Monday, October 18, 2010

Trader Joe's Gluten Free Granola - Loaded Fruit and Nut

I am pretty sure Trader Joe's gluten free granola is the same thing as the Bakery on Main's gluten free granola. The TJ's "loaded fruit and nut" flavor was very reminiscent of the Bakery on Main's "extreme fruit and nut" granola. I don't have a picture of TJ's granola but if you go to this website you can see some pictures. There is something about the TJ granola and the Bakery on Main that just taste the same to me. Maybe it is the corn flour and evaporated cane juice. The distinct taste is pretty sweet, almost too sweet for me. It's good stuff, but pretty calorie dense (270 calories per 57 grams which is about 3/4 cup). You can eat the bigger chunks by hand but it also crumbles a bit so you'd probably want to finish the bag over some yogurt or in a bowl with some sort of milk.

Nutritional information and ingredients for the Bakery on Main version is available here. The nutritional info is the same and the ingredients would be identical but for some varied word choices (i.e. coconut vs. dried coconut; dried cranberries vs. cranberries and sugar; etc). The Trader Joe's version is cheaper by a few bucks. A 12 oz bag of the Bakery on Main's granola runs about $6 or $7 and TJ's is closer to $4.