There are tons of amazing vegetarian frozen foods out there, but vegan options are a little more limited. It’s rare to find a meal that doesn’t contain any cheese or milk at all. Thankfully, Trader Joe’s has a few vegan options, such as the Trader Joe’s Melodious Blend, which we’re reviewing today.
We opted to cook this dish on the stove, which should have been simple. According to the instructions, the only thing you have to do is cook it for 6-7 minutes on medium-high heat. Unfortunately, the ingredients were frozen solid, and we struggled to thaw them out. We recommend running the bag under hot water for a minute or two before cooking this. It should save you time and prevent the hassles that we had to deal with.
This is a vegan meal, and it definitely tastes like one. There are no creamy or meaty textures ingredients to be found here. This is a bowl of beans and lentils, and the seasonings do nothing to hide that. We suspect that, for a lot of our readers, this meal will be a dud.
However, we found that we liked this meal more than we expected to. It has an earthy, peppery flavor that’s strangely appealing. The lentils have an oatmeal-like texture that should be off-putting, but it’s actually kind of enjoyable. Not all of our staffers were fans of this dish (we let some of our cantankerous carnivores sample this), but we’d still say that this meal is better than it looks.
If you’re not the sort of person that enjoys a big bowl of lentils, Trader Joe’s Melodious Blend probably isn’t for you. Trader Joe’s doesn’t do much to dress up these ingredients; it simply presents them as is. However, if you’re interested in vegan frozen meals and you enjoy the occasional garbanzo bean, you might find something to like here.
To learn more about the cooking instructions, nutrition content, or ingredients for this Trader Joe’s frozen veggie blend, check out our package scans below.
