Review: Degustabox Monthly Subscription Food Box - The March Box

It's been a while since I reviewed Degustabox, the monthly subscription food box service but they sent me a lovely Easter surprise of their March box.

Each Degustabox contains between 9 and 14 products from well known and / or up-and-coming brands.

It's a fun way to discover new brands and to try food and drink products you may not otherwise discover or add to your supermarket trolley.

So what was in the March box?

The contents of the March Degustabox

Each box costs £12.99 including delivery and the value of the box contents is promised to be far greater than this, based on what you would expect to pay if you bought the items in the shops.

Once you have received your box, you are encouraged to review the products and let the brands know what you thought - whether you liked the item or not.

The March box contained, as per the previous boxes, a lovely mix of sweet and savoury treats. There is a selected list of products for each month published on the website but not everyone receives the same combination. The element of surprise adds to the fun.

Once again, there was a mixture of brands I already knew but quite a few I'd heard of but not got round to trying - which is really the point of Degustabox.

There were 10 products from January's selection and 1 from a selection which Degustabox call their "Db's Discoveries".

This time, instead of Degustabox's products of the month we have two products just right for the breakfast table.

Brioche Pasquier, Weetabix On The Go & Good Hemp Original

The Breakfast Table Products

We are already big fans of Brioche Pasquier and these are new to the range - Pains au Chocolat (£1.40) filled with creme patissiere.  They are individually wrapped and the Husband often grabs a couple to pop in his briefcase on his way out of the door to the station.  You can spend a small fortune on a coffee and a pastry at those station shops, can't you?

Weetabix On The Go (2 x £1.50) is a breakfast drink with extra protein which contains all the energy and fibre of a Weetabix cereal with milk in a smooth, tasty drink.  The Husband has also claimed these for his next trip to London.

Good Hemp Original - a dairy free alternative to milk

Good Hemp Original (£1.49) is a dairy free alternative to milk made from hemp seeds.  Hemp seeds are a natural source of Omega 3 and are completely allergen free.

Metcalfe's Skinny Popcorn - Cinema Sweet (£1.50) and Pipers Crisps - Cheddar & Onion (£2.00)

Ideal movie watching fare!

Cinema Sweet is the newest addition to the Metcalfe's Skinny Popcorn family and it is sweetened with natural stevia leaf extract.  The popcorn has 67% less sugar than all the other sweet varieties on the market and has 97 calories per serving.

Pipers Crisps have won 23 Gold Great Taste Awards and are made from locally sourced potatos cooked in sunflower oil.  I wish I could tell you what these tasted like but the Husband and Ieuan got there first.

Karyatis Meze To Go & Kent's Kitchen Stuffing in Apricot, Apple & Ginger

Two quirky new finds

Karyatis Meze To Go (£1.99) is a Mediterranean inspired snack containing a sweet and smokey roasted red pepper and feta dip with crunchy rosemary crackers in an easy to carry box.

Kent's Kitchen Apricot, Apple & Ginger Stuffing (£1.85) is designed to spice up your roast dinner. It's made from all natural ingredients with chunky pieces of fruit, herbs and spices. All you have to do is add water, stir and bake.  Each pot serves four.

Parle Hide & Seek and Monaco Biscuits

Sweet & Savoury Biscuits

Parle Hide & Seek biscuits (£0.59) are India's best moulded chocolate chip biscuits.  The jury's out on whether they are, as they claim, the World's best moulded chocolate biscuits.  I have quite a bit of research ahead of me.

Parle Monaco biscuits (£0.39p) are tasty, crispy biscuits sprinkled with salt.

Kallo Quinoa and Seeds Multigrain Cakes & Kallo Milk Chocolate Rice Cake Rounds

Kallo  Multigrain and Chocolate Rice Cakes

Kallo Quinoa and Seeds Multigrain Cakes (£1.89) contain sunflower, sesame and pumpkin seeds whilst Kallo Milk Chocolate Rice Cake Rounds (£1.00) are a combination of  Belgian Chocolate and puffed wholegrain rice with only 78 calories per cake.

Lindt White Chocolate Gold Bunny & Chewits Sweets

My favourite combo!

Two more products from this month's box which have strangely vanished before I could sample them.

Lindt White Chocolate Gold Bunny (£2.99) - you know Easter's arrived when these little fellas start to appear.  They certainly make a regular appearance in our house.

Chewits chewy sweets (4 x £0.35) were a part of my childhood and are an iconic British confectionery brand now loved by my kids as well.

The total retail value of the box is £21.59, good value given the cost of the box was £12.99.

If you like the excitement of a monthly present and enjoy trying out new brands, I think Degustabox is a great scheme. I'd place it firmly in the 'treat' category but the price is low enough to make it attractive. A Degustabox subscription would also make a great gift. You can cancel at any time, as long as you give them sufficient notice to stop next month's box.

Please note, though that Degustabox can only deliver to Mainland UK and not to Northern Ireland, the Scottish Highlands and Islands and you must be over 18 to order.

I also have a discount code for £6 off your first box.  Simply enter BLDEG15 at the checkout.

Further information is available at the Degustabox UK website, or you can talk to them on Facebook or on Twitter.