From Naturebox to Graze

This is not a sponsored post. We paid for our own Naturebox and Graze subscriptions. 

Our four month-long subscription to Naturebox revealed that we like receiving snacks in the mail. Not that this is a surprise or anything.

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The box we chose cost $20 per month for five bags of snacks which was sufficient for our two-person household. Most were hits, while a few others were misses. We liked that we could choose our snacks which were all free of artificial colors, artificial sweeteners, high fructose corn syrup, and partially or fully-hydrogenated oils. Snacks can also be sorted by vegan, non-GMO or allergen-free.

We went for the ones that sounded most appealing.

At the end of four months, I decided to try a new snack subscription service. Although we did like most of our snacks, we hit a few duds in our last two boxes that frustrated me. I composed a tweet stating we had some hits and misses and sent Naturebox an email listing the snacks we especially loved and disliked.

To Naturebox’s credit, company reps contacted me immediately via Twitter and returned my email the next day. They informed me about their 100% satisfaction guarantee which provides subscribers with credit for snacks they are unhappy with and offered to ship me replacement snacks. I was very impressed with their customer service’s responsiveness and willingness to send new snacks.

I wish I had known about this policy sooner, but shame on me for not contacting Naturebox sooner! I learned an important lesson to bring my concerns about a product directly to the company and give them an opportunity to respond. Naturebox sends an email when they ship the box along with a tracking number. Ours took one week to ship from Sacramento to Mason City.

These were our favorite and least favorite Naturebox snacks:

Favorites: Big Island Pineapple, Country Ranch Peas, Santa Fe Corn Stix, Sourdough Cheddar Pretzels, Italian Bistro Pretzels, Sunshine Chips

Least Favorites: Baked Sweet Potato Fries, Fuji Apples, Flax Crostini Bites

And now our initial thoughts on our first Graze box.

Graze Box

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Several friends recommended Graze and Katy offered us her referral code that made our first and fifth box free. Each Graze box costs $6 each (including shipping), so felt that five boxes for $18 was an affordable way to try the service.

We subscribed to weekly Nibbleboxes, while the Caloriecounter option only contains snacks under 150 calories.

Unlike Naturebox, subscribers can’t specifically choose their snacks, but can browse through them online and indicate which snacks they want to try. I “trashed” some of the snacks that didn’t appeal to our tastes. Subscribers can also sort snacks by allergen and dietary preference.

Our Graze box arrived nine days after I subscribed. Here’s what we received:

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Each pouch is a single serving.

Jalapeno Fiesta: Pure nuts. A little bit of spice but not remarkably spicy. Slightly bland but tasty enough. Jake really enjoyed these and said they were his favorite.

Salted Fudge & Peanut Cookie: I initially predicted I would not like this snack, but found it addicting. The mix really did taste salty and sweet. The cookies had a shortbread quality and the itsy bitsy fudge cubes had the texture of Starbursts. A little strange, but I kept going back for more. Nothing tasted too sweet.

Super Berry Detox: I almost never seek dried fruit as a snack, so I’m biased not to favor this mix. But the dried fruits tasted fresh and as juicy as dried fruit can be. Jake gave his seal of approval.

Punchy Protein Nuts: The cashews were coated in a tart chili lime seasoning which I really enjoyed. However, the other nuts were not even salted. Meh.

Initial Thoughts: With the coupon for the 1st and 5th box free, we’re satisfied with the $18 value for five boxes. We do miss the larger portion sizes of Naturebox, because it’s nice to have a whole bag of something you like and reorder it. The Graze box pouches go quickly, but are supposed to ship once per week. Plus, we liked the surprise of not knowing what snacks were inside the box and the ingredients tasted fresh.

I’m hoping we get more of the quirky snacks like the Salted Fudge & Peanut Cookie mix. Hopefully we’ll find some of the popcorn, dips and dippers, and flapjacks inside our future boxes.

Have you dabbled in snack subscription boxes? What have your experiences been? 

 

12 Comments

  1. Bryan

    Interesting, Jeni. I seems that gourmet/boutique mail order snacks are growing in variety and competition. I haven’t tried any yet, but this Graze option sounds pretty good, although I’m pretty sure I could plow through a whole box in about a week during training season. Do they have a similar customer service policy to Naturebox?

    • Jeni Flaa

      The servings really are single, so one could easily plow through a whole box in an afternoon! Especially if you are sharing with Lisamarie and the girls. I am not sure about their customer service policy. I did not see anything about a 100% guarantee on the website, but I could ask.

  2. Beth Ann Chiles

    I am anxiously awaiting my first Graze box. I just ended my Love With Food subscription and it was pretty good but I am always up to try new subscription services. I think it is a great way to sample new things but honestly I have not tried anything that I have actively searched out to buy again. So what does that say? I like the little boxes that come in the mail with surprise snacks?? But am not sold on any of them? 🙂 Great review and the customer service from Nature Box is impressive.

    • Jeni Flaa

      I just noticed you can see a preview of what you get. Not sure if you can do that on your first box. I like what I see coming in our next one. It really is a good deal to try out the service with the referral code. We’ll give it five weeks to see if we want to continue. I hope you like it!

  3. Amy

    I may have to try this out. 🙂 I’ve never got the snack boxes, but it seems like a great way to try new foods. Thanks for posting your code. I’ll have to give it a shot.

    • Jeni Flaa

      Katy has a code too! Then you’ll get your own code lol.

  4. Amy at graze

    Hello Jeni,

    My name is Amy and I work for graze.com. We just wanted to pop you a little message to say we really enjoyed finding and reading your review, and we’re so glad you’re enjoying snacking with us 🙂

    This is just the beginning of our little snacking revolution, and we really love to hear what our grazers enjoy most and would like to see next. We’d like to get your name on some scrummy flapjacks to say thank you for your thoughts, so I hope you’ll pop me an email – you can reach me at amy.t@graze.com.

    I look forward to hearing from you.

    Happy grazing 🙂

    • Jeni Flaa

      Thank you so much Amy! We’ve gotten three boxes so far and like the fun snacks. Considering signing up for the big box.

      • Amy at graze

        Yes, we’re really excited about our Big Boxes coming soon! These should be the ideal way to get that extra supply of the snacks you Love to keep handy. Keep an eye out for more news about them soon so you can see what you think 🙂

  5. Olivia

    I just wanted to say that I think you made a typo: Graze.com does not sort by allergen, it’s in their FAQ section. I haven’t used NatureBox so I don’t know about them. That’s an option that I wish Graze had since I’m mostly dairy and gluten free. But my friends and family aren’t, so they make great gifts!

    • Olivia

      I see what you meant now, there are preferences but they aren’t completely free of the allergens. Got it, sorry!

      • Jeni

        That’s good to know! Thanks for clarifying their sorting system:)

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