Friday, July 26, 2013

Bestowed Box Review + $5 coupon

Bestowed is a monthly healthy snack/food subscription box curated by a celebrity nutritionist named Heather Baur.  It is $19 a month including shipping, and you get your first month free if you sign up for an annual plan. They send 5-7 items each month, not including bonus things like recipes and things of that nature. Use code 5OFFBSTOWED01.  As you could probably tell by now, I have a slight obsession with food, so I was very happy when Bestowed gratuitously sent me this box to review. 
 It wasn't completely stuffed to the brim, but that is not necessarily a bad thing!
Hail Merry Almonds in Vanilla Maple ($2)- I love Hail Merry products! Their macaroons, and their almonds now too (not the granola).  These were pretty awesome, I never really thought about vanilla with almonds.

California Extra Virgin Olive Oil ($0.60)- Olive oil is something that will always go to use. And these are in little packets so I'll just use them for frying up some meat or something like that. The brand is what I get regularly anyways. 
KIND bar in Dark Chocolate Chili Almond ($2)- I haven't tried this yet, but it sounds tasty, because I like pretty much anything with a little kick.

Dr. Praeger's FREE ITEM coupon ($4)- Dr. Praeger's sells mostly veggie burgers I think. I've only had a veggie burger once in my life before, so I think they deserve another chance. Free coupons will always be used in my life.

Info booklet- I really like it when boxes include an info packet with descriptions of all the items. This one had really long descriptions, and even had some lifestyle tips on the back!
Mantiboba Hemp Hearts ($3)- I've gotten these in another box and they are pretty awesome. Hemp hearts are super healthy for you, I'll just add them to random things I eat.

Matt's Munchies Banana ($2)- My favorite item in the box! I would describe them as an fruit roll up for adults (even though I still eat them).  It came in a bunch of little bite-sized squares which was nice. And the flavor didn't taste artificially at all, just banana!

The total value of this box was about fourteen bucks. But this was just a review box, so I think it was just to see what kind of products they would send. I checked out reviews of the monthly box and all of them were above the $20 range, so that's nice. As for the products, I would say they are pretty awesome. All of them were/are going to be used very shortly. 

Verdict: I am debating if I should subscribe.

**I recieved this product free of charge in exchange for an honest review, getting it free didn't affect my opinions in any way. 

Saturday, July 20, 2013

Awesome Japanese Candy! Part 5- Kracie Popin' Cookin' Waffle Kit

Part four of my Japanese Candy series! This one is also one of the more complex ones, most of the Kracie and Popin Cookin ones have a lot more steps to them.I am still saving the sushi kit for last.  If you are wondering, I purchased all of these fromwanwan.fm/store, a store owned by a Japanese youtuber, MarimoMarshmallow.

 I highly doubt my waffles will turn out as awesome looking as these. 
 All of the candies in for Poppin Cookin have a bunch of packets, plastic parts too. You are supposed to cut the plastic part into more parts buy cutting along the lines. 
 First you mix the big orange packet with some water in the provided compartment and get this weird dough stuff.  It had a really weird texture.  Then you squish them into a weird heart shaped waffle mold to get the waffles!
 I am most definietly not an expert in this. 
 Then you make the blueberries. You make them with the purple packet and some water. Then you pour your liquid in the blueberry molds and wait a couple seconds. I added too much water so, as you would expect, the blueberries weren't very solid. 
 More toppings! You make some whip cream and some sort of syrup with this more powders and more water! The picture above shows the whipped cream.  
Yeah, not nearly as good as the one on the packaging, but whatever.

Taste Test
The waffles- These weren't too great, but they weren't bad. I thought they tasted a little bit like soggy bread, but not really. It is really hard to describe.

The blueberries- These tasted like blueberry flavoring, which isn't' too bad in my book.

Syrup- This tasted kinda like normal strawberry syrup, yum!

Whipped cream- This actually tasted like whipped cream, which creeped me out to some extent.

Everything together- Pretty good! Really sweet and waffles! I would say most of the poppin cooking kits are more fun to make than eat, but they aren't bad to eat either!

