Until last week I was a snack box virgin, I'd always admired them from afar but I'd never jumped in and made an order. Perhaps because until January I lived right next to Infinity Foods, a vegetarian co-op that always has the most new and exciting vegan products right there on it's shelves! When Vegan Cuts got in touch to see if I'd like to review one of their snack boxes I was pretty excited to see what all the fuss was about and said an enthusiastic yes please!
As my Air B&B in Austin was the first time I'd had a proper address this year I waited patiently until May to give the box a whirl and I was stoked when I came home to find their pretty box waiting on my doorstep.
I tore open the box and there were 11 products inside, some smaller sample sizes and some full sized products. This month's box was co-curated by Heather and Jenny from Los Angeles based gourmet vegan food company Spork Foods, who picked the first four items on the list, and it contained:
- Miracle Tree teas
- Smoky chipotle powder from The Spice Hunter
- Dairy free parmesan from Go Veggie!
- I Heart Keenwah sweet & salty quinoa cluster snacks
- Vanilla pea protein powder from Growing Naturals
- Oogie's Snacks chipotle lime popcrn
- Beanitos chipotle lime black bean chips
- ToYou raw bar
- NUGO orange & cranberry Fibre d'Lish nutrition bar
- Barley grass juice powder from Daily Green Boost
- Dark Dog Organic energy drink
As you may be aware I'm allergic to peppers so a lot of the box was made up of snacks I couldn't eat which was just bad luck really, I knew about this before hand and agreed to review the box with Nick because he's into the spicier stuff.
My very favourite thing from the box was definitely the little pouch of I Heart Keenwah snacks, crunchy quinoa mixed with seeds and dark chocolate made an excellent post-gym snack. I know that I'll love the Go Veggie parmesan because it's not often that I meet a vegan cheese product that I don't enjoy but I'm saving it for our summer van adventures because I can see it being perfect over spaghetti with fresh marinara sauce made from tomatoes and fresh basil from whichever local market we happen to stumble upon. Popcorn is always a winning snack in my opinion and I jealously looked on as Nick munched away on the bag of chipotle lime flavoured puffed corn.
A couple of things that didn't hit the mark for us were the drinks, neither Nick or I drink caffeine so the energy drink wasn't for us and whilst I'll probably use the green boost powder it's not something I'd choose if I was filling a snack box because I just don't see drinks as snacks! Nick's going to give the pea protein a whirl though and I'll pop the teas in the van just in case anyone who visits us (we have a guest tent, come say hey!) wants a cuppa.
Bars are always a winner in my book so I was pleased to see that there were two nestled within the box, when you travel a lot bars can be a total saviour and the ToYou bar is definitely something I'd pick up again. I'm excited to try the NUGO Orange & Cranberry Fiber d'Lish bar sometime soon.
It costs $19.95 a month to get the Vegan Cuts Snack Box delivered right to your door in the US and a little more if you'd like to ship anywhere else in the world. Vegan Cuts is a 100% vegan owned and operated company which I love and they also make a Beauty Box if you're into that kinda thing. Whilst I don't know if I'd personally sign up to get this box delivered monthly - I'm discovering new snacks constantly as I make my way around the world, I do think snack boxes are a fun way to discover new products and to see if you like them without committing to buying a full sized version at the store. This box is definitely aimed at the more healthy vegan consumer (so, er, not me) but if you're more health conscious when it comes to snacking or are a gluten free vegan then maybe this is the box for you?
If you'd like a more in depth look into the snack box I filmed a You Tube unboxing video which will be up on my brand new You Tube channel tomorrow... I'll update the links and tweet about it once it's up. People have been telling me to start vlogging for ages so I'm finally jumping in with both feet and I'm excited to see if people are into it so do check it out and lemme know what you think!