Kit Kat Vegan Review

A quick review of the new Kit Kat Vegan which has hit the shelves this week in Sainsbury's. I managed to find a stand full of them in a smaller Sainsbury's Local store after having no luck in the larger stores near me.

Kit Kat has always been one of my favourite chocolate bars and as a kid I would annoy everyone around me by nibbling all the chocolate off the edges first before eating the wafer layers. Thankfully I've outgrown that! 

I had high hopes for the Kit Kat Vegan and it mostly delivered a very similar flavour to the original Kit Kat - even my kids found it hard to tell the difference. The vegan chocolate is well done and what it lacks in milky flavour it makes up for in sweetness. I was worried that it would taste like a dark chocolate Kit Kat but the sweet chocolate here is not bitter at all. I do wish the chocolate had a creamier flavour but understandably that is quite hard to acheive in a vegan chocolate.

Overall this is a successful vegan alternative of a classic chocolate bar and that's great news for anyone following a dairy free or vegan diet.

Grocery Gems Review: Kit Kat Vegan Review

RATING: 8 out of 10.
Buy it again?: Yes.
Purchased: Sainsbury's, £1.00p each.

Review: New Nescafé Gold Vegan Oat, Almond & Coconut Latte Sachets

Nescafé Gold has released three new dairy-free varieties of their instant coffee sachets. I used to love these type of sachets when I was younger. I haven't had them for years but the release of these plant based lattes was enough to get me interested in coffee sachets again!

Each sachet is quite large and makes a decent 200ml of coffee. There are 66 calories per cup for the Oat and Almond varieties and 62 calories for the Coconut.

Almond Latte: Almond milk is my first choice of dairy free milk so I was excited to try this one first. It was sweeter than I was expecting with a mild coffee flavour. I would definitely have this as a soothing afternoon pick me up.

Oat Latte: This one was actually my favourite of the three. It seemed frothier and tasted creamier than the other two which made me enjoy it even more. 

Coconut Latte: The coconut aroma is quite strong here and leaves an aftertaste that I didn't really like. This is purely personal taste as I'm not really a fan of coconut milk. My vegan family members all enjoyed this one more than me.

Grocery Gems Review: Nescafé Gold Dairy-Free Oat, Almond & Coconut Latte

RATING: 7 out of 10 for the Oat and Almond.
Buy them again?: Yes.
Vegan:  Yes.
Purchased: Tesco.
Price: £2.50p each (currently on offer for 2 packs for £3.00p). 

Review: Vegan Go Max Go Chocolate Bars - Jokerz, Mahalo & Twilight

A trio of vegan chocolate bars for review today. I was lucky enough to get a lovely foodie gift basket from my vegan brother for my birthday. He included loads of interesting vegan treats that I've never tried before but he assured me were just as good (or better!) than the real thing. 

These Go Max vegan bars are all made in the US and have simple, yet distinctive, packaging. These are often sold as vegan versions of the popular chocolate bars - Bounty, Snickers and Mars Bar (the Milky Way Bar in the US).

Twilight: The Twilight bar is described as 'layers of chocolatey nougat and caramel in a chocolatey coating'. I've never been a fan of the regular Mars bar but the Twilight bar is a different story. The nougat is soft and delicious whilst the generously thick caramel layer is extremely satisfying. The outer chocolate is impressive for a vegan bar and adds enough cocoa flavour. The overall bar is very sweet but I really enjoyed it.

Jokerz: The Jokerz is described as 'caramel, peanuts and peanut nougat in a chocolatey coating'. I really loved the peanuty nougat in this one, the hint of saltiness from the peanuts really helps to balance out the sweetness of the nougat and chocolate. Maybe I'm greedy, but I would have liked a few more peanuts in the filling but overall it's a great vegan replacement for the classic Snickers bar.

Mahalo: Lastly is my favourite of the bunch! The Mahalo is described as 'coconut and almonds in a chocolatey coating'. This is billed as the vegan Bounty bar but in my opinion it's much superior. Even though I love coconut I don't like Bounty's at all, especially their horrible texture. The Mahalo bar in comparison has a gorgeously fudgey texture alongside the sweet coconut flavour. The combination of almonds too is a lovely addition. I'd take the Mahalo over a Bounty any day! 

