Monday, April 29, 2013

April Loot Crate- Token Review

Loot crate is a really popular geek/gamer subscription box.  This box has gained a considerable following over the year (almost) it has been out.  Part of the reason for that, I believe, that this box is very unique.  Although there is another box that copied was influenced by Loot Crate, called Booty Bin. As you can probably tell, the names are quite similar.  I contacted Loot Crate about this and, they said he founder of Booty Bin was, at one point, a subscriber of Loot Crate. Peculiar...

Well, anyways, this box costs $19.37 a month including shipping. They ship on the 20th of each month, and their boxes usually ship pretty fast to me (priority mail I think).  Each month, one subscriber will win a "Mega Crate," which is filled with over $250 worth of value! I really hope someday I will get a mega-crate to review.  I won't count on it though, since they have way more subscribers, and the number keeps growing, along with my chances *sigh*.This months box was an arcade theme called "token."  I loved arcades as a child, so I was looking forward to this box more than other months.  
 I love the design on these boxes!
Street Fighter Mini Series Blind Box ($10)- Ah, Street Fighter, I never completely knew how to play you, I just basically button-mashed everything.  Nevertheless, it was still fun. This little box contained a mini figurine of a street fighter character with different rarities for each character.  It's a mystery box in a mystery box!

Collectible Mushroom Kingdom Racing ($7??)- I can't find this anywhere online except other Loot Crate Reviews! But this bag thing is pretty awesome.  I used to play Mario Kart all the time (and sometimes still do).  But I also remember not being very good at it... Well then, I still like the bag.
Street Fighter Enamel Keychain Blind Bag ($5)- As I said above, Street Fighter is awesome.  Sadly, I don't use key chains very often.

8-Bit Zombie Arcade Token ($3)-  Arcade tokens were always something I couldn't get enough of.  I mean, did anyone ever say they had too many arcade tokens in an arcade. I think not. But I don't know what to do with this, but it sure has that nostalgia factor.

Retro Game Candy- I am not going to count this in the value since it's probably super cheap. I think these were here for mostly the nostalgia factor, and boy did this give me nostalgia. I love both of these candies, even if they don't taste the best, I still like them for some reason.

An arcade ticket from Loot Crate- We are supposed to keep this code because throughout this week, Loot Crate will give out prizes. Fingers Crossed!

Space Invaders Candy With Collectible Tin ($7)-  Space invaders was always a weirdly addicting game to me.  I didn't really like to play it, but I just couldn't stop.  Anyways, more shtuffs to put in my little Loot Crate collection. 
 The Front of the Tin
This was the figurine I got.  This figurine is put in 1 in every 20 boxes, so not the most rare, but not the least by far. 

The Keychain I got (Chun-Li vs. Vega)

The total value of this box is about $32. This is a pretty great value considering that one wouldn't find many of these things in an average grocery store.  I have been loving my loot crates lately and I plan to stay subscribed!

Verdict- Loot Crate is awesome!

Saturday, April 27, 2013

April Verbal Fancy Box Review

Moar Fancy Box subscriptions! This one is from a member of the Teriyaki Boyz, Verbal.  I'll admit, I got this mainly because Verbal is Asian, and I know he once made a song with boA (a korean artist), and I love boA! This box is supposed to specialize in super fun things. I also love subscription boxes if you couldn't tell by now.

Like most Fancy Boxes, this costs $39 a month plus shipping and is guaranteed to have at least an $80 value. Way back when 25 off codes existed, I got this box because I just wanted to try it.  I will probably cancel after this month, but who knows, I just may resubscribe again. This box also ships internationally, but it will cost more than the $7 (I think) that I payed for shipping.  

