August The Vegan Kind subscription box

Ok, so my first day of going sugar free may have got ever so slightly sabotaged by this lovely box appear on my doorstep on Monday.  However, I did want to wait a whole month before getting this post out, so I sat and had a quick naughty nibble of everything.

As usual, when you open the box the first thing you come to is the leaflet with all the details about the products, the guest recipe provider (this time Sharon from Bit if the Good Stuff), and the charity they are support.  The charity is One Kind, a Scotland based charity that works to end cruelty to animals in Scotland and they get 10p per box.

I really like the look of these Bit of the Good Stuff Summer Rolls.  They look something similar to the sushi like rolls I do, but I've never tried rice paper and I'm very keen on the peanut sauce - looks like I have a few ingredients to add to my shopping list this weekend.

I've been on a savoury kick recently so it wasn't surprising that the Hippeas Pepper Power was the first thing I decided to try.  I love that they are made out of chickpeas and I especially like how satisfyingly crunchy these are.  One thing I will say is the pepper is very strong.

I always get a little excited when I see chewy sweets I can actually eat and the Candy Kittens Sweet Pineapple Vegan Sweets didn't disappoint.  They had the satisfying chewy texture, but, while I did get some pineapple flavour, they tasted more like lemons then pineapple to me.  Not that I'm disappointed about that, I love the taste of lemons. I'm going sugar free at the moment, but this would be great to satisfy your sugar tooth if you're not.

I would pick this up on the name alone.  I would say the Squirrel Sisters Coconut Raw Energy Bar is perfect for people who like protein bars or are doing something active, like trekking, and need a small but energy packed snack.  The flavour was also pretty good, I just wasn't too keen on the texture.

I really liked these Landgarten Organic Dark Choco Balls.  They were just the right amount of bitterness and sweetness and I love dark chocolate.  So does my partner, it turns out, who scoffed the rest of the packet.

I was definitely interested in these Follow Your Heart Vegan Egg as I am actually searching for an alternative to eggs at the moment.  I do love the packaging, so old school egg box, but I don't love the actual product.  I tired making the scrambled egg recipe they had on the box and, while it did smell like eggs, the texture and taste weren't like eggs or particularly nice.  It's not something I would go for in the future, but I think would work if you were needing to replace an egg in the recipe where it is not the main item or for binding.  I will try it in these ways and see.  Looking at their website I have noticed that they have vegan cheese so I am intrigued.

The Vegan Kind always do great no food items in their box.  So far I've used and loved everyone of them, so I'm very hopeful about this Native Unearthed Deodorant as I've been having difficulty finding a more natural deodorant.  Firstly I have sensitive skin so anything with bicarb or corn starch in feels like I've been going at my skin with sandpaper and this doesn't contain either.  I also sweat a lot and finding a natural product just sweats off my body, so it'll be interesting to see how this does.  So am looking forward to giving it a go, once I've used up my other deodorants, and will report back.

The last items was a coupon code for Friction Free Shaving, which is basically a subscription that sends you a new razor every week to help stop you overusing yours and damaging your skin.  I'm not suing razors for hair removal at the moment, but my partner still shaves regularly, on old blades, and his face really shows it sometimes.  I might see if I can tempt him with this.

I think this may be the last The Vegan Kind Box I get, not because I don't like this subscription box as I think that it's a great way of seeing what vegan food you can eat, but because I want to eat less processed food in general.  If you're starting off as a vegan and you want to see what food (and other products) you can use then this is a great way of doing it.

Click here to read my blogs on the April, May, June, and July The Vegan Kind boxes.

July The Vegan Box subscription

So it's that time of the month again, vegan box time.  Another interesting selection of vegan choices, some I was more excited about than others.

As usual there is the information sheet with information about the products in the box, details about the guest blogger, Hannah Victoria, who has produced this month's recipe and information about the charity they are supporting.  This time it's the Hessilhead Rescue Centre which cares for Scotland's sick, injured and orphaned wildlife.   