Find the Go Max Go range from many online vegan stores. My brother bought them from www.veganstore.co.uk. They're quite pricey at £2.39 each (I assume because they're US imports) but they're also free from artificial ingredients of any kind or hydrogenated oils . Even my husband, who's not usually a fan of vegan chocolate, enjoyed all of these bars - they're definitely a treat but worth a try!

Grocery Gems Review: Go Max Go Chocolate Bars

RATING: 8 out of 10 (with 9 out of 10 for the Mahalo).
Buy them again?: Maybe next birthday - but YES.
Vegan: Yes
Purchased: www.veganstore.co.uk.
Price: £2.39p each.

Review: Valsoia Gelato Ice Cream Sandwich (Vegan)

Ocado has recently started stocking Valsoia products which offer a range of vegan ice creams and frozen products from Italy. There is a vegan pizza, a vegan Nutella-style hazelnut spread and several different ice creams available. I decided to add the Valsoia Ice Cream Sandwich to a recent Ocado order just to test out the range.

There are eight ice cream sandwiches in the box and each one is individually wrapped. The ice creams all look very impressive, they're a decent size, with a golden biscuit outer and separate halves of chocolate and vanilla ice creams within. The biscuit layers are very soft and easy to eat with a lovely rich flavour. The ice cream is also very flavourful with a surprisingly creamy texture. The vanilla side is super sweet whilst the chocolate ice cream has a richer, darker flavour. I loved the combination of biscuit and ice cream here and the flavours are all spot on. These are perfect for vegans and non-vegans alike.

I also tried one of the Valsoia Magnum-style ice creams (no photos sorry - but see Ocado HERE) and although I enjoyed the dark chocolate flavour and creamy ice cream, I found the chocolate coating to be very brittle which made it quite difficult to eat. I'll definitely be sticking with the Valsoia Gelato Sandwiches but I'm also keen to try more from this range.

Grocery Gems Review: Valsoia Gelato Sandwiches

Rating: 9 out of 10.
Buy it again: Yes.
Purchased: Ocado.
Price: £2.69p for 8.

New Instore: Tesco Free From Choc Stick Ices, Twix Spread & More

Thank you to Lucy W. who sent me all these great photos of her new finds this weekend.

Tesco Free From Choc Sticks: It's fab news that Tesco are expanding their Free From ice cream range. They successfully launched the Tesco Free From Strawberry & Vanilla Cones last year and have now added Free From Toffee & Vanilla Cones and Choc Sticks to the range. I've also seen online that there are Free From Fruit Splits available too. I'll be tracking these down soon! £2.00p at Tesco.

Eat Natural Bars: A new Apple, Ginger & Dark Chocolate flavour which looks very tempting! £2.00p at Tesco for box of three.

The Collective Dairy Choccy Orange: A big pot of Collective Dairy yogurt which features a dark chocolate infused with orange flavour. Available at Asda and Sainsbury's - £2.00p. 

Alpro Go On Blackcurrant Soya: A new alternative to strained yogurts from Alpro Soya. The Alpro Go On range is available in three flavours; Blackcurrant, Mango or Passion Fruit. I buy a lot of Alpro Soya 'yogurts' so I was really pleased to hear about this new range. I'll try to review these soon. Spotted at Asda.

Arla Protein Snack Pot: I can't find any information about these online but from the photo these consist of a portion of thick Arla yogurt with a crunchy topping. There are two flavours; Mellow Vanilla or Warm Ginger. £1.25p each in Asda.

Twix Spread: The latest addition to the Mars range of chocolate bar themed spreads turns the Twix bar into a chocolate and caramel spread. The range already includes a Bounty Spread and a Maltesers Spread so it makes sense that Twix was next. Available at Asda.

Bioglan Raw Bites: Lucy said she usually buys this brand in Holland & Barrett but she actually spotted this new Cacoa+Coffee+Coconut flavour in Tesco. This combination really appeals to me - it sounds delicious. £1.99p at Tesco.

