Trader Joe's Passion Fruit Granola with Dried Raspberries

Passion fruit and raspberry? That sounds interesting. Add to it some rolled oats, rice syrup, and sugar, and we probably have another tasty Trader Joe's granola on our hands. There have been so many throughout the years, it's hard to keep track of what we've reviewed and what we haven't, what's still available and what's been discontinued...

"Passion fruit puree" is the third ingredient here. It gives the big crunchy oat clusters a faint citrusy sweetness and a bit of a tang. Passion fruit and raspberry are both sweet and tart, so this cereal is quite tangy. It's almost bordering on too tangy for my taste, honestly.

Like most cereals of this kind, the dried raspberries are far and few between. That first bowl I poured in the pic only had two actual raspberries in it. I grabbed a third out of the bag just for the sake of the photo.

This just isn't my thing, personally. Sour cereal is just not something I'm craving, like, ever. For that reason, I think it works a little better as a yogurt topping than a traditional bowl of cereal with milk, but that's just me. There's quite a bit of sugar in this product, too, so I'd probably reach for something like cake or ice cream before I'd reach for this product again.

I know this granola has its following. Plenty of positive reviews out there in cyberspace if that's what you're looking for. Plus, unfortunately, negative reviews never go viral or do very well on social media, which sucks for the traffic on this blog. 

I gotta be honest, though. This granola is okay, but I wouldn't buy it again. By all means, if you disagree, let us know in the comments. Tell us why you like it. Six and a half out of ten stars from me for Trader Joe's Passion Fruit Granola with Dried Raspberries. Sonia will go with an even six.

Bottom line: 6.25 out of 10.

Trader Joe's Roasted Tomato Labneh Dip

Do they call it "labneh" because it's grown in a lab? There's quite a list of live active cultures there on the ingredients. My favorite is "streptococcus." But no worries. It's streptococcus thermophilus, which is a probiotic that's "generally recognized as safe," according to Gemini. Phew. I thought I was going to get a sore throat from eating this...

Despite our fondness for Mediterranean cuisine, neither Sonia nor I had ever tried labneh before, so we can't really speak to the authenticity of this particular offering. It's a thick dairy product popular in the food cultures of North Africa and the Middle East. It's not a far cry from Greek yogurt or sour cream in terms of taste and texture, and it's often mixed with olive oil and spices.

This particular specimen has sunflower and canola oils (boo) mixed in, along with a delightful blend of seasonings. In terms of overall flavor, Sonia and I taste the yogurt flavor the most, followed by roasted tomato, then dill and garlic. There are faint whispers of vinegar and mint, as well. It's tangy, creamy, and herbaceous—and it mixes well with pretty much any Middle Eastern dish. Falafel, chicken shawarma, kebabs, fish, or pita and hummus would all work remarkably well with Trader Joe's Labneh.

I was perfectly fine snacking on this labneh with little pita bites or crackers, although it shines even more when served as a topping for one of the entrees named above. It's surprisingly thick. Both dippable and spreadable, it's a versatile condiment that we're eager to experiment with. I'm anxious to try other versions from local Mediterranean restaurants.

$3.49 for the 8.5 oz tub, found in the refrigerated section. Would possibly buy again. Eight out of ten stars from me for Trader Joe's Roasted Tomato Labneh Dip. Seven out of ten stars from Sonia.

Bottom line: 7.5 out of 10.

Trader Joe's Strawberry Doodle Cookies

I didn't know if this would work when I first heard about it: strawberry snickerdoodle cookies. They have the same dimensions, ingredients, and texture of original snickerdoodles for the most part except they substitute the cinnamon elements with strawberries.

Although looking at the ingredients list right now, I notice that the fruit pieces are actually both apple and strawberry puree mixed with sugar and pectin and a few other things. There's really no discernible apple flavor. It all just tastes like strawberry flavored sugar cookie. The strawberry flavor comes through for sure, but it's not overwhelming. I think they nailed the balance of berry to baked good brilliance.

The texture of these cookies is superb. They're some of the softest cookies we've tried from TJ's in quite a while. They're crumbly and slightly fluffy, but they're rigid enough to make the perfect "bread" for an ice cream sandwich.

We tried strawdoodleberry sandwich cookies with both vanilla and strawberry ice creams. I preferred vanilla, for sure. Strawberry ice cream yielded a decent dessert, but it was a bit of strawberry overload. I'm sure any flavor of ice cream would work just fine.

