Time for my monthly Degustabox feature, if you haven’t seen previous month’s posts, Degustabox is a monthly subscription box, filled with amazing new foods for you to try out. Including new lines from big brands and foods from smaller brands that you maybe weren’t aware of. For £12.99 per box you will have contents worth well in excess of that, get the chance to try something new and maybe even find a new favourite treat. I enjoy getting to try things I wouldn’t normally buy for my family.

The January box was a treat as usual, filled with lots of new flavours and even a cheeky bottle of lager, hooray. Here’s what I got; 

A box of original FINN CRISP – £1.20 – Just as I remembered them and still not my cup of tea, I’m generally not a fan of crisp breads, too dry for my taste. That being said I have found that if I put enough cream cheese and smoked salmon on them they are rather tasty, I do like the flavour and the texture, just not the dryness. 

Coldpress Golden Delicious – £1.40 – This cold pressed apple juice keeps way more of the flavour and goodness then standard heat pasteurised juices, meaning that this Golden Delicious juice did taste very sweet, just like the apple. I would normally choose something crisper and tarter by choice but this slipped down very nicely.Conscious Chocolate – £3.00 – I was sent the ‘Plain Jane’ bar, a dark chocolate bar that is made from raw ingredients, has no dairy and is organic and suitable for vegans. It has a strange texture, billed as being truffle like, and that is fairly close but not quite right, I can’t think if a better way to describe it though. Really great dark chocolate flavour but not one I’d be rushing out to buy.

Jordan’s Country Crisp – £2.60 – the new Fruit and Nut variety is really packed full of fruit and nuts, spread well throughout the box mixed with crunchy oat clusters, this makes for a very tasty and very filling breakfast.

Amoy Sauces – 2 x £1.79 – these are just so perfect for a really tasty evening meal when you are in a bit of a rush, just add the sauce to your chosen meat and vegetables, serve with noodles or rice, done. The Thai Green Curry is to die for, I served with King Prawns, Mange Tout & Baby Corn on Rice, mmmm, and ready so quickly. I loved the Malaysian Laksa as well, a very different flavour and one I would have never cooked form scratch at home.

Tsingtao – £2.00 – The Finest Beer in China. Well it is pretty darn fine, a really smooth drink that went down a treat icy cold straight from the bottle. It’s a blend of malt, hops and rice. I really enjoyed it, a very drinkable beer.

Yushio – £2.00 – I reviewed Yushio not long after the launch and was really impressed by the amount of flavour, the texture of the sticks and healthiness of these little rice sticks made with peas, even if I did find them a little greasy. So getting the big sharing bag was a treat and in one of my favourite flavours, Smoked Salt & Szechuan Pepper.

Clarks Carob Fruit Syrup – £2.39 – After getting over the shock that Clarks make more than Maple Syrup I have had to actually sit and think what I will use the Carob Fruit Syrup for, it’s a low GI Syrup that can be used as a sweetener in drinks or for baking, but I don’t drink hot drinks and usually if I’m baking then the sugar is classed as a dry ingredient so I’m not sure how much syrup to substitute for a given amount of sugar? So I’ve not tried it yet, but I’ll let you know when I do.

Slim Noodles – £2.49 – I have tried similar versions of slim noodle before and found them edible but a bit slimy and weird, so I intrigued about how these would stack up, because with no carbs, no fat, no gluten and only 9 calories per 100g they are excellent for weight loss. Made from Konjac Flour and oat fibre these had a far texture to others I have tried, sill a bit slimey, but fab in a spicy broth with loads of veg and maybe some prawns thrown in.

Fit Fit – 2 x £0.79 – These are little fruity rounds of dried fruit that has been ground to create a paste and formed into a little chewy shape, some flavours are even mixed with chopped nuts. I had the Apricot and Date & Cacao versions to try. The date and cacao was ok, but I think I would have just preferred dates which I love, the cacao detracted from them a bit for me, but the apricot one was lovely, a good snack sized portion, but I don’t really see why I would buy this over a bag of dried Apricots?

Total Value = £22.33 saving £9.34

The biggest surprise for me were the Amoy’s Sauces, I just wasn’t expecting to like them so much or to be able to make such a delicious family meal so quickly.

My most disappointing item was the Clarks Carob Fruit Syrup, simply because I don’t really know how I’ll make use of it, so any ideas you fancy leaving me in the comments would be appreciated.

The stand out item for me was the Tsingtao products, I’m not a big beer drinker, but when I do I’m quite fussy, I like a lager but not a strong one, but I don’t want it to have no flavour either,  the Tsingtao ticked all my boxes and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

The overall family favourite goes to Coldpress Golden Delicious. Turns out everyone loves apple juice and all wanted to try some, thankfully husb and I had a few mouthfuls each each before the boy got hold of it, because once he’d had a sip it wasn’t going to prised away from him!!

If you’re interested in trying Degustabox for yourself I’ve got a great reader offer for you, quote code ‘4389CE’ at the checkout and you’ll get a massive £6.00 off your first box! That makes it nearly half price.

You can find Degustabox at their website www.degustabox.com, on Twitter (@DegustboxUK), on Instagram (Degustabox_UK) or on Facebook.

Disclosure – I was sent my Degustabox for free in exchange for my honest review, contains affiliate links.