(upbeat music)
- Hey munchies, welcome to the channel
if you're new or if you're not.
I'm Alysia and I am so excited that you're here either way,
because I have a Trader Joe's haul.
And let me tell ya, I pretty much haven't gone
to Trader Joe's in like six months because of coronavirus
and quarantine and Trader Joe's doesn't do grocery delivery,
at least it doesn't in California
or at least not where I live in California.
Well, then I decided to go for the first time
when I filmed this September
and they had so much pumpkin stuff that I decided
I had to buy it all and the best excuse I could
to buy all of the pumpkin stuff that I could find
in Trader Joe's was to make a video with it, so here it is.
I have not tried most of this
and I'm not going to taste test all of it
because the video will be like two hours long
and probably boring, but I'm going to taste test
some of them and go through what I got.
This is not a healthy haul.
This is simply a Trader Joe's autumn haul.
Okay, so first I'm going to go through some of the cookies
that I found, I couldn't believe how many cookies they had.
I'm not going to taste them all
or else I'm going to get sick,
but I'm going to taste a couple.
Let's see, so first these petite pumpkin spice cookies,
shortbread cookies with pumpkin spice and yogurt coating.
These reminded me of like the animal crackers, you know,
the pink and white frosted ones that I used to not get,
but always wished my mom would buy.
She didn't, that's okay, mom.
So they're like little shortbread cookies with frosting.
Some are white some are like pumpkin colored, like orange.
Ooh, it's like, I was going to say gingerbready.
It's not gingerbready, but it like has a spice in it.
Oh my gosh, it's so much better than I thought.
So I don't think the color makes a difference,
but oh my gosh I'm really impressed.
With a little bit of tea, ooh, these are going to be good.
I just put my my half eaten cookie back.
Don't worry about that.
Man, we're off to a good start.
Okay, apple cider cookies, I have to try these too.
(sniffing)
I was expecting more apple smell.
(sniffing)
It's like buttery, it has a good crispness.
It kind of tastes like, I do taste the apple
like apple pie-ish.
It's pretty good, I think it would be good in tea too.
They're good, they're both good.
I got pumpkin and cornbread biscotti.
I think the cornbread biscotti
was supposed to be for summer.
And I don't know why everybody thinks cornbread
is a summer ingredient.
I feel like cornbread is a fall ingredient.
I do love to dip cornbread in like tea and coffee.
(gasps)
Again, way better than I thought.
I don't know why.
Actually, I do know part of why these are surprising me.
When I bought these at Trader Joe's,
this was what I was most excited to get.
So excited in fact that I knew we weren't gonna be able
to film this episode for a couple days,
so I bought a second box
so that I could have one box unopened
to have for the episode and one that we could try
immediately the second we left the store.
And they're only okay.
These cinnamon bun cookies, they looked so good.
I like texted my sister right away.
I was like oh my gosh!
She like saw them on Instagram.
And I was like, I have to go get those immediately.
So they're like soft and they have like a Cinnabon,
cinnamon bun creamy kind of filling in there.
They're just not as good as I thought they were going to be.
I feel like they need more cream,
like they're a little too dry.
We've all had Joe-Joes, I'm not going to try them right now
because now I've eaten five cookies.
Okay, I have three beverages to share with you.
I'm not going to try the pumpkin spice route rooibos tea,
but I had to get it because I do always typically love
the fall and winter teas that they have,
like the Trader Joe's what's it called, the winter tea.
Is it called the winter tea?
The winter tea is so good.
I'm sure I'm going to like it,
but I'm not going to try it now, but I do have to try these.
So this pumpkin spiced ginger brew,
sparkling beverage sweetened
with Apple juice concentrate and cane sugar.
This is not alcoholic, right?
So let's try it out.
Ooh, it smells really gingery.
It smells like a ginger candy.
It's good!
This would be great if I have like a stomach ache,
which I kind of do now from all those cookies.
The guys behind the camera are asking me
if it tastes like ginger ale and the truth is, I don't know.
I don't remember, I never drank ginger ale growing up
so I don't know what it tastes like,
but this tastes like gingery soda, is that ginger ale?
I do taste like some fresh ginger.
- It doesn't taste anything like--
- So he says it doesn't taste like ginger ale.
I can't be of any help, but I can say that it's good.
And then this is a cookie butter beer.
Okay, speculoos cookie butter is like my favorite thing
in the world.
I never drank beer, I rarely drink alcohol,
but I had to try it.
What's the percentage on this, 9%.
(groans)
I don't know if I don't like this
or if I just really don't like beer.
If you like beer, you might like this.
If you like cookie butter and not beer, you won't.
The sweetness tastes like medicine almost.
- It's actually not too bad.
- Okay, everybody here likes it except me
but they also drink beer and I don't, so moral,
if you don't like beer, you're not going to like it.
If you do like beer, you might.
Okay, so I got a couple of jarred items
and I didn't know how to categorize them other than that.
So I thought this would just be the jar section.
So I saw this spicy pumpkin curry simmer sauce,
which I'm not going to taste right now.
But when I do, I'll put it on Instagram
so you guys can see.
A cinnamon bun spread, which I couldn't resist.
An organic maple butter and an apple cider fruit spread,
which I think I actually bought this last year.
I am going to try these two right now
because they're the ones I'm the most curious about.
So the cinnamon bun spread,
I'm wondering, kind of hoping it's not just the stuff
that was in the middle of the cookie,
because that was only okay.
Ooh, it's like very gelatinous.
Very much like jelly and Joe hates this.
- [Joe] No, I've got to film it too.
- It's kind of gross looking to be honest.
- [Joe] It's like a bugger.
- It is like a bugger, it's kind of buggery.
