Review: Michy's Cookie

First item I tried from my Vegan Cuts Snack Box was the Michy's cookie. If you couldn't tell from my video, I was excited about the cookie! ;)

What I thought were chocolate chips at first glance ended up actually being dried cranberries. Never had dried cranberries before, so that was a first. I actually didn't mind it at all and ate the entire cookie :)

I was a little concerned the cookie might be a little stale (as it was at least a week since it was baked), but it tasted very fresh and I couldn't even tell it was "old".

Michy's Cran Rustica (from Michy's website)

Looking at Michy's website, they have a variety of cookies, as well as brownies. Pretty reasonably priced too: a bag of 12 cookies for $5.50 (not including shipping). And the ingredient list is short and sweet. Here's what was inside my cookie, the Cran Rustica:

-organic white whole wheat flour
-rolled oats
-organic maple syrup
-organic safflower oil
-organic vegan brown sugar
-dried cranberries (sugar, sunflower oil)
-organic flaxseed meal
-pure vanilla extract
-cinnamon
-baking soda
-baking powder
-sea salt

Overall, I'd definitely recommend the cookie/company. If I do end up buying cookies from them, I'll likely opt in to their "classic" cookie which contains chocolate chips instead, which I prefer.

~Lindsay

Monthly Subscription Boxes

Last month or so, I came across a couple of vegan monthly subscription boxes. If you haven't heard about these, it's basically a box that comes monthly to your door, loaded with different products inside for you to eat/drink/use. The products can be food, supplements, personal/beauty care items, etc etc.

After searching around, I came down to two that I liked: Conscious Box and Vegan Cuts' Snack Box. Earlier this month, I signed up for the Conscious Box. I was originally just planning on getting one of them, but soon found myself subscribing to Vegan Cuts' box as well about a week later.

My Conscious Box arrived last Saturday and my Vegan Cuts Snack Box just arrived today. Now that I've received both, I can give an overview of both, as well as a comparison.

Conscious Box

They have a couple different tiers for subscription, and the higher you go, the more money you save. Here's their present system:

One month - $19.95

Three months - $56.85 (save $3)

Six months - $107.70 (save $12)

One year - $203.40 (save $36)

Since this was my first box, I decided to just get the monthly subscription, to see if I'd even like it. Another thing with Conscious Box is that you get to choose a "diet" option: vegan, gluten-free, or simply none (called their "classic" box). I went with their vegan option, obviously.

One thing I noticed right away about Conscious Box is that they award points for every month you're subscribed to a box, as well as answering polls, reviewing products, etc. You can these use these points to redeem as cash for the products they sell. Those products being the ones sent out in the boxes. So, it's a nice little deal.

Looking at their Facebook page, they also seem to run a lot of contests for free months, or other free gifts. They definitely seem to have a strong social media presence, which I like.

For more information about them, visit their website here.

Now, onto the box itself!

Conscious Box

I didn't realise how TINY this thing would be. As a comparison, here's the box on top of a piece of 8.5" x 11" paper:

Conscious Box on top of a piece of paper

But, don't fret about the size. There was PLENTY of stuff packed into this tiny little box! After opening the flap, I realised this was a box within a box.

First flap opened

Time to open the second flap...

I really liked this idea as I was worried that if for whatever reason, the outer box would be damaged, then it could affect the products inside. This gives it a little more protection :)

Upon opening the second flap...

Second flap opened

Beneath the tissue paper

I just have to say, I was blown away by the beautiful packaging of this little box. Not only the box within a box, but also how wonderful something as simple as tissue paper can be.

Here's everything that was inside:

Everything inside my Conscious Box

Like I said, there was a LOT of stuff packed in this tiny box. And let me tell you, it has to be put in JUST right for it to all fit. It took me a couple attempts to get it all back in so the two flaps could close again! If you want to see the products closer up, click on the above picture to maximize it, so you could see more detail. If you have questions about specific products, just comment below and I'd be glad to answer.

Here's the list of what I got (roughly in the same order as when I originally went through the box):

Information Card on Conscious Box

Information Card about Included Products

Postcard

Information Card on Amanda Russell

Beanfields - Bean & Rice Chips (Seasalt)

Skout - Bar (Cherry and Vanilla) [Review here]

Skout - Bar (Apple and Cinnamon) [Review here]

Larabar - Alt Bar (Peanut Butter Cookie) [Review here]

Nature's Baby Organics - Shampoo and Body Wash (Vanilla Tangerine)

Son for Men - After Shave Gel

Lotus Moon - Lotion (Hibiscus Flower) x2

Organic Flavrz - Drink Mix (Citrus Hibiscus)

Organic Flavrz - Drink Mix (Superfruit) [Review here]

Herbal Zap! - Herbal Supplement

Mountain Green - Laundry Detergent (Lavender)

Me & The Girls - 3-in-1 Beauty Bar

$50 Naked Wine Gift Card

Thank-You Card

$25 Voucher for Paper Culture

I haven't yet tried anything from this box, but as soon as I do, I plan to do a mini review on each, so stay tuned!

Overall, I think I got some really great products. I might not use everything (for example, the wine gift card, as I'm not fond of wine, plus it seems that they don't cater to South Dakota, where I'm located), but I'll try to use as much as I can, to get my money's worth and all.

Vegan Cuts Snack Box

Onto the next box!

