Having recently moved into a new house, I received an envelope full of vouchers and coupons, a “welcome to the neighborhood” if you will. As I rifled through them mindlessly (as envelopes like that are almost always useless to me–no, I don’t need a new roof just yet. *Eye roll*), I was actually delighted to find a voucher for a free sample box from Graze. Snacks!! Free food speaks to me, so I created an account, entered my free snacks code and selected a few treats I wouldn’t mind trying. Pins and needles of waiting on a subscription box: engaged.

The sample box only consisted of 4 snacks, whereas your typical Graze box contains 8. I was thrilled upon its arrival and wasted no time cracking the cardboard open and proceeding to eat the entire box with my husband’s help. Yes, I shared, unfortunately. 

What’s Inside

There was a cute little note addressed to me in the box along with a list of nutrition facts for each snack and a few coupons you can hand out to friends–“Free 1st and 5th Graze boxes.” There was also a voucher something like I had received in the mail; put in your code, get a free sample box of four snacks. (You’d have to create a whole new account for this to work, so it’s really meant to give away.)

The snacks I received: a deconstructed Strawberry Chocolate Cheesecake mix, Tuscan Pesto Kern Pops, Cocoa & Vanilla Protein Flapjacks, and Snickerdoodle Dip with Cinnamon Pretzel Sticks.

Right off the bat: Oh my gosh, everything in the box was delicious. That’s the first pro, obviously.

Pros

• Graze offers over 100 different snacks–a huge variety–including sweet, savory, ethnic, low calorie, low fat, low carb, and every sort of snack in between. And they are always developing new snacks! Here’s a list of the snacks included in a box I gifted my sister:
  • Superfoods Chia Coconut Cookie with Special Blend Black Tea
  • New York Everything Bagel (mix)
  • Thai Sweet Chilli Dippers
  • Chocolate Cherry Protein Granola Topper
  • Roasted Chili Honey Peanuts & Almonds
  • Peachy Orchard (mix)
  • Sesame Garlic Crunch
  • Lemon Drizzle Flapjack

• Graze is health conscious and offers several options to fit your health goals. Their signature box contains a variety of 8 snacks, but you can also choose from the following boxes:
  • Flapjack box (their “flapjacks” remind me of a granola bar and cake put together…so good)
  • Popkern box (their twist on popcorn)
  • Sweet treat box
  • Savory box
  • Top 20 box
  • Afternoon pick-me-up box
  • Carb count box
  • Protein box
  • Calorie count box
  • Sugar count box

• You can leave feedback before you even order your first box! Scroll through the complete list of snacks and tell them  whether you know you already dislike a snack, are willing to try it, or know you’ll love it! And, of course, you leave feedback once you’ve received your box to help them better serve you with future orders.

• Graze boxes can be delivered as frequently as you like (the standard is weekly), however, one-time boxes can also be ordered, which make great gifts for any occasion! I ordered a few this past Christmas and, though a small token, the boxes seemed to be crowdpleasers! A great alternative to the been-there-done-that box of chocolates or popcorn tin.

Cons

• My sample box was free, of course, but a typical Graze box costs $11.99. Not bad, right!? Well, hold on. At first glance, that’s a pretty good deal for 8 different delicious snacks. BUT the snacks are in very small portions, granted they are appropriately sized, but for most of us (unless we are on a strict diet) 150 calories worth of fancy trail mix just isn’t going to cut it. Therefore, as much as I’d love to keep this subscription up, paying $11.99 every week for this amount of food (which I’d inevitably have to share) when I could buy three or four giant bags of potato chips instead just isn’t feasible. Maybe if I were single or had an office job.

• Graze got it right when it comes to how we should be snacking, but their portions just don’t reflect reality. On that note, a box of 8 different snacks should last you a whole week–just in time for your next box to arrive–if you ration them accordingly. That means only eating one snack a day and either craving something more or bringing along another snack to go with it so you don’t go hangry. Again, this is perfectly appropriate if you are strict nutritionally and have an ironclad snack will, but I’m a hungry girl. There’s a reason all the snacks were gone upon arrival. Maybe in a perfect world I would only eat 1 oz. of pretzels at a time.

In summary, Graze is pretty awesome. Their snacks are original and delicious! But, it’s not something many people would typically cough up $12 a week for, especially since they are going to have to buy other snacks anyways. It’s really a subscription box worthy of the single life or kept at the office or given in the “thinking of you” spirit. In other words, a perfect fit for your average untethered [working] millennial. But, for SAHM purposes, not really a sustainable option.

That being said, I would really recommend ordering a box every now and then, because it’s just plain fun! But, in this age of a subscription box for everything, I suggest reserving your “subscription budget” for less expensive or more useful things. (It’s 2017… who doesn’t have a subscription budget these days?)