Monday, June 18, 2012

Healthy Surprise!

I'm a snacker. I rigidly plan all of my meals (I can tell you what I'll be eating for dinner on Friday or lunch on Saturday!) because I'm OCD as hell, but I like to keep my snacks a little spontaneous. I mean, I have planned snacking times (11 a.m.-ish and 2 to 4-ish), but I like to have choices when those times arrive. So maybe that's not totally spontaneous, but for me, that's pretty wild.

I keep a variety of snacks — vegan Chex Mix, almonds, crackers, nut mixes, etc. — on my desk at work since that's generally where I am at when snack time comes. So imagine my joy when Healthy Surprise, a vegan company that mails monthly boxes filled with healthy snacks to their subscribers, offered me a review box! Normally, Healthy Surprise sells subscriptions in varying amounts for different sized monthly snack boxes. The size I was offered — the Healthy size — goes for $66 a month and feeds two to six people, but a smaller option — the Starter — is available for $33 a month and feeds one to three people.

It took a few days to arrive, but I eagerly ripped it open when it finally got here. As you can see, Mr. Akasha was also excited to see the box's surprise contents:


Now, I knew the contents would be healthy snacks, but I wasn't prepared for just how healthy they'd be. I figured there'd be lots of "healthy" vegan snacks, stuff like all-natural chips or seitan jerky. I love that stuff, but it's really not health food. Instead, the Healthy Surprise sampler was loaded with mostly raw snacks! There were only two cooked snacks, and the rest were totally raw! Check it out:


There's two bags each of Gone Nuts! Raw and Sprouted Nut Blends in Thai Lemon Curry and Pesto Spinach, one bag of Hail Merry Raw Orange Rosemary Pecans, a bag of Go Raw Pizza Flax Snax, a Two Moms in the Raw Cranberry Nut Bar, an Oskri Coconut Cherry Bar, a package of Happy Hemp seeds, a package of Bare Fruits Dried Granny Smith Apples, a bag of Skinny Crisps baked Cinnamon Crisps, and two little bags of Home Free Mini Crunchy Vanilla Cookies.

I've had the box for over a week now, and I'm slowly working my way through. I'm also a snack hoarder, so I like to hold on to things as long as I can. That means I'll only open one package at a time. I first tried the Pizza Flax Snax, a crispy raw cracker that really tastes like pizza. Look how cute!


Then I tore into the Two Moms in the Raw Cranberry Nut Bar, which made the perfect fruity, nutty snack before my morning run one day. I love a bar that's only sweetened with fruit and no added sugars:


One afternoon, I brought along a bag of the Home Free Vanilla Cookies on a car ride across town. They were like crispy little shortbread cookies, sweetened with only evaporated cane juice and fruit juice. I've been keeping a bag of the Gone Nuts! Spinach Pesto Nuts in my purse for emergency snacking. The salty, savory nuts are generously coated in pesto seasoning, and they have saved me from hunger more than a few times already.

I'd love to be able to afford my own monthly subscription, but I can't even afford cable! But for those of you who have a little extra cash to plop down on monthly snacks, this box is so worth it. Raw snacks are not cheap. That's just common vegan knowledge. Had I purchased these items online individually, the total would probably be more than $66. If you'd like to subscribe, Healthy Surprise is offering a special deal to Vegan Crunk readers. Head over to their website to subscribe and enter the code "VEGANCRUNK" (all one word) at checkout to receive a $5 off discount off every Healthy Surprise purchase!

20 comments:

radioactivegan said...

Wow, that looks like a great collection of snacks. I've never heard of the pizza things, but they sound great! If I ever have an extra $66 a month, I know where it'll go.

the morose bee said...

I"ve been getting conscious box, but this looks awesome too!

Anonymous said...

I tried entering the coupon code and you have to enter VEGANCRUNK all as one word. Just thought I'd let you know :)

male health said...

It seems like a pretty interesting collection of snacks. It sounds rather hale. Thanks for great ideas!

Barb@ThatWasVegan said...

I love those Two Moms snacks, sooo good!

xvavaveganx said...

What a great delivery you received! You are so right, that would all be way more than $66! I love that they included mostly raw snacks and it sounds like the ones you got would be really yummy!

I've had the Two Moms bars before and they are SOOOO GOOD! :) Great review!

Anonymous said...

I'm a snacker too! that looks like a "dream box" filled with all those goodies!! yum! thanks for sharing!

Bianca said...

Thanks for letting know, Anonymous! I've made the change in the post.

Amey said...

wow, that's a pretty cool deal. I love those Gone Nuts treats, I tried them at the SF Veg Fest and they were super good.

by the way, I am also a super organized meal-planner. I plan out my meals days in advance and do all my shopping just for my list. Ahhh. Yet, still, somehow I have a cupboard full of odd-ball impulse purchases!

Lillith P. said...

I'm so jealous. I've been wanting to try those pizza flax snax forever because I love Go Raw and I love pizza.

Allysia said...

Ba ha ha! I'm pretty rigid about meal-planning, too. But it's pretty essential if you're writing cookbooks and need to test recipes, or even if you want to stay fresh and keep trying new things. If I don't plan meals, I find I just start falling back on the same things over and over again. Maybe that's just me?

That's an incredible looking snack box, I'm so envious - no way I'd be able to afford it, either!

Dana said...

That is the most awesome box ever! I'm finding ways to muster up that much so I can order a box! Thank you so much for introducing this to me!

Carly said...

just ordered the healthy box using your coupon code, so excited!!

Babette said...

This is tempting!! They even ship to Canada for 5 dollars more. I might really try this thing. Thank you for telling us about it.

Anonymous said...

I love Healthy Surprise! I mentioned you to them twice twice, once back in May and back in March as well. I'm so glad they reached out to you so you could share what they are doing with your readers. I do think the box is a tad expensive, not because the contents aren't worth it, but because I'm like you, I just don't have the extra cash. Plus, this totally made me snack extra hard. LOL.

TessaW said...

Does it give any indication that it used the coupon code? I entered it in but it submitted payment without it actually taking anything off. Not sure if that's understood to them or what.

Bianca said...

Hi Tessa! I'm not sure, but I'll contact the guy from Healthy Surprise who gave me the coupon code and find out.

Katie said...

Yessssssss, Flax Snax rule!

Amy said...

I too loved getting my monthly surprise but I have not received my November box and have been contacting them since Nov 16th for a resolve and still nothing. I gave them on last opportunity to fix this 2 days ago and I was clear that I would give them 2 days to get back to me. and got an email saying someone would contact me. Never was contacted. So at this point I feel it is important to tell my story. I loved getting all the goodies and it really is a great way to try new things, but I can not continue doing business with a company that can not take the time to reach out to me or get my package to me. I live in the same state so it would have only taken a day for the package to get to me. So all in all a great product and concept until you need to contact the company. I feel communication is the most important aspect to running a business.

Bianca said...

Wow Amy! I'm sorry to hear that! I haven't heard from Healthy Surprise in a few months, so I'm not sure what's going on with the company. Thanks for sharing your story!