The Best Pumpkin Foods at Trader Joe’s

Let me just start out by saying #pumpkineverything.

That is what this post is all about – pumpkin everything at the grocery store that has certainly taken that to heart – Trader’s Joes.

You could say they are borderline obsessive. You cannot find a single aisle in the store in the month of October that doesn’t have something pumpkin in it. They are seriously committed (maybe they should be committed in the psychological sense).

You know, I love pumpkin too and have published my share of pumpkin goodies on this blog. I want to help you sort through all the pumpkin products to find some items that are worth your hard earned money to buy.

What Pumpkin Products are Worth Your Money at Trader Joe’s

For t he most part, the products I selected are items that would be more difficult to make on your own. I don’t include these I would rather see you do yourself, such as an pumpkin pancake or waffle mixes (I got a great recipe to make pumpkin waffles from scratch right here). Those things benefit way too much from you using real, fresh pumpkin. So without further ado, let’s get to it.

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Pie Pumpkins

Let’s kick things off with a pumpkin food with just one ingredient – pumpkin. Trader Joe’s has pie pumpkin, perfect for making your very own pumpkin treats. Buy some now and save them – maybe as a display in your living room? Then cook them up to make a pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving.

Danish Kringle – Pumpkin Caramel

I am not sure whether this is just a regional item or available nationwide, leave a comment below if you had found them at your Trader Joe’s. This is a delicious pastry made at O&H Danish Bakery in Racine, Wisconsin. Trader Joe’s help me discouver this bakery, and I had a chance to go there a couple years ago and enjoy their pastries directly from them. What is a kringle? A kringle is a round pastry made of several layers of flaky dough – very hard to replicate in the home kitchen. It has a filling inside, in this case a spiced pumpkin caramel filling – very yummy. It is topped off with an icing and small piece of pecans. I am not a big pecan fan, but the fact they are cut into such small pieces I really appreciated – very subtle. The whole thing is very well put together. How can you go wrong with buttery, flaky dough? You can’t!

Danish kringle go for $7.99 in the store, compared to buying them online from the bakery, where you can pay  up tp $19.99, so a big time savings. They have other flavors come in during the holiday season, so keep an eye out.

Pumpkin Greek Yogurt

Add that granola to Trader Joe’s Pumpkin Greek Yogurt. This is an already blended yogurt. It has a nice tang to it and plenty of pumpkin’s good friend ginger.

The yogurt comes in a 8 ounce cup, which you don’t see a lot of these days. Mostly everyone has gone to 6 ounces. When it comes to pricing make sure you consider the size when comparing it to other yogurts on the shelf.

 

Pumpkin Cereal Bars

As much as I would like to make a complete from scratch breakfast for the kids every morning, that isn’t a reality in our lives at this point (the dream comes that it will ever be). In days where we have to run out of the house fast we usually have some type of cereal bars on hand. What I like about the pumpkin ones they aren’t available all the time, so it’s new and refreshing when compared to the same old flavors.

The flavor of them reminds me a lot of the Little Debbie Pumpkin Delights I had as a kid, but I feel better about eating things – I still can’t call them a health food.

Pumpkin O’s Cereal

I love the prices of cereal at Trader Joe’s. You can pick up their cereals normally from $1.99 to $2.99 a box, which beats the everyday prices of the name brand cereals in other stores. One cereal we look forward to buying each year is the Pumpkin O’s. They made their debut in 2014. The shape got a bigger the following year. They become more airy or the lack of a better term. Gives them a deeper crunch.

This take on Cheerios, has actual pumpkin in it, along with a bit of spice. They are a mix of brown rice and oats. Of course they are good with milk, but they get soggy really fast. I recommend eating small portions at a time. Or you can enjoy them as a snack. They were be an excellent edition to any trail or party mix.

Pumpkin Spiced Pumpkin Seeds

We enjoy roasting pumpkin or any squash seeds in this house (check out my post on what the perfect temperature is for pumpkin seed roasting). Never tried pumpkin seeds outside of their shell. You can shell them yourself of course, but it’s not any easy task and takes some time. On a recent trip, my wife was really craving a salad (yes we eat salads on vacation) so I picked up some of TJ’s Pumpkin Spiced Pumpkin Seeds. They are coated in a butter-sugar toffee glaze (mouth watering yet?). They are seasoned with cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and allspice and then kettle-roasted. Throw them into on top of salad, along with the best in seasons apple and you’ll want to eat salad for every meal. I just got the new salad containers from Rubbermaid that have a separate container for your salad toppers. These pumpkin seeds are definitely going in those.

Although I have no problem eating unhulled pumpkin seeds, it is nice to have just the tender inner seed to enjoy.

Honey Roasted Pumpkin Ravoli

First off look how pretty these ravoli are. They are pretty sweet. Not bad at all. I did find it hard to eat a big serving of them. I think they would be best paired with another ravoli to give your taste buds some nice contrast. When cooking them I boil them first, drain, then fry them in some butter to brown them and give them more bite.

Pumpkin Cookies in Boxes

Trader Joe’s does a great job of covering cookies with a yogurt coating. My kids love the star cookies like this, so of course the pumpkins are great as well. And how can you go wrong with Pumpkin Joe-Joe’s.

Organic Pumpkin Spice Granola Bark

If you haven’t already been driving to Trader Joe’s yet, time to get in your car. This bark has got it all going on and more. Pumpkin spice flavored granola is topped off with 66% dark chocolate with roasted pumpkin seeds on top. This is a mic drop moment 🙂

Products from Past Years

Below you will find a list of items that Trader Joe’s carried in past years, but I have seen or heard about them being in stores for the current year. If you do spot one of these items, leave a comment below and tell me what city you got it it in.

Pumpkin Pie Spice Cookie Butter

One of Trader Joe’s signature treats is their cookie butter. How does that not sound delicious? While have made it popular in the states, this spread got it’s start in Belgium. It is basically cookies that have been crushed into a fine powder and then ingredients are added to make in spreadable.

While cookie butters is not a Trader Joe’s invention, I do believe the Pumpkin Spice Spice flavor may very well be. The cookies used are their Pumpkin Joe Joe’s – which is a pumpkin cookie with a pumpkin creme filling. This butter is different in that it isn’t perfectly smooth. There is some chunkage. My wife thinks makes it better for just eating out of the jar. The pumpkin flavor really knocks you upside the head. They were kidding about the pumpkin. Extra pumpkin puree was added besides what came from the crushed up cookies. It is amazing stuff.

Unfortunately for the 2nd year in a row, it is no where to be found. Will this cookie butter ever return? It’s not looking likely at this point.

Country Pumpkin Spice Granola

Granola isn’t too hard to make yourself. It is typically pretty pricey in the store. However this granola is $2.99 for a 16 ounce box which is pretty cheap. To me that makes it worth buying.

Country Pumpkin Spice granola contains whole grain oats, honey, raisins, pumpkin, cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger. It has puffed corn in it as well which my wife isn’t really a big fan of but my kids still like it. It makes a great topping for yogurt.

That wraps up my list of the best pumpkin products at Trader Joe’s. What other products you like that I don’t mention. Feel free to leave a comment below, plus I would love to hear about what you think of any of the products that I mentioned.