graze.com

Graze is a company which delivers healthy snack boxes by post. It aims to provide top quality snacking food and their suppliers range from small family run businesses to award winning organic producers. As an environmentally conscious company, the delivery boxes are made from material from a sustainable forest, 100% biodegradable & 100% recyclable with no chemicals and no bleaching. The plastic punnets are made from recycled material that can be recycled again. They aim to provide delicious snacks that give energy and help to lose weight whilst providing roughage and nutrients.

First Contact
I first saw a Graze box when a work colleague plonked a small, sealed clear plastic tub down on my desk, saying "You like nuts, try this". I opened it up and found what Graze call their Bakewell Tart selection; almonds, cranberries and cherry infused raisins. It was absolutely delicious and kept me filled up for a good few hours.

My colleague then persuaded me to sign up for Graze, inputting the code he gave me so that I could get a proper (4 punnett) Graze box sent to my house free of charge. I had to give Graze my credit card details, but it was clear that I was not committing to anything and I could easily cancel everything after I had tried the first free box.

The Boxes
The Graze boxes are designed to fit easily through every letter box, measuring 25cm by 17cm and being about 3cm deep. They are made out of brown cardboard, securely sealed with transparent tape. When opened up, four perfectly sealed transparent containers sit inside, along with a little leaflet telling you exactly what is inside the box and the nutritional value of each snack. If olives are part of the box, a small bamboo skewer is included.

My first free box was called a Nibble Box and contained green olives in a citrus marinade, two small pieces of tomato, basil and pesto focaccia, Grandma's Apple Crumble (apple, hazelnuts and raising) and Great Fire Dragon (chilli maize, salted maize and satay broad beans). I had mixed feelings about this box; I loved the olives, fruit and nuts but definitely did not want focaccia in my next box.

An email popped into my inbox as soon as the box had been sent, and once the delivery date had passed another email invited me to 'rate or slate' the box. In effect this meant that I could choose to have the snack again or not. The options were to Bin, Try, Like, Love or Send Soon.

In addition, I was invited to trawl through the rest of the choices on the website and rate them in a similar way, ensuring that I did not get anything I did not like in my next box. As many of my rates were Like, Try or Love - the element of surprise was still there, as I had lots of choices available for my next selection. I decided that I did not want anything stodgy or sweet in my boxes, and Binned all of those choices.

My next box was offered at half price, and of course I accepted and waited eagerly to see what would be delivered.

The Food
After many months of deliveries, I have now tried a massive selection of olives, seeds, nuts, dried fruit, pulses and Chinese crackers. The entire range of 97 box choices is divided up into Seeds, Nuts, Crackers, Flapjacks, Dried Fruit, Dried Fruit and Nut Mixes, Natural Treats, Olives, and Deli Topped Focaccia - and you can rate or slate each one of these choices.

The Natural Treats section is one that I have completely binned, as it contains chocolate covered nuts and fruit. Although I would love these snacks, I prefer to see healthier options in my box. I have also binned the Flapjack section for the same reasons.

There are too many favourites for me to describe, so I will just tell you that my very favourite section is Olives, which has a choice of 5 different olive punnets, both black and green and all pitted - which are available in a variety of marinades and which are always incredibly fresh.

Most of them are absolutely delicious, and if I occasionally get a punnet that I am not keen on, I can slate it and ensure that I never receive it again.

Amazingly, the whole family including my teenage son have started to look forward to the arrival of the Graze box, and it has encouraged us all to try new and healthy snacks that we would never have considered before.

Website, Price and Delivery
One of the strengths of Graze is its excellent website, which is very clear and easy to use. I now have a weekly regular order, which I can tailor to my tastes. If I don't fancy a box one week, I can easily log on to Graze.com and push the delivery back one week. If I fancy an extra box it is just as easy to look at my deliveries and order another box.

Tabs across the top of the home page include Your Deliveries , Browse and Rate, FAQs and Your Account . These options give you a very flexible and easy to understand method of controlling what you receive and when you receive it.

If I click on Your Deliveries section of the website, every box that I have ever received is listed, including the free and half price boxes - and I can remind myself what was inside and re-rate if necessary.

The option to cancel the entire contract is clearly displayed, as is the option to alter any deliveries or orders. If I click on 'Your Weekly Boxes' a drop down menu gives me the option to change to fortnightly deliveries, add another box, cancel the delivery or change the address details. All with one click of the button.
I can book holidays for the year ahead - which takes one tedious holiday cancellation chore out of holiday preparations and makes sure I don't forget to cancel the box.

On the My Account tab, I can chose which sort of alerts I want to receive via emails (eg Your box is on its way, rate or slate your latest box). Graze make sure that you only receive the emails that you want to receive and are not inundated. Under this tab, I can also choose my boxes - either more food that I have said that I Like or Love , a good balance across my ratings, or more products that I have said I would like to try.

The upkeep of the website is excellent and any news such as potential delays due to snow, Christmas deliveries, etc is prominently displayed. The website is also filled with tempting colour photos of the produce, which makes it very vibrant and exciting to view.

My boxes arrive every Tuesday and so far I have had no problems at all. Each box costs £3.29 and the delivery is free. The price charged has not ever gone up over the year and a half I have been a customer, but I believe that it may be different for new customers. If money is tight one week, there is no charge for pushing the delivery back a week or even two. The portions are a fair size but are easily demolished in one night by our family of four. If I was on my own or just a couple, the packaging of the food is so good that it would keep very fresh for at least a week. Graze remind their customers that there is no need to refrigerate any of the items as they are all natural and chosen to be kept in their natural state.

Thoughts
The snacks have been constantly fresh and delicious and I look forward to the box arriving every week. So far I have not become bored with the selection even after well over a year of custom, and I am really glad that I was introduced to Graze. I have found that Graze constantly invent new tastes and combinations which keep the novelty value alive. The new foods are a great mixture - some are not for me but the majority are delicious.

At present I intend to continue with my order, either every week or every other week, but I am aware that they are a bit of a luxury. So, all in all - a highly recommended product, which I recommend trying, even if is just the free first box.