The recipe this time was Hanna Victoria's 3 Ingredients Peanut Butter Cups.  This seems a really quick and simple recipe that would be delicious and help with the unhealthy chocolate cravings.  I'm not usually a fan of peanut butter, but with the bitter chocolate I think these will actually be quite nice.  I am adding the ingredients to next week's shopping list.

As for last month's Creamy Avocado Pesto Pasta, I absolutely loved this, but my partner wasn't so keen.  I am going to make it again though, just with a little less avocado as this was the part he didn't like.

The first product I grabbed were these Goody Good Stuff Cola Breeze Sweets and I have to say that I was ridiculously excited about these.  I haven't had cola bottles since I'd became vegetarian almost ten years ago and, I'm not going to lie, I missed them a little bit.  These tasted exactly how I remember them tasting with the sharp, face scrunching initial flavour and everything.  It almost felt wrong eating them, but it's just as well its such a small bag as I would have even all of them regardless of the size.

I really liked the look of these Oloves Chilli and Garlic Black Olives as I love olives and you don't normally get them in such an easy to carry packaging.  I couldn't actually really taste the chilli and garlic, just the black olives.  But this was fine by me as I love olives in just the flavour they have.  If I'm out somewhere and need a snack I'll definitely be looking out for these.

The Conscious Chocolate Goji and Coconut Mini Bar is clearly the little pocket sibling to the Conscious Chocolate with peppermint essential oil from the May box.  I do like the bitter flavour of Conscious Chocolate, but wasn't hugely keen on the flavour or texture of this one. I do prefer this size though, much better for those of us who have a habit of eating the whole bar.  I will keep looking out for other flavours of this bar though as I like the concept.

I've already tried, and am a fan of, the Yushoi Snapea rice sticks in Slightly Salted.  I had never tried this flavour as I'm not a salt and vinegar fan, but as it was in this bag I thought I would give it a go.  The flavours are much milder than the usual salt and vinegar crisps, but still still not my thing.  However, if you like salt and vinegar you'll love these.  I do like the snack size of these as I can normally only find the larger bags and that's really dangerous. I also like the coupon for 50p off that came in the box - thank you very much. 

This I'm actually drinking right now. The Virtue Ice Tea in Lemon.  I can't quite decide how I feel about it.  I love that it has B vitamins in it and it does taste nice for the most part, but there is a slight flavour that goes through it that I'm not too keen on.  I think it might be the sweetener as I just don't like the taste of these no matter what they're in and I think I'm prefer this without, even if it meant it was a little bit more bitter.  However, this could be something that I could get used to and I might see if I can find this again, maybe in other flavours, to see.  It is a quite refreshing and, lets face it, it has tea in it.

I was actually quite excited about the Angelic Gluten Free Chocolate Coconut & Oat Cake Slices.  For one, it took up half the box and it had three things I love - chocolate, coconut and oats.  Unfortunately, I didn't really like these.  The texture was fine but there was something about the flavour that I just couldn't get around.  I think it was the dates, for which I have a love/ hate relationship with. However I did like the other flavours coming through so I think I'll definitely try other products by this company when I come across them, and I would definitely try them if you are ok with dates.

One of the non-food items was the Fry's Family Foods Plants of Fire BBQ Recipe Book.  This book does, of course, contain recipes for their own products, but looks like it can be adapted to fit items that you normally use.  I'm always happy to get new ideas to keep out meals interesting and, despite loving the internet for recipes, I find using hard copies of recipes easier to use in the kitchen and I can be less protective of them (I'm not a tidy cooker).  I am interested in their products though.  I have been using Quorn for many years and it's been really helpful in helping my partner and me find a happy medium of eating vegetarian for me but still keeping the same textures and types that he is used to as a meat eater.  However, not all their products are vegan and Fry's Family Food are.

The last item is the Harpers Bizarre The Raspberry Kind candle.  This smells lovely, and very strong, when you open the tin and the scent also lingers even if you leave the lid off.  It burns really well and evenly, and the scent does fill the room easily and is pretty true to how actual raspberries smell.  Once burning the scent isn't hugely strong, but reaches a nice level. They also support the Jerry Green Dog Rescue. This is definitely one I'm looking out for and may actually order online.