 As always, Fancy included little cards for each item detailing why the curator picked them and a short description about the item. 
Alcohol Shotgun ($19)-I had a little double-take when i took this out of the box. I found it weird that the main selling point for this was that it was "finally" a gun that could shoot alcohol. Then I thought "can't a water gun do the exact same thing?". Turns out it can.  And this only holds a shot, so yeah. Meh item. 
Oscar Wilde Quote Reusable Tote Bag ($15??)- I can't find this anywhere online, or on the fancy. Plus, I kinda, maybe, lost the card for it, oops. That being said, I am not sure how I will use it.  
Colour Me Good Hip Hop Coloring Book ($18)- I don't know why this was in here, when it was in the P!nk box for last month.  It even has the P!nk card for it. I contacted Fancy and they gave me a $20 gift card! And they responded to my e-mail in like 30 minutes which is super fast for this company.  Anyways, I actually like this, and I have some friends that would adore this!

A Set of  Mr. and Ms.Who? Playing Cards ($25)- On The card it said these were supposed to be black. But mine were just normal white ones :(. What makes these cards special is that they have social icons on the face cards like Michael Jackson, and Lady Gaga. They are OK, since I don't use playing cards that often.

This value of this box is about $77.  If I underestimated the value of the tote bag a little, then the value is fine.  I was just disappointed with some of the products. So I canceled this one and got the normal fancybox for next month, which I am looking forward to!

Join this site!

I don't know why I didn't do this before, but I just added a "join this site" widget to this blog. So if you enjoy reading my posts, it would be much appreciated if you subscribed! More reviews coming today of the verbal fancy box and loot crate (maybe bulu box) reviews coming tommorow. All of you people are awesome! Bye for now!

April Tyler Florence Fancy Box Review

Fancy has so many subscriptions now, and this is their most recent one.  This is the first Tyler Florence Fancy Box, and it was pretty awesome, so I signed up for another month.  All Fancy subscriptions so far cost $39 dollars a month, plus shipping.   A coupon code for twenty dollars off was going around recently (it was 20OFF14, and I used it to buy this box for next month), but I tried to use it again and it would not work.  

All of the fancy boxes also have a promised value of at least 80+ dollars worth of stuff (except for the food one).  I find it weird that the one I like the most (the food one) is the one with the lowest value, I guess I just love food that much. I expected this box to have cooking supplies, a cookbook, and some food item, and I wasn't too far off!  I also love that fancy includes a little card for each product with a picture, a short description, and a note from the curator on why they choose it. 
 I am really enjoying these new colored fancy boxes!
Sunny Side Out Egg Separator, also called pluck ($13)-  I personally don't have a hard time separating eggs, but this might make the whole experience cleaner, per say.  Sometimes the whites get all over my counter, so, on second thought, this may be useful. It is also dishwasher safe, which is always a plus. 
Brass Knuckles Meat Tenderizer ($15)- How Clever! A meat tenderizer that has you use your fists.  This is pretty darn cool, and it will be used.

Sparq Whiskey Rocks ($20)- I always pass by these on kickstarter, and think about buying them but never actually do.  So I was very happy to see these in my box! I hate how water waters beverages down.
Tyler Florence "Fresh" Cookbook ($35)-  When I first pulled this out, I just thought "Well cookbooks always come in handy." But when I read Liz's review of this, I found out it was signed by Tyler Florence himself on the inside cover! Now that I looked inside, the recipes in it sound really awesome. 

The total value of this box is $83.  These are also products you wouldn't find anywhere, especially the signed cookbook. So overall, this box was super awesome!

Verdict- The Tyler Florence Fancy Box is one of the best fancy subscriptions in my opinion!

Friday, April 26, 2013

April Jungle Stand Tasting BAR Review

The Jungle Stand is a new-ish subscription box unlike any that I have heard of.  Each month they send you what is called a tasting BAR, six different bite-sized samples for you to taste, and more importantly, experience. This box costs $9.92 a month and is billed on the 1st of each month. The shipping is different for everyone, they start shipping the first week, and don't stop until all orders have been fulfilled.  I love food, and interesting flavors, so I was quick to jump on this subscription box!

