In the June 2018 Degustabox I received the following:

Peckish Rice Crackers – Tangy Barbecue Flavour

This came in a multipack of 5, which is ideal for portion control. Each 20g pack has only 89 calories, is gluten free and baked instead of fried. The flavour of the crackers certainly lived up to its name and I love barbecue flavoured snacks although these had a slightly spicy aftertaste.

Orangina Original and Light

I have fond memories of drinking the original variety of Orangina when I was younger, especially on my first trip to France when I was 11. In addition to the original Orangina I received the light version, which is what I prefer and it still had the familiar tangy orange taste. I decided to donate the original Orangina to my local food bank.

Great British Biscotti Co.  White Chocolate, Cranberries & Pistachio

The Great British Biscotti Co. are a brand that I’d never heard of prior to receiving my June 2018 Degustabox. The biscuits are twice baked, hence their big crunch, and they tasted quite sweet, especially the creamy white chocolate chunks.

Brioche Pasquier Pains au Lait

These can be eaten with sweet or savoury fillings. I first ate two with sausages, fried onions, ketchup and mustard so they’d be similar to hot dogs while I ate another two with banana, smooth peanut butter, Nutella and strawberry sauce so they’d resemble sweet hot dogs. My mum tried one pain (or brioche) and she found it quite nice. The reverse of the items list had some suggested fillings for the pains au lait.

Fyre Fruit Drinks – Blueberry + Blackberry + Peppers + Chilli and Lemon + Ginger

Fyre (pronounced fire) is another brand I have never heard of before receiving the June Degustabox. It manufactures two different kinds of soft fruit and spice drinks: Lemon + Ginger and Blueberry + Blackberry + Peppers + Chilli. While I kept the former I donated the latter to my local food bank. The Lemon + Ginger variety had a slight zing of lemon and a stronger ginger flavour that I could feel in the back of my throat.

Idahoan Gratin Cheesy Oven Bake

After having received the Idohoan Roasted Garlic instant mash in my April 2018 Degustabox, I was pleased to receive the Idahoan Gratin Cheesy Oven Bake. Each pack serves three but because I live alone I decided to save some as leftovers for the next couple of days. I added the contents of the packet to a glass baking dish, stirred in 450ml boiling water, 175ml semi skimmed milk and added 40g unsalted butter. I added some grated mature lighter Cheddar cheese on top (this is optional), baked it in a pre-heated oven at 180 degress Celsius (fan) for 35 minutes and I first ate it with some smoked bacon and peas. While the potatoes were well cooked the sauce was creamy but the cheese flavour in it was rather delicate so I’m glad I added some extra cheese for more flavour. I ate some the next day with a sauce made from bacon, cooked chicken, mushrooms, spring onions, chives, garlic granules, chicken soup and a splash of milk and more peas the following day. On the last day I ate it with frankfurters, more bacon, eggs and baked beans although I didn’t take a picture of this meal because I thought it didn’t look as appetising as the other two meals I ate the gratin with.

no &more raspberry&blueberry Spring Water

This is similar to other fruit flavoured spring waters I have tried. With my first sip the fruit flavour tasted weak probably because I added ice cubes but with further sips it tasted more of blueberry than raspberry.

The Jelly Bean Factory Gourmet Jelly Beans

I also received these in my very first Degustabox, which was the March 2017 one. Although I saw this as slight product repetition, I was pleased that the box I received this time around didn’t contain any liquorice ones – yippee! (BTW I loathe liquorice and you will know this if you’ve read my Degustabox March 2017 blog post and my #BlogConLDN post).

Mighty Fine Salted Caramel Bar; Fry Light with Avocado Cooking Spray; and Capsicana Cuban Chilli & Lime and Brazilian Chilli & Coconut Cook Sauces

Besides the original Orangina and the Fyre Chilli and berries drink, these are other items I didn’t try because they all contain ingredients that I don’t like the taste of so I donated them to my local food bank. I used the Capsicana coupon to get 50p off their Mexican Tangy Tomatillo Cook Sauce, which is a milder sauce in their range from my local Sainsbury’s. I mixed the sauce with some chicken, onion, garlic and baby corn and used these ingredients as a tortilla wrap filling with grated Cheddar cheese and dips. The sauce was tangy and had a gentle burn test wasn’t too spicy at all.

Overall this is the most disappointing Degustabox I received since the June 2017 one (what a coincidence) due to containing a large number of items I ended up donating to my food bank but I’m sure whoever finds these products in the food bank will appreciate them. Despite my initial dissatisfaction the items I liked the most were Orangina Light, the Idohoan gratin, the Brioche Pasquier Pains au Lait, the biscotti, the barbecue snacks and the Jelly Bean Factory Gourmet Jelly Beans.

You can watch my unboxing and review video of the June 2018 Degustabox here:

Degustabox U.K. website: https://www.degustabox.com/en/

Disclaimer: This is not a sponsored blog post. All opinions expressed are my own.