A massive thank you to Lucy W. for all of these great finds and photos - she's an absolute star! If you spot anything new instore and fancy sending me a photo then let me know via email: grocerygems@gmail.com or Twitter: @grocerygems.

Vegan Week: MILKLESS Polar Dream White - Dairy Free Bar

The Milkless Polar Dream White proudly declares itself as 'Americas Favorite Dairy-Free Bar' on the packaging. It's made by Premium Chocolatiers and is free from milk, eggs, peanuts and gluten. In fact the ingredients list is refreshingly simple and consists of only four ingredients; Sugar, Cocoa Butter, Soy Lecithin and Natural Vanilla Flavour. Sadly, that's the most positive thing you'll hear from me on the subject of the Milkless Polar Dream White, as everything else about this bar is an abomination.

The appearance is promising enough with it's simple lines and creamy colouring. However, it's only when I tried to eat a chunk of this that the problems began. Firstly the texture, oh my days, that slimy, chalky, hard to swallow texture will haunt me for some time. Chewing a piece of Milkless Polar Dream White is like trying to swallow a lump of solidified fat that has been mixed with sand. It's both gritty and oily and I really couldn't bear it at all. My family, watching me eat this, all laughed (the fools) and said 'it can't be that bad'. Well, I had the last laugh when they each tried a piece! But it's not just the texture, the flavour is cold and soulless too, it just tastes like a waxy oil. The natural vanilla flavour that is listed in the ingredients doesn't seem to make any impact at all. 

I had to google other reviews just to make sure I didn't get a bar that had been involved in some freak factory accident. However, the number of one-star reviews on Amazon was enough to reassure me that I'm not alone. Of course there are plenty of five-star reviews too and I'm sure that some vegans who have not tasted white chocolate in a reeeaaalllly long time will somehow enjoy this one. If you've had a different experience then feel free to balance out my review with a comment below!

Grocery Gems Verdict: Vego Whole Hazelnut Chocolate Bar Mini

RATING: 1 out of 10 (the packaging is okay...).
Buy them again?: Noooo - there are much better vegan white chocs out there!
Nutrition: 200 calories per 40g.

Purchased: The Vegan Tuck Box.
Price: £2.00p.

Review: Vego Whole Hazelnut Chocolate Bar - finally a chocolate bar that tastes like Nutella!

The Vego Hazelnut Chocolate Bar is a whopping 65g of delicious hazelnut flavoured chocolate goodness. The bar I tried is actually called the Vego Mini, despite being twice the size of regular chocolate bars, presumably because there is also a 150g Vego bar available - I need to get my hands on that one!

The ingredients list is a short one and consists mainly of cane sugar, whole hazelnuts, cocoa mass, hazelnut paste and cocoa butter. The chocolate bar itself is very thick and consists of two massive chunks. I loved the texture of the chocolate here, it's quite soft and fudgey and melts in the mouth easily. The flavour is excellent, plenty of rich cocoa that is perfectly paired with a strong hazelnut flavour. The overall taste really did remind me of Nutella! Even though the cocoa flavour is a little 'darker' than Nutella, honestly, it's just as delicious.  Completing the whole experience there are a few whole hazelnuts added into the chocolate - providing a lovely crunch and even more hazelnut flavour.

All of my family were super impressed with the Vego Hazelnut Chocolate bar, they all compared it to Nutella and wanted to try it again. I'm hoping that I find a box of these under my tree on Christmas day!

Grocery Gems Verdict: Vego Whole Hazelnut Chocolate Bar Mini

RATING: 10 out of 10.
Buy them again?: Yes - loved it!
Nutrition: 591 calories per 100g.

Purchased: The Vegan Tuck Box.
Price: £1.80p.

Vegan Week: Dairy Free Chocovered Crunchee Bites

This week I'll be reviewing one vegan friendly treat per day. I've been trying to stay away from dairy for a few weeks now, and my brother very kindly bought me a whole box of vegan treats as I was missing my chocolate fix! Don't worry if you're not interested in vegan products as I'll still be covering my usual Christmas reviews and New Instore posts this week too.