This is what they say about themselves:
We are an original taste-ing BAR.
And every month the BAR will offer bitesized
samples for taste-ing.
It’ll be a very unique experience for surecertainly
one you’ve never had before. 
Perhaps odd  maybe even strange at times, but
always delightful. 
So take a taste and enjoy! 
This will be YOUR adventure.



 This box was bigger than expected, but I don't know what other box to compare it to!
They give a big info card about all the samples in the box, and say how to taste them. In this box, because it had a treasure hunt theme, had one food that was considered the "Diamond of the Kitchen." They encouraged you to guess which one it was, and there was an "X" at the bottom of the box that said which one was!
P.S, these pictures make the food look really ugly and unappetising  but I promise you that most of it was quite tasty and fresh.

Stuffed Mushrooms- These were one of my favorite things in the box. They were jumbo mushrooms sorted in canola oil and stuffed with a cream cheese and red pepper mixture.  The mushroom had a very strong flavor, which was supposed to be umami (savory), and it definitely was.  It almost tasted like meat.  The cream cheese mix added a really nice creamy flavor the da shrooms. 

Truffle and Cheese Stuffed Olives-  These were the the "Diamond in the Kitchen."  I love truffle a lot, but I didn't really like these.  Something was just off putting about the flavor to me. 
Blue Cheese Olives-  These were green olives stuffed with a zesty bleu cheese.  These were pretty tasty.  I used to avoid bleu cheese like the plague, but I am starting to appreciate its flavor.  So these were pretty dang good in my opinion.

Pepperballs- Sweet picante peppers imported from South Africa stuffed with cream cheese and moistened with canola oil. These peppers were my favorite thing in the box! The peppers themselves were slightly sweet and slightly hot.  And again, the cream cheese added some nice creaminess.
Red Mini Peppers- Red peppers cut into small tips and stuffed with cream cheese.  I think we should rename this box "The olives, and miscellaneous things stuffed with cream cheese. But these peppers were delicious.  The card recommended eating them with crackers, and they also provided some.  On top of the crackers are these provided tweezer things that I used to eat all the samples in the box.  I thought it was pretty handy that they included these extras.

Greek Olives- The third olive in the box! Good thing I love olives, and these were no exception   The little feta cheese chunks you may see were tasty also, and the flavor from those transferred into the olives a little and gave them a cheesy tone to them.  
This was the front of the card

Overall, I loved my first Jungle Stand Box! It was a very unique experience to try everything.  If this box didn't sound like your cup of tea because of all the olives and peppers, don't worry because I know they change their boxes up a lot.  Last month's box was something like "Bakers of the world," and it had a bunch of sweet treats.  I will definitely keep this box!

Verdict- This box was awesome! Very unique also. I would definitely recommend it!

Tuesday, April 23, 2013

April Fancy Gourmet Food Box Review

thefancy.com now offers a number of subscription services for all types of people.  All of them seemed interesting to me, but this food box piqued my interest the most because, well, its food, and I LOVE food.  This box normally costs $39 plus shipping, and it does not ship nationwide (but the other fancy boxes do).  I am not sure if there is a coupon right, now since I can't find one, but there may still be a 25 off one out there. This price seems very high, and it is, but it the value for these boxes are usually higher and the products so far have been pristine! The box from this month came a little late for me, but I think it was definitely worth the wait!

Since I was waiting for a coupon until the cutoff date, I unfortunately will most likely not get the box for next month *sigh*. But hey fancy *nudge nudge* *wink wink*, I wouldn't be mad if you sent next month's box to me, just find my contact info in the tab above ;). 

 I really like this  new snazzy green box!
Charlito's Cocina Dry Cured Black Truffle Sausage ($13.33)- I seemed to have gotten this instead of the ham, but I am not unhappy in the slightest bit! This sausage is delicious.  You can really taste the truffle in it.  It would probably taste great with cheese, or wine ;).

Stem Citrus Spritzer ($7)-  I feel like this will come in handy if I ever need something that needs a little citrus to it. It is a very interesting idea, and works pretty well and is easy to use.
Divine Brine Pickle Relish ($4)- This has an interesting flavor and I am undecided if I like it yet. I just don't know what to use it for yet. I'll just try to use it in place of normal relish sometime.

