According to Wikipedia, the lyrics to this nursery rhyme were first published in 1805 and have remained largely unchanged.

Photo courtesy of Pinterest

Old Mother Hubbard
Went to the cupboard,
To give the poor dog a bone;
When she came there,
The cupboard was bare,
And so the poor dog had none.

Poor thing didn’t have a Trader Joe’s.

When we lived 10 miles outside of town, I loved going to Sam’s and stocking up.  We had 3 dogs, a horse, and several human mouths to feed.  Slowly pushing a cart around Sam’s with a venti-sized cup from Starbucks was a grocery shopper’s treat. I bought large bags of trail mix huge boxes of cereal, and unless I could talk myself out of it, a book or two.

Sam’s still makes sense for us occasionally, i.e., gasoline and Zyrtec (lol), but for the most part, we have relocated to the land of small packages and teeny weeny grocery lists.

Hence, a new kind of grocery shopper’s dream –  Trader Joe’s.

When we lived in Amarillo, a trip to Santa Fe, New Mexico was an easy weekend effort, and we always liked to bring home a few things from their Trader Joe’s.  Now that we can walk to Austin’s Seaholm location, we bring home some of the same things, but have also added some new favorites.

 If we don’t have anything to cook, we can survive on bottles of $3.99 wine, cheese, crackers and cereal! 

In addition, at least one or two of these items regularly appear on my teeny weeny grocery list:

1. Trader Joe’s Mandarin Orange Chicken (best selling frozen entree).  Here is a website with some ideas for adding to it – but, believe me, it’s great on its own.
2. Trader Joe’s frozen Vegetable Fried Rice – to serve with the Mandarin Orange Chicken
3. Trader Joe’s Tarte d’Alsace pizza
4. Trader Joe’s coffee – and now, the Pumpkin Spice – delicious!
5. Trader Joe’s Apple Cider
6. Trader Joe’s Chocolate Almond Biscotti
7. Trader Joe’s Pink & White Cookies
8. Trader Joe’s Multi-Grain British Muffins

My daughter and son-in-law love Trader Joe’s frozen Chocolate and/or Almond Croissants. I have some in the freezer but am saving them for a leisurely Saturday morning cooking show marathon. (with pumpkin spice coffee, of course) 

Encouraging intentional adventure on the way to Trader Joe’s,

PS – Of all Trader Joe’s finds, the Corn and Chile Salsa is our favorite.  It’s great with chips, on grilled chicken, or mixed with sour cream for a veggie dip.