Wednesday, July 17, 2013

July Love With Food Review

I want to start out by saying that I think Love With Food has been doing a great job lately. At first I was kinda meh with them, but I've thoroughly enjoyed the past couple of boxes. Love with food is a gourmet snack subscription box that has been around for awhile, well as far as subscription boxes go.  It is $12 a month, but the price goes down when you buy longer plans. This box is special because they donate a meal with every box, so that should make you feel awesome.

Use code FBGIFT for two bucks of your first month (basically free shipping). I didn't feel right putting coupon in the title of the post since it is only for two bucks.

 This month's theme was "Under the Boardwalk." I think they're trying to go with fun summer themes for now. 
(The thing on the top is an info card detailing all the products in the box)

KuKuRuZa Gourmet Hawaiian Salted Caramel Popcorn ($3.00?)- Salted Caramel seems to be all the rage, and I love it! Salty and sweet make a perfect combo in my book.  This was a lot better than the popcorn they sent in another box, because you could actually taste salt in this one!

Uncle Henry's Handmade Pretzel ($0.50?)- This was like a giant version of mini pretzels (like Rold Gold).  I liked it, but I think it may have been too crunchy.
Lord Nut Levington Spicy Bloody Mary Peanuts ($1.17)- I haven't tried these yet, but it sounds terrific, I love spicy things.

Nature's Bakery Strawberry Fig Bar ($1.75)- These were awesome. Kinda like fig newtons, only better. The strawberry flavor was definitely noticeable, and really complimented the fig. 

RealSticks BBQ flavor ($0.82)- I was a slim jim addict as a child, and this was like a step up from them. It had an awesome smoky flavor.  
Twangerz Snack Toppings ($0.25)- This was probably the most interesting thing in the box. It is actually different flavors of salt. The ones I got were Lime, Chili Lime, Lemon Lime, and Pickle. I had the Lemon Lime on some popcorn with some ranch powder and it tasted awesome.  

Angel Mint Orange Salt Water Taffy ($0.72)- I really like salt water taffy. This was no exception. It was sweet, soft, and delicious.

Necco Wafers ($0.20)- I find it funny that it says "The original candy wafer" on the packaging. Because there are literally no other candy wafers out there. And Necco things aren't very good, just for the nostalgia.

Hello Fresh $25 off "gift card"-  I am not sure if they deliver to my state yet, so I'll see if I can put this to use. 

The total value of this box was $8.41. This was a pretty sub par value, but I loved the products and how they matched with the theme.  And the meal costs something I'm sure, but probably not $3.50.

Verdict: Pretty good although the value was lower than usual.

Saturday, July 13, 2013

Awesome Japanese Candy! Part 4- Meiji Pizza Kit

Sorry I haven't posted in awhile  I've been pretty busy. Part four of my Japanese Candy series! This one is also one of the more simple ones. I am saving the best for last (the candy sushi kit).  If you are wondering, I purchased all of these fromwanwan.fm/store, a store owned by a Japanese youtuber, MarimoMarshmallow.

 This mascot dude is on a couple other Meiji Products. 
 See, this one is pretty simple. Only five packets of stuff!
 First you gotta combine the blue and yellow packets together to make the dough.  The dough itself tased like lemon-lime soda, a lot of Japanese candies are flavored like that. I think it was supposed to taste like Ramune. Then you put it in the tray and make the dough into a circle. NOTE: This kit makes two pizzas, but I only showed one because there's no point in showing the other identical one.
 Then you mix some water with the red packet to make the sauce! At first it was really liquidy. After a couple of minutes, it got all jello-like.  It didn't taste like much on it's own really. 
Finally, you add the green packet full of "cheese" and the gummy toppings! At first the cheese was like a powder, but when you added it to the sauce, it crackled and made itself look like melted cheese. I thought that was pretty cool.  And apparently the Japanese like to put basil leaves and prawns on their normal pizza.

Taste Test
This tasted pretty good. It was mostly lemon soda/ramune flavored.  But that is not a bad thing at all.  The gummies tasted like a generic gummy, and the cheese had more lemon flavor. The cheese also crackled like pop rocks in your mouth. Overall, I liked making this set and eating it!  

