Degustabox | April Box

If you’ve not heard of Degustabox, then where have you been? It’s a food & drink monthly subscription box – bringing you 10-15 surprise products, many of which are new to the market. When you sign up, you get to fill in your very own profile, meaning a couple of the products may differ. It’s actually the highlight of my week when this little beauty arrives on my doorstep – so what was in April’s box?

·         A bag of Seabrook lattice sea salt & black pepper crisps

·         A pot of sugar-free Polos

·         A bottle of Celia organic lager

·         A packet of Garofolo whole wheat penne pasta

·         A packet of Good Hemp hemp seed hearts

·         A box of Dorset Cereals Machu Picchu muesli

·         A bar of Doisy & Dam’s quinoa, smoked tea & vanilla chocolate

·         Two packets of Nothing But freeze-dried fruit

·         A packet of Whitworths Full of Super macaroons

·         A packet of VIPNuts hot chilli nuts

Starting with the snacks this month and there was only one new brand in VIPNuts. The hot chilli peanuts were certainly spicy and actually too over-whelming for my palate. I was also expecting them to have that nice crispy shell coating, so was disappointed to find peanuts coated in chilli powder. Give me Nobby’s any day! Seabrooks have appeared in previous boxes and the lattice cut crisps were lush and too good to share – despite the resealable pouch bag that so many brands have adopted recently. The crisps were flavoursome, crunchy and just perfect! Nothing But have also appeared in previous boxes and it’s a shame I’ve never seen their products on the shelves of the supermarket – their freeze-dried fruit combinations are great for snacking on. There were two varieties in this month’s box: banana & strawberry and grape & pineapple – and I loved both in equal measure!

We often buy Dorset Cereals muesli and at one point, we had about three boxes of their Bircher in our kitchen cupboard... I haven’t seen or tried this Machu Picchu muesli yet, but am intrigued by the mix of flavours: golden fruit, brazil nut and coffee. Needless to say, I’ll be eating this with milk or yogurt – I don’t think I could mix it with fruit juice! Similarly, I’ve not tried the Good Hemp hemp seed hearts yet, as I’ve got a large packet of chia seeds to use up before I open anything else. I’m not sure how I will incorporate this product into my breakfast, so please let me know your suggestions below! However, something I loved from April’s box was the vanilla macaroons by Whitworths – and I would go as far as saying they were better than the traditional cake! They weren’t overly sweet, but had that lovely vanilla-y taste, as well as plenty of texture from the coconut and seeds. I definitely need to try the cacao version, too!

After receiving lots of rice and noodle products recently, I was pleased to finally see a packet of whole wheat pasta in this box – especially as I don’t eat refined carbohydrates, so these products usually go to my mum and brother. Whole wheat pasta is a staple in our cupboard, so this penne will certainly go to good use. The recipe card this month also had a suggestion to use with the Garafalo pasta, so I’ll be sure to give it a try, when I’m lacking inspiration.

There was only one drink this month with an organic lager from Czech brand, Celia. It’s not my cup of tea at all, but I’m sure will go down well when it’s finally barbecue season... if all else fails, I could mix it with lemonade!

And finally, to the treats – the most exciting part, of course! The travel pot of sugar free Polos were handy to keep in the car and lasted for a couple of weeks. I’d buy these again. Doisy & Dam are known for their ‘superfood’ chocolate bars, which contain unusual flavour combinations and ingredients... I received the quinoa, smoked tea & vanilla variety in my box and I’m not sure what to make of it. The quinoa added a texture, almost like rice krispies and there was definitely a vanilla after taste – I don’t know if I enjoyed it or not. Having looked at their website, there are a few alternatives I would love to try!

Try your first box, with a £7 discount. Either follow this link. Or go to the website and enter my special reference code: LUCYW-2B19. Enjoy!

What were your thoughts on April’s box?

Love, Lucy xx

Facebook | Twitter | Instagram