There are two individually wrapped cellophane packages within the box. Each one contains three cookies. The product did get markedly more stiff and stale after being opened for a couple days. Since it's just the two of us, we usually can't finish products like this in a single day. The flavor was still just fine, but the soft cookies became a bit more crispity crunchity.

$5.49 found with the baked goods. Would buy again. Sonia and I will throw out eight and a half out of ten stars for Trader Joe's Strawberry Doodle Cookies.

Bottom line: 8.5 out of 10.

Trader Joe's Crunchy Chili Onion Toscano Cheese

I'm no cheese expert, but we've had good luck with Trader Joe's selections in the past. This is at least the fourth toscano cheese we've seen from TJ's, in fact. We enjoyed the cinnamon dusted variety in particular.

This one is sill nutty, creamy, and faintly sweet, but now we've got the savory flavors of Trader Joe's Chili Onion Crunch. It adds a little heat for sure, but it's not nearly as spicy as I'd want it to be. Just like the cinnamon toscano, this one is far more flavorful around the rind. The center of the wedge is pretty much just plain toscano, which is delicious in its own right, of course.

The cheese is semi-firm, texture-wise. It's crumbly, compact, and pleasant to chew. It softens even more after it's been out of the fridge for a while.

The cheese is great by itself or it's nice when served with crackers. Sonia put some on her morning eggs, and it tasted great. I haven't tried it yet, but I'm thinking grilled cheese served with some kind of peppery, spicy soup..?

It's $11.99 per pound in the cheese area. Our wedge was just under half a pound. Would buy again. Eight out of ten stars from both Sonia and me on Trader Joe's Crunchy Chili Onion Toscano Cheese.

Bottom line: 8 out of 10.

Trader Joe's Sesame Crusted Hardwood Smoked Ahi Tuna

I never had lox until I was an adult. I'm not sure if I would have appreciated it as a kid, to be honest. I mean, I've always liked most fish, salmon and tuna included. But the way it's served cold, often with cream cheese on a bagel was weird to me until I started eating bagels regularly.

Anyway, what I'm getting at is that we tried this product served in exactly the same way you might serve lox. That wasn't my smoothest segue into the review part of the blog post, but hey, it was actually Monday morning when I was composing this, so cut me some slack. This whole blog post will likely be clunky, but I promise it'll have good info like always. It might even be vaguely entertaining. Now what was I saying?

Back to the tuna. It's ahi tuna. There's a spiel about what "ahi tuna" means in Hawaii on the packaging, so I assumed the fish was sourced in Hawaii. But then I checked traderjoes.com and it says it's caught "off the coasts of Micronesia." Wait. Micronesia is a real country? I thought they made it up for Zoolander. Just kidding. I knew it was real. But why doesn't the packaging say "product of Micronesia" I wonder..? Seems like there might be some nefarious fish poaching going on here but I won't dime you out, Trader Joe.

Anyway, we can confirm that Trader Joe's Sesame Crusted Hardwood Smoked Ahi Tuna works at least as well as lox when placed on a bagel with cream cheese. Sonia added tomatoes, onions, and arugula to hers and she enjoyed it that way. It's very similar to lox in terms of texture, but you know tuna is less fishy than salmon, so it's more neutral. Also, the sesame seeds add a nice nutty flavor. There's a smokiness to the product, but it's nice and subtle.

I also threw together a makeshift poke bowl with this smoked tuna, some greens, rice, and yangnyeom sauce. I don't know if that's a legit poke bowl but it was pretty tasty. Sonia liked it, too. I should have added avocado. That would have made it even better.

Complaints? We wish there were more fish in the package. We wish each slab were just a tad bigger. We wish the bag were resealable. Still a winner in our books.

$6.99 for the 4 oz non-resealable plastic bag, found in the refrigerated section. Kosher. Would buy again. Nine out of ten stars from Sonia and me for Trader Joe's Sesame Crusted Hardwood Smoked Wild Caught Ahi Tuna.

Bottom line: 9 out of 10.

Trader Joe's Pineapple Teriyaki Chicken Meatballs

This blog post completes what will inevitably be known as the What's Good at TJ's Meatball Trilogy of June 2025. The series began with Trader Joe's Meatball Calzone. The adventure continued with Trader Joe's Homestyle Angus Beef Meatballs. And now we find our heroes returning to poultry with a Japanese flair as our story concludes with teriyaki meatball subs and pineapple stir fry rice bowls.