First up are these Dairy Free Chococovered Crunchee Bites from the Fabulous Free From Factory. These are described as honeycomb toffee covered in a delicious blend of cocoa with raw sugar and soya. These are also free from hydrogenated fats, artificial colours, artificial preservatives and gluten. 

The insides look just like the sweet honeycomb of a Crunchy bar and it tastes just as good too. In fact I would have to say that I prefer these little Crunchee Bites as they have a more satisfying chocolate-to-honeycomb ratio. Each bites starts off with a familiar super sweet honeycomb crunch that becomes chewier and ends with a delicious chocolate melt. Of course the chocolate here is less creamy than a standard milk chocolate but it still has a lovely cocoa flavour. 

Overall, these were a very successful start to my Vegan Week of reviews. I would happily recommend these to anyone who likes honeycomb. 

Grocery Gems Verdict: Fabulous Free From Factory - Dairy Free Chocovered Crunchee Bites

RATING: 8 out of 10.
Buy them again?: Yes - my kids really enjoyed them too.
Nutrition: 483 calories per 100g (65g pack).
Purchased: The Vegan Tuck Box.
Price: £1.80p.

Review: Beech's Raspberry Creams

I've reviewed quite a few products from the Beech's range of traditional British chocolates, including four flavours of their Chocolate Creams. Raspberry is a flavour I haven't really paid much attention to in the past but for some reason it's growing in my affections. I couldn't resist picking up the Beech's Raspberry Creams when I spotted them in TK Maxx for just £1.79 a box.

Beech's have been making traditional chocolates since 1920 and all their products are made using natural flavourings and colours. This fondant filled dark chocolate range is also suitable for vegetarians and vegans. Inside the box, there are ten disc shaped raspberry fondant creams that are covered in dark chocolate. The inner fondant is very sweet and the raspberry adds a subtle fruity flavour. 

I've now reviewed 5 of the flavours in the Beech's Creams range (there are 8 different ones in total). I just need to find the Coffee, Lime and Strawberry flavours to complete the whole range!

Grocery Gems Verdict: Beech's Raspberry Creams

RATING: 8 out of 10.
Buy It again?: Yes.
Purchased: TK Maxx.
Price: £1.79 (usually £2.99p each). 

Alpro Gingerbread Man Desserts

I'm a fan of the Alpro range of vegan desserts (my favourite is the dark chocolate one) and I was pleased to see a new Gingerbread Man flavour released. No, that's not a typo - these are not just Gingerbread flavoured - they're Gingerbread MAN flavoured. This new flavour has been out for a while now and I first mentioned them in this post HERE. 

Each 125g pot has 108 calories and is free from dairy, gluten and wheat. 

There have been lots of delicious gingerbread treats released in the last few months and this Alpro Gingerbread Man dessert is certainly another welcome addition. The texture is creamy and thick, yet not too heavy. The gingerbread flavour here is very sweet and quite subtle on the spices - there are hints of cinnamon and ginger but they are not as strong as I was expecting. Instead the flavour here leans more towards the actual biscuit flavour of gingerbread, with a lovely browned sugar and caramelised flavour coming through. Even though I would have preferred a bit more of the ginger heat and spices, I'll still be stocking up on a few more packs of Alpro Gingerbread Man for Christmas.

Grocery Gems Verdict: Alpro Gingerbread Man

RATING: 8 out of 10.
Buy them again?: Yes.
Nutrition (per 125g): 108 calories.
Vegetarian: Suitable for vegetarians and vegans.
Purchased: Tesco.
Price: £1.40p.

Review: Nakd Christmas Pud

I finally found the new Nakd Christmas Pud bar in a local Sainsbury's. It's such a great sounding flavour and one that fits in perfectly with the Nakd raw fruits and nuts bar range. There is also a new Nakd Bakewell Tart bar that looks gorgeous too, but I haven't spotted that one yet - let me know if you see it anywhere! Like the rest of the Nakd bar range, the ingredients list for this Nakd Christmas Pud bar is wonderfully simple. It contains Dates (49%), Cashews (35%), and Raisins (16%), aswell as a hint of natural flavourings. Nothing else!

