Recently a friend sent me an invite code to try out Graze, which is a UK based company that's making a debut in the states for healthy snacks and such, delivered once a week to your door. During the promo they are giving out the first box free to invitees, so you can try their services before actually making a commitment to buy. I was a little weary about it honestly, because I've had issues in the past with cancelling so-called free tryouts (in my experience, once I put in my card number to get the "free" first or trial run items, it takes some serious jumping of hoops to cancel it before charges go through) -I usually remedy this by simply not bothering with promotions that require you to enter your card number to get their "free" item, but after reading my friend's review (and hers before her), cancelling didn't seem as if it'd be a nightmare and so I figured I'd give it a go. I also figured that if I did end up liking it, the most I'd end up paying would be five dollars for each new box they send (with deliveries set to once a week, or every 2 - 4 weeks, depending on my preferences), which for a four pack of healthy snacks, is considerably low.
Setting up an account was easy, and once there I was able to sift through the pages of snacks and hit either the "trash" button for things I wasn't interested in (every snack that contained chocolate, I'm looking at you), or press a try, like or love button for future boxes to come. There's a lot of variety on the site and surprisingly, most of it are things I'm interested in trying. They prepare the boxes for you so what you get is random, but they won't send you anything you've trashed either. You are also given a choice between what they've called a "Nibble box" or a "Light box", I chose the Nibble box. I've been told the Light box restricts the higher calorie things (like chocolate) which I prolly could have gone with, but I like the idea of having a choice on a few higher cal things here and there.
From the time of set up, it took about a week and half for the first box to arrive, which had me concerned at first since it showed by my account that they'd sent two out (as well as charged me for the second box as it had been stated) and when I contacted them about it because I'd been worried about having a chance to decide whether or not to continue the service before I even got to try, they ended up comping me another free box for the delay =O It was completely unnecessary but very much appreciated and I'm willing to support them for as long as I'm able due to it. I'm very happy to spend monies when I do have it, on a company that's willing to go the extra mile for their potential customers and they definitely won me over with that right off the bat.
Once I did receive the first box, which is simply,but effectively packaged, I opened it up to see what they'd sent and was greeted with this. I'm really impressed with the way the snacks are packaged and how plain brown the box is, while
being so vibrant and green on the inside. I also appreciate the card it came with, which was a printed note about the program, the fact that the first box was free, four invite codes for me to hand out and the nutrition facts of each snack.
Following my preferences I was sent Hot Cross Yum, Mississippi BBQ Pistachios, Super Berry Detox and Herby Basket for this first box. The portions are nicely sized for such a compact arrangement and even though it's meant for one person to snack (or graze) upon, the size of each cup afforded an easy split between myself and my Chibi without leaving me feeling as if I've gone without.
The BBQ pistachios were awesome, a good amount of flavor without drowning out the taste of the nut itself. I'm also a pistachio fan, so I was a little biased on them to begin with. I thought I would like the Hot Cross Yum more than I did though. It contained candied almonds, orange raisins and small little spongy cake drops. The main issue I had with this one was the cake drops because they tasted too much like softened Fruit Loops for my liking and honestly, I'm not sure I'd eat it again. Though the almonds and the raisins were great so this one wasn't a complete loss for me, and luckily my Chibi liked the cake drops so I was able to pan them all off on her.
I feel a little meh about the berry detox, not in a bad way mind you, because the mix of berries it comes with is great, it's mostly that I'm not sure it's something I'd eat regularly because it feels a little too much like a box of different flavored raisins, or 100 calorie cranberry snacks and wouldn't be something I'd grab when I'm wanting to snack. Personal preference on that one though, since I've never really been over the moon about dried berries of any kind. The Herby Basket on the other hand was wonderful and I had a really hard time keeping to my half with it because I wanted to eat it all. I especially liked the oregano rice cracker bits and would be quite happy to get a bucket full of those. They were so good that I could totally be eating them right now xD
What I like about this is that once you get your box, you can go back into your account and rate the snacks you've received by the trash, try, like or love system. If you get a snack you aren't very fond of, you can trash it so they won't send it to you again. If you get one that you'd like again, you can love it so they'll be more likely to put it back in your mix with future boxes should you choose to continue receiving the service. I really like that option actually, because it'll tailor what I get from them to my exact tastes.
It also came with a napkin (which is neatly tucked in the bottom of the box, underneath the snacks in a bed of green printed grass.) which I find a great touch. I think that five dollars a box is quite a steal for all this, considering the amount you get and how it's presented to you. I'm definitely looking forward to new ones whenever they come in and I do hope I'll be able to support the company for a good long while to come! (even if at some point, my finances force me to drop my deliveries down to once a month ^_^;).
