I was so excited when the festive Degustabox arrived in November. It contained so many yummy treats… chocolate, alcohol, glittery jelly, those all important Christmas pickles… the list goes on. Even the actual box itself was festive!
In case you haven’t read past posts about them, Degustabox is a monthly subscription surprise food box which costs just £12.99 a month and that includes delivery! Bargain! The goodies you receive are actually worth around double the cost and are often things you might not have heard of or tried before. It has introduced me to quite a few products and brands I wasn’t aware of before, and I can’t recommend it highly enough. The price is fantastic, especially considering the amount and quality of treats, but as an added bonus they have very kindly said if you use the code BLDEG15 at checkout, you will receive a £6 discount on your first box! So that makes it just £6.99 INCLUDING delivery! Click HERE to go to their website so you can try it yourself.
Oops, you’ll need to know what types of goodies you can expect to receive! Well, here’s what came in the Festive November box:
- BOURNE & WALLIS:These are a British pickling company using vegetables sourced mainly from East Anglia. I received a jar of delicious pickled onions which was perfect as I always buy some anyway for Christmas. Can’t have a turkey sandwich without them! These ones were extremely flavoursome. Sharp but sweet. Just as they should be. I will definitely look out for this company’s products in future. RRP is £1.40.
- BRANSTON: We all know Branston for their famous pickle, but I had never tried this product before. I received Orchard Fruit Chutney. It is a spiced chutney made using apples, sultanas and dates and they recommend serving it with Stilton or pork. Well I had Cheddar and I had a ham so tried it with both of those. Amazing! Sweet with a bit of a kick. (Sounds like me!!!) I really enjoyed this. RRP is £1.49.
- RYVITA: There were 2 products from this well-known brand, neither of which I had tried before. The Green and Black Olive Crackers were nicer than I was expecting. There were 4 packs of 6 crackers in the box, so a lot of value! They are low in saturated fat, and each cracker contains just 24 calories, so great for a healthy snack. The serving suggestion on the pack is to try them with feta and sun-dried tomatoes. I had neither so tried them with cream cheese. A pleasant surprise. These have a RRP of £1.29. The other product was Cheddar and Cracked Black Pepper Thins. I really really really liked these! In fact I liked them so much I was sad when I ate them all. They are perfect for dipping, and I had them with houmous, and with a relish. But mostly I ate them straight from the packet as they were so moreish! They leave your mouth tingling from the cracked pepper but that’s a good thing. They are a source of fibre, and have 25 calories per flatbread. Delicious! The RRP for these is £1.89.
- BUTTERKIST: There were 2 treats from this brand too. First was their Discoveries Salted Caramel Popcorn, which was very tasty. There was just the right amount of flavour and were very light. The other product was their Sweet and Salted Popcorn. This was delicious. This flavour can often be too salty for my liking but this was perfect. I didn’t get to eat much of these 2 treats though as my Other Half and my son tucked in and ate them before I had chance to blink!! The RRPs for these are £1.49 and 55p respectively.
- TEISSEIRE: I received 2 packs of Gourmet Drops, one Caramel and one Vanilla. These are naturally flavoured coffee syrups with no added sugar. We recently bought a Tassimo coffee machine, so tried these in hot chocolate and in coffee. You only need a tiny bit as the flavours are very strong, but we all loved them. I tried a couple of drops in buttercream for cupcakes too and it was yummy. I had never heard of these before so was really happy to be introduced to them. The RRP is £2.79 each.
- TUCKEY’S: I received Proper Digestives. Tuckey’s believe that classic biscuits are not the same as they used to be, so their biscuits are inspired by the original recipes. No inverted or modified ingredients, just “proper” ones. The result is a biscuit which doesn’t taste as sweet as a well-known brand’s version but is still delicious. The box contains 4 stay fresh packs of 4 biscuits, so they keep well in a cupboard. These are perfect for dunking into a cuppa, or eating with cheese. Also perfect for cheesecake bases and rocky road style treats. One of the most versatile biscuits. The RRP is £1.80.
