at the TJ's for so little, the "Trader Joe's Haul" as it were, and there's no doubt-bargains are to be had.

The other great thing about this place is that there are many unique and speciality items available as well as the 'trendy' items of the moment. Much to the chagrin of some fans however, some of the speciality items disappear as quickly as they appeared so in that respect it can be a bummer.

The blog that really helped me to make a list and check it twice is here What's Good At Trader Joes?

I wanted to make sure that I actually was going to purchase things that I needed for recipes and not frivolous items that are impulse buys. The blog and the actual Trader Joe's website made that super easy to see and to budget because both of the sites would often include the price. Granted, some area prices may differ than others but it gave me a really good idea of roughly what my trip would cost.

My refrigerator conked out over last weekend and I lost a lot of condiments and perishables in produce, so that I was not happy about. I decided to replace with each meal as opposed to all at once, and in reading so many different opinions and ideas, I've also learned that TJ may not be the best place for produce. So I decided to do my produce where I always do-at the Garden Fresh Market.  In any event, I was able to meal plan for about 27 different meals-and keep it to a budget of 150.00. So without further ado...here's what I 'meal planned' and came up with.

Trader Joe's Haul

Garden Fresh Market Haul

Total cost : 158.00 bucks.


Meal number One was a variation of Asparagus and Chicken Enchiladas. Since I don't eat meat, I just subbed the chicken with diced zucchini.

Recipe found here: Asparagus and Chicken Enchiladas

I should say that there is actually going to be more than 27 meals out of this, because there are leftovers. This recipe made 12 enchiladas, my roommate and I only needed 3 each. (Incidentally he says that despite there not being any meat in them, they were very great. )

So, I froze the remaining 6. I put a toothpick in them to keep them together, then I put 2 into a 'portions' bag. I ended up with 3 portions of 2 enchiladas each, and then I put them all in a big freezer baggie. I also took the leftover enchilada sauce and put that in a bag to freeze as well. So I am already starting to build a freezer pantry so ideally, the food goes twice if not 3 times as far.

Had some leftover zucchini and Monterey jack cheese. The zucchini will no doubt be thrown into a salad or something and I'm sure a use for the cheese will come up. If not, it freezes well also.

Since the enchilada recipe called for sour cream, there is another recipe I wanted to make that also uses a bit of sour cream. So I decided to make it as well. The object is to buy ingredients that won't go to waste and that you will use in more than one recipe, since produce is so fragile. This next recipe is a Coconut Curry Soup from the Trader Joe's website.

Recipe here: Coconut Curry Soup

Again, I don't add chicken. The recipe also calls for this stuff:  2 tablespoons Belweather Farms Crème Fraîche. And that is just a fancy sour cream. It's a bit less tangy than sour cream and a bit more rich and it cost more money. So I figured why not just use the SC from the enchiladas. Meanwhile, this soup also calls for mango. So this was a good time to segway into two other dishes that also use mango, one being a Mango Chili Salad.

Recipe here: Mango Salad with Chili-Lime Salt

From there, a Black Bean and Mango stew seemed to be a great addition, as well. Now keep in mind you don't have to make meals with ingredients in consecutive order, I'm just showing you the progression of meal planning, where you pick a few ingredients and find other recipes that also use those ingredients, so nothing is wasted-especially money.

Recipe found here: Black Bean and Mango Stew

Again, I have omitted the chicken and the black beans give enough protein. I could serve over rice for a more complete meal. Also to note, green onions and cilantro-cilantro was used in the enchiladas and I have a few other recipes for it and green onions. Also I have on hand veggie broth and chicken broth as well.

Now it's time for some pasta. This sounded divine to me so I picked up the ingredients for it, a Roasted Red Pepper Pasta.

Recipe here (and I adore this woman's blog, it is AWESOME. It's not vegan/vegetarian but she does have a great deal of veg meals on her blog, and everything else is also really healthy and really easy to adapt to vegetarian/vegan. One Pot Red Pepper Pasta

Since there is cream cheese in the red pepper pasta, I decided to do another pasta at a later time of hers that also incorporates a bit of cream cheese.

The great thing about Beth's blog is that it is frugal and healthy and she also is able to figure out the costs of meals. Granted, different areas of the country vary with food prices and local stuff, as well as food tax but still you get a good idea of the cost per serving. It's another great blog for eating well while watching your dimes (or just being butt ass broke.) Recipe here: Creamy Tomato and Spinach Pasta

Now since that utilized spinach, I now want to make another soup that also has the addition of spinach. Back to Trader Joe's we go, for a Potsticker Soup.

Of course I'm using Veggie Gyzo but you can use pork, chicken or shrimp. Recipe here: TJ Potsticker Soup

Now I want to go in a different direction so I'm going to do a Tropical Quinoa with BBQ Chick Peas.

Recipe here: Tropical Quinoa Bowl

This has honey and lime and cilantro-so this is a good time to make some of this, which I pretty much put on everything but especially plan to throw on my Migas and Chorizo....it's Pico De Gallo.

Very easy. Tomatoes, chopped onion, chopped jalapeno, chopped cilantro, lime juice and I use kosher salt. Mix well, and fridge. Gets better with time.

This is making me want a Mexican Stew and we already have many ingredients for it. So let's go to it

Again, no chicken for me. I use cannelli beans in place of the chicken. It's probably good with a few types of beans, even a red, white and black.Here's the recipe Mexican Stew

(I personally add more spice, some sazon, some adobe, and some menudo spice. This is one of those stews that is very customizable. )

I'm having some serious techinical difficulties. My laptop-5 years old-is on its last legs, It keeps hanging, it keeps freezing. I'm at my wits end. So One more recipe and then will continue tomorrow if I can figure out what is wrong with it. 

I'm feeling the need for some comfort food with some sweet and spice, so Dragon noodles sound like they would totally hit the spot. I love Sriracha on stuff myself so I'll have a few Sriracha inspired recipes. It's back to Budget bytes for some Dragon pasta

And using up more of the scallions and cilantro. If you are one of those people born with the gene that makes Cilantro taste like soap, I am so so sorry, because I adore it. If you hate it though, you know to just omit it. Nothing is required here. Here's the recipe Dragon Noodles.