Woman in Real Life: Snackbox by Food.ee (Giveaway)

Wednesday, June 5, 2013

Snackbox by Food.ee (Giveaway)

It probably comes as no surprise that I love food. Even my posts that aren't about food often have food in them. Some of my favourite family memories are of grocery shopping with my mom as a teen. Mom loves food too, and she would buy me practically anything I asked for, making it well worth the trip to the grocery store.

I particularly love snacks, especially if they are healthy and nourishing rather than just empty calories. (Don't get me wrong, I eat some of those snacks too.) In my quest for healthy snacks, I have been envious of my friends south of the border who seem to have all kinds of monthly snack subscription services to choose from.

I'm green with envy no more. Recently, I received a box of lovely, healthy goodies from Snackbox by Food.ee. Located in Vancouver, BC, Snackbox delivers a new, carefully curated box of snacks across Canada each month.

I opened the box at lunchtime, before I had eaten my lunch. I think that might have been a tactical error. I was ripping into packages and sampling goodies before I was even done taking pictures. I found a couple of old favourites and many new-to-me products. The whole experience was exciting. Who doesn't love to discover great, new snacks?

Once the family came home, they were pretty excited too. In fact, we had most of the snacks open and sampled before the next day. The May Snackbox included Surf Sweets, which I always love. I also found a Kind cranberry almond fruit and nut bar. It was delicious and fresh and I loved the sweet touch of cranberry. I would definitely tuck some of these in my purse for soccer season.

Each Rebar combines eight servings of organic fruits and vegetables! That's right, eight servings! The vegetables are processed at low temperatures to preserve and retain the living enzymes, nutrients and minerals. Low fat, high in fibre, with no added sugar, Rebars are celiac and diabetic friendly. They are great for getting your veggies on the run. I had the blueberry flavour, but I would say it tastes more like vegetables than fruit.

I am always on the hunt for dairy-free chocolate, so I was pleased to find a new chocolate bar to try. This Cocolico by Wendy Boys blueberry, almond and candied quinoa dark chocolate bar is delicious. It contains puffed quinoa, candied to give it a crispy texture. The chocolate bars are hand cast using 71% Valrhona French chocolate and then topped with delicious dried blueberries.

I was intrigued by Lifebites, a snack made in Vancouver. With no fillers or preservatives, Lifebites are made only of dried bananas, vegan chocolate and hemp seeds. They seemed odd at first, but they are slightly addictive in the long run. I shared them with my sister-in-law and she liked them too.

These RW Garcia curry and mango dipping chips turned out to be a family favourite. Apparently they are designed to dip into salsa, bean dip or tapenade, but my daughter, my husband and I ate them before we could crack open any dip.

Snackbox snacks are gluten-free and natural. Many are vegan, but not all. We received Martin's Marvelous chocolate chip cookies, which contain butter. Since I don't eat dairy, the children were more than willing to eat the cookies!

In this house, we try not to buy much bottled water for environmental reasons, but we also find that the kids lose a lot of water containers. So, we use bottled water once in a while if we are going somewhere where it's hard to keep track of a reusable bottle. The May Snackbox included a bottle of Happy Water, a blend of pure, natural spring and lithia waters from two ancient mountain springs in BC. Lithium water has apparently been found to make people feel good and to create new brain cells. A cure for mommy brain perhaps?

I always have a jar of salsa in the fridge - to top veggie burgers or burritos or simply to serve with tortilla chips. My Snackbox fortunately included a jar of Simply Natural Chunky Organic Salsa. It's made without additives and preservatives and contains fire-roasted organic tomatoes. This particular jar was a medium heat. Generally I prefer mild, but I found that the heat was not overwhelming and there is a pleasant hint of cumin flavouring.

I think Snackbox would make a handy snack source for weekends at the cottage or campground. You could keep the box neatly packed the way it came and pop it right in the car - if you can resist diving into the contents that is!