Last week I ordered my first NatureBox, and if you don't know what NatureBox is, it is a monthly subscription box that contains five snacks which you can pick or have the company pick for you. I had heard a lot about this company and how great they were so I wanted to try it out for myself. I ordered my box early last week and it arrive this past Saturday.
The main purpose for ordering my box then was so it would arrive before I left for Sweden this coming Friday. I always like to carry different kinds of healthy snacks with me while traveling so I will spend less money on food and I will also be eating something healthier than McDonalds. Since I am quit picky about what I eat I decided to pick four out of the five snacks and leave one to be a surprise.
The first snack that I chose was baked sweet potato fries. This was the snack that actually made me want to buy a box and try them out. It is also their most popular snack and I wasn't sure I would even be receiving it because there was only a few left.
The nutrition facts are perfect for a snack. There is very little sugar which is a key factor for me. After tasting these I understand why it is there most popular snack. Not only do they taste exactly like sweet potato fries, but they also have a little bit of spice to them. They are also perfectly crunchy which makes them perfect for any kind of chip replacement. The only problem you will have with these are trying not to eat the whole bag in one sitting.
The second snack that I picked was southern BBQ sunflower kernels. I have not had sunflower seeds since I was a little kid and I wanted to to pick snacks that were going to have a good amount of them in a bag, and this was one of them. Being from Texas I do love BBQ and to find a healthy alternative to BBQ chips would be great.
The nutrition facts are what you would expect for sunflower seeds covered in BBQ flavoring. There was actually more in a bag than I thought there was going to be. Now if something is going to have any kind of flavoring to it, it better have a lot of it. These received my stamp of approval. You still get the taste of sunflower seeds with a good amount of BBQ flavoring. I would defiantly recommend trying these is you are looking for a BBQ alternative.
So my cat realized I was opening bags of food and started hovering, and hoping I would give him some. Once he realized he was not receiving anything from me he then decided to sit in the box, and yes he is wearing a t-shirt this is because he will chose to run around like a crazy wild cat if he is not wearing one. Don't worry we do let him run around like crazy for a few days while we wash his shirt and plus he looks adorable wearing them.
Ok, enough about my cat, the next snack I picked was mexicana mango. They are dried mangos and come with about 7 hand size pieces in each bag.
The amount of sugar in this snack is not what I would like it to be, but since it is fruit I knew there was going to be a good amount of it. This is actually my favorite snack out of all five of them. My favorite fruit is mangos and so it only made since that I tried these. I have never tried dried mangos before mostly because I don't really like dried fruit. Most of the time they are to dried out and taste more like a cracker than fruit. However, while these are dried they still have a lot of moisture still in them.
The size of each one was ruffly the size of my palm. These are full with flavor and taste nice and fresh. It is just like eating a mango with out all mess and because I don't know how to cut fruit properly there is always a mess.
Then the last snack that I picked was teriyaki twists. After I ordered my box I received an email saying this snack has actually been discontinued and I was quit disappointed since I thought this was going to be my favorite snack.
The amount that came in the bag was very surprising to me. The bag which was one of the bigger ones was full to the top. The bag contains 5 oz of this snack, so I was really excited to try them and hope I wasn't disappointed. Well, I ended up being disappointed. The amount of teriyaki flavoring was extremely lacking. I had very high hopes for this snack and was extremely let down, and I now understand why this snack was discontinued. It tasted like a plain rice cake with a drop of flavoring.
The last snack I received was the surprise snack that was picked for me, pb&j granola. I will say I was disappointed that they picked a granola rather than any of their other snacks. I was actually trying to pick between getting a granola or having a surprise snack, and decide to let them pick for me.
This not the type of granola I would have picked for myself, but I do have to say it was pretty good. I like to have plain flavored granola so I can mix it with yogurt or milk and have it for breakfast. This tasted exactly like an oat and peanut butter cookie with some bits of jelly mixed in.
I am really glade that this snack came in a smaller bag than all the other. Even though this did taste good I would have no use for it, so I will finish it and probably won't reorder this snack. If you do like peanut butter cookies I would recommend this for you, as it is sweet and would be a good fix for any sweat craving you might have.
I also filmed an unboxing video were you can see me taste the snacks and get my first reactions to them. If you would like you can watch the video down below. I also mention in the video when I will be posting a whats in my carryon bag video and my first travel blog video. If you would like you can subscribe to my channel if you are interested in watching any of those by clicking here.
This week I made a big decision to try something new and scary; I made a YouTube channel. I filmed my first video with my blogging camera last Wednesday and edited it on Thursday. Let me just tell you it is not as easy as you would think. It was extremely weird to talk to a video camera and watch it back. The whole process was cringe worthy. It also took about 2 1/2 hours to get ready and film. I filmed the same video three different times, and each time got a bit better, but it still wasn't the best. I know that as I film more and become more comfortable with filming they will get better. The next step was editing. I used IMovie to edit, and it has been a while since I have used IMovie and I could not remember how it worked. I spent about an hour watching IMovie tutorial videos and still didn't figure everything out, so I just decided to wing it. I think it turned out pretty well for my first video. Although, there are a few things I will fix for next time. I chose to make my first video an introduction to my channel. I explained what I had planed for future videos and when I would be plaining to upload videos. I also said that I will be going back to Stockholm, Sweden for two weeks next Friday and I plan on vlogging while I am there. I will also be blogging as well, so don't worry I am not quitting my blog. Before I started my blog I was really considering on if I should start a YouTube channel or start a blog, and the blog won. I still very much wanted to start a channel, as it looked so much fun and was a good way to document what I am doing in my life. I wasn't going to originally post anything about my channel because I was nervous about it. Just like everybody else I am scared to make myself vulnerable to everyone else and blogging about my life was a big step, video taping my life and putting it on the internet is an even bigger step. This is finally a step I have gained the guts to take and I am pretty proud of myself. The video will be down below if you would like to watch it. It would also help me out a lot if you could comment on the video or this post if you would be interested in seeing a whats in my carry on bag video along with a travel vlog or if your would rather just watch a normal travel vlog. I would also like to say thank you to all the people who read my blog and are returning readers it means an amazing amount to me that you actually take the time to read things I wrote. I would also like to say thank you to anyone who watches this video for supporting me, as this is a huge deal to me. Also I love hearing fead back from people so if you want to leave a comment with some tips or even just your opinion on the video. I am open to all types of criticism good or bad because it will help me learn and help me find a way to do better next time.