I've always been a fan of Nakd bars but this Christmas Pud bar has instantly become my favourite from their range. The flavour here is just spot on - it has all the spiced loveliness of a real Christmas pudding, with lots of warming cinnamon and hints of mixed spice and nutmeg. The soft and chewy texture of the bar also makes it a perfect match for the Christmas pudding flavour too. It has a light crunch and squidgey texture that is very satisfying, but without any of the bits of peel or whole raisins that Christmas puddings can have. It's similar to the real thing, but even nicer! I just loved everything about this one and I just hope that it stays around after the festive season.

Grocery Gems Verdict: Nakd Christmas Pud

RATING: 10 out of 10.
Buy It again?: Yes!
Nutrition (per 35g bar): 137 calories, 5.9g fat, 16.0g sugars.
Vegetarian: Suitable for vegetarians and vegans.
Purchased: Sainsbury's.
Price: £0.75p each.

New Instore: Nakd Christmas Pud Bars & Cadbury Layers of Joy

A few great spots that were sent to me by Lucy W. after a shopping trip to Asda. Thanks for the brilliant photos Lucy! :)

Nakd Christmas Pud: There really isn't avoiding Christmas in the supermarkets anymore, but who cares when the products look this good.This is such a wonderfully festive edition from Nakd. It has the usual Nakd raw fruit & nut usual base of dates, raisins and cashews. There are also a few other new bars in the Nakd range (which I saw on their Twitter feed here); Nakd Bakewell Tart, Trek Peanut Power, Trek Berry Burst and Trek Cocoa Chaos.

Cadbury Layers of Joy: These chilled layered desserts are available in three flavours; Chocolate, Black Forest and Caramellionaire. I really want to try the Black Forest one! 

Asda Millionaire's Melt in the Middle Puddings: This is described as a moist toffee cake with a melting caramel heart, covered in a Belgian chocolate ganache. Lucy actually tried this one and was disappointed with the overly sweet and dry sponge. 

Thanks again to Lucy W! If you spot any new products instore then I'd love to hear from you - email me: grocerygems@gmail.com.

Beech's Chocolate Creams Range - Orange, Rose, Mint & Violet

A few months ago I reviewed the wonderful new range of fine chocolate bars from Beech's (see review here). This month I have a selection of their best selling, and more traditional, chocolate creams to review. Beech's have been making traditional chocolates since 1920 and all their products are made using natural flavourings and colours. This fondant filled dark chocolate range is also suitable for vegetarians and vegans. They're all packaged in really pretty pastel coloured boxes. 

10% Discount Code:

Beech's have kindly offered my readers a 10% off all purchases for the next three weeks. Simply enter this promotional code at checkout - BFC11041410

Delivery is free on purchases over £12.00. 

www.beechsfinechocolates.com

There are eight different flavoured creams in the range; Coffee, Lime, Raspberry, Strawberry, Violet, Orange, Mint and Rose. I was sent boxes of the last four to review. Each box has 10 disc shaped dark chocolates and costs £2.99.

Violet Creams - The violet creams had the firmest centre of all the four varieties I tried. The centre is slightly crumbly and a little drier than the others. The natural violet comes through as a sweetly floral flavouring. These will appeal to anyone who liked violet flavoured sweets as a child! It's not really my type of chocolate, but my Mum absolutely adored the delicate flavours here. 

Orange Creams - The sweet fondant filling is ideally paired with a fresh orange flavour. I really enjoyed the orange and dark chocolate combination here. They're very sweet but the zesty orange makes them very moreish.

Mint Creams - These are a real classic combination of dark chocolate with a mint fondant. The texture of the centre was slightly softer compared to the others. The mint flavour is lovely and strong with a really refreshing edge. 

Rose Creams - Surprisingly enough these were my favourites of all the chocolates. As a fan of Turkish delight chocolates, I loved the familiar flavours in this sweet fondant format. The sweetness of the fondant cream really suits the rose flavour and created a creamier version of a Turkish delight.