- JIM JAMS: I received Hazelnut Chocolate Spread, which I was very excited about! I love a certain well-known other chocolate spread brand so was curious to see how this compared, as this one is a no added sugar version. I did a taste test with a teaspoon of each for all 3 of us. We all preferred the Jim Jams spread! Even though there is far less sugar than the other brand, it still tastes sweet and full of flavour. To be honest, comparing the sugar amounts of both, I was absolutely shocked by how much is in the other brand. Jim Jams proves it is completely unnecessary! It is sweet and creamy and chocolatey and nutty all in one. Gorgeous! It is gluten-free and uses fat-reduced cocoa too. This was my favourite item this month, as I know I will use it in many many bakes in the future, and I won’t feel guilty eating it or giving it to my son. I just need to buy some more first!! My personal serving suggestion for this would be treat yourself to a luxurious Choc Dip (remember them from childhood?), grab some breadsticks, open the jar and have fun! I can only find this to buy online and in some garden centres, and the price seems to be around £3.99. Well worth every penny!
- DIVINE: I received the 70% Dark Chocolate and Raspberries bar of chocolate. Divine by name and divine by nature! This was my very own treat just for me, as no one else in our house likes dark chocolate. It was so rich and just beautiful. Divine is a Fairtrade company which is 44% owned by the smallholder farmers in Ghana who supply the cocoa. I’ve read a lot of horrific articles lately about the detrimental impact that palm oil production is having on rainforests and especially orangutans. Anyone who knows me knows that I am a huge animal lover and hate to hear about any threats to habitats, wildlife etc. Why am I going on about that? Well Divine don’t use palm oil in any of their products, and that makes me happy as quite a few chocolate brands do. It is suitable for vegetarians and has a RRP of just £1.
- BELVITA: I received the Breakfast Red Berries Soft Bakes, and what a gorgeous start to the day these provided. There were 5 individually foil wrapped bakes in the pack, and you can also get them in Golden Grain, or Chocolate Chip varieties. I’m glad I had the berries ones as they were delicious. They are soft but chewy, and packed with goodness. They are made with 5 wholegrains, and are a good source of fibre, vitamin B6, folic acid, magnesium and iron. They have 191 calories per bake and make a perfect grab-and-go breakfast on a busy day. I will be buying these in the future. The RRP is £2.79.
- NIM’S FRUIT CRISPS: I received the Pineapple and Mango variety. These were beautiful. They are different from freeze-dried fruit snacks, as these are pure fruit which has been just sliced and dried. They have a beautifully crispy texture and a very fruity flavour. There are many flavours including Apple and Strawberry, and Pear and Kiwi. These are ideal for children’s lunchboxes, and are high in fibre and vitamin C and count as 1 of your 5 a day. The RRP is 99p.
- HARTLEY’S: I received a black cherry jelly which was full of juicy fruity flavour as you would expect, and a strawberry glitter jelly! Yes you read that right, I did say glitter jelly. I was ridiculously excited to try that in particular as I had never seen it before and love anything glittery! I thought glittery jelly was too special to make in a normal bowl or jelly mould so decided to make it in one of my Nordic Ware pans, the snowflake one. This is a cast aluminium pan so had to be quickly dipped in warm water to release the jelly but the effect was so worth it! Look how pretty and sparkly this jelly looked…
I already buy the different flavour jelly cubes and love them, and I will definitely buy the glitter jelly again. It is also available in raspberry flavour. These jellies have a RRP of £1.29 for both.
- REKORDERLIG: I received the Dry Apple Cider. Amazingly I haven’t tried this yet as I am saving it for this Nigella Lawson recipe and just haven’t had chance to make it yet. I shall very soon. It is a lovely light colour, and I’m looking forward to a sneaky little glass as there’ll be 80 ml spare. Perfect! The RRP is £1.49.
- BAILEYS: The very lovely people at Degustabox gave us all a miniature bottle of Baileys as a little Christmas present, so I don’t know what the RRP is for this. I was over the moon to see it as I absolutely love Baileys! As a drink, poured over ice cream, mixed with buttercream, I’m really not fussy. I just love it! This size bottle is perfect for my Chocolate and Baileys Mousse recipe as you only need a few spoonfuls for this. Or just pour over ice, and enjoy! Thank you for the treat Degustabox. I loved it!
The combined RRP total for all these products was over £27 and that’s not including the Baileys. To think you can have them for just £12.99 is brilliant, but then amazing when you take into account the £6 discount code! You could have a similar box for just £6.99 including delivery. Don’t forget to use code BLDEG15 at checkout HERE.
DISCLAIMER – I received this box for free to review but all views are my own honest opinions and not influenced by anyone else. I don’t believe in giving dishonest opinions as they are not helpful to anyone and completely against all I believe in. Thank you for reading.
Confarreo 