The theme of this box is Hello Spring.

As I am currently following the MyFitnessPal plan, I can easily incorporate these products into it.

Galaxy Oat Drink

I heard about dairy free drinks from the Mars company quite a while ago. They consist of a Galaxy drink made with oat milk and a Bounty drink made with coconut milk. I received the former. The drink had a lovely hint of chocolate, but the taste of the oat milk was more prominent. Since coconut milk is my preferred dairy milk alternative, I would love to try the Bounty coconut milk drink to see how it compares to other chocolate and coconut milks I’ve tried.

Rating: 7/10

Nudie Snacks Roasted Broad Beans. Sour Cream & Chive

I already enjoy eating sour cream and chive or sour cream and onion flavoured snacks such as Pringles and pretzels, so I was intrigued to learn that there is now a sour cream and chive flavoured roasted broad bean snack. Nudie Snacks is also an entirely new brand to me. There were more broad beans in the packet than I expected and they were also smaller and flatter than I imagined. They had the familiar sour cream and chive taste that I love despite them being vegan and they had an aftertaste that was similar to that of fresh or frozen broad beans.

On the back of the items list was a discount code that would give me 10% of a Nudie Snacks Snack Box. I used the code to get money off the box because I would definitely like to give other snacks in the range a try and I could write a separate review about them.

Rating: 8/10

Marmite Crunchy Peanut Butter

Before I heard about this peanut butter as well as the smooth version, I didn’t even think of combining peanut butter with Marmite before. I first tried this peanut butter on toast and I could taste the initial notes of Marmite, but after that it tasted more like ordinary peanut butter. Even though I neither love nor hate this peanut butter, I would like to try it with cheese next, which might sound weird, but I have tried cheese with just Marmite or just peanut butter before, but I actually liked these combinations.

Rating: 8/10

Smarties Buttons White Chocolate

I already had a bag of these that I bought in Asda along with the orange ones (I also bought a smaller bag of the milk chocolate ones from my local off license) and I was glad I found another bag in my box. These even reminded me of bite-sized versions of Milkybar with Smarties bars. The creaminess of the white chocolate and the crispness of the mini Smarties is a decent combination, although the taste of the white chocolate overpowers the milk chocolate taste of the Smarties.

Rating: 8/10

Wotsits Sizzling Steak and Flamin’ Hot

I only tried the Sizzling Steak version because I don’t like very spicy food, so I donated the Flamin’ Hot ones to my local food bank.

There were lots of Wotsits in the bag; therefore, I only ate half the bag when I first tried them. They had a slight beefy hint, but their hint was dominated by the saltiness of the Wotsits.

Rating: 7/10

Highball Pink G&T

I like drinking mocktails, so I was excited to learn about the Highball brand. There are six flavours to choose from and I received the Pink G&T variety. Unfortunately it didn’t live up to my expectations as it had an overwhelming floral taste that masked the fruity flavours.

On the plus side, the box came with a flyer that had a discount code to get 25% off an online purchase. I purchased the Mojito and Cosmopolitan varieties because I liked the sound of their flavour combinations.

The Mojito was my favourite. It was surprisingly fizzy, yet it had equal hints of lime and mint.

The Cosmopolitan was still. It tasted a bit boozy at first in spite of it being non-alcoholic, but I liked the hint of cranberry at the end.

Ratings: 5/10 for the Pink G&at, 8.5/10 for the Mojito, 7/10 for the Cosmopolitan

Knorr Stock Pots – Paprika & Sundried Tomato and Kaffir Lime & Ginger

These were exciting additions to my box and I tried both recipes that appeared in the information booklet. Each recipe served 4 people but because I live alone, I halved the quantities of certain ingredients.

The first recipe I tried was the Oven Baked Lentil Bolognese with the Paprika & Sundried Tomato pot. Because it was the first week of lockdown in light of COVID-19, I had to make do with carrot batons instead of  regular carrots as my local convenience store was out of the latter. The carrot batons were hard to grate, so I cut them into little pieces instead. I also used tinned chopped tomatoes in place of the plum tomatoes the recipe called for because I thought they would be easier to use as well as parmigiano regianno instead of vegetarian hard Italian cheese as I could only find the former on Tesco online. Even though I baked the bolognese for 40 minutes, the lentils, carrot batons and onion were still crunchy and I feel that I could have cooked them beforehand, but it was delicious nonetheless. I also liked the crispy pangrattato on top and the additional flavours from the stock pot.

I used the other Paprika & Sundried Tomato stock pot in a pancetta risotto I made using a recipe from the cookbook Nosh For Students by Joy May and the flavours worked in the dish very well. I also used some Gran Gallo Risotto Arborio Rice from the September 2019 Degusta Box in the risotto.

