Taste Guru–A Review

A few weeks back I was contacted by the people at Taste Guru and asked if I was interested in testing their product and writing a review.

Well, YEAH, I was interested. I mean, who doesn’t want to taste food, take pictures, and then write about it?

So here I am, fingers poised over the keyboard, about a million pictures loaded onto my camera, full of information and not quite sure where to start.

So I’ll just start by telling you what exactly Taste Guru is.

It’s a lot like a magazine subscription, except instead of getting a magazine, you get a monthly box packed with 7-10 gluten-free treats, including chips, trail mix, granola bars, baking mixes, and other goodies (some paleo). It varies what exactly you get in a box. One month you might get to try some peanut butter cookies, the next month a bag of coconut chips.

Now that we’ve established what I was getting, let’s move on to the actual experience (and the goofy photos). If you’re in a hurry and want to just know the details straight and clear, scroll on down to the bottom where I’ve got a list of the pros and cons.

Here’s the box unopened (oh, and I’m there too):

Suspense is building…

I popped it open with a knife (getting a little violent here) and was joined by two weirdies (never seen them in my life).

She was into the sour beans (they tasted a lot like those gummy worms you might remember).

So, what did I actually get in my box?

Item 1. Toasted coconut chips made with cane sugar, coconut, and salt. These were pretty tasty (who doesn’t love toasted coconut) but they were overly sweet. Item 2. Chocolate hazlenut spread. Like nutella. It tasted pretty darn good. I think it would be good on bread or cupcakes or, well, just about anything.

Next, a swoffle cookie (apparently that’s like a Dutch, caramel-filled pastry). While the caramel filling was super tasty, it was also a little bit sweet for my tastes.

Fourth, some egg white chips. I admit I was a little weirded out when I first pulled them out of the box (egg white chips? seriously?) but they turned out to be one of our favorite things in the box. Nice and crunchy. My little sisters loved them.

Next, some green tea and a chia seed drink. Still not sure about the chia seed drink (to me it tasted somewhat like a muddy swamp) but if you like chia seeds I’m not judging you.

I’ve already mentioned the sour beans a little bit and how they tasted like gummy worms, right? Though these were, again, very  sweet, we still enjoyed them just because we all used to love gummy worms.

Lastly, a caramel chocolate peanut bar. This might sound strange (and a bit nitpicky), but the ingredient list was disturbingly long (for me, a long ingredient list of words that I can’t pronounce means highly processed and anything but natural and healthy). However, I have no complaints against the caramel chocolate peanut combo. None at all.

Lastly, the fudge brownie mix. I was excited about trying this because I’ve heard only the best about Better Batter. I was a little disappointed in the sugar content (the brownies were very sweet), but they were quite fudgy. Below is one of the little sisters whipping them up.

I think we could’ve made the brownies better, but we substituted for the canola oil. I guess the olive oil didn’t work right because they were a tad greasy around the edges.

Here’s the full array of goodness: 

Now then, for the practical information (the serious version of the review):

-Depending upon which plan you order, the price runs between $15 to $24 per box (the longer the subscription, the less expensive the box).

-Let me say again that you won’t be getting the exact same stuff every month (so it’s unlikely you’ll get the items I got, but you’ll probably get something similar).

-Where to buy? Just go to TasteGuru.com

Now for the pros and cons…

Pros:

• They fit quite a few things into that little box, so you get to try all kinds of gluten-free products
• Packaging great, customer service and delivery great (I got notified when the next box would ship, when it had shipped, and when it would be likely to arrive). I don’t know about you but I’m one of those people who wants to know.
• This is a good way for you to test numerous gluten-free products to find out what you’d like to get more of.
• This would be perfect to have on a road trip. You know, those long hours in the car with nothing but carrots and chips?
• Some of the items in a box would also work as a treat to pack into your kid’s school lunch.
• You could also use your TasteGuru treats as energy-boosters. Maybe keep some items in your car/purse and when you’re in need of a sweet, quick pick-me-up you could have a snack bar or a few chips.

Cons:

• Not really family-sized. All the items were small and included only one to two servings. It would be great if Taste Guru created another, larger box that’s more family friendly.

• Sugar content. My parents are pretty sugar conscious, so my sisters and I don’t actually end up eating a lot of sugar. It could be just because we’re acclimated to eating less sugar, but to us the foods seemed way too sweet (I understand, though, that this particular box was geared towards Valentine’s day, so naturally it was more sweet than the average box would be)

• Everything was very highly processed. Again (not to sound like a food snob here), my family generally avoids processed foods, and some of the items in the box were just not foods that we would normally eat.

 

So, to sum up:

Overall, my TasteGuru experience has been okay, but I’m hoping that in the future that they’ll be able to produce healthier, more family-sized boxes. Until then, it’s unlikely that we’ll be getting another box.

Last of all, here’s thanks to the other photographer (she was behind the camera while I was in front).