Degustabox: August

I love getting my monthly Degustabox*. It’s such a little treat to get post and not know what’s inside, as opposed to the unpleasant surprises bills can bring or another coupon for a dodgy local pizza place. August’s theme was ‘back to school’, with the box being full of products you can prep or pack for your lunch box. I try and take breakfast and lunch to work with me as many days as possible, so these were some great additions that I hadn’t previously thought of.

Drinks

LifeTonics Coconut Water: I’m afraid being allergic to coconut and a hater of all things mint, this did not go down well with me. I’m took a tiny sip because I’m a good little food blogger and I won’t dismiss anything until I’ve tried it, but bleurgh, no thanks. I can have coconut water in small amounts and I do like it in smoothies, but it was just too minty for me.

WilliamsonTea Ginger Grove: Not doing so well here, as I cannot stand ginger in anything non-savoury either. It smells divine, but the taste just does not sit well with me, however luckily my boyfriend is a fan of all sorts of flavoured teas that I wouldn’t touch with yours, and he said it was delicious. So take his word for it over mine.

Scheckter’s Organic Energy Drinks: This first appeared in a Degustabox a few months ago and you can see my original write up of it here. I’ve never had an energy drink in my life before this one (save the odd Red Bull in a Jägerbomb on one of those sorts of nights), and as a result it made my eyes feel like they were vibrating. It was bizarre. So I didn’t drink this one this time, but it’s in my fridge in case I come down with a massive hangover some time soon. You can never be too careful.

LittleMiracles Organic Energy Drinks: This tasted more like flavoured water rather than a fizzy, sweet concoction of the Schecker’s or other well known energy drink brands. This is supposed to be natural, with the energy coming from the green tea. That inclusion meant the flavour was initially a bit bitter, but the agave helped equal that out and actually it was pretty good, and much more refreshing than other energy drinks I’ve had.

Baking

Delicious Alchemy Chocolate Brownie Mix: I love baking, but of the 'traditional' sort. I've tried gluten free baking before but it's ended up, um, gross. I wouldn't normally use a package cake mix but as this is gluten and dairy free I thought it was worth giving a whirl. Turns out, it was delicious! I do like my brownies with a LOT of cream, but I left that out this time, obviously.

Dr Oetker Mug Cakes: Instant cake should totally be a good thing, buuuuuuuut nah. I mean if you want quick sugar with some sort of flavour, warmed up, then this is so for you. Cake shouldn't be rushed and it should not be served in a mug. This is awesome for students or people who burn cereal.

Savoury

Ryvita: There were two crispbread flavours in this month's box: Cracked Black Pepper and Sesame. They are obviously pretty dry by themselves but they are supposed to be eaten with or in something, so I tried a few combinations. I had the Cracked Black Pepper broken up as croutons into soup which, frankly, was a genius idea, and I also had them topped with cream cheese, smoked salmon and cucumber which I love. I went for sweet toppings for the sesame one and had nutella and strawberries. It totally worked and is such a good snack!

Barilla Arrabbiata Tomato and Chilli Sauce: I cooked the Barilla Penne Rigate pasta, added some fried red onion and peppers and mixed them with Philadelphia, sour cream, chilli and the sauce. Added chicken and chorizo, stuck it in the oven and baked it up. Random recipe winner and definitely a new favourite.

Snacks

Walkers Biscuits and Shortbreads: Ever upgraded to first class on a Virgin train? They give you a little snack pack and they have some sort of Walkers biscuits. They're so buttery and delicious; crumbly and full of chunky ingredients - the chocolate chip ones were particularly bloody fantastic. 

Bahlsen Biscuits: The Pick Up Dark Chocolate biscuits are so stupidly addictive. The dark chocolate middle is like a harder version of the insides of Penguins but really rich. I like dark chocolate and I get bored of biscuits only being covered in milk chocolate, so these are moving quickly up my rank of favourite sweet snack ever. The Choco Leibniz White Chocolate Biscuits aren't my thing as I don't really like white chocolate, but the caramel ones they sent a while ago were ace.

You can get £6 off next month's Degustabox with the code BLDEG15
I was sent the August Degustabox for free for an unbiased review. What you've read is what I think!

Never miss another blog post! Follow Charlie, Distracted on Bloglovin'

Follow me on Twitter / Facebook / Instagram / Pinterest