Grab This Trader Joe's Fast Food Dupe For A High-Protein Breakfast

Trader Joe's is always showing you things you didn't know you needed until you set foot inside the store. A plethora of gummy candies? Check. Enough tasty frozen dinners to keep you from using your stove for a month? Absolutely. A variety of frozen items for less than $5? Without a doubt. Though they didn't make the cut on our official list of best frozen goodies, included in that last category are its English Muffin Breakfast Sandwiches, a high-protein fast food dupe that is a savory treat for your morning meal, or any time you need a quick, filling snack. Better still, you'll be able to tell your family that we have McDonald's Sausage McMuffins with Egg in the freezer.

Much like the aforementioned Sausage McMuffin with Egg, the TJ's version, which sells in a box of two for $4.99, has both a sausage and egg patty and a bit of melted cheddar cheese, placed between two slices of English muffin. And while it doesn't quite have the same amount of protein — 18 grams to the McDonald's sandwich's 20 — it nonetheless provides a very reasonable amount of the macronutrient, which is anywhere from 10 to over 30% of the average recommended daily intake. 

In addition to keeping you feeling fuller longer as you go about your morning, these Trader Joe's breakfast sandwiches are also a joy to eat. One commenter on Reddit shared that they would definitely buy them again, writing that while they could make their own version, "these are quick, easy and [have] minimal cleanup[, so they're] perfect for a busy morning." We'd also add that you don't have to wait in a drive-thru line for them, either.

There are indeed heating instructions on the box of the Trader Joe's English Muffin Breakfast Sandwiches, for both the microwave and the air fryer. However, people on the internet have tried following the directions and ended up with results that were ... less than satisfactory. For one, we'd recommend skipping the microwave altogether; this method of heating food and bread products doesn't tend to work very well (bread usually emerges from the microwave tough and chewy). We know: It's the quickest method, and if it's all you have time for, go ahead and use it, but if you're not in a huge rush, the air fryer is much better (and you don't have to worry about anything dripping through the perforations, like you would with batter-y or runny foods).

That said, even the air fryer instructions might require a little tweaking, as one person on that same Reddit thread wrote that they tried cooking them in the super-hot appliance according to the directions, but that it needed a minute or so less than instructed. It's also important to note that if you want to heat up the contents of the box, which are two breakfast sandwiches, and you can't fit both sandwiches in your basket open-faced (which is the suggested way of cooking them), heat them one at a time for best results, rather than crowding the cooking surface.

Lastly, some report the sarnies need a little snazzing up. With that in mind, we suggest adding a dash of your favorite hot sauce, or maybe even a little ketchup or barbecue, just to add a little interest. It is a perfectly blank canvas, after all!