Review: Hail Merry Strawberry Macaroons and OCHO Coconut Bars

When you're craving a strawberry treat, you hope your snack tastes as delicious as this macaroon from Hail Merry. It's a perfect bite.

My Vegan Cuts Snack box contained a wonderful treat from Hail Merry. The company's strawberry macaroons are little bites of chewy goodness that are bursting with strawberry flavor. 

You get the texture of shredded coconut with every chew, but all you taste is this beautiful strawberry flavor.

I haven’t tried many raw treats, but the few I have were not tasty at all. I was expecting not to like these macaroons, but they were exceptional. I would eat these all day, every day.

Another thing to keep in mind: All products sold by Hail Merry are free of corn, soy, and starches.

OCHO makes a scrumptious coconut dark-chocolate candy bar that's leaps and bounds better than a Hershey Mounds bar.

I purchased a box of eight OCHO Coconut Bars from Vegan Cuts. I was always a fan of Hershey's Mounds bar as a child, and when I saw these, I had to try them. It's been years -- decades even -- since I've eaten an Almond Joy or Mounds bar, but I do remember the overly sweet coconut filling and tasty chocolate shell.

The OCHO Coconut Bar did not disappoint. Not only is the product organic and vegan, but it's free of artificial preservatives and ingredients. Eat that, Hershey!

As you bite into the coconut bar, you get a slight crunch as you break the dark-chocolate shell. Then you taste the slightly sweet, gooey, coconut filling. You can feel the shredded coconut in your mouth, and the flavor is amazing. Before you know it, the bar is over, but you feel satisfied. That's not to say you don't want another bar right away, but you don't feel this addictive craving for another bar like you do with the conventional, overly sweet candy products on the market.

Well done, Hail Merry and OCHO -- well done!

Review: Earth Balance Vegan Cheddar Kettle Chips and The Daily Crave Veggie Chips

Earth Balance Vegan Cheddar Kettle Chips are delicious and bursting with a tangy, cheesy flavor.

The Daily Crave's Veggie Chips are crispy and have a melt-in-your-mouth quality that a lot of veggie chips have. 

My Vegan Cuts Snack Box for February contained a lot of wonderful goodies -- as shown below:

The Vegan Cuts Snack Box is a subscription service that costs $19.95 a month. 

Today, I'm reviewing two chip products from my February Snack Box: Earth Balance Vegan Cheddar Kettle Chips and The Daily Crave Veggie Chips. Both products have wonderful flavors and textures. 

Here's the breakdown on each:

The Daily Crave Veggie Chips taste like the generic veggie chips from Whole Foods, so it might be hard for this brand to distinguish itself on the market. That said, it's nice to know the product has no artificial ingredients, flavors, or colorings. It's also non-GMO and free of hydrogenated fats. I have never heard of this brand prior to my snack box arriving, so I'll keep an eye for it when I go to Whole Foods.

Earth Balance Vegan Cheddar Kettle Chips have been highly anticipated by plant-based foodies on social media. These chips definitely live up to the hype. The chips are sturdy and crunchy, as you would expect a kettle chip to be. Each bite brings on a burst of tangy, cheesy goodness, so it's very difficult to have the suggested serving size of 13 chips. I plan to savor this bag as long as possible before my order of more chips from Rabbit Food Grocery arrives (I also ordered Earth Balance's new Sour Cream and Onion flavor Kettle Chips, and I have no doubt it will be amazing). 

So, if you're lucky enough to spot Earth Balance's kettle chips at the store, stock up on these babies because I'm sure they'll sell out quickly.

Review: Vegan Subscription Boxes – Conscious Box and Vegan Cuts

Getting a care package in the mail is a nice surprise, but not many of us are fortunate enough to receive one on a monthly basis from loved ones. 

So why not send yourself a care package, or subscription boxes, as they’re usually called?

I subscribe to three vegan-themed boxes that arrive monthly at my home:

This was my January Conscious Box. There was a small nail polish bottle, a coffee sleeve, coupons, teas, sun screen, a doggy poop bag, two food bars, a protein powder packet, lotion, baby wipes, and a supplement product. This is a good representation of what to expect each month.

