The Frozen Italian Meal From Trader Joe's That Tastes Restaurant Quality

When you shop at Trader Joe's, it almost feels like you're getting away with something. You're paying budget prices for food that's just as good as — and often better than — name brands from your local supermarket. How does it manage to do that? Well, through private label goods and judicious use of shelf space. But really, so long as it keeps offering great frozen meals under five dollars, we'll keep buying them. Just take a look at its Cheese Filled Fiocchetti with Pink Sauce which currently goes for $4.79 and tastes like something you'd get from a checkered-tablecloth restaurant.

Trader Joe's (or Trader Giotto's, as they sometimes call themselves when getting Italian with it) generally delivers when it comes to frozen food, and that's especially the case with its pasta offerings. They're a world apart from the wan, rubbery pastas you get from Lean Cuisine or Banquet. These frozen pasta dishes are robust and hearty, and the Cheese Filled Fiocchetti is no exception. Each package is filled with three different cheeses — ricotta, Taleggio, and mozzarella — and submerged in Trader Joe's justifiably famous creamy pink sauce, which is essentially a mix of marinara and alfredo sauce. In short, it's rich, silky, and decadent; all for under five bucks.

Some of you may not have heard of fiocchetti before. As stuffed pasta goes, you're more likely to run into ravioli or gnocchi stateside. And indeed, Trader Joe's offers pretty good versions of both those dishes. Fiocchetti is similar to those pastas, but with a distinctive shape that's sealed and pleated in a bunch on the top. (The word "fiocchetto" means "little bow" or "little ribbon" in Italian, and there's something undeniably bow-like about the shape.)

Why that shape? Well, not only does it keep its stuffing inside the pasta (whether that's Trader Joe's three cheeses or more traditional fillings like pear and parmesan), it also lets sauce cling to its surface in a most pleasing way. If you were to make homemade fiocchetti, you might use a sauce like marinara, or perhaps something a little creamier. Of course, if you get it from Trader Joe's, you'll have a delicious, pink-sauce-laden dinner ready for you straight away.