The September Degustabox (review)

Another month has drawn to end, which means the postie has dropped off our latest Degustabox. We've been receiving them for quite some time now but we still all crowd round for the unboxing, excitedly peering in for that first glimpse to see if we recognise any of the brands or products peeking out ! As usual, this month's selection of mystery products was a nice mixture of family faves and total unknowns.

Here's what was in this month's box :

Teisseire Raspberry & Cranberry Sirop Le 0% (£2.99)- As a French/British family, we are hugely familiar with the Teisseire brand, which is as popular as Robinsons on the other side of the Channel. The French sirop is much thicker, sweeter (despite being no-added sugar) and more concentrated than its British squash counterpart though, so you won't need to put much in your glass. This explains the higher price tag because it lasts longer - and it also looks more chic and refined than the usual bottle of squash !

Metcalfe's Dark Chocolate Popcorn Thins (£1) - Crunchy popcorn topped with the finest Italian chocolate, which are two of the Madhouse kids' faves so it was bound to be a big hit. Only 81 calories for a tasty treat too, so it gets bonus brownie points from me ! We'd have preferred the milk chocolate variety but it was still very nice.

Staying on the healthier snacks theme, Get Fruity Bar (£1) - an award-winning fruit and oat bar that has a high percentage of the named fruit making it authentically fruity. Get Fruity contains gluten free oats & virgin coconut oil with no added refined sugars and is 100% natural. We reviewed these last year so click through to see our full review.This time we got the Tangy Pineapple, Coconut & Lime bar which had a lovely zingy, fruity flavour.

Mrs Crimbles Fusilli with a Gourmet Mushroom Sauce (£1.99) - Gluten free corn fusilli pasta with a gourmet mushroom and cream sauce. Perfect accompaniment to meat or fish, a filling meal for one or a side dish for two. Now that Juliette has moved up to secondary school and is left to fend for herself at lunchtimes when Madhouse Daddy can't get home, this is perfect because you just need to boil a kettle, add water and wait for a few minutes.

Say Yes To No Toasted Bread Chips (£1.49) are a brand that we've already discovered in a previous Degustabox. We got the BBQ Toasted Bread Chips which got a warm reception. They're a healthier but equally tasty alternative to crisps.

Chia Bia Whole & Milled Chia Seed Sachets (2 x £1) - Now, I know they're supposed to be mega healthy and hailed as the new superfood but I haven't managed to get enthusiastic about chia seeds yet. The good thing about this version is that you can add it to yoghurt, porridge, smoothies, salads or use in baking and it will go pretty much unnoticed - sneaky ! Chia is packed with Omega 3, Fibre and is also a great source of Protein, Vitamins and Minerals. 

Cirio Borlotti Beans (£1.89 for 3) - I love Cirios's wide range of tomato products but I didn't know they also had beans in their product list, so I'll be investigating further next time I go to the supermarket. These borlotti beans are steam cooked and perfect for throwing into autumnal soups and stews. They'd be perfect in this Tuscan slow-cooked pork belly and beans recipe so I know what's going on next week's menu plan !

Miso Tasty Spicy Aka Miso Soup (£3.65) - As you'll know, if you've ever laid eyes on my country-by-country globecooking recipe index, I love sampling different cuisines from around the world, but I've never really been bowled over by miso soup. It's definitely a healthy option and this is one of the better brands that I've tried, but I still find it a bit bland, although the extra ingredients do make it more satisfying. The red aka miso soup paste is made from 12 month fermented rice and soybeans, and you also get wakame, spring onion and shichimi 7 spice (a tasty mix of chilli pepper, mandarin peel, black and white sesame seeds, nori seaweed, Japanese sansho pepper and ginger). You could also add your own noodles and toppings for a more substantial, quick dinner.

Hartley's No Added Sugar Jelly Pots (4 x 50p) got the biggest squeal of excitement from The Madhouse kids ! These little pots are great as snacks or for popping in lunchboxes. They don't even need to be kept chilled so you can hide them in the top cupboard out of the kids' reach so they don't polish them all off in one sitting !

Cape Drinks Sparkling Pineapple & Passionfruit and Sparkling Peach & Lychee (2 x £1.59) - I'd never heard of Cape, but it is a sparkling blend of anti-oxidant rich Rooibos Tea and fruit juices with added vitamins, ginseng and natural botanical extracts. The drinks contain no refined sugar, are sweetened only from natural sources and are made from natural ingredients. Even better, they only contain 89 calories per 330ml can, so they are perfect for the health conscious consumer.

I'm not a tea-drinker so I wasn't sure I'd like the taste but they are both actually very pleasant, with the fruit juices making them very palatable.

A subscription to Degustabox costs £12.99 per month including delivery, with each box having a value of much more than that, but the great news is, I have a discount coupon code for you which now gives you a whopping £7 off the price of your first box - just enter code BLDEG15 at the checkout.

for more information :

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Disclosure : We received the box in order to write an honest review. As a Degustabox blogger, I receive all of the products that go into the monthly boxes, but subscribers may not get exactly the same selection.