Gems at Joe's

While the jury is still out on whether or not their private label products are actually 100% GMO-free (see Food Babe's post), they certainly seem to be a company dedicated to pleasing their customers. They offer many products that are free of antibiotics, preservatives and synthetic colors, they are super friendly, and their prices can't be beat! Check out these 5 interesting facts from a Kitchn.com blogger. 

Now that we live in walking distance of a Trader Joe's and many of my Jacksonville, FL friends have access to a brand new location there, I thought it might be fun to post some of my discoveries from time to time. Today I happened to have some kid-free time on my hands and decided to inspect the shelves more closely. I wasn't disappointed!

I'm most excited to have found this bag of frozen organic quinoa, sweet potato, kale and carrot pilaf. In addition to the obvious, the mix includes water, organic onion, organic red bell pepper, organic EVOO (no rancid PUFAs here!), organic garlic, sea salt and organic spices.

The lemons, broccoli and peas you see in the background? Just organic lemons, organic green peas and organic baby broccoli - that's it. I admit that I do have to hunt around a bit for a pretty bag of lemons, but a few small brown spots is a small trade-off at $0.33 instead of upwards of $1.00 each. Organic lemons aren't cheap!

I live in a house full of boys so I do find that I need to keep munchies available at all times. Their organic blue chips are made with spouted amaranth, quinoa & chia - bonus! And, we all love their organic banana chips. Yes, they do have a little bit of added sugar, but I love that they use coconut oil and all 3 ingredients are organic/non-GMO.

Trader Joe's doesn't offer a huge selection of products in their stores and you do have to make your way through some very tempting, not-so-healthy junk (i.e. cookie butter - yum!), but in the end I've found that it's worth stopping in every so often. Stay tuned for what I discover on my next trip!