We heated these puppies in the air fryer. They weren't dry in the slightest. Their flavor wasn't overbearing at all. It was a typical chicken taste but also slightly sweet with plenty of teriyaki tang. I think I liked the meatballs by themselves as much as I liked our meatball sub and stir fry dishes.

They went well with every sauce we tried them with. It's just a matter of what you're after. Soy sauce gave them extra saltiness. Soyaki sauce gave them saltiness as well as sweetness. Yangnyeom did the same but with a bit of spiciness, too. I don't think I'd throw them in any tomato based sauces, but if you've tried that and liked it, let us know in the comments.

What else could you do with these? I've heard good things about pineapple teriyaki chicken meatball pizzas and flatbreads. I've heard you can just throw them in a bowl of noodles, spicy or otherwise. It might be easier to ask what you can't do with them rather than what you can.

$4.29 in the refrigerated section for about 24 meatballs. Fully cooked. Gluten free. Would buy again. Eight out of ten stars a piece from Sonia and me for Trader Joe's Pineapple Teriyaki Chicken Meatballs.

Bottom line: 8 out of 10.

Trader Joe's Gluten Free Breaded Shrimp

On special occasions as a kid, if my parents asked me for any input about where I'd like to go for a big meal, I'd almost invariably choose Bonanza Steakhouse at the local mall. They knew before we even got to the restaurant that I'd order fried shrimp with cocktail sauce. I loved that stuff. The fact that my favorite video arcade, Aladdin's Castle, was right next door was also a bonus. I mean, Ponderosa and Hoss's offered scrumptious seafood and salad bars too, but the promise of blowing my entire weekly allowance on Golden Axe or Double Dragon before my parents even finished their dessert tipped the scales in favor of Bonanza every time.

My love of fried shrimp followed me into adulthood. Popcorn shrimp, coconut shrimp, honey walnut shrimp—you name it. If it has breading and shrimp, I'll eat it and most likely love it. 

Enter: Trader Joe's Gluten Free Breaded Shrimp. Having sampled many, many gluten free offerings from TJ's throughout the years, I had a pretty good idea I'd be fine with their GF shrimp, even if the batter wasn't wheat based.

And I was right. Tapioca and coconut flours do the trick just fine. Six minutes in the air fryer had these delicious morsels sizzling and ready to be thrown into our shrimp soft tacos with corn tortillas, salsa verde, feta cheese, and freshly chopped onion. I did try them on their own, as well, and they're just as good as wheat-battered shrimp. They go great with sweet Thai chili sauce.

Ten bucks is a little steep for a 3 serving Trader Joe's product, but decent shrimp is pricey anywhere these days. Add to that the fact that these meet a very important dietary requirement for gluten intolerant folks, and the price tag seems downright reasonable. 

Sonia and I would buy this product again. Imported from Thailand. Eight and a half out of ten stars from both of us on Trader Joe's Gluten Free Breaded Shrimp.

Bottom line: 8.5 out of 10.

Trader Joe's Tres Leches Cake

Tres leches is without a doubt my favorite style of cake, so we actually picked up this specimen from Trader Joe's for my birthday last week. It comes frozen, but it's quite simple to prepare: thaw overnight in the fridge or at room temperature for three hours.

Predictably, I was ready for cake before the beautiful wifey, so I simply started eating the product straight out of the cardboard container that it comes in. It was still a bit frosty on the inside, so I had to wait a bit longer to finish my piece. Like the recently reviewed macarons, this is another one you actually want to thaw fully before consuming.

Sonia skipped the part where she scolds me for eating straight out of the product packaging since it was my birthday and all, and she managed to salvage an only slightly mangled piece from the cardboard container. She's been eating tres leches pretty much her whole life, while I only came to know and love the spongy Latin milk cake as a young adult.

We both agree this selection from TJ's is great. It's not the number one best tres leches we've ever had, but it's definitely up there. 

Considering the convenience and price: $8 for four servings, it's definitely something to check out if you're not familiar with tres leches or if you need an easy dessert for a small gathering or family meal.

Kosher. Found in the frozen section. Would buy again. Sonia and I will go with eight and a half out of ten stars for Trader Joe's Tres Leches Cake.

Bottom line: 8.5 out of 10.

Trader Joe's Homestyle Angus Beef Meatballs

Honestly, I don't eat meatballs of any kind all that often. Sure, Sonia made some of her own to go with our pasta and Red Pepper & Almond Pesto a couple weeks ago. And we recently reviewed Trader Joe's Meatball Calzone, which is absolutely packed with meatballs. Furthermore, we may have yet another Trader Joe's meatball product on deck for a review in just a week or so...

