I fly 9 hours from Italy to shop at Trader Joe's. Here are 10 things I fill my suitcase with every time.

Peperoncino and 'nduja are wonderful, but there's something about Trader Joe's habanero hot sauce, which I like to drizzle over almost everything. I always buy multiples of the tangy, tongue-numbing sauce.

It's perfect on omelets and zuppa di legumi (a legume and farro soup), no matter what my Italian friends say.

Most of the nut butter I find in Italy is made of peanuts and tastes a bit plasticky to me, so I have to grab Trader Joe's crunchy almond butter.

It's super thick and crunchy so I put it in oatmeal with prune marmalade or slather it on slices of seeded pane semintegrale, a type of Italian bread. I also love it on toast with Nutella.

The first snack to make its way into my cart is always Trader Joe's crispy crunchy mochi rice nuggets.

I can never help myself from inhaling the rice nuggets straight from the bag, but I bet they'd work as salatini (salty aperitivo snacks) along with Trader Joe's Thai lime-chile almonds.

I get multiple bags of the almonds because the lime-chile seasoning is next-level addictive. I even think my Italian friends would approve.

Trader Joe's has a few great varieties of potassium-rich plantain chips, but the jerk-seasoned ones are especially delicious.

They are so tasty that I usually eat them plain, though they're also excellent with Guatemalan-style refried black beans, salsa, or huevos rancheros.

If I'm looking for a gluten-free snack, I choose Trader Joe's crispy cauliflower chips.

They have a delicate coconut-milk aftertaste so I prefer them plain, but I could see them being part of a sophisticated bread basket or used as vessels for a melty cheese fondue.

I kind of have a thing for almonds so it makes sense that the third product with this ingredient on my list is Trader Joe's dark-chocolate almond-butter cups.

The flavor is exceptional, as you get lots of nut butter in every bite. The cups are my favorite post-dinner or post-workout treat.

I sometimes grab babka or cookies from Trader Joe's baked goods section (I always seem to go in a trance there) but I always get brookies.

Trader Joe's brookies are perfection, as they're crispy on the edges and gooey, almost as if they're slightly underdone, in the middle. The first time I showed my Italian fiancé, the concept of a brownie-cookie hybrid nearly made his mind explode.

Now, he needs them, too. He has them for breakfast with espresso and I have mine with cold almond milk.

Dried fruit is always convenient and Trader Joe's has some of my favorite kinds, like the soft and juicy dried mango.

I eat the dried mango with my oatmeal or snack on it to ward off afternoon sugar cravings. The soft, juicy burst as you bite through the sugary coating makes them feel all the more satisfying when it's just fruit.

In my experience, Mexican food is a bit hard to find in Italy so Trader Joe's mini tortillas get me over the hump when I'm away from the US for long stretches.

I love both the corn and flour versions. I toast them and pair them with huevos rancheros or use them for quesadillas, chilaquiles, and weird clean-out-the-fridge tacos. Add a dollop of the habanero hot sauce you've got a great meal.

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