The darker and colder the days, the more it becomes self-evident that we are a nation programmed to crave pumpkin spices come autumn. September ushers in a flurry of pumpkin-themed advertising. Fortunately, vegans need not be left out of the fall flavor craze. Trader Joe’s provides with pumpkin, squash, apple and other cozy autumn treats, all at affordable prices. Here are some of Trader Joe’s vegan fall foods to enjoy in chillier days ahead.
Vegan snacks from a mix
One of the best ways to fill your house with delicious autumn scents is to do some baking. Fortunately, Trader Joe’s packaged mixes eliminate much of the work of baking from scratch. Many of the store’s standard mixes don’t say that they’re vegan, but can easily be made that way with a substitution or two. For a fall mid-morning — or anytime — snack, the pumpkin bread and muffin mix is vegan if you use an egg replacement. Same goes for the pumpkin chunk oatmeal cookie mix. There are lots of ingredients you can use instead of eggs. Some of the easiest are flaxseeds, applesauce, ripe bananas or soft tofu. Proveg offers a list of even more.
Trader Joe’s cinnamon crumb coffee cake mix requires you to do nothing more than add a can of pumpkin and some water. Canned pumpkin is extremely high in beta-carotene, an antioxidant that turns into vitamin A in your body. It also has almost half your recommended daily intake of Vitamin K and substantial amounts of Vitamin C and potassium. As such, this veg-friendly mix comes out slightly more nutritious than your average coffee cake.
Then there’s the just-add-water mixes. For a slightly healthy — though still sugary — snack, stir up a bowl of Trader Joe’s pecan pumpkin instant oatmeal. Don’t even want to add water? Trader Joe’s pumpkin cinnamon rolls require nothing other than sticking them in the oven. And you’ll be rewarded with the same scent as if you’d baked them from scratch.
Salty vegan snacks
One of the cutest vegan fall foods you can eat this year, ghosts and bats crispy potato snacks are available just in time for Halloween. You’ll love the ghosts’ little O-shaped mouths as they moan a spooky warning: “We’re addictive. You’ll want to eat the whole bag.” This vegan snack comes in an eye-catching chartreuse, black and orange bag, making it a suitable Halloween-themed gift for a socially distanced visit to a friend.
If you prefer your salt from tortilla chips, pair them with Trader Joe’s vegan fall harvest salsa. This is not your typical salsa; instead of focusing on tomatoes, the flavor comes from an unlikely combination of butternut squash, apples and pumpkin.
Not sure whether you want a sweet snack or a salty snack? You can satisfy both cravings with maple and sea salt kettle corn. Move over, pumpkin. Maple is just as worthy a fall flavor.
Sweet vegan snacks
Okay, now we get to what Halloween is all about. Sugar! Trader Joe’s has the sugary vegan snacks covered. Let’s start with cookies. Maple leaf cookies are some of the world’s most delicious sandwich cookies, plus they’re shaped attractively like maple leaves. You might want to take a few and then get somebody to hide the rest, lest you eat the whole box. Glimmering pumpkins are another cute cookie, this time pumpkin-shaped, soft and topped with sparkling orange sugar granules. Then you have the Trader Joe’s classic, the Joe-Joe sandwich cookie. The fall edition is flavored with pumpkin spices. You can also find some Joe-Joe cookies made specially for Halloween that are shaped like chocolate jack-o’-lanterns stuffed with orange frosting.
Trader Joe’s Halloween gummies are a special treat for vegans. Because unlike most gummies, they’re not made with gelatin. These gummies are purple, orange and yellow and shaped like skulls, bones, bats, skeletons and pumpkins.
Candy corn popcorn is another mix of sweet and salty. If you like candy corn and popcorn, this is the obvious vegan fall food for you. If you want something even sweeter, try Trader Joe’s pumpkin spice granola bark.
Want something a little less decadent? Trader Joe’s pumpkin bagels are vegan. Pair them with Trader Joe’s maple butter or apple cider jam and you’ve consumed several of your fall food groups all at once.
You know who else likes to snack? Your dog. Don’t forget to buy some pumpkin-flavored dog treats when you visit Trader Joe’s.
Fall flavor drinks
We can’t live on food alone. We also need hydration. In the coffee and tea department, you can start your day with pumpkin spice coffee or pumpkin spice rooibos tea. Go even fancier with a can of caramel spice coconut cream cold brew latte for a portable caffeine fix any time of the day.
Pumpkin spice almond beverage is especially versatile. You can drink it straight or on the rocks, add it to your cold cereal, perk up your coffee, cook it in oatmeal or blend it in a smoothie. Prefer the oat milk craze? The new maple-flavored oat milk is a hit and tastes delicious alone or in, oatmeal, coffee and tea.
Fuji apple spiced cider is good hot or cold and makes for a great party drink. For an invigorating soft drink, try Trader Joe’s pumpkin pie-spiced ginger brew.
Trader Joe’s is one of the country’s most popular grocery stores, especially for vegans. This year the chain comes through, as usual, with a huge array of vegan fall foods and vegan snacks.
The best vegan snacks at Trader Joe’s this fall [Inhabitat]