But I mean, other than that, I really haven't had meatballs in a while and I've never eaten them with any regularity at any point in my life. June 2025 has been the meatballiest month of my entire life thus far. Some of you might be quick to point out that "meatbally" as well as its comparative and superlative forms are not even real words. Well then, friends, you must not have been following this blog for very long. Making up fictitious adjectives is a thing we do here.

These all-beef meatballs are scrumptacular. Maybe it's the high quality Angus beef in them. Maybe it's the stellar spice blend and panko crumbs. Maybe it's the way Sonia prepared them with love...but they're probably the best meatballs I've ever had. Certainly, they're the best pre-made, store-bought ones I've ever had.

For nine bucks, you get a dozen big beef meatballs. They've got a nice texture that's meaty and bready, soft and juicy. Garlic and onion purees give the product a uniformly savory flavor in every bite. Romano cheese, parsley, basil, and cherry powder round out the spices and secondary flavors for an outstanding overall taste.

We at ours with some elbow macaroni, marinara sauce, and cheese—but honestly they're quite noshable on their own. We'd love to try an all-beef calzone with this product inside. We'd also try a simple meatball sub with these the next time we pick them up. They're absolutely delicious.

$8.99 in the refrigerated section. Would buy again. Sonia and I will both go with nine out of ten stars on Trader Joe's Homestyle Angus Beef Meatballs.

Bottom line: 9 out of 10.

Trader Joe's Peaches + Cream Cream Cheese Spread

You'd think peaches and cream cream cheese would have, you know, peaches in it. And it does. It's right there in the ingredients right after milk, cream, and sugar.

But it's sooo faint. It's like, why even pretend this is flavored cream cheese at all? There are no discernible chunks or even pieces or even bits of peach in the whole tub. I mean, look at the picture. The entire package was like that. No peaches.

There is just the vaguest whisper of peach flavor in the cream cheese. It's nice what little is there I guess. But even the cream cheese itself isn't very interesting. It almost tastes like light cream cheese or a diet version of full calorie cream cheese. It's not indulgent at all. It's a weak flavor and the texture is indistinguishable from traditional cream cheese.

Crank up the peach presence by a hundred fold and we'll try this again. Apparently this product was around a couple years ago and then it disappeared for 2024 and now it's back again. I'm wondering if Trader Joe's didn't find a new supplier..?

$2.79 for the 8 oz tub. Kosher. Found in the refrigerated section. Would not buy again in this current format. Five out of ten stars from Sonia and me on Trader Joe's Peaches + Cream Cream Cheese Spread.

Bottom line: 5 out of 10.

Trader Joe's Teeny Tiny Strawberry Rhubarb Pies

Does rhubarb actually exist outside of berry pies? I don't think I've ever even seen a rhubarb plant. I've never laid eyes on rhubarb in a culinary context either except for little red bits inside already-made baked goods. I mean, I've gathered that rhubarb is red, so it's hard to tell where the strawberries end and the rhubarb begins.

I guess it's more sour than a strawberry. Strawberry rhubarb is always nice and tangy. This product is no exception. It's sweet, tart, and like all of TJ's mini pies, there's a soft, flaky, buttery crust around the outside of the pastry.

I found my pies to be oddly lacking in filling. Other Trader Joe's mini pies seemed to absolutely burst with fruit filling. These? They had enough fruit juicy sweetness to still be delicious, but I wanted more berries and 'barb.

We air fried ours and they came out great. Three minutes at 350° seemed to do the trick. We added vanilla bean ice cream to our sweet little treats and as you might have expected, they were even better a la mode.

$5.49 for four small pies. Kosher. Found with the baked goods. Supposedly they'll be in and out of stores until the onslaught of fall stuff later in the year. We'd buy 'em again. Eight out of ten stars from Sonia and me for Trader Joe's Teeny Tiny Strawberry Rhubarb Pies.

Bottom line: 8 out of 10.

Trader Joe's Meatball Calzone

Ah, it's been a while since I've had a good calzone. Found this $7 offering in the refrigerated section on our last TJ's run. Most of you already know we're not pork people, but we thought we'd give it a whirl anyway. The meatballs in this item are a mixture of pork and beef.

Twelve minutes in the air fryer had the insides of this calzone piping hot. It was quite a bit of food for just Sonia and me. It's actually a three serving product, and that makes sense.

