Since I live in a city and don’t have a car, I have to walk a mile to my closest Trader Joe’s. Rain, shine, snow, or heat wave, I refuse to pay for an Uber to a place that is technically within walking distance of my apartment.
So how do I convince myself to get up and buy groceries when I don’t feel like walking all that way? I promise myself that if I go to the store, I can get myself any snack that I want. Yes, I am bribing myself to do a basic adult task, but it works! And we need to talk about my latest bribery snack obsession.
Why I Love Trader Joe’s Tempura Seaweed Snacks
The Spicy Tempura Seaweed Snack from Trader Joe’s is the perfect post-shopping snack. They are heavenly little seaweed squares covered in crispy tempura batter and sprinkled with a spicy and savory seasoning that gets all over your fingers like Cheeto dust.
According to the packaging, the seasoning is a combination of sugar, chili pepper, garlic powder, paprika, red chili powder, black pepper, and salt, which Trader Joe’s calls Togarashi Style Seasoning.
I picked it up off the shelf as my walk-home treat because it looked tasty, crunchy, and like it wouldn’t spoil my dinner. And this was true, even though I ate the entire bag before I had even made it three blocks from the store. The snack is mouth-wateringly good, and it’s dangerously easy to eat the entire bag in one sitting. I’m not sure how many servings are supposedly in a bag, but I ate it as though it was a single serving.
The flavor was salty, savory, and lightly fishy, with a satisfying tempura crunch. It’s the kind of snack I definitely cannot buy in bulk because I will fail terribly at portion control, but I am definitely keeping it in my post-shopping snack rotation. It’s the only way I will be able to continually convince myself to go to the grocery store.