Trader Joe's Asparagus Risotto

The big win here is that I did not hate it, as I do most things containing asparagus. In fact, I found it rather pleasant in both flavor and texture. And it takes no work at all to prepare--freezer to microwave to table in mere minutes.


Will I buy it again? 

Probably not for myself, simply because I get plenty of rice already without it. But it would be among my choices for dinner guests. What's more, Nina liked it even more than I did, and I hereby give her permission to serve it when it's her turn to make dinner, without worrying that I will reject it.

Trader Joe's Shells With Brie And Asparagus

Looking around the web, I see reviews of this product dating back a few years, so it's obviously been around for a while, but I had never noticed it until a recent browse through the TJ's freezers.

It's OK, not great. I'm not a fan of asparagus, so that portion of it had to be tolerated rather than enjoyed. There's really not enough to serve two as the package claims--but I didn't object too much, because it wasn't good enough to want more. (Opening line of Woody Allen's "Annie Hall": "There's an old joke. Two elderly women are at a Catskill mountain resort, and one of them says, 'Boy, the food in this place is really terrible.' And the other one says, 'Yeah, I know--and such small portions.'")


Will I buy it again? 

No. The best store-bought mac & cheese I've found yet is Cracker Barrel's white cheddar. Looking at just the Trader Joe's offerings, the Organic Shells and White Cheddar is better. Or if I want really minimal preparation so that I'm going for frozen, I'd pick the Hatch Chile version over this every time.

Trader Joe's Organic Creamy Asparagus Soup

I don't like asparagus, so it took some considerable mental effort to put this tub of soup in my shopping basket. I did so only because (1) I thought a cold soup would be nice for a dinner with Nina, and (2) this is a brand-new Trader Joe's product, and I try to get those tested ASAP for our readers.

I didn't like it. But I can say that it wasn't as awful as I had anticipated. Even the fact that ONION is the first listed ingredient, after water--that's right, there's more onion than asparagus in this asparagus soup--was not enough to make it totally inedible. I choked it down, using the mental trick of trying to tell myself it was pea soup, which I like. That didn't really work.

I'm not a fair judge of this, I'll admit.

Will I buy it again? 

We ended up pouring the last half of this tub down the drain rather than saving it as leftovers. Does that answer the question?