taste test: trader joe’s fig cereal bars

okay so the real name on the box is ‘trader joe’s “this fig walks into a bar…” low fat cereal bar’, but i’m just to lazy for that so we’ll just call it tjfcb for short. k?

these were an impulse buy. looking to diversify my breakfasty-type offerings i thought to give these a go since they are low fat and can fit neatly in the desk at the office. you can find these smack between the cereals and sugars (a fitting place in retrospect) in the dry goods isle.

unwrapping: be careful as these are delicate. i advise taking the whole box to work or you will find yourself with a pack of fig crumbles. the smell when unwrapping is super-sweet and decadent. honestly it was almost nauseating how sweet it smelled, however the smell of brown sugar and vanilla left no place for me to smell fig. the aroma was reminiscent of kellogg’s nutri-grain cereal bars, most specifically the apple cinnamon kind.

the bite: soft and more balanced. it was still sweet with the fig paste/sugar combo. the thing practically fell apart in my mouth. the fig paste is more viscous that the paste in a fig newton which, i think, adds to the delicateness of the overall bar. when you chew you can feel the seeds from the fig getting stuck in your teeth. a plus for being real, a minus for getting stuck in my grill.  after a couple seconds of chewing there was this past sticky lump in my mouth.  not super-appetizing really.

afterthoughts: i need a glass of milk. i do, this was really some intense sweetness. as a standalone bar, if this is the only thing you will eat in the morning with your cup of coffee, it can fit the bill but i have found some problems. the size is too small to be the only item you will eat. also, if you drink a latte or macchiato from evilbucks you will have downed your day’s worth of sugar in under 15 minutes.

my lady and i split opinions on this; she loves them and i could take or leave them. while i like the general nutritional info i don’t like that they are not portable (i mean they’ll crumble). overall they get 6.5/10 for being tasty but sweet. pick some up for yourselves if you like, i know there are other varieties too.  if you need me i will be chugging milk and flossing all the seeds out of my teeth.

taste test: trader joe’s 100% pure florida orange juice

no pulp and ‘not from concentrate’; can i buy a dozen? wow, sorry for the cheap humor. that was bad even for me. anywho, today we are talking orange juice. the winter season is coming to an end and that means a series of hot days, then cold days. that means i’m going to get sick. in preparation, i am bulking up on orange juice and anything with vitamin c. on that last trip to tj’s i decided to give their offering a go.

now before we begin let me state that for as long as i can remember i have been a tropicana oj drinker. this does not mean i am biased; i have tried many kinds but i always seem to go back to tropicana. accordingly it has raised the bar for what i consider to be orange juice. for me orange juice means: 100% pure, never from concentrate, it can either be low pulp or no pulp and it must be from florida (unless i am traveling overseas). since it’s oj it lives a double life, much like a super villain. during the day he is a mild mannered day trader and at night he is a coke sniffing party animal. my evil side of oj likes vodka, and lots of it, but more on that later.

taste test: trader joe’s nonfat organic vanilla yogurt

i have been looking for a lower cost solution for my yogurt needs since i realized that my monthly spending on stoneyfield farms banilla yogurt (no that’s not a typo, it’s vanilla and banana) had gotten rather excessive. on a recent binge shopping spree to tj’s i decided i would try something new. i made a purchase of trader joe’s organic nonfat french vanilla yogurt (goddamn that’s a long name). to be objective i decided i would evaluate it on a couple of different levels: by itself and with granola. seeing as how the majority of us eat it with something i though this was beneficial.

don’t go shopping at trader joe’s while hungry

this is a cautionary tale. yesterday i happened to be out and realized we were out of delicious fiberful bars and thought i would pop on over to trader joe’s. this turned out to be a disaster as you can see from the photo below. realizing what i had done only when i got home i decided it be best to take a picture of it to immortalize my stupidity. however there is some lemonade to be made from these lemons: i have new products to review.

to list exactly what i got:

• 2 bottles – 3 buck chuck chardonnay
• 2 bottles – gabbiano rosato (it was $2.99 per bottle, possibly for sangria)
• creamy corn & roasted pepper soup
• italian blood orange soda
• tj’s baked pita chips with sea salt
• tj’s nonfat vanilla yogurt
• box of tj’s fig cereal bars
• 3 – boysenberry fruit bars
• 20 – (yes that’s right, i have a problem) fiberful bars

so like i said, i have much to review. after some snacking on the pita chips with some hummus i was impressed. full review to follow. needless to say i might have to either not shop when i’m hungry or boycott tj’s all together and join a support group for help. i choose the former.

taste test: trader joe’s fiberful fruit bar

after a recent stop into tj’s the other day to get some organic sugar i was looking to try something different. after perusing the fresh fruits and veggies i saw a bushel filled with bars of fruit ‘leather’ type foods. i picked through a few of the available flavors: boysenberry, strawberry, apricot and stumbled on one that piqued my interest: fiberful mixed berry. the cost was nice too: only $.39. i really had nothing to lose.