Edit 2019: This was written in 2015. The food boxes are no longer available but they do sell drinks! I havent purchased any drinks from this site so am unable to update.

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So this week has been a mixed bag – weatherwise and workwise!  I enjoyed a lovely sunny bank holiday weekend, making the most of family time, visiting a local food festival (plus eating large amounts of pate/cheese/chutneys/chocolate that I bought) to a horrendous commute battling terrible traffic thanks to all the roadworks that have popped up everywhere!  Still, the weekend is here again and I intend to make the most of it… Continuing with the delivery box theme I started in my last post, I received my monthly Flavourly box last week.  Flavourly offer two types of deliveries – a gourmet food/snacks box and a craft beer club box.  The gourmet food box promises 10-15 gourmet foods/snacks. I signed up to the gourmet food box over a year ago as I liked the thought at having lots of different new things to try each month – I’ve always liked trying all the samples in food festivals/pop up markets and finding out about good food suppliers I didn’t know about before. I get so excited when the box arrives – it feels like a lovely treat as the box is well presented!  The goodies are nestled nicely in shredded green paper which is all then wrapped in a delicate paper, sealed with a sticker saying who packed it.  On top there are usually a number of cards advertising promotions with Flavourly and other similar businesses. One feature I really like that comes with the box is their ‘Meet the makers guide’.  It is a lovely glossy booklet that contains the information about all of the suppliers to the box contents.  This is really handy as some of the suppliers have websites/social media pages for purchasing items again in the future, especially where they are not stocked in supermarkets.  You also get to read about their history – many of the suppliers are people who turned their passion into a business and you end up with some lovely quality products. So the photo here is what I received this month (minus a bag of gourmet ginger popcorn which got eaten as soon as I opened the box, oops!). The majority of the food sent is full size with the odd sample thrown in.  What is sent is a surprise which I like, but for someone who has a number of dislikes, food-wise this would be tricky.  I am usually pretty happy with the contents of the box as most of it is new and exciting foods, some of which I have continued to purchase afterwards.  It also introduced me to the concept of the meal kits which I have now signed up to with a different company.  I have had the odd box where there have been a number of things in it that I’ve had before which can feel a bit disappointing.  Gourmet popcorn and flavoured oil will often feature in a box although these are things I like so it’s not a problem for me! The Flavourly website has a marketplace where you can buy some of the items that they have previously stocked.  I will definitely be using this to purchase some of The Foraging Fox Beetroot Ketchup which I had in last month’s box.  I have had some occasional reactions to tomatoes so I’m limiting my use of them – the beetroot ketchup was very similar so I’m thrilled!  Also please Flavourly if you get to read this I am devastated you have sold out of the dark chocolate covered cherries – please can you try and get some more – they are amazing!!!  They also stock a lot of the beers that go in the craft beer club boxes so you can buy those even if you don’t subscribe to that box! So to summarise how I honestly find this box – if you are someone who like me loves to try new things that is of good quality, produced by people who love what they do, finding something you are unlikely to get at the supermarket then this is for you!  If you have lots of dislikes then this box might be a bit risky as you can’t select what you want beforehand. The cost of the gourmet food box is £20 including delivery – if you have 10 items in the box it works out at £2 each which I think is reasonable, given that you get good quality items to £1.33 each if you had 15 things!

I hope my review has been helpful to anyone who is thinking of whether to try the box or if you have – what do you think of them?  I’d love to read your comments…