As I said earlier, I wasn't planning on getting this box, but that changed rather quickly when Vegan Cuts posted on their Facebook page a sneak peak of one item coming in the June box: dairy-free grated parmesan cheese. I had actually been looking into this very item as I'm still using regular cheese, full of dairy which I want to cut out. So, as soon as I saw this, I signed up to Vegan Cuts a few hours later.

Unlike Conscious Box, they don't have multiple plans to subscribe to. It's simply a month by month basis, for $19.95. You can check it out here. No options with these boxes. All products are automatically vegan, and from what I've seen from my first box, a lot were gluten-free as well.

Yesterday, I got an email from Vegan Cuts informing me that they've got a little contest going on where you have a chance to win your next 3 boxes free. How to enter? Make an unboxing video! So, since I like free stuff, decided to go for it.

Without further ado, you can watch my unboxing video uploaded to YouTube here. Please give my video a thumbs up! I'd appreciate it :)

And here's a picture of everything I got in my box:

Everything inside my Vegan Cuts box

Here's the list of everything I got inside (in the order presented in the video):

Beanfields - Bean & Rice Chips (Nacho) [Review here]

Snapz - Grilled Zucchini Slices

Go Veggie! - Grated Parmesan Topping [Review here]

The Good Bean - Sweet Cinnamon Chickpea Snacks

Ultima Replenisher - Electrolyte Powder (Grape)

MacroLife Naturals - Macro Greens

Michy's - Cookie (Cran Rustica) [Review here]

The Fanciful Fox - Lip Balm (Peanut Butter)

Salba - Chia Seeds

Graw Bar - Bar (Banana Coconut) [Review here]

Information Card

Coupon for Go Veggie!

Coupon for Califia Almond Milk [Review here]

Magazine Cover Card of Naked Food

I just wanted to note something. Although this box was tiny also (seriously, when I first imagined a monthly subscription box, I was thinking it'd be HUGE), it was about 3 times bigger than the Conscious Box. You can tell by the amount (and the size) of products I got.

As with the Conscious Box, once I try something, I'll review it.

Summary

Both boxes have pros and cons. I think the Conscious Box was lot more pleasing to the eye; the presentation was absolutely superb. On the other hand, although the Vegan Cuts came in a simple USPS Priority Mail box, it was also much larger, thus packed with more full-sized products inside.

The Conscious Box has more of a variety of products (which I completely knew before hand, but wanted to mention this). They not only include food, but also personal/beauty care items, whereas Vegan Cuts is primarily food.

Both included coupons/vouchers.

Right now, only after receiving my first box from both, I can't really say there's a "winner". But, we'll see how the following months' boxes go. Thankfully, $40 isn't too bad per month for the two boxes as I am getting a variety of products to consume and use!

So, stay tuned for next month's review of both boxes, as well as the reviews for all the products included in this month's boxes!

Does anyone here subscribe to one of the above boxes, or even a different monthly box? Tell me in the comments below, I'd love to hear from you! :)

~Lindsay

Multivitamin

So, while browsing a vegan site, I stumbled upon multivitamins.

I used to take these chewable kids multivitamin from an online retailer, Melaleuca. They sold adult multivitamins, but they were like horse pills for me. I only started to swallow pills about 5 years ago, and even now, I still have a tough time swallowing even the tiniest of pills (like my birth control). Which is why I went with their chewable kids version. The bottle came with 120 tablets and sold for $20 (add in shipping and tax and it was costing me nearly $30 each time). For adults, it's directed to take 4 tablets a day, but I was only taking 2, right before bed. So, instead of lasting me one month, each bottle lasted me 2 months.

And then I found Deva: a vegan multivitamin. Although it wasn't chewable, I found a "tiny tablets" version. Each bottle contained 90 tablets and it's directed to just take one tablet a day. The price tag? ~$6 (depending where you buy). This instantly piqued my interest as this would cost me more than a quarter of the price compared to my old ones, and would last one month longer!

So, at the end of April, I ordered a bottle from drugstore.com. As soon as I finished up my previous bottle of vitamins, I began to take these new ones. The directions were a little different than my last ones as it was suggested to take these with a meal. So, I began taking them with my breakfast each morning.

Before buying them, I compared the supplement facts between the two vitamins. In pretty much all aspects (except for just one or two), these new Deva vitamins packed more of a punch:

Old vitamin supplemental facts here (click on the 'product label' tab)
New vitamin supplemental facts here (scroll down a bit)

So, I was more than happy with these new vitamins: much cheaper, lasted longer per bottle, had a higher serving for most vitamins. Win, win, win! The only downside is that they're not chewable. But, compared to the horse pills of vitamins I tried years ago, these are very manageable. And although they're not cherry-flavored like my previous ones, they don't taste too horrible, especially if you can swallow the pill quickly.

Pill is pictured here, next to a quarter I found, along with the bottle

To end: I don't know if it's because of these new vitamins or something else (like switching from cow's milk to almond milk), but I've noticed that my nails have gotten a lot stronger, as well as shinier (as if I have a layer of clear nail polish on). Whatever the reason, I'm definitely liking it! :)

Couple places you can buy these Deva Tiny Tablets Multivitamin:

Pangea
Amazon
Drugstore.com

So, what multivitamins do YOU take, if at all?

~Lindsay