It's only okay.
It looks like it's going to taste way better
than it is based on the label.
Trader Joe's cinnamon bun stuff let me down this year.
Let's try the maple butter.
Oh yeah, that needs to be sturdy.
It's taken about five minutes, but thanks to the knife,
the tiny whisk and Christian, it is integrated.
That's a drawback,
that separation there didn't make it easy.
Maybe I should have just turned the jar upside down
for a day.
Maple butter.
It's too much maple.
It's not that it's too much maple, it's too much sugar.
Like it tastes like a maple butter, but oh my gosh,
it tastes like there's like 10 times as much sugar
as there needs to be.
I would need to dilute this,
like dump this with another stick of butter
and then it'd be good, it's okay.
So we've got like snacky foods next, which to try?
I definitely want to try the maple sea salt kettle corn.
Mhmm, it smells good and it looks like
it has a little maple coating.
(intense music)
Oh my God, they're like melt in my mouth.
This is the best thing I've eaten yet.
So it has like this, you know, crunchy sugary coating on it.
It's just sweet and just salty enough.
Oh my gosh, it's so good!
I think I'm going to try these pumpkin spice pretzel slims
with crushed pumpkin spiced pumpkin seeds.
Oh, these look kind of lame.
I mean they look okay, they just--
Oh!
(intense music)
Ooh, it tastes really good though.
Perfectly salty, sweet, mmhm definitely more like dessert.
This is more like snack, this is more like--
This is like salty sweet, this is like sweety salt.
It is really good though, I take it back.
I need something salty to cleanse my pallet.
Fall leaf corn tortilla chips,
I think these are just tortilla chips
that are shaped like leaves, so I don't think
they're going to taste like anything special,
but really my palette needs it.
Oh look, it's a perfect little leaf.
It tastes like a chip.
If you're having a fall party, there you go.
Also, I don't feel like eating any more sweet,
but I have to try a pumpkin spice baton
because I love wafers.
I don't like to put these in coffee and tea,
I just like to eat them plain.
It's okay, Pirouttes are better.
You know, the same thing happened when I tried
to get the coconut rolls, Sprouts makes those coconut rolls
that I love that I've shared in videos before.
Trader Joe's tried to make them, failed, they're not good.
This is kind of like that, like the texture is not right.
They're okay.
Okay, so I also got this pumpkin spice granola bark,
which I'm realizing now is gluten free
and it looks pretty good, but I'm not going to try it now
because I'm feeling sick and pumpkin cereal bars.
It's like Fig Newtons I think.
Oh my gosh, not Fig Newtons, Nutrigrain bars,
like Nutrigrain bars which are really good.
And although they're not usually as healthy
as they make you think, 12 grams of added sugar.
This is for fun.
And a few miscellaneous things to finish up.
Of course, I got a couple cinnamon brooms.
I love that Trader Joe's always has these mini ones,
but I have like a couple of big ones in the house too.
This butternut squash ravioli,
which was in the refrigerated section.
It's not gluten free or anything,
it's just regular ravioli, but I had to try it,
which I haven't yet, clearly it's still in the box.
Also this gluten-free pumpkin bread and muffin baking mix.
I just like to keep these in my pantry for like on a Tuesday
when I wake up and I'm craving pumpkin muffins,
which happens in the fall.
These pumpkin rolls, they're like cinnamon rolls.
Now typically I say I love pumpkin spice everything.
I haven't tried these, but when it comes to cinnamon rolls,
a lot of times I find I just want the regular one.
Like if I try, you know,
like the ones with a strawberry frosting
or something like that, I just want it to be plain.
So this is a vanilla pumpkin candle,
which I bought two of and I've been burning the other one.
It's pretty good.
Last year they had a gingerbread candle I think,
which is like oh my gosh,
it was one of the best candles ever.
Vanilla pumpkin, okay.
Fall zucchette pasta.
I don't know how to say that,
but it was so cute I couldn't not try it.
They look like little pumpkin's.
Oh, it's butternut squash, I didn't even realize that.
Oh, they're butternut squash's maybe?
Anyway, oh actually the ingredients,
there's only a couple of ingredients.
I mean, it's still white flour, but still.
The last thing I was so excited about
and I'm going to try it right now, kind of weird,
a creamy Toscano cheese dusted with cinnamon.
So you can see like cinnamon dusting on the rind,
I have to try it.
It's kind of like sharp, like a Parmesan.
It's really good.
I don't know how much I can taste the cinnamon.
I dunno, it's a good cheese.
I don't know if it tastes like cinnamon or fall.
It's kind of interesting that there's cinnamon on there.
Like if I were having a party or something
that would be like a fall party,
that would be an interesting thing, but it's a good cheese.
I don't know if I'd get it again for the cinnamon itself,
but for the creamy Toscano part.
(moans)
So that was my haul overall.
I think these are my favorite items.
I know I didn't try this, but they're just so cute
and I'm really excited to eat them,
but the cornbread biscotti, really surprisingly good.
The ginger brew, I didn't know what to expect,
but I liked it,
especially if you're getting a little bit of a stomach ache.
This popcorn was probably my favorite thing
or these are really good too,
the pumpkin spice pretzel slims
even though they don't look like what's on the picture.
The cheese is really, really good
although it doesn't taste too cinnamony
unless you really get the rind.
And these really caught me by surprise,
but highly enjoyed.
Candle is pretty good, it's just more for ambiance.
(soft music)
That's the fall haul video from Trader Joe's.
If you want more haul and taste test videos, let me know.
And any other recommendations, please put them below.
I'll be back next week with a brand new video
so I hope you'll subscribe and stick around and remember,
it's all a matter of mind over munch.