The $5 Trader Joe’s Find That’s So Good, I Eat It for Lunch and Dinner — on the Same Day

My friends know how much I like to talk about food, and it’s not uncommon for our favorite meals to come up in a casual conversation. Recently, I told my friend Linnette I want to lean into more meatless meals (and ultimately eat more of a plant-based diet), and she put me on to a great item at Trader Joe’s. It’s since become a favorite and must-have on my grocery runs. 

If, like me, you’re looking for a quick and easy meal option that will leave you satiated, especially as we fully embrace fall and look ahead to winter, Trader Joe’s Lentil Soup with Ancient Grains just may be for you. 

Trader Joe’s has an impressive array of soups you’ll want to slurp your way through. This lentil soup (find it in the refrigerated section) is just one more that’s worth adding to that list. Other lentil soups I’ve tried were a bit too watery and bland for my liking, but not this one. It’s nice and thick and packed with (nostalgic) flavor. The cloves, bay leaves, basil, nutmeg, cumin, black pepper, marjoram, paprika, parsley, onions, and garlic are all ingredients my mama would use if she were making soup from scratch. The best part is: I get to enjoy it with none of the work of creating it myself.

What really convinced me to try this soup, though, was when my friend told me she actually turns it into sandwiches, which her preteen son also “loves.” I was shocked! The soup is so thick, she explained, that she often warms some in a saucepan and uses it as the base for a sandwich wrap. She’ll add some onions (raw or sauteed), salad greens, and a few slices of avocado to really take it over the top. Right then, I knew I had to try it for myself.

I love to put my own spin on things, and I’m very much into avocado toast (who isn’t these days, right?). So I’ve been using the lentil soup to make avocado and lentil soup toasts. Hear me out.

I toast two slices of gluten-free bread and, while that’s going, warm up three or four spoonfuls of the soup in a saucepan (be sure to add a sprinkle of water or oil to the pan so that the lentils don’t stick and burn). If I have some onions, I saute them in the pan before I warm up my lentils, then put them aside to top off my open-face sandwich. 

I transfer the warmed lentils to my toasted bread and top them with greens (usually arugula; that’s what I like, and like Tabitha Brown says, “that’s my business!”), avocado slices, and onions. A nice sprinkling of capers and a drizzle of vegan mayo complete my sandwich, and I kid you not, it hits the spot every time I make it.

I’ve been buying and enjoying this soup since May, and I know my love affair with it will only deepen this winter, because it’s so satisfying. I can easily get four meals from one container. 

On those days when I’m crunched for time, feeling lazy, or I don’t have the ingredients on hand to make a sandwich, I just warm up the lentils with a bit more water in my saucepan, season it with a dash of salt and pepper, and eat it from a bowl, as a soup. Some days, just for kicks, I admittedly double-dip and have this soup twice in the same day — at lunchtime as a sandwich, and then again in the evening as a soup. 

What new-to-you Trader Joe’s items are you loving right now? Tell us about it in the comments below.