Summer is the perfect time for picnics and al fresco dining but if you're still at work, how about taking your lunch to a park or rooftop garden for a few minutes of R&R? Graze have been making good snacks more exciting for over seven years in their boxes that you can order online, but they have just released an exciting new, ‘good to go range’ – 12 exciting snacks, available in stores nationwide as from this month.
We received the whole lot to try out and there wasn't one that we didn't like in there ! We all loved the interesting combinations of tastes and textures as well as a few unexpected and exotic ingredients thrown in for good measure. They taste lovely but they are also designed to be good for you, with no artificial flavours, colours or preservatives and a positive nutritional benefit from every snack (some are a tasty source of natural protein, others are one of your 5 a day).
We started with the fruity options - a trio of snacks that each count towards your 5 a day. We tried :
Mini Strawberry & Banana (120 calories) - "dried mini strawberries, blueberries, cranberries & chewy banana coins" - all very nice, juicy and sweet, with mini strawberries that taste of strawberry jam !
Dark Chocolate Cherry Tart (175 calories) - "Belgian dark chocolate, raisins, dried cranberries & cherries" - tart cherries, slightly bitter chocolate, soft raisins, sweet cranberries ... a lovely combination
Juicy Peach & Raspberry ( 95 calories) - "peach drops, raspberry fruit strings & dried pear" - a nice selection of shapes and textures, the peach drops were beautifully soft and sweet but the pear was slightly dry
Next we tried the protein-packed snacks :
Veggie Protein Power (132 calories and 7g of protein) - "edamame beans, spicy chickpeas & black pepper cashews" - I wasn't sure we'd like this one but it was a hit with everyone - the black pepper cashews are actually hotter than the spicy chickpeas
Punchy Protein Nuts (210 calories and 8g of protein) - "chilli & lime cashews, almonds & lightly salted peanuts" - the almonds were quite bland but the chilli & lime cashews were delicious
Salted Fudge & Peanut Cookie (241 calories and 7g of protein) - "Cornish vanilla fudge, cocoa cookies, lightly salted peanuts & redskin peanuts" - the cocoa cookies had a weird salty taste and Pierre thought the redskin nuts were squirrel food (it's what we feed the squirrels at the park when we visit the Madhouse grandparents !) - you need to be a lover of the salty/sweet flavour combination to enjoy this one - it was OK but certainly not our favourite
Moving on to the Savoury Snacks :
Herby Bread Basket (90 calories) - "mini basil breadsticks, oregano crackers & baked garlic croutons" - the basil breadsticks are gorgeous but the garlic croutons didn't taste garlicky at all
Thai Sweet Chilli Dippers (83 calories) - "baked soy bites with a sweet chilli dipping sauce" - lovely crunchy, salty, seasoned crackers that the kids enojyed on their own because they found the sauce a bit too spicy - I thought they worked well together though - yum !
Smokehouse BBQ Crunch (137 calories) - "smoky BBQ peas, chilli corn & crunchy corn chips" - the corn chips taste a bit like wheaty Doritos and the peas were surprisingly tasty
The final three were the sweet treat options :
Chocolate Pretzel Dippers (141 calories) - "lightly salted pretzel sticks with a cocoa & hazelnut dip" - basically a Nutella dipstick but the kids loved it
Original Fruity Flapjack (228 calories) - "whole British oat flapjack with dried apricot, vine fruits & seeds" - moist and sweet with some nice crunch from the seeds
Lemon Drizzle Flapjack (239 calories) - "whole British oat flapjack with zesty lemon curd & a yogurt drizzle" - beautiflly moist and sweet with a lovely zesty zing - half of the pack got munched before I even took the photo !
The flavours are great, the ingredients are all pretty healthy (and some are low calorie options too) and the individual pack servings are perfect for snacks on the go. I'd definitely buy these in place of chips or chocolate in airport lounges and motorway service stations and they'd be great on planes too (although I could just get organised and stock up before we head off on our travels !)
Available nationwide in Sainsbury’s, Boots and WH Smith Travel and lots of independent retailers from July 12th 2015. RRP from £1.19
Disclosure : We received the products in order to write an honest review.
Graze in shops is a great idea, shall have to look out for them.
ReplyDeleteI definitely prefer it to the subscription service :)
DeleteThese look lovely, would be perfect for work. Good they are in shops as well, so easy to pick up
ReplyDeletedesperate to try these now, great pack lunch or handbag edition for snacking
ReplyDelete