Working from home, I’ll get to cook my meals, eat healthier and save money! <- The first thought of everyone who has never worked from home before. Working from home eventually moves from defined meals to noshing on snacks most of the day. It’s often hard to take a break to eat, let alone cook a meal. So, how do you continue to eat healthy? Stock your pantry with the best Trader Joe’s snacks. If you’re obsessed with Trader Joe’s products you won’t be able to live without these snacks below. Not only does Trader Joe’s have the best quick dinners, Trader Joe’s also has a the best selection of snacks. Craving something healthy, sweet or salty? Trader Joe’s has it all. Below are the 15 best Trader Joe’s snacks that will become a staple in your household.

Trader Joe’s Coconut and Almond Yogurt

Trader Joe’s yogurt is a staple for breakfast, lunch and snacks! With a wide variety there is a flavor for everyone. Personally I really like the Trader Joe’s Coconut Greek Lowfat Yogurt with Almond Granola as the added granola helps hold me over until lunch time.

Trader Joe’s Beef Jerky

Trader Joe’s Beef Jerky is a great snack if you’re looking for a high protein snack. Plus, if you accidentally eat the whole bag it’s under 300 calories.

Trader Joe’s Dried Baby Bananas

This snack was a staple when I was eating Whole 30. It’s healthy and whole 30 approved! Trader Joe’s dried baby bananas is also one of the few snacks I’ve continued eating after finishing Whole 30. It’s also an easy snack to have when you’re on the go. At $1.99 per bag they are very reasonably priced although more expensive than buying a regular banana.

Trader Joe’s Just Mango Slices

Trader Joe’s Just Mango Slices have one ingredient: dried mango. This is an excellent snack if you’re looking for snacks that have no sugar added or are Whole 30 approved. It’s also a great snack to stock up on when you work from home. Fresh fruit goes bad quickly. If you’re limiting how often you go to the grocery store dried fruit is great to stock up on.

Trader Joe’s Sesame Honey Almonds

While the Trader Joe’s Sesame Honey Almonds are a bit more expensive at $7.49 / bag, they help satisfy a sweet tooth and a healthier option than candy. Trader Joe’s almonds are also a great addition to a cheese tray.

Trader Joe’s Rosemary Marcona Almonds

One of the best healthy Trader Joe’s snacks is the Trader Joe’s Rosemary Marcona Almonds. These almonds are a great savory and filling snack when you don’t have time to make lunch

Trader Joe’s Cheddar Rocket Crackers

Trader Joe’s Cheddar Rocket Crackers are a great afternoon snack to hold you over until dinner.

Trader Joe’s Multi-Grain Pita Bite Crackers

The perfect cracker to pair with cheese or eat separately.

Trader Joe’s Pimento Cheese Dip

Trader Joe’s Pimento Cheese Dip is back! This dip doesn’t seem to be on the shelves year round, so when it is take advantage! Be careful though, it’s so addictive it’s easy to eat the whole container.

Trader Joe’s Mild Cheddar Cheese Snack Sticks

These Trader Joe’s Mild Cheddar Cheese Snack Sticks are very convenient for on the go snacking. They also work well for portion control, with each cheese stick at 80 calories.

Trader Joe’s Oven Baked Cheese Bites

Trader Joe’s Oven Baked Cheese Bites are a protein rich snack and keto friendly! $2.69 / bag.

Trader Joe’s Organic Elote Corn Chip Dippers

Be careful, Trader Joe’s Elote Corn Chips are so good you have to resist eating the whole bag in one sitting! This is definitely a harder snack to eat while working because the spice gets all over your hands and it’s crunchy. When you have a 10 minute break though, this is a delicious snack to enjoy while working from home.

Trader Joe’s Sweet Plantain Chips

Trader Joe’s Sweet Plantain Chips are both sweet and savory!

Trader Joe’s Dark Chocolate Almond Butter Cups

Trader Joe’s Dark Chocolate Almond Butter Cups are the perfect guilty pleasure. With nut butter and dark chocolate you can feel a little less guilty about eating these! It’s a less guilty candy if you need some chocolate while working from home.

Trader Joe’s Dark Chocolate Mint Creams

Trader Joe’s Dark Chocolate Mint Creams are the perfect snack for the sweet tooth.

