SWEETLY - New American Candy Subscription Box & Discount Code!

I was recently contacted by Sweetly about their new American candy subscription boxes and was lucky enough to receive one of their first boxes to try out. I love trying out candies and chocolates from the US and the Sweetly box is absolutely crammed full of sweet treats.

Here's a sneak peak at what was inside my Sweetly box before the full breakdown: 

I honestly don't know how they packed so many items into the size of the box but everything was in perfect condition. 

CANDY BARS: 

I was surprised to find four full sized chocolate/candy bars in the Sweetly box. The Butterfinger, 5th Avenue and Whatchamacallit bars are all absolute classics. I've tried these three before, and they're all firm favourites, but the fourth bar, U-NO, is a new one to me.

The U-No is described as a rich creamy chocolate. The texture is unusual with a crumbly, fudgey quality. The chocolate flavour is actually really good with a strong cocoa taste and creamy finish. There is 'chocolate liquor' listed in ingredients which gives the bar an extra lift!

DRINKS:

I wasn't expecting to find drinks in the Sweetly box but these are very welcome additions. I've never actually tried Kool-Aid before and this Pink Lemonade is exactly the type of flavour I would choose for myself. The Gatorade Thirst Quencher is also a new one to me. It's a naturally flavoured Lemon-Lime sparkling drink - another one that I can't wait to try! 

SWEETS:

There were plenty of American candies in the Sweetly box. The throwback Nerds Rainbow are always fun, along with the Original Lemonhead Lemon Candy and a small pack of Now & Later Extreme Sour Watermelon Soft Chews. 

There was also a pack of Starburst Gummi Burst Liquid Filled Gummies which I was really excited to find in the box. They remind me of my favourite (and much-missed) Haribo Cherry Cola with liquid filling. The flavours were all very sweet and fruity and I loved the oozy burst of the each liquid centre!

CAKES/BISCUITS:

Finally are another three classic American treats - a Moon-Pie Double Decker, a Hostess Twinkie and the Boyer Mallo Cup. I've never tried the Mallo Cup before but it's absolutely delicious, with a gorgeously gooey, coconut marshmallow centre. So good!

The Moon Pie has been around since 1917 and was actually created during the Great Depression. It's a combination of layers of marshmallow creme sandwiched between graham crackers and covered in chocolate. I really enjoyed this one, it's like a massive Wagon Wheel but much tastier. 

Overall, I was impressed with the wide selection of surprise American treats in the Sweetly box. My box contained 13 different items, ranging from the classics to new finds. It's a great first box and I hope that Sweetly continue with such awesome boxes in the future. Definitely one to keep in mind as a gift idea for the foodie in your life!

Discount Code: GROCERYGEMS10

There are three ways to sign up to Sweetly - for one month (£16.99p), for three months (£15.99p) or for six months (£13.99p). Sweetly have very kindly provided my readers with a discount code for 10% off your first order. Simply enter the code - GROCERYGEMS10

All boxes come with free delivery and will contain 12-14 full sized items. Sweetly also say that the average value of the boxes is more than £30. Please take a look at the Sweetly website for more details about the different options:  www.sweetlyuk.com

PR Samples.

Snack & Shopping Haul from Cartagena, Colombia

A family friend recently visited the beautiful city of Cartagena in Colombia. Luckily for me they also brought back an impressive array of treats for everyone. Apparently there were lots of grocery stores and supermarkets dotted around so it was easy enough to pick up Colombian brands. I must admit that when I go abroad this is one of the things I find most interesting and I always bring back a few groceries!  

Juan Valdez Vanicanela & Chocolate Café Colombiano: Colombia is famous for it's coffee production but I hadn't actually heard of this brand before. Juan Valdez is actually a popular coffeehouse chain in Colombia and I was lucky enough to try out a few of their flavoured instant coffees, a Chocolate flavour and the Vanicanela which is a blend of vanilla and cinnamon. These coffees are both absolutely delicious with natural flavours rather than being too artificial or overpowering. The Vanicanela is gorgeous with a delicate vanilla flavour and a hint of authentic cinnamon. The Chocolate flavoured coffee is delicious too, so smooth and a perfect balance of flavours without being too sweet. 

Juan Valdez Cafés de Origen Gourmet Selection: I also received this lovely ground coffee gift set featuring gourmet coffees from different regions of Colombia. We've been making these in a cafetiere each morning and they really provide a great kickstart to our day! All the varieties we've tried so far have created a smooth tasting, perfect cup of coffee.

