I have been a member of Degustabox, a monthly food subscription box for six months now. Each month, surprise products and samples of food and drink items are delivered to my door. I first saw this subscription service online somewhere and really liked what was in the June box, but I just missed out by a few days. I subscribed in June, but I did not receive my first box until July. You can see July, August, and September's reviews here. The remaining three months of my subscription are detailed below.
October
October's Degustabox contained several smaller items and some decent products - a few that were good and a few that were not so good. I really enjoyed a couple of the products. This is one of the better boxes.
Special K Cracker Crisps: (3/5) My favourite flavour of crisp/potato chip is BBQ. For a long while, getting this flavour was impossible, but other companies have been bringing it back over the past three or four years. The product has a nice taste, but I am just not that into it. Crisps/potato chips are not something I tend to indulge in, and I find them messy.
Blue Dragon Sweet Chilli Sauce: (4/5) I have purchased this product before to use in a stir fry. It is a good product.
Get Buzzing Original Nutty Flavour Flapjack: (5/5) I enjoyed this flapjack, and I liked the flavour and the texture. I would buy these again as this tasted healthier and seemed to contain less sugar than other flapjacks.
Enhance Drinks in apple and blackcurrant flavour: (3/5) I have used squash to liven up water as I do find water to be difficult to drink on its own. Actually, I normally have my water ice cold with lemon. This was an interesting alternative, but I was not that keen on the artificial sweeteners, which tend to give me migraines.
Kent's Kitchen meal kit in tikka masala flavour: (1/5) This kit contains oil, spices, and curry paste to create a curry. The recipe requires adding tomatoes, yoghurt, and meat. I used chicken for this recipe and followed the instructions, but I was not happy with the results. The curry tasted bland. My partner also did not like it, and he could not even eat it because he really disliked the taste of it.
Solo Marshmallow Creme: (5/5) I like marshmallow cream, but I have never tried this brand before. This is an American product, and I've made chocolate fudge with this type of product before. I received the toasted marshmallow flavour in my box, and I enjoyed it. I made chocolate mousse with most of it.
Dr. Oteker extra dark chocolate and fine dark cocao powder: (5/5) This brand of dark chocolate and cocao powder suit my needs, and I used some of the dark chocolate to make the mousse with the marshmallow cream that I received in this box. These are baking products, and I do not do a lot of baking. There are other products on the market, so I am not typically fussed about which I buy. The quality of this one seemed good.
Bear Paws fruit snack: (4/5) This fruit-flavoured snack does not contain any added sugar. The snack tasted fine, and I like the fact that it's a healthy alternative. This product is aimed at children.
Bear Alpha Bites: (4/5) This was an extra product in this month's box, and it is a healthier alternative to cereals that are higher in sugar. The taste was fine, but I would not replace it with my museli. This product is aimed at children.
Jelly Belly: (5/5) I have never been a fan of jelly beans, but I received the sour/tart flavour of the product, and I enjoyed them. I do love sour/tart sweets and prefer these type of sweets to chocolate. I may purchase these in the tart/sour flavour if I saw them; I would not buy the original flavours.
Bricohe bread loaf: (1/5) I am just not keen on this product. I am extremely picky about bread products, and this was not to my liking. I received other products from the brand in a previous box, and I was not too keen.
Brioche pain au lait chocolate chip: (3/5) I received croissants from this product in a previous box, and I was not keen on them at all. Howeever, I enjoyed these more but I would never go out of my way to purchase them.
November
The November Degustabox was very disappointing to me as I was not keen on the majority of the products, so it was a waste of money for me this month. Degustabox have one more month on my subscription, so I am particularly looking forward to December's box and hope to get many Christmas items. Perhaps they are saving all of the good products to next month.
Kettle Chips (Stilton & Port): (2/5) I do like Kettle Chips, but I would never touch the 'stilton and port' flavour. I gave these away and I was told that they were alright.
Pip cloudy apple juice: (4/5) I love apple juice, so these were welcome. The juice is watered down, so it does not have a strong apple flavour. I did enjoy them, but I would have preferred a stronger apple flavour.