Mina Harissa Mild Red Pepper Sauce ($10.50)- This kinda tastes like a mixture of sriracha and salsa.  I tend to lean towards sriracha for all of my hot sauce needs, but I will try this. I wish it was spicier, but it tastes great with tortilla chips!

Zoe's Chocolate Co's the Pretzel Bar ($7.50)- The chocolate in this is really high quality, and that is what makes it so good in my opinion.  The pretzels add a really nice salty element to the chocolate.
Bobbysue's Original Nuts ($3.50)- These nuts are great, they taste somewhat sweet and savory.  The bag makes it a great snack to grab out of your backpack in class. I also like the nice mix of nuts in it. 

Dave's Madagascar Vanilla Coffee Syrup ($11)- This was the highlight of the box for sure! I tried a spoonful of it and immediately fell in love.  It tastes like really good coffee, with some bitter tones to it; but it is sweet enough to eat with anything! Amazing.

The total value of this box is approximately $56.83.  This is a little lower than last month's but still worth it in my opinion.  I loved all the products in here to! This may be one of my favorite subscription boxes now!

Verdict- This is an amazing box with a great variety of full-sized items to try. 

Sunday, April 21, 2013

Mystery Conscious Box Review

Conscious Box was just recently offering a mystery box "stupendously stuffed" with extra stuff they had.  I decided to make the purchase because I knew the value would be there and past mystery boxes have been pretty awesome.  This box was a one-time-purchase dealio and I am a sucker for those things, since I don't really like recurring payments (kinda ironic I know).

This box costed $19.99 but I bought it in combination with a 3 month subscription to their gluten-free box and used the 50% off code, so this box only costed me around $10. I'm not going to put the retail values in (yet, maybe) because there were too many sample sized things that were almost impossible to find a value on! But I can assure you that the value is greater than the cost of the box.

And P.S, my pictures for these kinda suck for some reason.
 So many samples!!
All Natural Freekeh Roasted Green Wheat- I really do not know what to do with this. It reminds me of chia or hemp seeds because they all have a lot of protein. I just hope this doesn't end up sitting and never being used.

Sahale Snacks Cashews-  I have received these a few times and they are pretty tasty.  They are cashews with this kinda sticky and delicious fruity coating.  I always enjoy these delicious little treats!

Cuppow- This little doohicky turns mason jars into a drinking mug! I feel like I would look like a complete hipster (dufus) bringing this into class one day.  But who knows, I just may do it.

Peeled Snacks appleclusters- I had these in another conscious box and they are so yummy! I love freeze dried fruits, so these were a sure shot for me liking them.  They are very crunchy and have a nice apple cinnamon flavor to them.
1 Packet of Eboost- In the last three boxes I got, I have received at least one packet of Eboost (reviews of those coming soon).  I am not complaining, since I like them.

Rock the Green Laundry Detergent-  I haven't tried this yet, but it sounds like a pretty nice laundry detergent.

1 bag Stash and Good Nature beTea-  Ugh, more tea. 'Nuff Said.
1 Little bag of Lush Nuts- I got these in a Yumvelope and they are OK. The flavor is good and all, but they are a little stale in my opinion.

Dill Dip Mix- I am not a huge fan of dill, but my Dad sure is, so he will hopefully appreciate it.

Pamela's BAking Pancake Mix-  I had their brownie mix before and it was delicious! I am expecting the same  for this.

Teeccino Maya Chocolate Organic Coffee- It isn't that often where you recieve coffee in a non-coffee sub box, so I was happy to see this. It sounds interesting also.

I was really worried that I would get all products I received before and it seemed that it wasn't the case. And most of these products will be used. The value seems to be good, but it doesn't seem as great as the previous mystery box.

Verdict: Conscious Mystery Boxes are always pretty good!

