What’s not to love about Trader Joe’s? Right? I mean they have tons of organic products, pretty affordable prices, amazing customer service and the cutest selection of flowers! It’s a win-win for me and one of the many reasons I do like 85% of my grocery shopping there. I thought I would share a little Trader Joe’s haul for all you fellow TJ lovers out there! Hope you enjoy!

Since we’ve been vegan for over 10 years now, this is our typical vegan Trader Joe’s trip for my family of four. I try and get the majority of my grocery shopping done at Trader Joe’s, and then finish by getting a few things at Costco or Sprouts. And since I don’t want to take my girls grocery shopping every week, I try and get enough for two weeks of meals! So here is a little breakdown of my cart!

The Essentials: Fruits and Veggies

This varies every trip depending on what they currently have in stock that is organic, but the bulk of what I buy is from this section. We really try to eat whole foods, and stay away from processed foods because they aren’t the best for you! I have a pretty sensitive stomach so any additives will typically irritate it!

Those are pretty much the essentials that we always stock up on! But I thought I would share a few of my favorite finds that you have to try! Some are snacks and more processed, but everything in moderation for us! And some are frozen because it’s great to have something you can make quickly on a weekday when you are short on time! So here are some of my favorite Trader Joe items you need to try!!

1. Trader Joe’s Vegan Ranch Crunch Salad Kit

Okay! This has been a fan favorite for the last month I’m the Moya household! We are obsessed! The salad kit includes green cabbage and romaine lettuce, fried onions, roasted sunflower kernels, kale, red cabbage, carrots, green onions, and a vegan ranch dressing. You just put the dressing over, add the sunflower kernels and you are good to go! The flavor is amazing!

We actually love to make this salad and put it into corn tortillas! We then add vegan fish fillets and some yummy salsa and you have a delicious vegan fish taco that took less than 10 minutes to make!

The only downside with this kit is that it’s not organic! Other than that it’s pretty amazing!!!

2. Trader Joe’s Japanese Style Fried Rice

I buy like four of these at a time! My daughters are obsessed! The flavor is super good and it’s so easy to cook on a busy weeknight! And it’s only $2.99, so it’s definitely an affordable vegan meal/side dish!

The dish includes a rice base with a small amount of edamame, carrot and tofu with a savory sauce. The shredded tofu is supposed to be like a fried egg, but there’s not that much if it so we add some tofu to make it more protein filled!

We love cooking our tofu in the air fryer! Highly recommend this one, but I’ve seen amazing reviews on this one from Amazon too. In an earlier blog post (here!), I shared my favorite way to make tofu! The key to getting crispy tofu is a tofu press! Pressing tofu is THE key step when cooking tofu. When it’s pressed it absorbs marinades and crisps up more easily! This one is super affordable and works great, but I love the aesthetic appearance of this one too!

I also love to add avocado and nutritional yeast to the fried rice and tofu to give it more flavor and more nutrition! It’s so delicious! You have to try if you haven’t already!

3. Almond Butter Pretzels

Okay…I was a fan of the regular peanut butter filled pretzels, but these are just amazing! I mean who doesn’t love something a little sweet and salty. These are seriously the best though and my go to snack whenever I am craving something sweet! I really love how creamy they are inside and they are great snacks for anyone whose child has a peanut allergy!

I would just make sure you don’t eat the whole bag in one serving! It’s definitely easy to, so be mindful of that! The serving size is 8 nuggets, which contain 140 calories, 6 grams of fat, 240 milligrams of salt, 19 grams of carbs, 2 grams of fiber, and 4 grams of sugar. But it’s definitely a delicious treat!

4. Coconut Chocolate Date Bars

These delicious bars are amazing! I’m a super big fan of the fact that it only has a few ingredients and they are all real ingredients, no hard to pronounce names over here! It’s just dates, almond butter, coconut flakes, unsweetened chocolate chunks and cocoa powder! That’s it!

Each bar has 170 calories and it comes in a five-pack for $3.49, so it’s a good deal! They taste like a brownie to me and are very creamy and slightly chewy! My daughters really love these as a special treat and I can feel satisfied knowing they aren’t getting all of the additives! They are a great alternative to a brownie or dessert, or even just a little treat to put in your child’s lunchbox! These bars actually remind me of a Larabar, which Trader Joes used to carry!