This whole range of chocolate creams is undoubtedly high quality and full of fresh natural flavours. Each chocolate is so easy to eat and completely delicious too. They would make a great gift for fans of more traditional chocolates - the only difficulty is which flavour to choose!

Products sent for an honest review.

Grocery Gems Verdict: Beech's Fine Chocolate Creams Range

Rating: 9 out of 10 - an excellent quality range.
Buy it again: I would love to try the Lime Creams and the berry varieties!

Nutrition: 39 calories per chocolate.

Vegetarian: Suitable for vegetarians.

Purchased: Available online www.beechsfinechocolates.com

Price: £2.99 each.

Review! Limited Edition New York Bakery Co Orange & Cranberry Bagels

A lovely new Limited Edition flavour New York Bakery Co, who have already released some brilliant flavours this year. Their Blueberry Bagel especially, was an instant favourite in the Grocery Gems household. I love the fact that the New York Bakery Co keep updating their bagels with new flavour combinations and seasonal editions, and I know I'm not the only one! The packaging of the new Cranberry & Orange bagels has a black and orange colour scheme that looks very appealing at this time of year - and especially for Halloween.

The bagels are very fruity and contain lots of dried cranberry and orange peel pieces. But when I first heard these were orange bagels, all I could think was - CHOCOLATE SPREAD. Indeed, on the packaging it says that these are perfect with chocolate and oh my, they really are! I did try to take a photo of these smothered in chocolate but I literally didn't have the patience to wait and take photos. All willpower and self control deserted me. The orangey chocolate scent was just too divine, and happily the delicious flavour fully lived up to my initial expectations.

I also tried one of these bagels with butter, and the overall taste was actually quite different. It was still very delicious, but this time the cranberry pieces delivered more fruitiness and the orange seemed less dominant. I think the sweetness of the chocolate spread really brings out all the zesty orange flavour and creates a wonderful combo - but either way these bagels are my new favourite. Next time I'm going to try them with some marmalade!

I received this product in order to write an honest review and all opinions expressed are my own.

Grocery Gems Verdict: New York Bagel Co Orange & Cranberry

RATING: 9 out of 10.
Buy them again?: Absolutely - they're perfect with chocolate.
Vegetarian: Suitable for Vegetarians and Vegans.
Price: £1.60 rrp.

Innocent Noodle Pot - Vietnamese Curry

I've been a fan of Innocent Veg Pots for a while so I couldn't wait to try their take on a noodle pot. There were three varieties to choose from in my local Sainsbury's; Vietnamese Curry, Thai Tom Yum or Japanese Ramen. After reading the descriptions on both I decided to go for the Vietnamese Curry with it's "udon noodles and edamame beans in a gently spiced coconut sauce".

Each pot will give you two portions of your five a day and it's easy to see why when looking at the pot. It's full of brightly coloured vegetables such as brocolli, carrots, cabbage, peas, peppers, edamame beans and more.

Once heated up (4 minutes in a microwave) the colours all become much darker due to the tomato based sauce. The vegetables are all full of fresh flavour and retain a nice bite. The coconut sauce is absolutely delicious -. it's mildly spicy and also slightly sweet. The flavour is quite similar to the Innocent Carribean Jerk Curry pot which I reviewed here. The tasty udon noodles themselves make up only 17% of the ingredients but there's still more than enough in there to be satisfying.

I really enjoyed this Innocent Noodle Pot, it made such a quick and easy lunch (obviously not as easy as pouring water on a Pot Noodle but it's infinitely tastier!) and I'll definitely be buying more from the range.

 Grocery Gems Verdict: Innocent Noodle Pot - Vietnamese Curry

RATING: 9 out of 10.
Buy them again?: Yes and I can't wait to try the Japanese Ramen too.
Nutrition (per pot): 277 calories, 9.1g fat, 11.8g sugars. 
Vegetarian: Suitable for vegetarians and vegans.
Purchased: Sainsbury's.
Price: £3.90p.