#ChicSassyMomEats | Trader Joe’s Microwave Meals featuring Beef Shepherd’s Pie

Yeah, yeah, I know, I’m expected to be a good cook because I’m Kapampangan. I guess I still have that cooking prowess waiting to be harnessed in time, but when you live half of your life in Manila, you sort of like instant, or deliveries, or dine-outs best. Hah.

Lucky me, there’s Trader Joe’s nearby…and with Trader Joe’s, anyone can cook. Haha.

When the fridge space allows, I stock up on Trader Joe’s Microwave Meals from $2.99-$4.99. The Meatballs Italian Style are delicious. Seriously, my husband’s sweet and sour meatballs is the best I’ve had in years, both for the sauce and the meatballs.

Trader Ming’s Pork Shu Mai Pork Dumplings (yes, pronounced shumai, not siomai) are comparable to Chinese’ resto’s siomai. If you eat them fresh off the microwave, they are tender, juicy, and flavorful.

Joe’s Diner Mac ‘n Cheese is my son’s favorite instant Mac ‘n Cheese to date. Easy peasy.

This post features the Beef Shepherd’s Pie because for the first time, I used the conventional oven. Not the big oven, I just used our oven toaster (although the kind that has temperature selection). From my research, to avoid the moisture and have the baked golden brown mashed potato, best to remove the plastic film completely. I set the oven to 400 F at 40 mins.

Voila! Easy peasy Beef Shepherd’s Pi. Let’s eat.

In California, it seemed you are destined to be a good cook (if you have the time). Here, you have the softest beef (steak everyday), fresh fruits and vegetables in all kinds of varieties. The seasoning…name it. Mind you, I now use Himalayan pink salt. Yay.

But more often than not, please, my dear family, can we just sit back and enjoy instant microwave meals from Trader Joe’s that I will whole heartedly prepare?! Cheers! ;-D