Sunday, July 7, 2013

June Goodies Co. Review

Goodies Co. is a pretty awesome snacky subscription box owned by Walmart. The reason for its excellence and success, in my opinion, is how cheap it is. Every box comes at the very reasonable price of $7 including shipping!  This is a box that comes a bit later in the month, around the 20th.  Goodies hasn't been around for too long, but they already feel like a veteran box, probably since they have marketing geniuses working for them.  You get points for providing feedback about the product that you can use to buy full-size products in their shop.

There are some little downsides to goodies. You have to wait 2-4 weeks to be able to subscribe.  You first sign up for an invite, then play the waiting game.  And the only other negative I can think of is that the website slows down all mobile devices A LOT. Like my text doesn't show up until five seconds after I've typed it. But that isn't something I would unsubscribe for by any means. 

Pringles Stix Cheese ($2)- These were pretty good. They tasted like pretz with a cheeto-like coating. I at it pretty quickly.

Dream Water ($2.50)- Dream water works pretty well, but that's because it is basically Melatonin. I already take melatonin every night, and this felt the exact same. The only differences being you can drink the water, but the price is a lot higher.

Gimme Honey Dijon Seaweed Snacks ($1.66)- I love seaweed, a lot actually.  But the flavor on this wasn't too fantastic. I think mustard and seaweed just aren't supposed to be together. Maybe it would've tasted better on a salad or something of that variety.

Highland all butter Shortbread Cookies ($1.08)- I went to Scotland a couple years back, and they sold shortbread like this everywhere.  That being said, it wasn't as good as the stuff in Scotland but it was quite tasty. 

Smooch Fruit Snack ($2) - I don't know why this was called a fruit snack, I would say it is more of a smoothie. But I really enjoyed this. It was thick, fruity, and I think it was healthy too. There were some banana lumps, which aren't a negative to me at least. 

Lays Stax Adobadas ($2)- Adobadas means marinated, and Que Rico is how rich.  Not sure how that makes sense, maybe just rich marinated. But these tasted pretty good. I just wish they were spicier.

The value of this box was about $11.24. I am pretty happy with this value, since the box was only seven bucks. I used all of the products in here too, and was happy with all of them. 

Verdict: Great box. 


Tuesday, July 2, 2013

Mommy Splurge Custom Box

Well awhile back, Brandy over at MommySplurge expressed an interest in a towel that I got in a Loot Crate. One thing led to another and I sold it to her, and I included a bunch of bonus stuff with the towel. Then she decided to be extra nice and send me back some bonus stuff. I thought that was pretty awesome of her. 
Apparently she went for an Asian theme, pretty cool.

Colon Blast- Lol, she just sent this because she found it hilarious. And it did give me some laughs.  I don't even know the point of it. Is it for constipation, or just other intestinal problems? The world may never know.

Yes to Cucumber Sunscreen- Sunscreen is something I will always use. Even though I don't get sunburned, I still don't want skin cancer.

Roasted Seaweed- This was awesome. Brandy was complaining about how she hated seaweed and I said I loved it. So that's probably why it was in the box. Needless to say I enjoyed it, a lot.

Naturebox mandarin garlic peas- At first I thought these were wasabi peas, but I was mistaken. They are really tasty garlic flavored peas. Really crunchy and great.  But you need a couple of breath mints after eating them.

Uni Ball Pens- Pens are also something that always go to use.  And I use them quite frequently.  Same goes for losing them, I need a constant supply of pens.  

2 Hillside Hard Candies- I also mentioned that I liked these in my Love with Food Review.  And  I was happy to see them in the box, I ate them immediately.

Multi-Seed Crackers- Crackers are pretty awesome, because they taste good with anything savory. I ate them for a small snack with some cheese the same day.

Xyloburst Green Tea Gum- These taste like the best thing ever at first.  I love green tea a lot, so these were a hit. My only complaint was how long the flavor lasted.
This box traveled to me on a magic carpet!

Verdict- I thought it was really awesome of Brandy to send me back some stuff.  I enjoyed all of the items and I could tell a lot of thought was put in the curation of this box. Thanks a lot!