Google Tag

Search This Blog

Friday, February 14, 2025

Trader Joe's Organic Freezer Pops


Otter Pops, Pop-Ice, Fla-Vor-Ice—whichever brand you grew up with, you know the drill. You get in from the hot summer weather and you start craving a plastic tube filled with high fructose corn syrup and Red 40. You grab some scissors, snip the top, and moments later you've got a sugar buzz and a brain freeze, and it's pure heaven.

This product isn't exactly seasonally appropriate, especially here in the Upper Midwest where we recently got a few inches of snow along with some very cold temperatures. But Trader Joe's sells these things year round, so I guess they expect some weirdos to eat them even when it's fifteen below.


Years ago, we saw some healthy freezer pops from TJ's. They were peach flavored, and we liked them quite a bit. They had little bits of actual peach in them, which was nice. This iteration doesn't have fruit chunks in it, but it's certified organic, it's made of real fruit juice concentrates, and it uses stuff like vegetable juice and turmeric for coloring.

Along those same lines, if you're expecting these to taste just like the aforementioned mainstream popsicles with all the chemicals and dyes, you're probably going to be disappointed. These taste like frozen fruit juices rather than fake stuff that's loaded with added sugar.


The berry flavor is my favorite by a good margin. It just has the best taste overall. I like the cherry limeade quite a bit, too, but it leaves an aftertaste that I'm not a huge fan of. The orange flavor tastes way more tart than I expected it to, but it's tangy and citrusy and is a bit like licking the block of frozen orange juice concentrate straight out of the can before it's mixed with water...not that I would know what that tastes like or anything...

$3.49 for ten pops. Would buy again when temperatures are above freezing. Sonia will give Trader Joe's Organic Freezer Pops eight out of ten stars. I'll go with seven out of ten.



Bottom line: 7.5 out of 10.

Wednesday, February 12, 2025

Trader Joe's Enchilada Sauce


So...this might be the third time Sonia has ever made enchiladas in our 15 years of marriage. She works a full-time job, so it's not like I expect her to cook every day. And enchiladas aren't one of her specialty dishes. Sonia's mom only made them once in a blue moon back when Sonia was a young girl. But shoot, it's nice when she does whip up a batch. I'm tempted to try my hand at it myself, but I'm pretty sure it would be disappointing by comparison.


Having a pre-made sauce helps the process go quickly and smoothly. Trader Joe's offering is reasonably-priced, and it has a nice consistency and flavor. There's a bit more of a kick than I was expecting, to be honest. Fortunately, we both enjoy spicy foods. Sonia and I would put the heat level around a 6 on our spice-o-meters. A quick glance at the ingredients reveals that the product not only contains red jalapeƱo pepper puree but also ground red chile pepper and chipotle pepper powder.

It's not too thin and not too thick. It coats fairly easily and it's smooth and a nice dark shade of deep red. Our enchiladas had beans and shredded chicken wrapped in flour tortillas and topped with a Mexican cheese blend and Trader Joe's Enchilada Sauce. After baking for 20 minutes, the resulting entree was flavorful, filling, and satisfying.


What else can you do with this sauce? Chilaquiles are mentioned on traderjoes.com. If we try that, we'll report back with the results in the comments section. What have you made with this product? Let us know.

$4.49 for the 24 oz jar. Kosher. Would buy again. Eight out of ten stars a piece from both Sonia and me for Trader Joe's Enchilada Sauce.



Bottom line: 8 out of 10.

You Might Like: