This is a realistic Trader Joe’s vegan shopping list of (healthy & organic) products that I actually buy and use on a daily basis, it’s not just a list of everything that’s vegan at Trader Joe’s. Every item has been label-checked, taste-tested, and husband-approved!
***This post is not sponsored by Trader Joe’s but it does contain affiliate links.
I love grocery shopping in general but I really love shopping at Trader Joe’s. It’s such a fun store! The produce is always fresh, their return policy is great, and I love getting a coffee sample to sip on while I shop. It’s the little things, people!
I do most of my grocery shopping at three stores: a local organic market, Costco, and Trader Joe’s.
I only make it to Trader Joe’s once every few months because it’s a little bit of a drive from my house. The local organic market and Costco are right down the street from where I live so I get most of my fresh produce and bulk items from those stores but I always look forward to going to Trader Joe’s! There are a few staple products that I love that I can only get at TJ’s, so I always make sure to stock up on them.
Trader Joe’s has lots of healthy, organic, vegan products but they also have a lot of processed vegan junk food too. I’m very picky when it comes to the products that I buy. I want to know exactly what’s in the food that I’m eating, where it came from, and it has to be organic and vegan.
That’s why I called this post a realistic Trader Joe’s vegan shopping list because it’s not just a list of all the vegan products at Trader Joe’s, it’s a real list of the products that I actually buy for my family.
I know for some people, especially new vegans, that going grocery shopping can be very overwhelming if you don’t know what you’re looking for. I hope that sharing my personal Trader Joe’s vegan shopping list will save you time and help to guide you through the aisles at the store while you’re grocery shopping.
I’ve already read all the labels and done all the research for you– all of the following products are approved by one very picky vegan and her not-so-picky-vegan-husband. Every product on the list is delicious, organic, and vegan.
A few things that you won’t see on this list and why…
- Canned beans – Now that I have an instant pot, I like to cook all my own beans. If I do buy canned beans, they have to be organic, and the can must be labeled BPA-free. Trader Joe’s canned beans (at my store) are not BPA-free.
- Jarred sauces – TJ’s has a whole wall of delicious looking sauces but, unfortunately, none of them are organic.
- Frozen food – Most of the frozen entrees are loaded with sodium and preservatives. I don’t think that’s a great option for a meal so I tend to stay away from them. TJ’s does have frozen organic fruit but I’ve found that the bulk bags of frozen organic fruit at Costco are a much better deal.
A Realistic Trader Joe’s Vegan Shopping List
The following Trader Joe’s vegan shopping list has all of my favorite organic vegan products on it. I buy most of these items every single time I shop!
Look for this label on the list –> Stock up Item! This label means that I usually buy multiples of that item. It’s delicious, it will last awhile, and it’s a great price.
1 – Pretty much everything in the organic produce aisle!
The apples, potatoes, onions, sweet potatoes, pomegranates, and fresh basil are always a great price. Skip the bananas, they charge a base price per banana instead of weighing them individually. That’s a good deal for the store, not for the customer.
2 – Organic Lemons & Limes
The bags of lemons and limes are a great deal! I’m used to paying $.89 for one lemon, so $1.99 for one lb of lemons is fantastic!
You can never have too many lemons! I like to use them for pomegranate lemon smoothies, lemon artichoke orzo soup, or lemon garlic cauliflower steaks!
3 – Organic Kiwis
I usually pay $.89 for one small kiwi, so $2.99 for 8 (1 lb) kiwis is an awesome deal! We go through them like crazy, we love having kiwis in our rawnola breakfast bowls or cherry mango kiwi chia seed pudding cups.
4 – Organic Ezekial Bread (Stock up Item!)
Ezekial bread is our favorite bread, we love it with (26 grams of protein) avocado toast. It’s loaded with nut and bean flours and it’d delicious! It’s usually $5.49 at the health food stores in my area so I always buy a few loaves when I go to Trader Joe’s to save a few bucks. It freezes really well and lasts for quite a while.
5 – Organic Chia Seed Bars (Stock Up Item!)
I love love love these chia seed bars, they’re chewy and packed with nuts and seeds! I hate when you read the ingredient list of most granola bars and they’re full of cheap ingredients like white flour and sugar. The first ingredient of these granola bars is chia seeds–they’re loaded!
I usually buy three boxes to last me a few months because I like to bring these to Disney World with us or Travis takes them to work for a snack.
6 – Organic Unsweetened Applesauce
Applesauce is a baking necessity– you need this in your pantry! It’s a delicious substitute for eggs or bananas in quick breads and muffins.
7 – Organic Coconut Aminos
I don’t have an issue with soy but soy sauce has wayyyy too much sodium. I love the flavor in my Asian-inspired recipes (like riced cauliflower quinoa lettuce cups) but lately, I’ve been substituting coconut aminos in its place and we love it! It has a lot less sodium but tons of flavor!
8 – Organic Pomegranate Vinegar
This pomegranate vinegar makes a delicious salad dressing!
9 – Organic Tahini
If you like to make your own hummus you need to have tahini in your pantry!
10 – Organic Ketchup
This is a great price on ketchup. Try using it to make these lentil sloppy joes— they’re delicious and one of our favorite inexpensive vegan meals!
11 – Organic Mustard
This is a great price for mustard!
