I Reviewed The New Trader Joe's Summer Products

Jul 31, 2023

If the s'mores bars are only seasonal, I will scream.

BuzzFeed Staff

This is probably the only time you'll ever see me with a basket at TJ's.

Let me just say right off the bat that I'm a sucker for branding (something TJ's is known for nailing), and this box immediately drew me in. I'm not much of a cereal for breakfast kind of gal, but the colors and retro look of this made it too hard to pass on. It's clearly supposed to be some sort of Trix dupe, and I was absolutely here for the nostalgia of it all.

Immediately upon opening the box, I was hit with a waft of orange. It was literally all I could smell. I felt like I was walking past an Orange Julius, which at least upped the nostalgia factor. It definitely had the level of sweetness I was expecting and a really nice texture that stayed crunchy in milk — a total win in my cereal book. Unfortunately, I couldn't get past the orange flavor — it tasted just as strong as it smelled. I definitely could see the Trix/Froot Loops inspiration, but wouldn't say it's an exact dupe.

Overall Rating: 6/10 — Not my favorite, but if you're craving the nostalgic taste of an Orange Julius, you might love this.

I simply could not contain my excitement when I saw these. I only recently started loving pickles. Now, I snack on them constantly and have the heartburn to prove it. And if there's any place I'm going to trust to pickle-ify everything and anything, it's Trader Joe's. From hummus to mustard to chips, I feel like I see a new pickle product every time I walk in there.

The package is tiny, but at $2.99, you could definitely stock up. The curd itself had that signature "squeak," which I hear from Midwesterners is the key to a good cheese curd. You can probably tell just by looking at it, but there's one pickle spice that stands out in this: dill. I mean, you can literally see all the fresh dill right on there. Personally, I love dill and put it on everything, but if you're expecting more of that briny pickle flavor, this isn't quite it. If you've ever had TJ's Dill-icious Smoked Salmon (seriously, whoever comes up with these names is my hero), expect something similar to that.

Overall Rating: 8/10 — I really, really liked these. I maybe could've used a bit more brininess and "pickle spice," but still loved the amount of dill.

Never have I seen a cheese divide the internet quite like this one. The reviews were truly all over the place, and I had no idea what to expect. Since I've never had any sort of Stilton cheese before, I wanted to see what I was getting myself into. What I found is that Stilton comes in two varieties: white and blue, with the white variety being creamier and milder. It's also a Protected Designation of Origin cheese, meaning it can only be made in the United Kingdom counties of Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire, and Derbyshire.

I probably should've looked into how to cut this prior to just jamming my knife into it. Initially, I cut a wedge, but after doing some ~research~ (scrolling Instagram), I think "breaking the seal" of the wax at the bottom was the right way to go. Mostly because the cheese was so crumbly, the wedge was refusing to stay together. I was definitely expecting a funkier taste to this, but it was actually very mild and had a natural sweetness from the strawberries. The reason I'm so torn on this one is really the texture — it just felt kind of dry. But, hey, I've never had Stilton so maybe that's exactly what it's supposed to be.

Overall Rating: 5/10 — Would this be my first choice for a charcuterie board? Probably not, but I can imagine it being a good salad topper.

There's nothing I love more than a s'more in the summer (or literally any season). But living in a tiny NYC apartment with no outdoor space means I rarely have the chance to live out my campfire s'mores dreams. So, when I saw a popular Trader Joe's account post about these, I knew I had to RUN if I wanted any chance at grabbing them.

I was pretty surprised to find that this was a frozen item, but I think it's what helps the whole bar maintain its consistency. The instructions say you can either let them sit at room temp to defrost for two hours, leave in the fridge to defrost for three hours, or stick them in the oven at 350ºF for three minutes. Because I have zero patience, I went with the oven method. After the first bite, I swear, I could've devoured the whole box. The brownie was super fudgy, and the marshmallow topping was gooey and toasty. The only part that was a bit of a miss for me was the graham cracker crust layer, which was really thin and didn't taste like much. I also think $4.99 is maybe a little too high a price point for six bars.

Overall Rating: 9/10 — I saw some people say that these were a let-down, but I honestly LOVED them. I would definitely recommend leaving them in the oven for a few minutes longer so that the marshmallow gets nice and crispy.

Whenever Trader Joe's comes out with a new ravioli flavor, it always seems pretty hit or miss, and I have to say the same for their vegan products. So, naturally, my hopes for this ravioli were pretty low. But as someone who doesn't eat meat and still craves a hearty bowl of bolognese, I was kind of curious.

The lentils and mushrooms in this gave it that same hearty feel as a traditional bolognese. Did it taste exactly like the classic meaty sauce? Not really, but I don't think anyone is expecting it to. I'd probably equate it more to a really good tomato soup. I did really love that there were full lentil pieces I could see, but the overall texture of the filling is more like tomato paste. I imagine it's hard to make something "saucy" securely fit into ravioli.

Overall Rating: 7.5/10 — These were delicious. The bit of umami from the mushrooms and the Italian seasonings did give it a rich "meaty" vibe, save for the texture. It's not my number one TJ's ravioli, but I wouldn't hesitate to grab it again.

I'll be perfectly honest — I don't like root beer and never have. I know, I know. You're probably asking yourself why I would even pick these up. First, it's been a while since I've actually had root beer, and I'm always willing to give foods I don't like multiple chances. Second, I saw people going nuts over these, so I feel like I owed it to all of you to give them a fair shot.

Let me just say that the reason I don't like these is because they 100% taste like those root beer candies, so if you're a fan, this will be right up your alley. I actually found the sarsaparilla-y flavor of the outside layer to be even stronger than a regular ol' bottle of root beer, and it had more of a sticky/icy consistency than the creamy vanilla ice cream in the center. It takes a couple bites to actually get to the vanilla ice cream, but according to my friend, it really did taste like a root beer float. He described it as "scooping mostly ice cream from a root beer float but still having a little root beer on your spoon."

Overall Rating (well, my friend's rating at least because I'm trying to be fair): 8/10 — I'm actually pretty impressed that Trader Joe's was able to recreate a root beer float so well on a popsicle. I also saw others suggesting to leave them out for a couple minutes so that the root beer layer gets softer!