Saturday, April 20, 2013

April Yumvelope Review

Yumvelope is a monthly subscription service for gourmet snacks.  As you probably know by now, I love me some snacks. 

At first you can get one box for $21.00 plus $3 shipping.  They won't sign you up for a subscription automatically so that is nice.  Then you can subscribe for a month to moth subscription for just $21 a month. You can even purchase a six month subscription for $126 which includes some sort of  bonus shipment.  I am guessing it is a bonus month but I am not sure.

Another cool feature of this box is that they donate a meal every month like Love With Food. That is always a clear selling point for me, so I think they should market that aspect of the box more.  Most people probably don't even know that they do that.

 Yippee, granola..., but all the other things look good!
Impact Foods Granola in Maple Oat ($4.85)-  Oh boy, more granola, because I don't have any other granola and I drastically need more (sarcasm).  Well, it tastes like pretty much every granola that ever existed, but at least it goes to a great cause so there is a double donation with this Yumvelope!
Alter Eco Dark Velvet and Dark Noir Chocolate ($3.38)-  These chocolates tasted pretty high quality and ha nice cocoa flavor to them.  


Awesome Bar in Cobnut Pecan ($3)-  I haven't tried this yet, but it sounds  yummy.  

(2) La-Dee-Dahs ($5.50)-  These were the highlight of the box for sure!  They were swirls of white chocolate nougat and sea salt caramel hand dipped in dark chocolate mad by a French Pastry School graduate.  What else can I say, super amazing in my opinion. 

2 Stash Green Tea Bag- I don't know why I received this, it wasn't on the card thing, so I didn't put it in the value.  Now I have more Stash tea, yay. 


The total value of this box $16.73, which is pretty low for this box.  It is OK with me since they donate a meal, and other boxes have been pretty high in value.

Verdict: This month may have been a little sub-par, but this It is still a good box overall.




Wednesday, April 17, 2013

April Love With Food Review

Love with Food is a fairly popular gourmet food monthly subscription service. One of the reasons why it is so popular is most likely the relatively cheap cost. This box costs $12 monthly total and can go as low as $10 with an annual plan. What differentiates this box from other food boxes is that for every box they deliver, they donate a meal to a hungry child in America.

There are a lot of discounts online for LWF. Once I found one for $15 for a 3-month subscription. So if the $12 seems too pricey, just keep your eyes peeled for discounts!


Sometimes, LWF has special guests curate their boxes, this month it is  Andrew Zimmern from Bizarre Foods. I was really excited for that box because I am completely open to any food, no matter how bizarre. 


This month's theme was "Weird, Wild, and Wonderful Foods."



 The box for this month had contents that could not be contained!
 These don't look too weird, but they do look wonderful!
Lemony Lover Oloves Olives ($1.28)- These were sooo delicious.  I never really knew that I loved olives until this box.  They had a really nice acidic flavor with some nice seasonings added. I will definitely buy more!

SomerSaults Salty Pepper Nuggets ($1.33)-  These were really salty and peppery, but I liked them.  They were like a circular grain and sunflower seed cracker with lots of salt and pepper.  I might buy more of these also!


(2) Cocomels in Sea Salt and Original ($1.60)- I love me some coconut, so I was super excited to see that these were going to be included.  They tasted like caramel  just infused with some coconut, and they were delicious. Ordering more, like everything else in this box it seems!


Buff Lo Creamy Ranch Buffalo Dip  ($2)-  This sounds really good, just look at the title! I can't wait to try this with something.


The Good Bean Smoky Chili & Lime Chickpea Snacks ($3.17)- The flavor of these reminded me of fuego flavored Takis.  So these were pretty tasty, but I'll stick to takis, because I have a weird phobia of beans for some reason.


Mini Pops Air Popped Sorghum Grain ($1.21)- The texture of these were nice and crunchy, but I thought they were a little bland, so I added more salt and they were quite the treat.  I am not sure if I liked it better than popcorn though.


(Not Pictured, Whoops) Pollen Ranch Fennel Pollen  ($0.77)- This made the box quite stanky, but I will use it in some recipe sometime.


