I fly 7 hours to shop at Trader Joe's in the US. Here are the 10 things I always fill my suitcase with.

Before I left the US in 2015, I'd bought my groceries at Trader Joe's in New York City's Union Square for seven years.

I currently live in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, so I don't have access to Trader Joe's stores, which are only located in the US.

Sometimes I rely on my friends who visit from the US to bring Trader Joe's goodies back to me, but other times I'm able to head to the chain myself.

Most recently, I boarded a seven-hour flight and traveled over 1,800 miles to Overland Park, Kansas. I was there to visit high-school friends, but my first stop was Trader Joe's.

I truly cry tears of joy when I get to Trader Joe's because my allergies can make it hard to keep up a well-balanced diet abroad.

I follow a vegan diet and am allergic to wheat, corn, kiwi, peanuts, hazelnuts, and almonds. Trader Joe's clear labeling and affordable price points give me the opportunity to stock up on gluten-free and vegan food items that can be hard to find overseas.

I'm also able to find specialty items that can be more affordable and available in the US.

The only time I'll pay for a suitcase is when I fill it with Trader Joe's goodies. I also need to be careful about what I buy.

Items like fresh fruits, vegetables, meat, or seeds cannot be transported from the US back to Mexico. I also avoid putting any powder-like products in my carry-on, as I've had yerba mate confiscated before.

I also check the TSA guidelines for any products I'm uncertain of and reference local laws to see if my destination has strict lists of what can't be brought across borders.

Here's everything I stocked up on to bring back home on my recent trip.

Trader Joe's has some of the best-priced nuts and seeds I've seen so I usually pick up whatever I'm missing. I might get Brazil nuts, cashews, or sunflower seeds.

This time, I went with Trader Joe's raw sunflower seeds to sprinkle onto salads and snack on at the beach.

A package of sunflower seeds is $3.

I love hearts of palm and eat them almost daily because they're high in protein and other nutrients.

Trader Joe's hearts of palm linguine noodles have a great texture and I usually serve them with a homemade cashew-garlic cream sauce. The noodles don't have much flavor on their own so they absorb the taste of the sauce.

I got Trader Joe's hearts of palm pasta for $3.50.

This was the first time I saw Trader Joe's riced hearts of palm so I was excited to try it.

I plan on using it for vegan ceviche or tuna. I usually smash hearts of palm with a fork to get a similar texture to fish but this product seems to eliminate that step.

Trader Joe's riced hearts of palm cost $3.50.

I'm allergic to peanuts but I find that Trader Joe's sunflower-seed spread has a similar nutty taste.

I love to make sunflower-seed-spread fudge or throw a tablespoon of it into my smoothies for an extra punch of protein and healthy fats.

Trader Joe's sunflower-seed butter is considered a liquid and isn't carry-on friendly so I make sure to stuff that in my checked bag along with most of the other items I buy.

I grabbed two jars of Trader Joe's sunflower-seed spread for $5.50 each.

I've recently gotten into hemp seeds since they're high in protein. I like to toss Trader Joe's shelled hemp seeds on top of sweet and savory dishes or use them to make a creamy dressing.

A pack of Trader Joe's hemp seeds costs $6.

Reese's peanut-butter cups were my favorite candy as a child but now that I'm vegan and allergic to peanuts I can't eat them. However, Trader Joe's dark-chocolate sunflower-seed butter cups are just as good and give me childhood joy.

I picked up a pack of butter cups for $4.

I'm a sucker for Trader Joe's soft-baked snickerdoodle cookies — they're amazing for vegan s'mores. Sadly, the Trader Joe's I visited was out of vegan marshmallows (they cost about $10 USD for a bag in Mexico) so I'll eat them plain.

They remind me of my childhood because snickerdoodles were my favorite cookies.

I got a box of Trader Joe's snickerdoodles for $3.

Trader Joe's creamy and savory sunflower-butter cookies pair deliciously with a cup of chai.

They're soft, not too sweet, and remind me of peanut-butter cookies. I'm allergic to a few varieties of nuts, so I'm glad I can still eat a cookie with a nutty flavor.

A box of Trader Joe's soft-baked sunflower-butter cookies costs $3.

I don't have an oven but I've been experimenting with gluten-free baking in my air fryer. So far, Trader Joe's gluten-free all-purpose flour is the best replacement for the traditional version I've found.

I picked up two bags of gluten-free flour for $4 each.

In my opinion, Trader Joe's brown-rice penne is the best and most cost-friendly gluten-free pasta.

It has the same texture as wheat pasta and soaks up a lot of flavor. If I would've been able to find it, I would've paired the penne with Trader Joe's truffle hot sauce.

I grabbed three bags of Trader Joe's brown-rice penne for $2.30 each.

Fortunately, none of my items were taken by customs so I was able to enjoy my treats, including my favorite sunflower-seed butter cups, in Mexico.

Having my Trader Joe's groceries abroad has made it easier for me to make healthy, quick meals on the go. I can't wait to go back to Trader Joe's and buy more pantry staples the next time I'm in the US.

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