Hello friends.

It’s your favorite influencer Dorothy. (That is a joke. I am far from an influencer. I am just a rapidly aging Suburban mom who likes to write now and again.)

So! Because I have no stories of sickness to regale you with or whiny thoughts on being tired, I thought it would be fun (this is what constitutes as fun at 39, right), the staples I always get at Trader Joe’s.

1. Frozen Vegetable Fried Rice. We eat this about once a week. The kids like rice, I like easy, and we usually have some leftover meat to throw in there. Fun fact about my lovely husband: Dude does NOT like leftovers. Luckily, he is the primary cook in our family so I don’t have to deal with his special-snowflakeness regarding day-old food. So! With this, we can reuse leftover meat. I get especially tingly when I throw in some left-over dredges of frozen vegetables I find in the freezer into the frying pan.
2. Five Seed Almond Bars. When I’m feeling domesticated, I like to make these fruit and seed bars for the kiddos. This hasn’t happened in many, many months (years?). These TJ’s Five Seed Almond Bars are a good “dupe” (although they do have nuts so you can’t take them to school). They come packed with flax, sesame, poppy, sunflower, and pumpkin seeds (and almonds, of course).
3. Trader Joe’s Low-Calorie Lemonade. This is a staple at our house because, well, we like juice but juice is the devil so we drink this instead. This is sweetened with Stevia and not aspartame. (When the kids drink it, not too much or too often, I water it down.)
4. Gourmet Jelly Beans. Although we don’t do (a lot of) sugar in juice, I will eat these jelly beans in copious amounts. I like candy over cookies.  It’s my thing and I’m glad I’ve realized this about myself.
5. Whole Fat European Style Yogurt. My kids love this so much. Which is weird as it’s kind of sour / tangy? It’s apparently Straus Family Creamery European Style in a different package which I guess yogurt snobs love.
6. Crunchy Curls. These are a lunch staple for the kids. Probably only a tad healthier than potato chips but they do have 4 grams of fiber so better than nothing, amiright? “Take the protein wins when you can get them” — a logo I would like to get on a t-shirt.
7. Trader Joe’s Organic Oats & Flax Instant Oatmeal. Flax apparently makes you poop. I have not noticed this. But the kids eat this up (we let them sprinkle a little bit of brown sugar on top to give them the illusion they are living their best life).
8. Dried Prunes / Apricots. Speaking of poop, we feed this to the kids as a snack. I care deeply about their digestive health.
9. Trader Joe’s Happy Trekking Trail Mix. “How much trail mix can one person eat in a day?” I think to myself as I eat this at my desk. Answer: You know. Oh, you know.
10. Meatballs. Super fatty and unhealthy but delicious. We like these very very mucho. Plus, you can make this recipe. 

That’s it. I’m sure there are a thousand more I’m forgetting. What do you love? I want to hear!