I always keep two bottles of mustard in the fridge at all times. One bottle is for eating and the other bottle is for burns. Yes, burns! When I used to serve in a restaurant, I saw the cooks putting mustard on their burns. I tried it on myself and it really helps to reduce the blistering and pain.
12 – Organic Cacao Powder
I always have a bag of cacao powder in my pantry– it’s a staple! I use it for chocolate peanut butter oatmeal, chocolate muffins, and chocolate rawnola breakfast bowls.
13 – Organic Raw Walnuts
Raw walnuts are a staple in our house + they’re my husband’s favorite nut to snack on. I always put a few on the plate with our avocado toast for breakfast and they’re the base of rawnola bowls. We also love walnut quinoa taco meat!
I’ve found that it’s usually cheaper to look for “halves and pieces” instead of whole walnuts.
14 – Organic Pasta
I love the colors of this delicious vegetable-based radiatore, it makes such a pretty pasta salad!
On the same shelf, you’ll find lentil pasta (tastes okay, a little bland) and black bean pasta that is awful! I had to force myself to eat it because I hate wasting food.
15 – Organic Flaxseed
Flaxseed is a staple in my pantry because it’s my favorite vegan egg substitute. It’s especially delicious in these vegan lentil quinoa meatballs. You can also add it to smoothies, muffins, granola, or bread!
16 – Organic Sprouted Tricolor Quinoa
We eat a lot of quinoa, it’s just so versatile and delicious! Plus, it’s naturally gluten-free and you can prepare it so many different ways–> use it for pizza crust, mandarin quinoa spinach salad, cilantro lime quinoa, pesto quinoa stuffed tomatoes, or quinoa stuffed pepper soup… and that’s just a few of our favorite quinoa recipes!
17 – Organic Coconut Sugar
Anytime a recipe calls for refined sugar (white, brown, or cane) I swap it out 1:1 with coconut sugar. It’s delicious and you can’t even tell the difference.
This is my all-time favorite granola recipe! Try it. You’ll love it, I promise.
18 – Young Green Jackfruit (Stock Up Item!)
Jackfruit is our favorite vegan meat substitute. I think it tastes like a cross between pulled pork and pineapple. If you want to use it as a meat substitute, you need to use the young green jackfruit in brine (rinsed really well)– not fresh jackfruit. Fresh jackfruit is sweet.
We love eating whiskey pineapple jackfruit sliders (one of my husband’s favorite recipes!) and slow cooker jackfruit wild rice soup!
19 – Organic Oregano
I wish that Trader Joe’s had more organic spices, this is the only one I found. However, I use oregano all the time and this is a great price.
20 – Organic Brown Rice Quinoa Spaghetti
This pasta is so delicious! We’re not gluten-free but I like to switch it up and this is the perfect swap. Usually, I don’t buy rice noodles because they get so soft and mushy but with the addition of the quinoa, these noodles have a great consistency!
The quinoa spiral noodles are quite tasty too.
These noodles would be perfect to serve with vegan lentil quinoa meatballs!
21 – Organic Dried Mango
Dried mango is one of my favorite sweet treats. I especially love it in these tropical mango coconut candy bites. OMG they’re so good!
22 – Organic Kettle Chips
I normally don’t buy processed junk food but my husband loves kettle-style chips and at these are delicious, organic, and a good price. So, occasionally, I’ll surprise him with a handful of these chips alongside his vegan BLT sandwich for lunch.
23 – Organic Vegan Wine (Stock Up Item!)
This is my favorite organic vegan wine– it’s also the best inexpensive organic vegan wine that I’ve found anywhere!
I love to drink it and cook with it, I especially love cooking mushrooms in this wine. It gives the mushrooms in my jackfruit mushroom stroganoff recipe the most decadent flavor!
24 – Organic Sprouted Tofu
Tofu is a staple for us and I loveee that the Trader Joe’s brand is sprouted! I like it pan-fried with veggies but Travis prefers it crumbled in veggie tacos!
25 – Organic Blueberries
A 6oz package of organic blueberries can run you $4-$5, so this is a fantastic price for an 18oz package!
26 – Organic Arugula
I always have a container of baby arugula in my fridge. I love the flavor and it’s so delicious on sandwiches, in tacos, sprinkled on top of pizza, or in pasta. $2.49 for an 8oz bag is a great price!
27 – Organic 3-Grain Tempeh (Stock Up Item!)
We eat a lot of tempeh! Mostly in wraps and sandwiches for lunch and I pretty much lived on it when Hurricane Irma hit us last year (thank god for generators and toaster ovens!). At most stores, organic tempeh is around $2.99, so this is a great stock up price!
28 – Organic Brocolli Slaw
I just love that this is already sliced for you, it’s so easy to throw on top of a salad or add to tacos. Convenient + healthy = <3!
29 – Organic Cauliflower
I pretty much always have a head or two of cauliflower in my fridge. If I need an easy side dish with dinner I make turmeric roasted cauliflower, we love lemon garlic cauliflower steaks, and my husband even named one of his favorite dinners –> Bomb Ass Buffalo Cauliflower Tacos. Yes, they really are that good!
I hope my Trader Joe’s vegan shopping list helps you to decide which products are best for you and your family. Happy shopping!
What products are on your Trader Joe’s vegan shopping list? Let me know in the comments!
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