Trader Joe's, the popular American grocery store, sells a host of cult favorites that keep their customer base coming back every week. Despite the generally small, cramped aisles and a lack of certain key products - leading to the inevitable drive over to the nearest Walmart - many herald this kitschy market as their favorite grocery store (myself included)!
Something that I've noticed recently in the Trader Joe's vegetable aisle is an uptick in pre-chopped stir-fry vegetables encased in plastic tubs. The appeal of these meals is that you can avoid the often laborious process of cutting up six different vegetables just for one dinner. The question for these meals is whether or not they taste good!
To test this, I bought the Trader Joe's Healthy 8 Chopped Veggie Mix. The package claims that this mix is "For salads, sautéing, or anytime you need fresh veggies." Sounds promising! This particular mix is made up of broccoli, carrots, green cabbage, red cabbage, jicama, green bell pepper, radish, and celery.
I didn't want to just fry up the veggies and eat it plain (boring), so I decided to spice it up a little with some rice noodles, Impossible meat, and a homemade sesame sauce. I wanted to take this pre-packaged salad to the next level.
I cooked the noodles, whisked together the sauce, and sautéed the meat. Now all that was left was to add the veggie mix. I poured the whole container into the pan and watched as all eight of the healthy veggies cooked down into colorful blobs of nutrients. After garnishing the dish with some sesame seeds and a ton of green onions (did you know that you can easily grow your own at home in a cup filled with water?), my mouth was watering and my family was eagerly waiting to dig in.
The post-dinner verdict? Success! My family really enjoyed the meal and I definitely liked the convenience of the pre-chopped mix. Overall, I would certainly buy it again. This kind of mix is perfect if you need to make a quick dinner because it considerably shortens the meal prep time. Something that prevents so many people from eating healthy is the time it takes to make a nutritious dish that actually tastes good. This kind of mix might be the exact thing that someone needs to start creating their own healthy and delicious meals!
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