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.

Vegan Week: Vegan Peanut "Peanot" Butter Cups Review

These Mini Peanot Cups are not only vegan and milk free but are also peanut free and made without any artificial colours or flavourings. These are obviously aimed at people with allergy concerns, and although the ingredients list is quite long, the first few ingredients are sugar, cocoa butter, and soy oil.

I don't know how they've managed it but these do have a peanutty flavour. Of course, it's not exactly the same as peanut butter, the texture is much drier and a little chalky. However, the overall balance of salty edge and sweetness does recreate a peanut type flavour. The outer chocolate has a good flavour too, with a nice cocoa hint that compliments the inner filling. 

Overall, I don't think anyone who's tried a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup recently will think that the vegan Peanot cups taste the same at all, but as a free-from alternative it's certainly does a good job.

Grocery Gems Verdict: Vegan Mini Peanot Cups

RATING: 8 out of 10.
Buy them again?: Yes - the rest of the family enjoyed them aswell.
Nutrition: 205 calories per serving (2 cups).

Purchased: The Vegan Tuck Box.
Price: £3.30p.

New Instore Megapost Part 3: Pringles Tortilla Chips, Drinks & Yogurts

The last new instore post of the day! A massive thank you to Sun L. for sending me most of the photos in this post. 

Pringles Tortilla Chips: Thank you to everyone who informed me about these and again to Sun L. for the awesome photo. I haven't bought Pringles in a while but I'll definitely be adding these to my next Asda order. There are Sour Cream and Original varieties. I can imagine these Pringles Tortilla Chips will be very popular with my eldest son and his friends! £1.00p at Asda.

Robinsons Squashed Pear & Blueberry: This is a fairly new flavour for this range, along with Citrus and Tropical varieties. £1.98p at Asda.

Robinsons rebranding and new Lemon & Mango flavour: On the subject of Robinsons squash, Britvic also announced earlier this year that they are phasing out all full-sugar products for this brand. All Robinsons fruit squashes will now be "no added sugar" and will feature the tagline "Real Fruit in Every Drop". There are also new squash flavours such as Lemon & Mango and Orange & Raspberry.

Although I can understand the reasoning behind this decision (falling sales of sugary squash), I'd prefer to still have the choice of real sugar or artificial sweeteners. I also dislike the false emphasis on the FRUIT on the front of the bottle for a product that has only 6% fruit content (5% Lemon and 1% Mango). £1.59p at Asda.

Relentless Mango Ultra: I know literally nothing about canned energy drinks. Never had one. I get my kicks the old fashioned way - coffee. £0.89p at Asda.

Nakd Coconut Bliss Fruit & Nut Nibbles: I really want to try this new range of Fruit & Nut Nibbles from Nakd, especially this Coconut Bliss flavour. £0.80p at Asda.

Nakd Fruit Salad Fruit & Nut Nibbles: The Fruit Salad variety is clearly a nod to the famous sweets of the same name. Kev's Snack Reviews has a review of these and also the Tooty Fruity flavour here. £0.80p at Asda.

Nakd Strawberries & Cream Fruit & Nut Nibbles: This is the second flavour I'd like to try. Apparently these Fruit & Nut Nibbles can be used in baking or as a topping for yogurt or cereal. There are also other flavours; Mint Humbug, Salted Caramel, and Toffee Treat. £0.80p at Asda.

The Laughing Cow Light with Cheddar: I know these have been around for a little while now and I've actually already bought them. They're a tasty addition to The Laughing cow Light triangles cheese range that already includes Blue Cheese and Emmental varieties. £0.94p at Asda.

Nesquik Milk Slice - Milk & Yogurt Filling: The Nesquik Milk Slice Chocolate variety used to be popular with my kids when they were younger (and I quite liked them too!). There is now a new Milk & Yogurt version available too. £1.00p at Asda.

Liberté Strained Greek Style Yogurts on a Mango layer: The Liberté range of strained yogurts is one of my favourites and I'm excited to see a couple of new flavours being released. Mango is always a winning yogurt flavour so I can't wait to try this one! £2.39p at Asda.

Liberté Strained Greek Style Yogurts on a Pear layer: I'm also eager to try the Pear flavour. Pear yogurts can be a bit more hit and miss but it's still a flavour that I enjoy in general. I hope to review these soon. £2.39p at Asda.

McCain Spicy Peri-Peri Fries: Ones to look out for! McCain are launching several new products including these Spicy Peri-Peri Fries.

