Short Pump Trader Joe’s for an Affordable Family Dinner

Life is so busy and one problem we often face is that sometimes our schedule gets so hectic that it is difficult to find time to cook a home-made meal every night for dinner.  And, given the current state of the economy (which is hitting Richmond pretty hard), we, like many other short pump families, are really trying to be more frugal when it comes to groceries and eating out.

I just cannot justify the costs to eat out at a non-fast food restaurant for more than twice week.  And, I cannot bear to eat fast food for dinner.

One recent discovery I had was that you can feed a family of 4 for less than $10 with some pretty good pre-made food at Trader Joe’s in Short Pump.  Recently, we bought a Chinese mandarin orange chicken and a family size side of asparagus.  The asparagus was steamed without any heavy or unhealthy sauce on it. I cooked some white rice at home and voila- a nice dinner with decent food for very little cost and effort!

We have tried a salmon dish, a few pastas and some vegetable meals and really liked them.  I was not too crazy about their fish taco meal and some of their sir fry meals get a little too saucy.  But, overall, there is a good selection of these meals that I am sure any family will find a good combination of foods for a really affordable price.  The quality definitely beats the typical processed frozen dinners from the grocery store and the nutrition is much better.

I am still experimenting with other meals there but so far, we have all liked the food and my husband loves the prices!