Eco-Friendly Shopping Items

One bad thing about Trader Joes is that a lot of the products are wrapped in plastic! You can’t really bring your reusable produce bags and put the produce straight into them since they are already packaged. I do wish that was an option, but unfortunately, it isn’t right now! In order to combat that, I always bring my reusable bags to bag my groceries at home! It’s the little things that count!

Here’s a few of my favorite bags!

I hope this post didn’t make you too hungry and that you have a Trader Joes nearby so you can try these delicious items! Thank you for following along and we hope you have a great weekend!!

xoxoxo,

Kari

p.s. if you do click on the links and purchase an item, we make a small commission! we appreciate your support <3

The post What’s in My Cart: Trader Joe’s Haul appeared first on sunkissed & grateful.

Sustainable bathroom tip #1—Reduce your toilet paper usage

Remember last year when covid initially hit and there was a huge toilet paper shortage?? Here on Kauai our shelves were empty and relying on shipments made the situation a little more difficult and unreliable.

With the unpredictability of the toilet paper situation, we decided to finally get a bidet. My mother in law had the same thought, ordered 3, and gifted us one.

A bidet in your bathroom is one of the simple ways to make your bathroom more sustainable.

Side note: our friends have owned a bidet for years I refused to give it a try haha…I don’t know why!

If you’re unfamiliar with a bidet, it’s basically attaches to your toilet seat and to your toilet’s plumbing. Instead of using a huge wad of toilet paper, or needing to wipe multiple times, the bidet splashes water to clean you off!

I’m so sad that I went so many years without a bidet! Haha…it’s seriously so amazing! Not only do I find it more hygienic but we’ve noticed a significant decrease in our toilet paper usage!

If you’re reluctant to get one, let me tell you that it doesn’t hurt at all. And most, if not all bidets allow you to control the pressure so you can start off with super low pressure and increase with when you feel more comfortable.

This might be TMI, but I find myself waiting to handle my business till I’m at home bc of the amazing-ness of a bidet! Haha I really think everyone would love one!!

Sustainable bathroom tip #2–Transition to plastic-free razors

Most of us shave regularly and most of us use plastic razors and refill blades. It’s estimated that over 2 billion blades and refills get tossed annually in the US! Since they have a dangerous component, they can’t be recycled! Transitioning to plastic-free razors is another one of the simple ways to transition to a sustainable bathroom.

For years I have been sharing my husbands razor (which I guess is pretty sustainable too haha) but finally felt like it was time to get my own.

I kept on seeing ads for a popular magnetic razor and the marketing almost got me. Then I saw one of my favorite sustainable influencers share about her metal razor and I was sold!

The Leaf razor I got is 100% plastic free! It shaves wonderfully, comes with replacement metal blades, is made with no plastic and can be recycled!

Plastic free razors do cost a little more up front (I linked a $12 one!) but in the big picture, it is better purchase for your wallet and our planet.

Sustainable bathroom tip #3–Transition to Cotton Turkish Towels

In the past few months I began transitioning our bath towels to cotton Turkish towels.

Polyester happens to be a common material used in the traditional plush towels. Polyester happens to be plastic in material form (that is a very simplistic explanation, look it up for all the facts!). So not only do the plush towels take forever to dry in a dryer but they also let out micro plastics, that get dumped to our land,each time they are washed.

Transitioning to cotton Turkish towels is another of the simple ways to make your bathroom more sustainable.

With so much humid air here in Kauai we found that the plusher towels wouldn’t fully dry between uses and would take so much energy to fully dry in the dryer. For our situation, transitioning to cotton Turkish towels was the most sustainable option.

More about sustainability

Another thing I’ve learned about sustainability is that sometimes it’s more sustainable to keep what you have till it’s no longer in good condition, rather then getting super excited to be sustainable and throw all non-sustainable items away. Additionally up-cycling items that you no longer need and donating are other ways to be sustainable.

Thanks for taking the time to read my thoughts and supporting our blog! If you haven’t read Kari’s post on sustainable swaps check it out here.

We love you guys are are so grateful for you.

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