I made the Vibrant Veggie Curry in the second week of lockdown and I also had to make some adjustments due to what I could or couldn’t find in the supermarket such as using ordinary broccoli instead of tenderstem broccoli and omitting the baby sweetcorn. I used frozen chopped ginger instead of fresh ginger because I thought it would be easier to use and I replaced the self-raising flower with plain flour and baking powder because the former flour had gone out of date and I didn’t think of buying any more in the supermarket. The curry turned out better than the bolognese did although I feel I could have added a bit more frozen chopped ginger because the hint of it from the stock pot was rather subtle, yet the hint of lime was pretty decent. The coconut flatbread was a little too salty for my liking, but I liked the crunch from the desiccated coconut.

Ratings: 8/10 for the Paprika & Sundried Tomato variety, 7/10 for the Kaffir Lime & Ginger variety

Cadbury 30% Less Sugar Hot Chocolate

After having already received Cadbury Highlights in my July 2018 Degusta Box, I was happy to find this hot chocolate in my box, which I think was brought in line with the  Cadbury Dairy Milk 30% Less Sugar bar, which is okay. I already had some Cadbury 30% Less Sugar Hot Chocolate when I received the one in the box (unfortunately the one I already had went out of date, so I was glad to receive the other as a replacement). Some notable differences between the two pots were the colours of the lids. The original pot had a purple lid whereas the new one has a blue lid.

One thing that surprised me when I had my original pot was that I had to stir the powder in hot milk rather than add hot or boiling water to it. I heated a mug of skimmed milk in a small saucepan and added the powder to it. The hot chocolate has a rich chocolatey taste that isn’t too sweet and is better than the Cadbury Dairy Milk 30% Less Sugar bar. It even tastes almost like Cadbury Bournville chocolate.

Rating: 9/10

Homepride Premium Milled Superior Sponge Pre-Sieved Flour

Back in May 2017, my Degusta Box for that month and year contained the Homepride Strong White Bread Flour, so it was interesting to receive a new kind of flour in the March 2020 box.

I made a chocolate orange mug cake by adding 2 tablespoons of this flour, 1 tablespoon of xylitol sweetener, 2 tablespoons of Cadbury Bournville Cocoa Powder, a few drops of orange extract, a squirt of Sweet Freedom Orange Spice syrup, a Terry’s Chocolate Orange standard sized chocolate bar, 1 tablespoon of sunflower oil, 1 medium egg and about 2 tablespoons of milk to a mug. I mixed all the ingredients together in the mug with a fork and put the mug in the microwave for 3 minutes on full power (I have a 700-watt microwave, so timing may vary according to your microwave wattage). The sponge was lovely and not dry at all, so the flour was perfect for the mug cake. The flour even came in handy for when I couldn’t find any self-raising flour in the shops during lockdown.

The box came with a recipe for a chocolate and blackberry traybake that I might try one day.

Rating: 10/10

Naked Noodle Egg Noodles Singapore Curry

I donated these instant noodles to my local food bank because I feared they would be too spicy for my liking.

Seedlip Garden 108

This is one of the world’s first kinds of non-alcoholic distilled spirits. Because its herbal notes sound unusual for me (the only herb I like in drinks is mint), I might give this away to someone else.

Merchant’s Heart Floral Aromatics Water

Unfortunately I accidentally knocked this onto my kitchen floor and it smashed, which is a shame as I was planning to donate it. While it had a pleasant lavender-like smell, I didn’t think I would have liked the taste of it that much.

On the leaflet came an announcement for a more uniform Degusta Box that would contain the occasional alcoholic product (see picture of the Nudie Snacks promo code for more information). Since I don’t drink alcohol at the moment, I decided to cancel my subscription once and for all. My last Degusta Box reviews will be for the April 2020 and May 2020 boxes.

In conclusion, this was a pretty decent box. My favourite items were the Homepride Premium Milled Superior Sponge Pre-Sieved Flour; the Cadbury 30% Less Sugar Hot Chocolate; the Nudie Snacks Roasted Broad Beans Sour Cream & Chive; the Marmite Crunchy Peanut Butter; the Smarties Buttons White Chocolate; the Highball Mojito (not included in my box); and the Knorr Paprika & Sundried Tomato Stock Pot. The Galaxy Oat Drink; the Wotsits Sizzling Steak; the Highball Cosmopolitan (also not included in my box); and the Knorr Kaffir Lime & Ginger Stock Pots were above average. My least favourite product was the Highball Pink G&T.

Overall rating including the Highball Mojito and Cosmopolitan: 90/160

Degusta Box U.K. website: https://www.degustabox.com/en/

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