What are the best Trader Joe’s snacks you’ve discovered?

If you’re a beginner to meal planning, it can feel overwhelming to get started. There are meal planning tips that’ll help you save money and be successful. Many recipes call for a lot of ingredients and prep time. If you’re busy or meal planning on a budget, that’s a recipe for failure.

Here are a few meal planning tips to help you get started on planning your meals ahead of time and identifying your go-to meals. As you get started, check out Trader Joe’s Quick and Easy Dinner Ideas, breakfast ideas and dinner ideas for recipe ideas to add to your collection.

Set A Realistic Goal for Meal Planning

If you like eating out a lot or are really busy don’t try to meal prep for every single meal in the week ahead. Start out by planning two to three dinners for the week ahead and two to three lunches. Then, have a few healthy frozen meals handy in case you need more meals. This way, if you decide to eat out or have business dinners / travel arise you don’t have food go to waste. You also have the flexibility to make a few quick meals from the freezer, or use those in latter weeks. If you want to meal prep, so you only have to make one dish check out how to meal prep for beginners.

Write Your Meal Plan Down

Print a calendar from online and write down what nights you will make meals. Then, use that calendar to create a list for grocery shopping. If you don’t know exactly what nights you’ll eat what, you can also create an excel by week and then title the columns “meal 1, meal 2, meal 3.” By writing it down, you will save money as you won’t buy excess food at the grocery store. You can also plan meals based on what is on sale at the grocery store saving even more money. Lastly, by writing your meal plan down you add another level of accountability.

Don’t Make All Food From Scratch

You’re making a homemade meal, but that doesn’t mean every single part of the meal has to be made from scratch. You can buy a box of pasta, a pie crust, marinara sauce and more and still have a homemade meal. Trying to make every part of the meal from scratch will take a lot of time. It’s not cheating by buying parts of it! Sometimes it’s cheaper to buy certain parts of the recipe instead of trying to make it all from scratch.

Save Your Recipes In A Central Place

There are lots of recipe apps where you can save your recipes in a shared folder. The problem is you find lots of recipe ideas in different places, on random websites, emailed to you, etc. I find it easiest to print out all recipes and put them in a binder. This allows me to keep the binder next to the cookbooks I have as well. Alternatively, you can save all of your recipes to a shared folder on your computer. If you put this folder in Dropbox, you can also reference it easily as you’re grocery shopping. It’s much easier to figure out what to make when you can look through a bunch of recipes easily.

Use All of the Food You Buy

Using all of the food you buy seems like a simple concept, but in reality requires planning. There are many recipes which require only part of a container of an ingredient leaving you with leftovers. For example, a quiche requires 3-4 eggs leaving you with 8-9 eggs when you buy a carton of a dozen. One way to use all of the food you buy is to make recipes that have overlap in ingredients the same week. Make omelets for breakfast the same week you make a quiche. If you still have leftovers for ingredients that will go bad try to freeze it. You’re supposed to use a jar of sauce up within 7 days of opening it. Any that you don’t use can be put in a sturdy plastic container in the freezer.

It’s not fun to spend a ton of money on a specific ingredient you only need a pinch of for one dish. If a dish requires a lot of spices that can easily add up to $30 additional. Finding recipes that call for similar ingredients will reduce these costs.

Buy Frozen Fruits and Vegetables

Frozen veggies and fruit are great. They are similarly priced to fresh fruits and veggies, don’t contain artificial ingredients and I personally think they work just as well in meals. If you end up delaying a meal until later the food doesn’t have to go to waste.

Use Store and Manufacturers Coupons

A quick google search ahead of shopping will show you what is for sale at your local grocery store that week. Many manufacturers also offer coupons that can be used at any store. If you get the newspaper, both store and manufacturers coupons will come with your Sunday paper.

Know What Kitchen Tools Are Required For A Recipe

If you’re just starting out it’s likely the kitchen tools you have at home are sparse. You may not have the zester to zest a lemon, or fine chopper. There are ways to do these tasks more manually but it takes a lot more effort. Before you go shopping, don’t forget to look at what kitchen tools are required to make a recipe. You will either need to add the tools to your shopping list or find a new recipe.

What are tips you’ve found as you’ve started meal prepping and planning out your weekly meals?