While we mostly stick to the freezer aisle at Trader Joe’s, we do occasionally poke our noses outside it to see what other treasures we can discover. The Trader Joe’s Italian Style Wrap, which we’re reviewing today, was one of those discoveries. This can be found in the refrigerated section of the store (ours was right next to the burritos, but we know that not every store is organized the same way).
Since this is a cold wrap, there’s no preparation required aside from opening up the package (and plopping it on a plate, if you choose to use a plate at all). There’s no cook time or anything like that — this is just a grab-and-go wrap.
This is actually an oddly shape-shifting piece of food. When the package is sealed, the wrap is jammed pretty tightly inside. When you pull it out, it unravels a little bit, making it look quite a bit larger. However, the back portion of each half is all shell — the inner components don’t extend quite that far, so even this is deceiving.
And actually, that brings us to our one big complaint about this wrap: It’s all shell. The shell is quite good, so that’s not the worst thing in the world, but you should be aware that it sort of drowns out the flavor of everything else. Even the salami, which typically has a pretty potent flavor, ends up a little bit muted against the overwhelming size of the wheat shell.
What filling is here, though, is quite good. There’s smoked ham, sopressata, and salami sort of tucked into the center, surrounded by romaine lettuce. The lettuce contains chunks of cherry peppers and red bell peppers. Outside of that is a thin layer of provolone cheese and a tasty dijon mustard/mayo combo. And then, of course, is the wheat wrap.
It’s all very wonderful. The mustard/mayo spread is especially good, and it has some spiciness that we weren’t expecting. We also weren’t expecting the addition of peppers (which are not mentioned on the top of the package), which made them a nice surprise.
Of course, dieters will need to be wary of this one. Eagle-eyed purchasers will notice that the nutrition facts on the bottom of the package actually list this single wrap as two servings. That means the 370 calories (180 from fat), which is already pretty high, becomes 740 calories (360 from fat). The 960 mg of sodium becomes 1,920 mg. For having all of that, it’s actually not as filling as you might expect. This is no diet food!
The Trader Joe’s Italian Style Wrap has too many calories and too much shell for our taste. However, if you can forgive those particular sins, there’s actually a very good wrap here — you’ll just have to get through a whole bunch of shell to find it.
To learn more about the nutrition content or ingredients in this Trader Joe’s wrap, check out our package scan below.