The bread was a little firm and toasty, crusty and chewy, soft on the inside...all in all, pretty good. The meat? Well there was a ton of meat. In fact, it was pretty much all meat on the inside. The ingredients did mention some parmesan cheese and a tomato-based sauce, but they were barely noticeable.

We were pining for big globs of mozzarella and waves of rich, velvety marinara sauce bursting with oregano and basil flavors, and they simply weren't there in any significant quantities. The product might as well have been all bread and meat. The spices were there along with some whispers of onion and garlic, but we just both wanted more.

We could definitely tell the meatballs were part pork, too. We know a lot of you are big fans of that stuff, so by all means, please try this product and report back here with your thoughts. We just don't think it's as good as the calzones we've had from mom and pop's Italian places or even your run-of-the-mill pizza joint.

$6.99 for the three serving calzone. Found in the refrigerated section. Can be heated in the microwave, conventional oven, or air fryer. Sonia will throw out six and a half stars for Trader Joe's Meatball Calzone. I'll go with six.

Bottom line: 6.25 out of 10.

Trader Joe's Mango Pineapple Pico de Gallo Salsa

Quickie for today: more or less what we have here is some traditional pico de gallo but with little mango and pineapple pieces tossed into the mix.

It's sweeter than regular pico, but it's not as sweet as you might expect. Despite some jalapeño pieces, it's not very spicy at all. It's a very light flavor.

This is a nice refreshing salsa with a tropical twist for chip dipping on a hot day, or it would go great with fish tacos, shrimp tacos, or even chicken tacos. At ten calories per serving, the nutritionals are perfect for summer snacking, too.

$3.99 in the refrigerated section. Would buy again. Sonia and I will go with eight and a quarter stars out of ten on Trader Joe's Mango Pineapple Pico de Gallo Salsa.

Bottom line: 8.25 out of 10.

Trader Joe's Raspberry, Vanilla & Blueberry Macarons

Not to be confused with macaroons, the macaron is a French sandwich cookie made with egg white, almond flour, sugar, and some creamy or fruity filling. We've seen a bunch of different macaron offerings from Trader Joe's steadily over the course of this blog's tenure. One highlight: the pumpkin macarons. Those are probably still our favorite (although we haven't had them in many years. Let's hope they didn't change suppliers or recipes or anything like that) but these would have to be a close second.

Preparation: you simply thaw the entire pack at room temperature for an hour or in the fridge for four hours. Pro tip: actually let them thaw the whole hour. As much as I love cold desserts and iced treats, the flavors of these macarons hit just a little nicer when they're fully unfrozen.

The blueberry flavor was our favorite by a pretty solid margin, the raspberry our second favorite, and vanilla—though not bad by any means—fell in third. The fruity flavors actually tasted like their namesake berries thanks to the inclusion of actual raspberry and blueberry puree. There's apple in there, too, since apple tends to just lend sweetness and rarely overshadows the tart intensity of something like blueberry or raspberry.

The vanilla cookies tasted nuttier and creamier than their fruit-based counterparts but perhaps not quite as sweet or indulgent somehow. Again, nothing to complain about, but if I had the opportunity to buy a dozen blueberry macarons all by themselves, I'd do it in a heartbeat.

Texture-wise, like most good macarons, these were meringue-esque but also soft and slightly chewy. You could feel the almond meal, too, but they never came across as gritty or unpleasant in any way. Very pleasant mouthfeel.

$5.99 for 12 macarons. Product of France. We'd give the blueberry flavor nine out of ten stars. The raspberry and vanilla flavors would get eight and a halfs and eights, respectively. So, in the end, averaging all three scores, both Sonia and I would give Trader Jacques' <ahem> Trader Joe's Raspberry, Vanilla & Blueberry Macarons eight and a half out of ten stars. Would buy again.

Bottom line: 8.5 out of 10.

Trader Joe's Crispy Jalapeño Pieces

Crispy jalapeños? Are they a topping? Or are they a snack? Trader Joe's is quick to let us know that they're whatever you want them to be. I mean, Sonia and I like spicy foods, but I don't think we or a whole lot of other people would be content simply noshing on these crispy critters straight from the bag.

Yeah, they're jalapeños, so they're hot. I mean, they're not Carolina Reaper hot, but that spice builds up on the tongue if you gobble down more than just a handful of these babies. You might be tempted to, however, because they're pretty tasty. They're lightly battered and slightly oily but there's plenty of jalapeño flavor. There's a nice crunch in each bite, too.

