I'm a 25-year-old single woman who always shops at Trader Joe's for groceries. Here are 15 products I could never live without. (2024)

For breakfast, I find that I can't go wrong with the chain's everything bagels.

Despite living in New York City, a place famous for its many bagel shops, I don't mind popping one of Trader Joe's everything bagels in the toaster for a quick and affordable breakfast.

The bagels are fluffy and have just the right amount of garlic flavor. Plus, for only $2.49, you can't beat the price for six bagels.

I pair the bagels with the onion-and-chive cream cheese from Trader Joe's.

This $1.99 cream-cheese spread is perfectly thick, smooth, creamy, and flavorful.

Trader Joe's has a variety of bread options, but my favorite is the San Francisco-style sourdough bread.

I find that the bread, which costs $3.29, lasts me at least a week and is perfect for sandwiches and toast. It's super crispy on the outside, but fluffy inside.

I stick the loaf in the freezer to keep it fresher for longer and pull out the slices as I want them.

The wine-country chicken salad is my go-to product for quick and easy lunches.

Among the products I always pick up when I stop by Trader Joe's is the grocery chain's wine-country chicken salad, which retails for $4.99.

It's made with white chicken meat, cranberries, and pecans, and has just the right amount of sweetness offset by the savory flavors of the seasoned chicken. I think it also has a great mayonnaise ratio, which makes it spreadable while still being chunky enough.

I also love the "unexpected" broccoli-cheddar soup for quick meals.

When I'm looking for an easy vegetarian meal, the broccoli-cheddar soup from Trader Joe's is a great option. The soup, which makes about two servings and costs $4.99, only takes a couple of minutes to heat up on the stove. I eat it with a slice of crusty bread for a satisfying lunch.

One of my recent go-to dinners has been the chain's shawarma chicken thighs.

I only tried these chicken thighs for the first time a month ago, but they've since become an item that I pick up regularly. Each package, which contains between four and five pieces of chicken, costs $6.99.

I've tried roasting them in the oven and cooking them on a grill, and I've been impressed with their intense, borderline-spicy flavor with both methods. The shawarma chicken thighs are extremely well-seasoned and come already marinated to cut back on any extra prep. In my own cooking, I've found they work well in salads or with potatoes or corn, or with Mediterranean-inspired foods like pita, hummus, and tzatziki.

I love to dollop a little tzatziki on the chicken thighs or add it to salads.

In my experience, it's hard to find a really good store-bought tzatziki, but I really enjoy the one from Trader Joe's, which costs $3.99. It's perfectly creamy with the right amount of cucumber and garlic flavor.

I also find you can't go wrong with grabbing a bag of baby potatoes.

Few pantry items are as convenient and easy to incorporate into weeknight meals as a bag of baby potatoes. While these aren't anything special, I do love picking up a one-pound bag of Trader Joe's teeny tiny potatoes for $2.49 during my weekly grocery shops.

Another versatile Trader Joe's product is the rigatoni, a pantry staple in my house.

I love having pasta on hand and find that Trader Joe's rigatoni, which costs just 99 cents, is one of my go-to meals. The pasta pairs well with a variety of sauces and even makes a good side for prepared meals like Trader Joe's turkey meatloaf.

For an easy weeknight meal, I always pick up Trader Joe's Italian-style turkey meatloaf.

The meatloaf takes under an hour to make and is super filling and satisfying after a long day at work. The meatloaf packs a lot of flavor, thanks to the addition of spices like oregano, basil, and garlic.

I also find that the meatloaf, which costs $8.99, could feed between two and three people. Since I'm a single person, I usually store any leftovers in the fridge for quick meals throughout the rest of the week.

I also love the chain's lobster ravioli. It feels like a fancy dinner at a more affordable price.

I've tried quite a few kinds of Trader Joe's ravioli, but the chain's lobster ravioli is my favorite, by far. The ravioli are larger than the other varieties, are filled with a savory and slightly salty lobster filling, and cost $4.99.

I'm a fan of quite a few Trader Joe's pasta sauces, but the chain's spicy chunky tomato and pepper pasta sauce is one of my favorites to mix with the ravioli.

For a late-night snack or lunch, I love popping a few of Trader Joe's mini chicken tacos in my air fryer.

Trader Joe's mini chicken tacos are made with corn tortillas, chicken meat, and roasted green salsa made with tomatillos, jalapeños, and green bell peppers. A package of 24 mini tacos retails for $5.99.

While you can make them in the oven, I find it's easier to toss them in the air fryer for around 8 minutes at 370-degrees Fahrenheit.

The Buffalo-style chicken dip can be served hot, but I eat it with tortilla chips right out of the container.

While the Trader Joe's Buffalo-style chicken dip includes instructions for heating it up, my preferred way of eating it is directly out of the container with tortilla chips or the chain's Elote corn-chip dippers.

The dip, which costs $4.99, is slightly spicy, super creamy, and has just the right amount of kick and tanginess thanks to the sour cream, garlic, and vinegar.

I've turned my entire family on to buying the organic Elote corn-chip dippers.

These corn-based chips are thicker than your average tortilla chip and are heavily seasoned with habanero-pepper powder and lime. They're super crunchy and flavorful but pair well with a variety of Trader Joe's dips.

Trader Joe's organic Elote corn-chip dippers cost $2.69 per bag.

For a sweet treat, Trader Joe's sea salt and turbinado dark chocolate almonds are my go-to dessert.

The almonds are perfectly salty and sweet while retaining their crunchy almond texture, and they feel just a tad healthier than diving into a pint of ice cream.

A 10-ounce package costs $3.99, and I find that that will last me at least two weeks.