Click here to read my blogs on the April, May and June The Vegan Kind boxes.

June The Vegan Kind subscription box

So another lovely The Vegan Kind vegan, lifestyle box came to my door again at the beginning of this week and I wasted no time in opening it to see what we had this time.

To begin with is the usual sheet letting you know about the guest recipe contributor is, information about the charity that The Vegan Kind supports (which is Teen VGN's Vegan Summer Camp, and details about the products in box.

The recipe this time is a Creamy Avocado Pesto Pasta by Fettle Vegan, run by Amber who produces plant-based recipes.  I love avocado's and I love pesto so this is right up my alley and I've already added it to my list of menus for next week to test out.  The biggest test will be whether or not my partner, Jim, likes it.

The first thing I saw (and the first thing I ripped into before even taking a photo) was the Hoots Cheese and Onion Multigrain Snack.  This was really nice, not too cheesy or strong, and I really liked how crunchy it was.  I also liked the fact that Hoots is now removing animal products from their food.  Jim liked them too and actually took the pack out of my hand.

The next product I tried was the GranoVita Vegetable Pate. I spread it on some toast to try it and while it reminded me of a meat based pate I had at school years ago it wasn't something that I was particularly keen on.  It was salty tasting to me (it has sea salt added to it) and I'm not a fan of salty food, but if you do like slightly salty food then you should try this.

The next product I pulled out was the Good Full Stop Chocolate and Orange Bar which is a chocolate and orange fruit and nut bar.  It definitely tasted of orange chocolates and which quite easy to eat on that front.  The texture was squiggy though, I prefer my snacks to be crunchy.

I actually took the Foods of Athenry Chocolate and Raspberry Cookie with me when Jim and me went to Lunan Bay (East Scotland).  This we really liked.  It's not a chewy as usually cookies are, which we actually thought was a good thing, and the flavours were not too overpowering.  All and all this one was definitely a success and I will definitely be looking out for these when I'm having a cookie monster moment.

This was the last food product I pulled out, and actually the one I was most interested in, was the Smooze Fruit Ice.  I have a real ice-cream addition.  Not chocolate, not cakes, and not biscuits, but ice-cream.  Normally when it kicks in, and I give in, I get a big tub of Cookies and Cream which I finish completely.  What I'm hoping will happen is that this might be able to replace that as a smaller, vegan version of this to help with the cravings so I don't fall of the wagon.  Mango was the perfect one to get as it's a fruit I love and this was a really nice product.  I'm not sure it's exactly the same of the Cookies and Cream, but I think I will be able to use this as a substitute while I deal with this addition.

For me the best part of this box is the non-food products and this one was the Green People Sun Lotion.  I am a fan of Green People and have purchased and enjoyed their products in the past (specifically their sunscreen), so I was really pleased to receive this.  I was also intending on buying some sunscreen on the day I received this box as I'd run out, so this was perfectly timed.  This is a great product, rubs into the skin really well, isn't white, and lasted a long time.  I would recommend this (this size is £13.50 on the Green People website).

Click here to read my blogs on the April and May The Vegan Kind boxes.

May The Vegan Kind subscription box

So last Saturday there was a knock on my door and it was the postman with my The Vegan Kind box.  I was quite excited about it as I did really enjoy the last one and I was interested to see what I would get this time.

On top was the information about The Vegan Kind, the charity they support, and a description of all the products.

The recipe that came with this month's box is the Summer Fruity Water by My Fruity Kitchen.  I haven't had the chance to try this yet (though I have tried the cashew cream cheese from last month and it's delicious), but am thinking this is the perfect time with all this sun - maybe with gin added.  I have had a look at My Fruity Kitchen website though and the recipes look amazing - the Healthy Chocolate Milkshake is most definitely on my list.

Unfortunately I'm not a fan of Salt and Vinegar (I know, I know, that's really weird and unusual) so I didn't get the chance to try these Popchips.  But I am keeping an eye out for these in a flavour I like as the idea of getting to eat something that's crunchy (my favourite snack) without all the oil.  I'm not sure if the other flavours are vegan though so I'll need to check on that.