The total value of this box is $11.36.  This is actually one of the better values Love With Food has had recently. I am happy with this value since they donate a meal with every purchase.  The products in this box were quite awesome considering I will buy three of them again!


Verdict: This box is pretty good, and goes toward a great cause.


Monday, April 15, 2013

March/April Graze Box(es) Review #3 and #1

Graze is a Weekly/bi-Weekly/Monthly Subscription Service that is similar to GoBites, Peckish, and Naturebox in the sense that they have their own brand snack mixes and send them to you.  They send you their snacks in little punnets that have exactly one serving each.  Four punnets come in each box.

The price of Graze is $5 per box.  This makes each punnet out to be $1.25 each.  This is surprisingly a good deal if you compare it to GoBites, since they charge $1.99 per punnet (they are both the same size). If you stopped buying as much snacks, this could save money. If you don't feel like getting these boxes every week because of the sneaky price, or you just think the punnets will start to pile up, don't fret! Graze offers 3 plans for optimized flexibility.  You can get your boxes delivered weekly,  every fortnight, or monthly. You can even skip a week with any plan! 

Since Graze is based in the UK, deliveries are very inconsistent at times, but I am understanding of that because they aren't based in the US yet.  I really hope that they come to the U.S soon because I just got olives in my LWF box for this month (review coming soon), and I discovered that I love olives! And the olives offered in the UK sound really tasty!  I like the variety that this box has because it isn't just mixed nuts and granola, there is bit of everything!

The Herb Garden (herb and onion peanuts, baked herb bites and oregano rice crackers)- I first marked this as love because I thought the baked herb bites in it sounded interesting.  They turned out to be not very interesting, but good nonetheless.  There are a lot of herby savory snacks on Graze and I have liked them all, but not love, so I marked this as like.

Toffee Apple (sticky toffee sauce with granny smith apple slices)-  I had this in my first ever graze box and I thought it was delicious!  The apples tasted fresh and the toffee caramel was divine   But this time, the apple pieces had a bit of a brown shade to them, and didn't taste as fresh.  I guess that's what comes along with transcontinental shipping.  But I still marked this as love since it was so good the first time.


Tropical Daiquiri (pineapple, lime infused raisins and green mango)- This tasted very fruity.  The lime infused raisins were OK, but not my favorite infused raisin. I always buy green mango from Costco and these tasted a bit stale, but still retained good flavor.  I marked this as like.

Bounty Hunter (milk chocolate drops, coconut flakes and cranberries)- I expected this to be plain, but it was tasty.  The chocolate was very smooth, and went well with the cranberries and coconut, marked as like. 


April Box #2 http://grz.cm/b/17J38

My Thai (sweet chili sauce with baked soy bites)- I have ended up liking all the dippers so far (except mango chutney) and this was no exception.  The chili sauce tasted like the sweet chili sauce you buy in a bottle from the store, but it tasted a little spicier (I think) than that.  The two things tasted great together, marked as love.

Summer Berry Compote (berry compote with wholemeal shortbread dippers)- Again, I like all the dippers, and this was one of my favorite things I've ever had from graze.  The shortbread tastes very familiar, yet I can't put my finger on it's exact taste. The berry compote was delicious and they were very yummy together, love. 

After Dinner Mint (mint infused raisins, blanched almonds and dark chocolate buttons)-  I thought this sounded very interesting with its mint infused raisins.  Nothing tasted that great by themselves, but together, it tasted a lot like the mints some restaurants give after dinners.  I rated this one as a like.

Brooklyn Bites (BBQ pumpkin seeds, poppy seed pretzels and cheese cashews)- This one was new, so I marked it as love so I could get it soon, and it did!  This was pretty good, it had a different flavor than other graze snacks, but I don't know if it reminded me of Brooklyn.  I rated this as a like. 

