Graze review

A few months ago several of my Facebook friends posted that they'd just received their first Graze packages. They were excited. They posted photos. They were obviously part of an elite club of snackers, because in the comments their friends were telling them how lucky they were and were begging for a special code. I didn't even know what the hell they were talking about but .....

Hey, now! I thought. I want a special code too. I want to be one of the kids with cool, healhty snacks that come in the mail every month. This is better than a secret handshake.

So I went to the website and did something. Applied for a code or something. I don't remember. It was months ago.

Then a couple of weeks ago, long after I'd forgotten all about being one of the cool kids, I received an email telling me that my first complimentary Graze box would be delivered soon, and I would pay only $5 for subsequent monthly or bi-monthly boxes, and shipping would be FREE. Yay!

I sorted through the various snacks, which are supposed to be healthy, on the website and trashed about half of them -- the spicy foods and the ones with crackers. Crackers are rarely a healthy food, but they say 80% of the mix is healthy, so OK. A few tiny crackers might be OK. I just don't waste my calories on crackers when I can eat chocolate.

I forgot about it again until the mail lady stuck a little, flat box through my mail slot yesterday.


I opened it up and guess what? Now I'm one of the cool kids.

I can't really say I was that impressed though. This one was free, but in the future my $5 will buy me 4 little plastic cartons of snacks. I guess the cool kids like to control their portions this way so they don't devour an entire bag of Lays potato chips or a giant pack of Reeses peanut butter cups in a sitting.

In spite of the clever names, I wasn't that impressed with the snacks, which they call "nature delivered." One little pack held 27 Mississippi BBQ pistachios. I also received Texas Corn Salsa (salsa almonds, corn chips, roasted corn), Florentine (Belgian dark chocolate [5 of those disks that are usually used for melting and making bon bons], dried cranberries and unsalted pumpkin seeds), and Hot Cross Yum (orange raisins, sponge pieces [unsure what these are made of but they don't taste like food] and 6 cinnamon honey almonds).

 Eh. Would I spend $5 for this box of snacks if I saw it at Target or the health food store? Wouldn't even consider it. I don't eat many processed foods, and these are processed foods.

I'll definitely eat some of these snacks, but only because I'm a pig. I don't like the Texas Corn Salsa at all, and the BBQ pistachios only a little bit. The Hot Cross Yum is way too sweet; it needs some salt to balance it. And the Florentine, in spite of the chocolate, is kind of bland. Again, the pumpkin seeds need some salt. I don't expect I'll continue to get the boxes.

I'll admit it's fun to get a package in the mail with surprise food in it, but if it's not food I would normally buy and eat, and it's not healthier than what I would normally buy and eat, then it's not going to work for me.

I've got 6 pumpkins sitting on my kitchen counter waiting to be cooked, mashed and frozen. If I want pumpkin seeds, I'll just roast and salt those. As for the protein -- nuts -- I'd rather just have mine salted or toasted, not sprayed with BBQ-flavored chemicals or coated with crunchy sugar. The chocolate is fine, but I can buy 2 bags of Dove dark chocolates for $6.

And frankly, I prefer an apple with natural chunky peanut butter to any of these snacks. It may have more calories, but it's far healthier.

So Graze doesn't get rave reviews from me -- at least not for their products. Great marketing though. I do, however, have 4 friend codes for anybody who wants to try it. First come, first in. You'll want to use it before I cancel my subscription in the next few days.