Jet Chocolate: Jet is the most popular candy bar in Colombia and was apparently easy to find in a small supermarket near the hotel that my friend stayed in. They brought back two varieties, the original milk chocolate and a new Cookies & Cream version. The milk chocolate Jet was not really edible as the chocolate itself had a sour 'off' flavour. I'm not sure if this was because it had suffered some heat damage or if it's just too similar to Hershey's for my taste. In contrast, the Jet Cookies & Cream is a white chocolate and Oreo-type cookie confection that was much tastier and enjoyed by all.

Plantain Chips: I've always been a fan of plantain chips (see my reviews HERE and HERE) and these two are no exception. The NatuChips Platano Maduro had a lovely golden colour and rich fried flavour with a hint of salt, whilst the Turbana Chips had a delicious hint of Lime for added flavour.

NatuChips Yuca: Fried yuca is apparently popular in Latin American as a side dish and snack food. It's said to be a creamier and sweeter alternative to fried potatoes. I haven't had a chance to try this chip snack version yet but I'm really intrigued to try them - I'll update soon! 

Kellogg's Cinnabon: The supermarkets in Cartagena also had a lot of American groceries at very reasonable prices. I've been wanting to try this Kellogg's Cinnamon cereal for ages and it's impossible to get hold of in the UK (at least without paying a small fortune!). As a cinnamon fan, I really enjoyed this cereal and I wish Kellogg's would release it here too.

Wayuu Mochila Bags: Not food related, but you really can't go to Cartagena without buying one of the stunning handmade Wayuu bags - the more colourful and patterned the better! I also have one in black with a colourful strap that I wear more often, but this neon bright one just makes me happy to look at it!

I hope you enjoyed this Colombian shopping haul. A massive thank you to my lovely friend for utterly spoiling us all with these treats! 

New York Snack & Shopping Haul!

The globetrotting adventures of Mr. Grocery Gems continued recently with a visit to New York City last month. It's all in the name of work, but luckily he managed to get some shopping done too (and of course I'd given him a ridiculously long list!). It goes without saying that he brought home a generous amount of candy bars such as Payday, 100 Grand and 5th Avenue to name just a few (see photo above!). These were all bought in places such as Duane Reade and Walgreen's as they seemed to be the easiest places to find chocolate and groceries in Manhattan.

Luckily he also made it in time to find lots of Christmas themed chocolates and candies. He bought two large bags of festive M&M's which are coloured red, green and white, two types of Christmas Peeps, and a large pack of Reese's Peanut Butter Trees.

Unfortunately he couldn't find any of the limited edition flavoured Oreos (he really wanted to get the new Cinnamon Buns flavour!) but he did get this awesome Winter Oreo pack. They have a red coloured creme and cute winter characters on each biscuit.

In the early days of this blog I used to review American cereals quite regularly. However we rarely buy them these days so it was fun to get some old favourites as a one-off treat. I especially liked the fun pack of mini Kellogg's cereals!

From the New York M&M's World he found this simply awesome apple shaped container filled with I♥NY printed M&M's. This was easily the most popular gift with the kids, they were absolutely enthralled with it!

Away from the world of chocolate, Mr. Grocery Gems also surprised me with an amazing haul from Bath & Body Works. Sadly we don't have this store in the UK but all it's products are just gorgeous - these foaming hand washes are phenomenal!

Just look at how cute their PocketBac hand sanitisers are! And they all smell fab too. My favourite is the Jolly Gingerbread Oh Snap.

The Bath & Body Works range of home fragrances is really worth a try too. These large three-wick candles have the most beautiful packaging (the silver lids have an embossed snowflake design) and have lovely festive fragrances; the two pictured are Vanilla Bean Noel and Marshmallow Fireside.

Last, but not least, was a much anticipated visit to the Nintendo World store in New York. Mr. Grocery Gems bought quite a lot here, most of which is top-secret until Christmas! One thing that was top of our shopping list were these cute 8-bit Mario plush cushions.

Even though our Christmas tree has a simple red, white and silver theme, it's now rocking these bright yellow Mario ornaments too. Thanks Mr. GG!

Review: Turkish Baklava & Turkish Delight

Mr Grocery Gems brought home a selection of Turkish delights and baklava after a recent visit to Istanbul. I wasn't going to review them but everything was just so amazing that I had to give them a shout out here. All the Turkish treats were bought in a lovely store called Hafiz Mustafa in Istanbul which has been making sweet delights since 1864.

The first box was filled with an assortment of jewel coloured sweets, filled with a variety of nuts such as pistachios and hazelnuts. I've never tasted anything quite like these before, they were seriously DIVINE.

Each one was packed full of nuts and surrounded by a flavoured jelly in varieties such as rose, mint, kiwi, pomegranate and hazelnut. My favourites by far were actually the hazelnut ones - I loved the texture of the crunchy hazelnuts against the soft jelly.