Verdict:  Graze is always pretty awesome!d


Saturday, April 13, 2013

New Conscious Box 50% Coupon Code + Mystery Box

There is a new awesome coupon code for conscious box! Use the code EARTHMONTH to get 50% off any subscription. This box is usually $20 a month, but using this code, it is much more affordable. As some of you may know, I just unsubscribed to this box, and now I will probably resubscribe. Check out my other conscious box review by clicking on the tag at the end of this post. There are also vegan and gluten-free options available.

Conscious box is also offering their mystery boxes! I have heard their past mystery boxes have been pretty awesome, so I will probably purchase this also. This is $19.99 including shipping and is stuffed with extra stuff they have left! I hope there will be things I haven't received!



Friday, April 12, 2013

April Dumpling Box Review

First of all, sorry for not posting in over a week! I just haven't really gotten anything to review lately. Expect a double graze box review tomorrow though!

Dumpling Box is a monthly snacking subscription box focused on Asian Snacks. When I fist saw this box, I immediately subscribed, since I LOVE Asian snacks a lot! I am always a little biased to anything Asian though, but this is my fourth month of this box and I think it is awesome! None of the boxes so far have been disappointing.

Dumpling Box costs $10 a month including shipping. It is paid with a recurring payment thing from Paypal. I am pretty sure that everyone gets their box delivered on different days, because everyone pays on different days. This box is usually the first box I get every month, so I think I get it earlier than most. I once told Anisha at Everyone Loves a Treasure that I received my dumpling box in the previous week and she said that she didn't even get billed for hers yet! But that isn't much of a negative to the box in my opinion.

Each box comes with a little info card with a list of all the products with their ingredients and their country of origin. I don't think this is particularly a box for a health nut, since Asian snacks tend to be more processed than snacks sent in most sub boxes. These don't seem to bad for you though. On the other side of the card, Shelly (the founder) writes a little summary and usually a story about one or two of the products. This time there was a story about the discovery of tea and the invention of the tea bag. She also said that this box included a competition between two types of pumpkin snacks, and two types of jelly ones.

The outside of the box
Daliyuan Soft French Bread Banana Flavor (China)- This kinda reminded me of Hawaiian rolls, but with a slight banana flavor. If you've had them you know what I am talking about. I didn't like it as much as the rolls, but it was still good.

Saquima (China)- This was my favorite thing in the box by far. The texture of this pastry was just so awesome. It had a little crunch and it was surprisingly soft sometimes. It was kinda sweet, but not overpoweringly sweet, pretty awesome snack in my opinion.
Pumpkin Wheat (Korea)- This was some sort of hard-ish pumpkin taffy. It was super hard at first, but after it was in your mouth for a while, it softened up and was pretty tasty. I'm not sure if I liked it better than the other pumpkin thing (see below).

Pumpkin Seed Biscuit (Hong Kong)- This had a nice crunch too it. I like pumpkin seeds, but it just wasn't too spectacular.

IKC Assorted Jelly (Korea)- I am pretty sure the writing on this isn't in Korean, so I think I received a different product. It was still jelly though, so maybe not. I didn't no what flavor it was. The best way I can describe it is a salty cola. Yeah, I didn't like it very much.

Chaoli Lemon Flavor Candy (China)- This was a standard lemon candy, nothing too special.



Green Tea Biscuits (China)- These had a really nice texture to them, and I really liked the subtle green tea flavor. Pretty good overall.

Inaba Irodori (Japan)- I've had this before and it is just a nice savory snack, so I thought it was pretty tasty, but I'm a sucker for savory snacks, especially Asian ones. This had a jumble of ingredients like Wasabi peas and rice crackers.

Ten Candy Ton (Taiwan)- This was interesting. The outer cone tasted a little weird but the inside was filled with delicious jelly! The cone was OK but the jelly was awesome. I liked this way better than the other jelly product.

I really liked this box. I think I was with Dumpling Box since their very first box and, they have progressively gotten better in my opinion. I think I will be keeping this subscription since it is pretty budget-friendly and I am never disappointed

Verdict: This is a great box, so subscribe if this sounds like your cup of tea or if you just want to mix things up!

