January 2023 Trader Joe's Grocery Haul

It was absolutely gorgeous out this morning.

Here's a close-up of that bent top tree. The colors this morning were just stunning.

Back in October, I went down to Portland and got an eye exam and ordered some glasses. They told me I needed bifocals. I went down the first part of December to pick them up and they were not anything that I could live with, so I had them redo them all together. I have one eye that is far-sighted. I have one eye that is near-sighted. I simply wanted one pair of reading glasses and one pair of driving glasses and I didn't need all that bifocal junk. Anyhow, having that ice storm, etc., we didn't make it down there until today.

Since we were headed toward Clackamas, we decided that we'd go to Trader Joe's and stock back up on wine.

I do not drink wine. I cook with it. Trader Joe's has that 2-buck chuck that I like. It tastes pretty decent and it works for whatever I want to cook it in.

There was a beautiful view of Mt. Hood going over the bridge from Vancouver into Portland.

After picking up my glasses, we headed down the freeway to Trader Joe's.

Trader Joe's has super cheap bottles of wine. They run $2.99 each. I picked up 5 different types: Pinot Grigio, Merlot, Shiraz, Chardonnay, and Cabernet Sauvignon. Bob found his favorite ginger cookies. I can't believe how affordable the grape tomatoes were!

Of course, we couldn't forget the doggos!

I see tons of people talking about this seasoning blend. I thought I would give it a whirl. I'm not exactly sure as to what I will put it on, but I now have it.

This is another item that was incredibly affordable. These were $2.49 cents for a pound of these little Persian cucumbers. The ones I get at Safeway are very poor quality and start rotting within just a few days. These were very fresh.

I love those pea crisps that you find in the snack aisle. I thought I would give these a whirl. They are delicious!

Bob is the one that spied my very favorite tea blend. I'm enjoying it over ice right now.

Yuzu is one of those things that I've been wanting to try. Now I get to see what it tastes like.
In Oregon, you have to pay a 10-cent can deposit. Because I'm a Washingtonian, I don't get to turn these in. No matter. We'll just recycle them like we do with the other aluminum cans.

I planned out a month's worth of meals. I only planned out the dinners and it was only the main dish. I'm going to be making teriyaki chicken bowls. These will make a great side course with them.

Bob loves tamales. He picked these out for a hot quick lunch sometime.

I've been slowly amassing the ingredients to make Budae Jiggae, or Korean Army Base Stew. These rice cakes are one of the ingredients.

I also wound up buying some reusable produce bags. I'm so sick of bringing home produce in those plastic produce bags and they wind up in the trash. All the produce bags at Trader Joe's are compostable. I saved the one from my green bell peppers to reuse, as well.

So, there's my grand total of $61.48.

We really enjoyed going through Trader Joe's this morning.