I drive 2 hours to shop at Trader Joe's once a month. Here are 11 items I buy that make the trip worth it.

• Since moving to Indiana, I have to drive two hours to get to the closest Trader Joe's .
• Some items are worth making the trek for, like the granola bites, cacio-e-pepe ravioli, and syrup.
• I also pick up some non-food items each visit, including the pop-up sponges and dog treats.

When I lived in Southern California, I had tons of Trader Joe's locations to choose from. But now that I reside in Southern Indiana — where there are only four stores in the entire state — I drive two hours to and from the closest location.

Because I live so far away, I typically travel to Trader Joe's once a month, stocking up on lots of canned goods and cleaning products. I even bring a cooler to take home perishables.

Here are the 11 things I buy that make the long journey to Trader Joe's worth it.

Trader Joe's granola bites are great for road trips or hiking.

Unlike typical granola fragments, my husband and I love that Trader Joe's granola bites come in more solid pieces. The bites are wrapped in pouches and come with good portions of chocolate chips.

The only drawback is that I can't limit myself to just one pouch, so I like to buy a few boxes at a time.

Trader Joe’s Italian-style wedding soup is surprisingly good.

Despite appearances — yes, the floating meatballs admittedly look a bit strange — this soup is delicious. We tend to crave it in the winter since it has pasta and broth, like chicken noodle soup .

I love the guilt-free feeling of using the pop-up sponges.

These sponges are compostable since they're made from natural vegetable cellulose, which makes me feel a lot less climate anxiety while using them.

They are also very effective in getting all the grease and grime off my cast-iron skillets and hold up well despite being biodegradable.

I love Trader Joe's cacio-e-pepe ravioli.

I can't be the only one who likes adding dried pepper to plain ravioli — but Trader Joe's cacio-e-pepe ravioli makes it so that I don't have to.

When paired with a side dish, the portion is large enough for two to enjoy. But by itself, it also works great as a larger lunch for one.

My dogs love Trader Joe's grain-free dog treats with peanut butter and banana.

My fur babies love both peanut butter and bananas, so I use these treats for dog training. Sometimes, I'll even give my big dogs two at the end of the day as a reward.

Trader Joe's buttermilk-pancake mix is easy to make.

I like to make pancakes on weekends when my husband and I can have breakfast together. Trader Joe's buttermilk-pancake mix is easy to make — all I need to do is add water and an egg.

Trader Joe's organic Vermont maple syrup is my favorite store-brand syrup.

I'm picky about maple syrup and tend to get mine from farmer's markets. But Trader Joe's organic Vermont maple syrup rivals the bottles I can get locally.

Trader Joe's dark-chocolate-covered almonds have the best almond-to-chocolate ratio.

I love Trader Joe's dark-chocolate-covered almonds because the chocolate layer is decadently thick. The pop of almond flavor also complements the chocolate rather than being overpowering.

I buy Simpler Times lager whenever we have a house project.

Like my dogs, my husband is receptive to bribery. Knowing there are cans of Simpler Times lager in the fridge, he's happy to do the bulk of the yard work on a weekend.

The oven-toasted old-fashioned organic oats make the best oatmeal-raisin cookies.

Even if you're not a fan of oatmeal-raisin cookies, these oats are delicious because of how crunchy and crispy they are from the toasting process. They're so rich and sweet that it's easy to forget they're healthy.

Trader Joe's baked cheese crunchies are my favorite guilt-free snack.

Because these cheese-flavored corn snacks are baked, they aren't greasy. However, they still have all the cheesy flavor you'd expect, making them the perfect snack to pull out from the pantry.

Click to keep reading Trader Joe's diaries like this one .

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