McCain Mash Machines: These limited edition transport potato shapes are sure to be popular with little kids everywhere. Other new products from McCain include a limited edition American BBQ Wedges and Steakhouse Ridge Cut Fries. Let me know if you spot any of these instore!

Check out my other new instore posts today here and here.

Many thanks again to Sun L. for all the great photos in this post. As always, if you've spotted or bought any interesting new products then I'd love to hear from you too - grocerygems@gmail.com or @grocerygems.

Review: Goody Good Stuff - Vegetarian Sweets

Goody Good Stuff is an all natural range of vegetarian gummy sweets which are also free from artificial colours or flavourings. There are eight varieties available in their range and I was sent six different sweets to review; Summer Peaches, Strawberry Cream, Tropical Fruit, Koala Gummy Bears, Cheery Cherries, and Cola Breeze. Several of these varieties are also suitable for vegans! The whole range is also gelatin free, fat free, nut free, soy free, dairy free and gluten free. 

Summer Peaches - These are suitable for vegetarians and vegans. They're based on traditional Fizzy Peaches sweets which were my favourite sweets when I was younger I still have a weakness for peach flavoured sweets but it's actually quite hard to find a bag of them on their own (without having to get a pick 'n' mix bag). 

The Summer Peaches sweets have a lovely appearance, quite plump and with a great peachy colour. The texture is excellent too, I wouldn't have guessed that these were vegetarian from the jelly like soft consistency. But the best part is the peach flavour itself, it's super sweet with a perfect fruity flavour. These are a 10 out of 10 from me and I'm sure I'll be buying these again in the future!

Cola Breeze: Classic cola bottle sweets that are suitable for vegetarians and vegans.

The Goody Good Stuff Cola Breeze sweets also have a great texture, very similar to traditional cola bottles but with a slightly softer chew. I actually prefer this texture compared to the usual gelatin based type. The flavour here is very good too, with a sweet cola taste balanced by the slightly sour coating (not too sour which is just the way I like them!). I really can't fault these either and alongside the Summer Peaches these are my personal favourite from the range. 10 out of 10.

Strawberry Cream, Cheery Cherries and Tropical Fruit are all suitable for vegetarians (but not vegans) and are also made with all natural flavours and colours.

Cheery Cherries: Don't these look adorable? I think they're perfectly named as cheery cherries! The texture of these is quite jelly like, and is slightly softer and less chewy than traditional gelatin sweets. The cherry flavour here is very strong and sweet, so much so that I would have assumed these were artificially flavoured. They have that classic cherry candy taste. I enjoy this type of cherry sweet so I liked the strong flavour here. 8 out of 10.

Strawberry Cream: These are very small sweets with a really cute shape - they look like little jelly puddings to me! They have a similar texture to the Cheery Cherries, quite soft and easy to eat. The flavour here is quite light, especially in the strawberry sweets. I could taste the creamy sweets more than the fruity ones. The combination is still very tasty and I think these would look great as cupcake toppers. 7 out of 10.

Tropical Fruit: This is such an interesting mix of sweets with a variety of unusual flavours (here in the UK at least). The texture is much firmer than the other sweets in the range with a chewier consistency. The flavours here are all excellent and very fruity especially the watermelon, banana, and pineapple. The two red ones tasted like a cross between citrus and berries, whilst the orange looking one had quite a peachy flavour. 8 out of 10.

Sour Koala Gummy Bears: I was also sent two little packs (25g) of Sour Koala Gummy Bears. Goody Good Stuff are known for their gummy koala shaped sweets but I didn't know they did a sour variety. 

They look like little bears! My kids were very keen to try out these Sour Koala gummy bears, as they like sour sweets a lot more than me, and sure enough, they both enjoyed the tangy flavour of the coating here. The flavour of the actual gummy bears is slightly sour too with a tropical fruitiness. 7 out of 10.

Overall the Goody Good Stuff range offers a great vegetarian alternative to traditional sweets. Although they're obviously not healthy as such, it's still good to have a range of sweets without any of the usual artificial nasties! 

The range is available at Tesco, Waitrose, Superdrug and local health food stores. Check out their website for all your local stockists: http://goodygoodstuff.com

Grocery Gems Verdict: Goody Good Stuff Range

RATING: See each description above.

Buy them again?: Yes, especially the Cola Breeze and Summer Peaches.

Vegetarians: Suitable for vegetarians.

Products sent for an honest review.