This is definitely the product I'm most intrigued by, I don't think I've even seen water that's actually been tapped from a tree.  TAPPED ticks all the boxes with it's organic trees, no refined sugars, not from concentrate, and it contains 25% of your daily manganese (an antioxidant).  The only thing that worried me about this is the fact it comes from a birch tree (the pollen of which I'm allergic too).  Thankfully there was no reaction to it and the taste is very mild.  You don't get a particularly strong taste of the berries themselves, in fact I can taste the grape juice more anything, but it is refreshing and something I will look for if I'm needing something when I'm out.

I love peanuts, absolutely love them.  In fact, I have to be very careful I don't eat entire bags all in one go, so I was interested in how this would taste.  Protein bars don't tend to taste particularly pleasant by any stretch of the word and the last time I ate a protein bar it had whey protein in it.  I ended up feeling ill afterwards and haven't eaten one since. However, the Creative Nature Peanut Protein bar contains pea protein instead of whey and there was no negative impact from it.  I wouldn't say I was particularly keen on the taste, even with the peanuts in it, but it would definitely be my first choice over any other protein bar if I decided I need one.

The one thing I missed when I became a vegetarian wasn't bacon (I know, I know, I'm weird) but chewy sweets.  I used to love them and they would be my snack of choice at the cinema.  The Jealous Life Tropical Wonder Sweets don't have quite the same chewy texture I'm used to, but they still have quite a squiggy feel and the flavours are amazing.  They taste the most like the fruit they are meant to represent then any sweet I've had before.  I'm definitely going to be looking out for more flavours of these in the future.

As my diet has become healthier and more plant based I've become less interested in chocolate, but I do enjoy having a little bit now and then.  It's mainly dark chocolate that I go for now and the chilli flavour is my favourite.  I've never seen the brand Conscious before and I was very interested to try a completely vegan chocolate bar.  The one thing I will say about this is that if you love mint you will love this.  Made from peppermint essential oil it is a very strong flavour and cuts through the bitterness of the cocoa.  I've already had a look at the Conscious Chocolate website and they do have chili flavoured.  Going to be getting myself one of those I think.

I particularly love the non-food items in these boxes and this time it's this Friendly Soap facial cleansing bar.  I like that this is fragrance free, which is usually the first thing I choice, and the very small number of ingredients (cocoa butter, olive oil, coconut oil, and water) which are all ingredients that work well with my skin.  I haven't tried this yet as I still have a face wash that I'm using at the moment, but once that is finished I will move onto this.  I'm actually enjoying using a bar soap over shower gel to wash my body and I'm expecting the same will be true for my face.  I might even moved to a bar to wash my hair.

On top of the discount codes you get for most of the products in this box you also get a code for a free pack of Sgaia vegan Streaky Rashers.  I've never heard of Sgaia before and haven't seen any in any of the stores near me, so I had a quick look online to see what they produce and it seems to be the vegan equivalent of gourmet meat.  I am thinking of getting the streaky rashers for my partner Jim.  He's not vegetarian/ vegan, but is trying to greatly reduce the amount of process meat he eats for health reasons.  These might be a particularly good substitute.  

So far I've enjoyed the two The Vegan Kind boxes I've had so it'll be interesting to see what June brings.

See my last blog on The Vegan Kind here.

April The Vegan Kind subscription box

I've been wanting to get a vegan subscription box for a while as a way of helping me get a better picture of what products are actually available.  Here in the UK there doesn't seem to be a lot of options, but then I found The Vegan Kind, saw that they already had some great reviews, and decided to give them a try.  They have two types of subscription boxes, the Lifestyle Box, which is a monthly subscription at £10 per month and £3.15 postage, (this is also available worldwide) or the Beauty Box, which is a 3 monthly subscription at £15 per box and £3.15 postage (not available worldwide).  I did think about the Beauty Box - just for a second - but seeing as I'm trying to downsize the number of products I have it seemed a little bit silly to start having more items coming in.  Of course, once I've downsized completely.......

