Boxes of Delight

This post was written in 2013. Please visit the Flavourly website for up to date information

Who doesn’t like receiving packages through the post? Much of the time we’ve made the order online and you know what’s coming through your door. The idea of receiving a box of foodie goodies each month instantly appeals. What will be inside?

Your flavour box arrives

The lovely folks at Flavourly sent me a box through the post to try. The box instantly appeals: “Wow it’s delivery day” is stamped on the box.

How it Works

Flavourly chooses products from UK independent producers. You pay a subscription each month, and all you need to do is clear a little bit of cupboard space when it arrives. Flavourly work closely with the FareShare food bank charity to donate a meal to one of 250 food banks across the UK for every box sold.

I’m of course very proud that the company is located here in Edinburgh too. Founder Ryan O’Rorke was recently shortlisted for the Shell LiveWire Grand Ideas award.

The Products

Open the box and nestled inside sit multicoloured packages. What are they?

A typical Flavourly Flavour Box

I’d come across two of the products before, the Peter’s Yard crispbread and Simply Chilli sauce – both of which are firm favourites. Peter’s Yard have two shops in Edinburgh and Simply Chilli are based in Scotland too. That gave me the chance to savour several more.

In the box

• Nims Fruit Crisps x 2 flavours – Definitely something I’d look for again. The “crisps” are made from fresh fruit with absolutely no additives.
• Chilli Sauce from Simply Add Chilli – The secret to this sauce is the added strawberries. Trust me this works really well.
• Artisan Crispbread from Peter’s Yard – The finest crispest crispbread you could imagine.
• Flavoured black tea from Love Leaf Tea – this was blueberry flavour. This was a surprise, whilst it had the flavour of some herbal teas, it has a great back note of black tea.
• Handmade Chunky Cookie  x 2 from Oh Goodie. I asked Rupert who is a biscuit afficionado to taste this one. His verdict “Everything was good: texture, taste, sweetness, chocolate-ness and the entire experience was a joy”.

I also had a sample pack of Cambrook caramelised nuts, which were fine, not exceptional

Blueberry Black Tea was delicious

Who are the boxes for?

It’s a great way of tasting award winning products from independent producers that you’d have to seek out in specialised shops and you might not have these near you. You’ll certainly discover new tastes and flavours – a great way to be adventurous.

If you want to buy more of any product, there’s a producer’s village section on the website, but it didn’t include links to all the producers contained in the box I received.

A monthly food box from Flavourly

The Niggles

I guess the one downside of receiving a box of goodies is whether they suit your palate or dietary requirements. Products are marked as vegetarian on the menu card included, but you cannot choose to receive a vegetarian only box in advance – a previous monthly box contained biltong, for example. Packaging is another issue. The cookies had been taken out of their original external packaging, with the result that no expiry date was visible. As to value for money, whilst you’d have to put time and effort in to source products, the value of the products in the box I received was £16 if you bought them separately.

@flavourly

Last updated by Bread Baker Danielle at October 26, 2015.