Friday 15 November 2013

Natural Balance Foods

Natural Balance Foods are the company who make my favourite healthy snack, Nakd bars. Until recently though this was all I knew that they made. When I found out the Natural Balance Foods actually make Trek protein bars I knew I had to try them. I have been snacking loads lately (I think it's because it's so cold!) so decided to try the cocoa brownie bar from Trek. First of all let me tell you that it was yummy and definitely didn't taste like a healthy snack, more of an indulgent treat. It was quite sweet but I don't think that they taste was as strong as the Nakd bars that I have tried, it's not far off though. There is 11-12g of protein in each bar which while i'm not very knowledgeable about these things, I think is a beneficial amount for refueling after exercise or just to have as breakfast on the go!

Another great thing about the Trek protein bars are that practically anyone can eat them. They don't contain dairy or wheat and are also vegan and kosher approved. As well as this they don't contain any artificial ingredients and are one of your 5 a day!



Another thing that I wanted to mention is that on the Natural Balance website there are accessories from Nakd bars. The only accessory that is available so far is a drawstring backpack which while I think is practical, doesn't really appeal to me. However Nakd are bringing out a new accessory which I got a little bit too excited about. A carry cup which is super cute, it's white and green with a little bumble bee on each side. One side also has the Nakd logo on it while the other side says 'Hey hot stuff' which I really love. Ever since starting sixth form I have become addicted to hot drinks so I think this carry cup will come in really handy for me. Let me know what you think of the carry cup in the comments. 

Have you tried any of the foods that Natural Balance make? 

Megan xx

Wednesday 13 November 2013

Gousto

Until earlier this year I hadn't heard of Gousto or any other other food boxes. Gousto is basically a food box delivery service. This means you pay a set price and you get the ingredients for 3 meals a week. On the website when you order your meals for the week ahead you have a choice of about 10 meals, some of which are vegetarian. You can choose to have a box for a couple or a family which is for 4-5 people. When I was offered the chance to try 2 days worth of meals I was super excited. I love cooking and also feel like ingredient boxes like these are a great way to eat clean.

On the menu, each meal has a preparation time and a country of origin as well as a difficulty level. Another great thing about Gousto is although you get all of the ingredients you can decide not to add all of something of may choose to miss out an ingredient completely. 

The meals I chose were;

PARMESAN-SAGE CRUSTED PORK MEDALLIONS WITH SAVOY CABBAGE




You get an instruction sheet for every meal that you get. They are very easy to follow although make sure you read it through before hand so that everything is completely clear. 


You get everything that you needed even down to the egg for the coating of the pork. The only things you needed to add were simple things like seasoning, oil and flour.


The meal was super easy to make and was my favourite out of the 2. It was my first time having savoy cabbage and loved it, its definitely not a bland tasting vegetable. The prep time for this was around 40 minutes and the difficulty level was 2 out of 3 although I don't personally think it was difficult at all as long as you follow the instructions.


CHICKEN CASHEW STIR FRY


The chicken stir fry had a few ingredients that we didn't put in such as the spring onion and peppers due to allergy but they were used at a later date by other family members so no ingredients went to waste. Everything again is included even a tiny stock cube. Again this was a 2 out of 3 difficulty but I found this easier to make than the pork dish. Even though the plates look rather empty the meal was very filling and was definitely enough. It would have bulked up a bit more if I had included the pepper too.


I would definitely recommend Gousto. If you want to find out more about the service which includes free delivery you can check out there website here.

Have you tried a food box like Gousto?

Megan x