My first box arrived last Saturday morning (I was actually still in bed so my lovely partner collected it from the door for me) and, of course, I opened it straight away.

The first thing on top was the information sheet which details information about the recipe sheet and the campaign of the month.  This time it's Teen VGN, of which 10p of every April box goes towards.  On the back is a description of each item, their cost, and the companies' websites.

Next is the recipe card for Cashew Cream Cheese by Natalie Tamara from Tofu Diaries.  It looks delicious and I'll definitely be giving this a go to put in the wraps I like to make. I would also recommend Natalie's blog - very inspiring.

The first bit of food in the box was the Eat Real Hummus Chips (£0.79).  As you can see they didn't even make it to having a photo taken until they were opened and devoured.  I've had the Eat Real Quinoa Chips and I absolutely love those so I was definitely curious to see if I would also like these.  I wasn't 100% certain about the flavour and don't think I'll buy these specific ones again, but that didn't seem to stop my partner and me finishing them off.  There is definitely something very morish about them.

The next item that caught my eye were the Vego Vegolino Pralines (£5.29), which again didn't even manage to get photographed before I broke into them (I just saw the word pralines and couldn't help myself).  These are lovely, soft and just delicious.  I'm trying to reduce the amount of sugar there is in my diet and I think these will be just perfect to keep as a little but yummy fix at times when I just can't help myself.  Better one little bit of praline rather than an entire chocolate bar.  I love that they're Fair Trade as well.

The Clearsping Tamari Roasted Soybeans with Tomato and Herb (£0.99) for some reason reminded me of the roasted nuts I used to get as a child on planes, except those were disgusting and these are tasty and very easy to eat.  When it comes to snacks I definitely prefer food that have a bit of a crunch to them and these definitely fit the bill.  Certified organic, high in fibre and protein, and a source of magnesium, think I will be looking out for these in the future.

Unfortunately I wasn't able to try the Greedie Goddess Mango, Passion, and Carrot Smoothie Bites (£1.00) as they contain bananas in them (I'm guessing from the ingredients list about 69% banana) and I am allergic to bananas.  I know that sounds so weird, but unfortunately eating bananas gives me stomach problems and makes my skin itch.  So I gave them to my partner to try.  He thought they tasted nice, but really wasn't a fan of the texture.  He is very particular about his food though, so if you like a soft chewy texture you'll probably like these.

The last food product was the BakedIn Belgian Chocolate Mug Brownie Mix (£1.49).  The last time I tried a cook in a mug cake mixture the result wasn't particularly pleasant and tasted very artificial so I was interested to see what this would be like.  This product was so much better than the previous mug cake I tried that they're not even in the same league.  This tasted just like a brownie and was lovely and soft.  The only problem I had was that there was a little too much for me and I'm one of those people who can only eat a tiny piece of brownie.  But, if you can happily eat a muffin size amount of brownie I would get some of these, take them to work on a Wednesday (apparently the actual most depressing day of the week), and make yourself a little mug of Vegan happiness.

The last product was perhaps the item I was most excited about and it was the Humblestuff Lemon Myrtle Multi Surface Cleaning Spray (£5.00).  I'm not really a fan of cleaning so anything that makes it more enjoyable to a bonus.  This item has definitely helped and I love this product.  There really isn't anything not to like - it's made in Scotland, is made up of only three products, all the packaging is recyclable, it smells great, and works really well.  I normally make my own cleaning products, but have been eyeing up their Etsy store after using this.  Specifically their toilet freshener, which I don't make myself.

Reaching the end of a box of goodies is never good, but what I liked about this is that it shows just how little packaging The Vegan Kind use.  The box itself is made of recycled cardboard, but was sturdy enough to protect the products on its own, and there were only a few bits of spaghetti packaging used predominantly to protect the head of spray bottle.  With other companies I've ordered from there's always been a lot of packaging and lots of plastic, so I really appreciate that TVK have used so little.

If you were to buy all these products on their own it would cost you £14.56 (not including P&P if you ordered them online) so this box is also cost effective.  I'll definitely be keeping my subscription up and using the products to be my snacks for the month.......now where are those pralines.