Tuesday, April 2, 2013

March Boxtera Review

Boxtera is a monthly food subscription service. I was super curious for this box since I usually am in the food box department.  This box stood out for me because of the price (kinda high), and how much food they sent in each box! Each of the food items usually has some health benefit to it (vegan, gluten free, etc.). So I went ahead and contacted Boxtera and they were generous enough to send me a complimentary box for me to review! I love it when that happens.

Boxtera is $40 with a month to month subscription.  But you can get it for $32 and $30 if you sign up for a semi-annual or annual subscription.  I did a little test checkout and it seems that they still bill you monthly if you sign up for a 6 or 12 month.  Don't quote me on that because I wasn't completely sure.  But that is always nice especially for a box of this price, because it can get quite tedious for big payments sneaking up on you when you least expect them to.

 This box looks pretty snazzy if I don't say so myself
 This opening reminded me of the one in Healthy Surprise
 So many snacks!
Good Life Granola Original Flavor ($3)- I have had this many times in other food subs and it is always pretty good.  I am never blown away by it, but by no means unhappy, it will definitely be eaten.

Bobbysue's nuts! Original Flavor ($3.50)-  I received these in a Love with Food box and they are pretty tasty.  They have some savory and sweet elements to them.  The resealable pouch makes it an easy snack to grab during class.

Food Should Taste Good Sweet Potato Chips ($1)- I agree, food should taste good! These chips definitely did.  I checked on their website and they have A LOT of flavors to choose from.  I saw a kimchi flavor and I really want to try that because I love me some kimchi.
Seasnax in wasabi Flavor ($1.50)-  These seaweed sheets are soooo yummy! I recieved sea sprinkles in a healthy surprise and I was hooked ever since.  The wasabi added a really nice kick.  I don't agree with their "strangely addictive!" slogan, because I don't think they are strange at all, just addicting!

Bitsy's Brainfood in Orange Chocolate Beet ($2.50)-  These were also quite tasty.  I liked the texture of these little alphabet cookies.  I also never knew orange and beet tasted good together.  This would be a good way to sneak some health kids' diets.

ZFruit Rope in Strawberry and Grape ($1.66 total)- This would be another way to get a kid healthy. They tasted a bit medicine-y to me, but I have some weird nostalgia for flavored medicine so I loved them!
The Gluten Free Bar in peanut butter chocolate ($2.33)- I've gotten these a couple of times and I always really like them, great for people who can't/choose not to have gluten in their diets.

flapJacked Protein Pancake Mix ($3)- This sounds really interesting, and who doesn't love pancakes.  I always seem to crave unhealthy food after a workout so this will be a nice substitute.

Bunny Bar in Choco Cherry ($0.83)- I get these from Costco all the time and they are always yummy.

 Cinnamon Sugar Seasoned Sprouted Lentils ($1.89)- I thought this would be nasty, but it was pretty good. I always like the cinnamon sugar combo (who doesn't?), and the lentils had a nice crunch to them. 
Artisana Raw Cacao Bliss ($1.64)- Interesting, this is chocolate coconut butter. I have loads of Kelapo normal coconut butter, but I may use this instead sometime.

Artisana Blue Algae Nut Butter ($1.42)- Same as above.

2 Runa Teas in Cinnamon Lemongrass and Mint ($1)- This is supposed to give energy, so I'll try it one morning.

Garden of Eatin' Black Bean Chips ($1.50??)- Either my computer is being glitchy or their website is being weird, but I didn't find a value for this. I haven't tried it yet either.

Madhouse Munchies Sea Salt & Vinegar Kettle Cooked Chips  ($1.34)- I love sea salt and vinegar, it's just something about that whole briny flavor.  These chips were then quite tasty for me.  I liked the crunch that the kettle cooking gave it.

The total value of this box is $28.11. Ouch, I don't know what went wrong.  I know for sure that other people's boxes were way higher than the sale price, so maybe I was missing an item? I'll just email them.