We also tried the traditional solid flavoured cubes of Turkish delight. The flavours here, of rose, apple and lemon, were all quite delicate and very sweet. They had a lovely firm, yet soft texture, that was was just wonderful. 

Lastly, he also brought back a box of Turkish Baklava. I have to admit I've never tried baklava before. The dried-up pastries I've seen for sale in supermarkets here have never really appealed to me. Happily, I was pleasantly surprised by just how delicious these syrupy little pastries can be. Each one was filled with nuts and had a unique texture that was both flaky and juicy at the same time. Another winner!

New Instore: Snack haul from Portugal

Just a few items which I spotted in supermarkets in Portugal. 

Limited Edition Retro 7UP cans (above and below): I loved these limited edition 7UP cans featuring throwback designs from different decades. I couldn't resist seeking out all the different designs.

They had information on the back with details of which decade each can was inspired by. These are from (left to right) the 1930's, 1970's and 1990's. 

There was also a cool 1980's inspired can which I managed to find in the last few days of our holiday - this was my favourite!

Nestlé Lion Chocolate & Caramel Milkshake Mix: I mainly bought this for my son who likes Nesquik chocolate drinks. We haven't tried this chocolate and caramel Lion bar version yet but I'll have a review up soon. 

Cheetos Sticks: There are lots of Cheetos varieties available on the continent, but the main reason I'm mentioning thse Palitos/Sticks is because they are Ketchup & Cheese flavour. I'd never tried ketchup flavoured cheetos before so I had to get these ones! 

Savora Yogochup and Savora Ketchapple: On the subject of ketchup there were also these bizarre combinations. Available in a blend of ketchup & yogurt or ketchup & apple... I wasn't tempted by these!

Lipton Ice Tea Piña Colada: There are lots of interesting flavours of ice tea available across Europe, I especially liked this fruity pineapple and coconut flavoured version which was just delicious. I wish this was available in the UK!

Milka Splash Mint: The Milka equivalent of the dire Cadbury Puddles. Even though the packaging is a more appealing than the Cadbury one, I still wasn't interested in trying this one. In past years I would have bought it just to do a comparison with the Cadbury version but I really don't ever want to try that one again. Although I do wonder if the Milka one has the same horrible yellowish-green colour inside!

Olá Ice Cream Board 2015: Most of these ice creams from Olá (basically Walls ice cream) are known in the UK but there were a few new ones. The swirly Tornado in the bottom left hand corner is quite unique as it's Cotton Candy flavoured (and really delicious too!). I also enjoyed the Cornetto Taco which I don't think I've seen in the supermarkets here.

Nestlé Ice Cream Board 2015: The Nestlé board is slightly more exciting as it has a lot more ice creams that aren't available in the UK including Cookie Maxibon and Brownie Maxibon.

However, I was most excited to see a new flavour for the Jungly banana-shaped peelable ice lollies (see one of my favourite reviews ever HERE) - an Orange and Lime flavour. Quite why a banana shaped lolly needs to come in any other flavour other than banana is a mystery, but it was still fun to try! The watermelon ice cream was super cute and refreshing too.

If you've tried any of the above products then I'd love to hear from you in the comments below - thanks!

Around the World - Malaysia: Double Decker Cheese Rings

In an attempt to get a move on with my Around the World Challenge I decided to buy these Double Decker Cheese Rings. I was a bit hesitant as I thought I should be able to find a more interesting snack from Malaysia. Anyway, how bad could a Cheese Rings snack be?

It turns out that they could be SO BAD that they're the worst snack I've ever tried. Not just the worst cheese snack, the overall worst snack of any type. It's not just their Day-Glo florescent orange colour that makes these so horrendous (and by the way I didn't edit the colour in the photo above - that's just how orange they are) but also the actual texture and flavour that are terrible too. The texture was not crunchy enough, so that they're slightly soft and almost chewy. Then on top of that there is so much seasoning powder on each snack that they have a chalky consistency. Mmmm chalky AND chewy. I could barely eat one of these Cheese Rings so this whole product is a bit of a disaster.

To be fair to Double Decker perhaps something went wrong in transit that caused them to be stale or damaged (although I'm not sure that can explain the orange-ness). Also, I'm pretty sure I've tried some other Double Decker branded snacks that were okay (but didn't take photos) so these are not a reflection on the rest of the range. 

On the plus side there is a Double Decker theme song on the back of the packet which I think deserves a couple of points on the Grocery Gems rating! 

Around the World: Double Decker Cheese Rings

Rating: 2 out of 10 (would be 0 out of 10 without the song on the packet...)

Country of Origin: Malaysia.
Purchased: Local grocery store.
Price: £0.99p (60g bag).
Nutrition: 550 calories (per 100g).