• Conscious Box: An assortment of vegan snacks and beauty products (about 7-10 items), such as drink powders, veggie chips, tea bags, and lotions; and small cruelty-free products, such as glass storage containers, coffee sleeves, moistened wipes, and doggy poop bags. Prices range from $19.95 for one month, $18.95/month for three months, $17.95/month for six months, $16.95/month for 12 months. (Plans automatically renew, so you must cancel from your account online.) The boxes ship within the U.S., Alaska, and Hawaii. I signed up for the box with a 50-percent-off code, so my boxes cost less than $10/month.

This was the January Snack Box from Vegan Cuts. It contained a full-size bottle of an energy drink, a small jar of gourmet peanut butter, one bag of hemp seeds (not pictured), a snack bar, a small bag of baked chickpeas, a small packet of olives, teas, a powdered drink mix, and crackers. This is a good representation of what to expect each month, but some months are better than this box. 

• Vegan Cuts Snack Box: An assortment of vegan snacks and drinks (around 7-10 items), including products from new companies and those who have been in the business for a while. I’ve received samples of nut butters, full-size protein and snack bars, and a variety of teas and drink mixes. A lot of the snacks are gluten-free. It costs $19.95 a month (an extra $8 to ship to Canada and an extra $15 to ship worldwide). You must cancel by the 10^th of the month, or your credit card will be charged automatically. 

The January Beauty Box from Vegan Cuts. It contained a louffa, hair detangler spray, lotion packets, full-size lip gloss, and a sample-size of underarm deodorant. This is a good representation of what to expect each month, but some months with big holidays -- like December (Christmas) -- have bigger items. 

• Vegan Cuts Beauty Box: An assortment of beauty products (around 4-7 items), including full-size and sample-size creams, makeup, and nail polish. I also have received cute little makeup bags. The price for the beauty box is the same as the snack box -- $19.95 a month (an extra $8 to ship to Canada and an extra $15 to ship worldwide). You must cancel by the 10^th of the month or your credit card will be charged automatically.

I was paying full price for both the Vegan Cuts Snack and Beauty boxes until Cyber Monday. On that day, the company offered a deal on their gift boxes. You can purchase gift boxes for the snack and beauty boxes, and it’s for a set amount of time – 1 month, 3 months, or 6 months. Their Cyber Monday deal brought the price of the 6-month subscription boxes down to $16.50/month, so I ordered a 6-month subscription for both the snack and beauty boxes. 

The gift boxes cost more per their time frame ($25, $70, and $115, respectively) because the company wants a way to reward people who sign up for the monthly boxes and pay automatically each month.  The gift-box prices for 1 month, 3 month, and 6 month to ship to Canada (they don’t mention worldwide) is $30, $80, and $150, respectively.

My Conscious Box subscription ends in March, and I won’t be renewing. I haven’t been as disappointed in the box as some customers have been (check out Conscious Box’s Facebook page to see what others are saying), but that could be because I’m paying less than $10 per box. The contents in the box seem to cost $8-$10, so I can see why people who pay $16 or more might be upset. The boxes contain mostly sample-sized products, but once in a while you get a full-sized item, which is exciting. The small items look similar to freebies that fall out of magazines.

If you really want a vegan subscription box, I would go with Vegan Cuts. Although Vegan Cuts’ boxes contain sample-size products, they are good about providing quality items – things you’d actually want to eat and apply to your skin. The full-sized items they provide are usually very useful, such as face cleaners, beauty bags, makeup products, and large food items. I have received canned vegan food and full-size Dandies marshmallows.

These subscription boxes are obviously a luxury item, but they are fun to receive. They also usually contain coupons. A good thing about these boxes is that I have learned about products that I didn’t even know existed. That’s why I like the Beauty Box from Vegan Cuts in particular. I know very little about the cruelty-free makeup market, so it’s helpful to get to test products before going out and buying things.