Review: GrazeBox

I'm not a big "box" person. Birchbox, Nature Box, Stride Box, Kona Kase... I haven't tried any of them. First, I'm cheap. $20 or $25 a month seems like a lot to spend on stuff that I'm not sure I'll like. Second, I'm a creature of habit. Why do I need to try new stuff? I know what I like.

Even so, I was intrigued to get a card in a shipment from Sierra Trading Post advertising a new "box": GrazeBox. The good part? A box of snacks was only $6 a shipment, and the first one was free.

What the heck, I decided to check out the website, graze.com. There are currently 90 different snacks on offer. You can go through them one by one and flag them to come to you frequently, sometimes, or never. There are also shortcuts to eliminate all snacks containing gluten, or dairy, or non-vegetarian ingredients.

I went through and eliminated everything with dairy and most things with gluten (which still left me with 49 snacks to be randomly selected from), and signed up. You need an invitation code to sign up, and then can share it with others. Feel free to use mine: "ROBYNR8MR".

My first box got here the other day. Here's the details:

GrazeBox, with a quarter for size reference.
It came with a thin plastic sleeve around it to keep it shut.

Turned over...

... and opened. The flyer had information about Graze School of Farming in Uganda, their charity, and my invitation code.

Four snacks, each 1.2-1.3 ounces (about 1/3-1/2 cup total). Nutrition information and ingredients are not labeled on the packages, but are available on the website. These range from 95-200 calories per serving. 

Graze's Chocolate Orange: Belgian dark chocolate, orange infused raisins, and hazelnuts.

Spicy Corn Taco: spicy chili peanuts, roasted corn (think corn nuts), and roasted edamame. (I've eaten about half).

Seedsational: roasted pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds with soy sauce

The fourth snack was "Little Figgy Went to Market": apple, cranberries, and dried figs dusted with rice flour.

So far I've tried the Spicy Corn Taco and the Seedsational. Spicy Corn Taco has a nice texture, with crunchy corn nuts and edamame, and lightly roasted peanuts. The flavoring is pretty mild: it's not especially salty, and not very spicy. Nice, but the texture and the good ingredients are better than the "spicy" flavoring. The Seedsational is pretty good. Nice salty tamari flavor, good nut flavor. I would get it again.

The verdict? Not a bad deal. For $6 a box (and the first and fifth ones free), you get four decent-sized snacks, delivered to home or work, every 2 weeks. There's lots of variety, and there are good gluten free, dairy free, and vegetarian choices. Fewer Whole30/paleo options, but there are a number of mixes that are only dried fruit and/or nuts, so that's covered too. The website makes it easy to control what you get, so if I liked the Seedsational, I can put it on the "send again" list; if I'm meh on Spicy Corn Taco, I can request it never be sent.

Oh, a final point: I'm impressed by their customer service. My first box went missing somewhere in the depths of our shipping/receiving department. When I contacted Graze (on Christmas Eve!), I got an email within 20 minutes crediting my account with a free shipment and apologizing for the loss. Thanks!

Want to try GrazeBox for yourself? First box is free. Go over to graze.com and use invite code "ROBYNR8MR". Happy snacking!

[Disclaimer: I did not receive products, services, or anything else for this review. I just wrote it because I kind of like this service.]