Cool Dawn energy drinks: (1/5) These energy drinks are meant to be consumed after drinking alcohol. I thought they tasted awful, and it had a slight coffee flavour. After a sip, I threw the rest of it away. I gave the second one to a colleague to have after drinking, and he also hated it.
Holy Cow! sauces (Mangalore Malabar and Korma): (3/5) I love curry, but I found these sauces to be bland instead of spicy. I have had better similar products.
Branton carmelised onion chutney: (2/5) Chutney is one of those products that I do not eat. I gave this away to a colleague.
Lindt chocolate star: (5/5) I was never a fan of this chocolate brand, but these are nice. The inside is a soft chocolate truffle, and the outer is a soft chocolate shell.
Chai Latte: (2/5) I gave this away and the review was a "meh".
Stir-in Flavour shots (Garlic and coriander): (3/5) I struggled to put these to use, but I mixed one with some chicken and it was alright. I would have preferred another flavour.
Montano cider: (4/5) I do not have cider, so I gave this to my partner who said that it tasted alright, but he's also not too keen on cider.
December
I was not too impressed with my last Degustabox, which was the December box. I know others felt the same disappointment. I had expected more for the December box. More on that will follow.
Pukka green tea: (4/5) I do drink green tea, so this was nice to receive. It's not my favourite brand, but I found it to be ok.
Popchips (original): (3/5) I have previously tried Popchips when they became available, and they are alright. I'm not keen on crisps or potato chips as it's just not a snack I have regularly or enjoy.
Eat Chia: (1/5) Chia seeds are considered one of the superfoods, and these are recommended to be sprinkled on cereal or yoghurt. I have tried this product previously, and I am not sure about it because the results are not instant. The seeds do not have a flavour.
Bahlsen (milk chocolate and caramel biscuits): (5/5) These biscuits, which I have previously bought repeatedly, were not new to me. Two flavours were provided, and the caramel flavour was one that I had not previously tried. My favourite is the dark chocolate, which is a product that I do purchase from time to time, but this flavour was not one of the ones provided.
Glow Worm drinks: (3/5) These energy drinks can also be used as cocktail mixers. One of each flavour was provided, and the flavours were hit or miss for me. The flavours are cucumber and apple, raspberry and grape, ginger and lemonade, and pear/lime and spice. The raspberry and grape was nice, but I was not keen on the pear/lime/spice flavour. The other two flavours were good as well, but the best was the raspberry/grape.
Kent's Kitchen Madras: (2/5) I received the Kent's Kitchen 'Chicken Tikka Masala' in a previous box, and my partner and I both disliked it. This one was better, but I halved the amount of tomato in it because my partner dislikes tomato. This had a better flavour, but I still found that the spices did not blend as well as I'd expect they should.
Fry Light Chili Infused cooking oil: (4/5) This product is to be used in cooking to add flavour. The product works well with frying in a wok and can be used to add a little extra spice to fried rice.
Bonne Marman marmalade: (5/5) I love marmalade, so this was welcome.
Eisberg alcohol-free wine: (1/5) When I received the alcohol-free wine, I thought for sure this must be a mistake as Degustabox do an 'alcoholic' and 'non-alcoholic' box, and I signed up for the 'alcoholic' box. I'm not sure how I will use this as I do not really see the point in alcohol-free wine. I think this will be used for cooking, but it's sitting in my cupboard as I do not know what to do with it.
My verdict on Degustabox:
Although I did find a few nice products and one product that I have purchased since (as well as others that I would not mind purchasing again), I did not feel that it was value for money and some of the products were ones that I would never buy. Also, the past couple of boxes had repeated goods that I had previously received in the past six boxes, and some of these I was not keen on.
Ultimately, I cancelled my subscription so that it would not renew. I was also not happy with the way my response (criticism) about the December box was handled by Degustabox. I felt that they did not try to or care to keep my custom.
I think I expected something better for December's box as I was already greatly disappointed with November's box. November's and December's boxes were the weakest. (Now that my subscription has ended and many were upset, I do hope that they have made improvements. The January 2015 box is out now, and I've peeked at the contents and I'm quite happy to have ubsubscribed as I wouldn't have used a lot of those items this month.)
Do you subscribe to Degustabox? Let me know what you think!
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