I drive 2 hours to shop at Trader Joe's once a month. Here are 11 items I buy that make the trip worth it.

Unlike typical granola fragments, my husband and I love that Trader Joe's granola bites come in more solid pieces. The bites are wrapped in pouches and come with good portions of chocolate chips.

The only drawback is that I can't limit myself to just one pouch, so I like to buy a few boxes at a time.

Despite appearances — yes, the floating meatballs admittedly look a bit strange — this soup is delicious. We tend to crave it in the winter since it has pasta and broth, like chicken noodle soup.

These sponges are compostable since they're made from natural vegetable cellulose, which makes me feel a lot less climate anxiety while using them.

They are also very effective in getting all the grease and grime off my cast-iron skillets and hold up well despite being biodegradable.

I can't be the only one who likes adding dried pepper to plain ravioli — but Trader Joe's cacio-e-pepe ravioli makes it so that I don't have to.

When paired with a side dish, the portion is large enough for two to enjoy. But by itself, it also works great as a larger lunch for one.

My fur babies love both peanut butter and bananas, so I use these treats for dog training. Sometimes, I'll even give my big dogs two at the end of the day as a reward.

I like to make pancakes on weekends when my husband and I can have breakfast together. Trader Joe's buttermilk-pancake mix is easy to make — all I need to do is add water and an egg.

I'm picky about maple syrup and tend to get mine from farmer's markets. But Trader Joe's organic Vermont maple syrup rivals the bottles I can get locally.

I love Trader Joe's dark-chocolate-covered almonds because the chocolate layer is decadently thick. The pop of almond flavor also complements the chocolate rather than being overpowering.

Like my dogs, my husband is receptive to bribery. Knowing there are cans of Simpler Times lager in the fridge, he's happy to do the bulk of the yard work on a weekend.

Even if you're not a fan of oatmeal-raisin cookies, these oats are delicious because of how crunchy and crispy they are from the toasting process. They're so rich and sweet that it's easy to forget they're healthy.

Because these cheese-flavored corn snacks are baked, they aren't greasy. However, they still have all the cheesy flavor you'd expect, making them the perfect snack to pull out from the pantry.

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