Certain pieces are much bigger than others. Some specimens look and feel like they might be a whole dehydrated jalapeño pepper and others seem to be little more than crumbs. They're quite versatile and add a bit of flavor and texture to everything from soup to sandwiches, salads to pizza.

Plus, they're imported from the land of jalapeños, Mexi...wait. What? Thailand? Who ever heard of a Thai jalapeño? Anyway, Sonia and I both agree Thai jalapeños aren't bad.

$2.99 for the resealable bag. Imported from Thailand. Would buy again. We'll go with eight out of ten stars for Trader Joe's Crispy Jalapeño Pieces.

Bottom line: 8 out of 10.

Trader Joe's Milk Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups

A few months back, we looked at Trader Joe's Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups for the very first time. They're just about as classic as it gets. The only product I can think of that might rival them in terms of enduring the test of time and maintaining a place in Trader Joe's candy aisle might be these happy morsels. I've only had them once before—and that was many years ago. I'm excited to try them again and see if they're as good as I remember.

About a hundred Dubai chocolate type fads will come and go while these peanut butter cups just sit quietly on their shelf outlasting and outshining and standing the test of time year after year, decade after decade. Don't get me wrong, I've got nothing against Dubai chocolate. Pistachio and chocolate is almost as stellar a combo as peanut butter and chocolate.

If you want our take on Trader Joe's Dubai Chocolate, we'll have one soon enough. Until then, everybody and her sister has put up a TikTok vid explaining why Trader Joe's four dollar Dubai chocolate isn't as good as the $80 version they had while partying with the Kardashians but it's still pretty good.

Know what else is pretty good? These milk chocolate peanut butter cups. For six bucks, you get a pound of milk chocolate and peanut butter goodness. Each one is just about exactly the size of one of Reese's miniatures—a great bite-sized snack. Or, if you're like me, you bite them in half and get two little bites out of each one. They've got the perfect peanut butter to chocolate ratio, and neither element is overly sweet or overly bitter. It's just nutty chocolatey bliss in every cup.

Sonia likes them a lot, too. She's a bigger fan of dark chocolate than I am, so she gave the dark chocolate peanut butter cups a slightly higher score than I did. But even she has to admit that the milk chocolate peanut butter cup is a timeless combo that's hard to beat. We both agree that they're just a tad bit better than the reigning champ Reese's. That's saying a lot.

$5.99 for the resealable tub. Kosher. Would buy again. Sonia and I will each throw out eight and a half out of ten stars for Trader Joe's Milk Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups.

Bottom line: 8.5 out of 10.

Trader Joe's Rolled Oats & Chocolate Chips Fiberful Granola Bars

Let's face it: granola bars are boring. Ones that advertise how much fiber content they have are even more boring. Sure, there's always some mention of peanut butter or chocolate or honey or something else to make them sound moderately exciting, but in the end, they're rarely memorable or tasty enough that they can truly compete with a full-fledged candy bar.

That said, Trader Joe's granola bars are rarely awful. We've seen our fair share over the past decade and a half on this blog—in the ballpark of a few dozen different varieties, at a quick glance. Just off the top of my head, one of the few truly notable selections would be the ABC Bars. I'm pretty sure they're still available. We've definitely purchased those more than once. We're on the hunt for another product along those lines: something healthy, hearty, convenient, and tasty enough that it'll keep you from reaching for anything more indulgent or diet-derailing.

Trader Joe's Rolled Oats & Chocolate Chips Fiberful Granola Bars are not only filling, but they taste surprisingly good, too. They're dense, chewy, and rather than tasting like cardboard with a few chocolate pieces tossed in as an afterthought, they're more like chocolate bars with just a faint grittiness to them that attests to their fiber content. Apparently, they were recently reformulated by the supplier and are now smaller than their predecessors and have a slightly different taste. Many say they prefer the old flavor, others say they enjoy the new version more. I couldn't tell you because I never tried the old formula.

There's plenty of oats in the mix. If you're not a fan of oats, you might wanna sit this one out. But really, as far as fiber-rich snacks go, these are quite palatable. Boasting nearly a third of your daily fiber intake in each bar, they're just as filling as you'd expect them to be. These are ideal as a mid-day pick-me-up type snack.

$2.99 for five bars. Kosher. Would buy again. Seven and a half stars a piece from Sonia and me for Trader Joe's Fiberful Granola Bars, Rolled Oats and Chocolate Chip flavor. Let us know if you tried the old formula and how you like this one in comparison.

Bottom line: 7.5 out of 10.