Trader Joe’s Frozen Vegetable Pad Thai

 OK, I love Thai food as much at the next person. I even lived in Thailand for a couple of years when I was in elementary school. It was a life changing experience and I highly recommend you live overseas for a couple of years if you can. Anywhere, it doesn’t matter…

I love Pad Thai like everyone else. It seems to be a staple at Thai-American restaurants. God knows in my little hamlet here in the Seattle suburbs we have no less than 4 Thai restaurants, so I have a lot to choose from. I rarely order this off the menu, but Becky loves it and gets it almost every time. If there is a vegetarian option, she’ll go for that. (She likes to play a vegetarian on TV but in real life loves meat like the rest of us!)

I had not seen this in the frozen section before and you guys know I love Thai food and as always just had to pick this one up! I don’t have high hopes, especially after the Pad Thai in a box disaster that Trader’s tries to pawn off on you as food. This is a vegan dish, but I think you’ll be surprised at how filling it is when you eat it. I also noticed that above the name there is a something I’ve not seen before. There are the words “True Thai” and no mention of Trader Ming’s anywhere, their usual moniker for Asian food.

Like I mentioned before, it is in the frozen section. It comes in one of those selves with a plastic box where you lift up the corner and microwave for 5-6 minutes until done. You can see strips of tofu under the clear plastic. They almost look like strips of chicken! I nuked it for the recommended time and when I opened the microwave, I knew it wasn’t going to be completely awful. It smelled pretty darn good in there!

I pulled it out and what I didn’t expect was this layer of greens and bean sprouts below the noodles. My picture on the left doesn’t do it justice to show how many sprouts were under there. There is a complete layer of sauce and sprouts/vegetables under the noodles. I highly recommend that you get it out of the black plastic container and put it in a bowl (unlike the me, I just ate it out of the plastic dish!)

I really liked the flavors. They are pretty bold and there is a fair amount of heat. The sauces isn’t too thick or thin. It did need a little something extra, so I sprinkled some Soy Sauce on it and the perked it up! You might want to sprinkle some peanuts on top if you want a little extra crunch.

I think this is a winner. Something I would take to work for lunch in a minute. It’s a bit over 10oz of food and for a person of my size it filled me up.

I am going to rate this Trader Joe’s Vegetable Pad Thai a solid 8 bells!