Kev's Snack Reviews

Following my review of The Skinny Food Co #NotGuilty Hazelnut Spread , today it's a review for their savoury Skinny Sauces, which come in three flavours; Sweet Chilli, Tomato Ketchup and South West Sauce. These are available from The Skinny Food Co's website:  https://theskinnyfoodco.com/ The sauces contain zero carbs, zero dairy, zero gluten, zero calories, zero sugar and zero fat...so are suitable for a wide range of dietary requirements indeed! Instead of all the above, what do they contain I hear you ask? The South West Sauce is a mixture of tomato, citrus fibre, xanthan gum, spirit vinegar, mustard, spices, and the sweetener sucralose. So that's about the only true artificial thing in it, whether that's good or not I suppose depends on your feelings on artificial sweeteners. Personally I'd prefer stevia since it's more natural, but the world isn't ready for stevia sauce just yet I guess! This sauce is certainly very tasty, with a sweet, ...

Another Protein Works review today and this one is for their Protein Nutty Cashew Coconut squares, a snack containing 9.2g protein ideal for workouts or a little treat throughout the day. They're made with a mix of nuts, whey protein, coconut, coconut oil and sweeteners. If you haven't seen them yet do check out my reviews of Protein Works other products - Vegan Apple & Cinnamon Crunkie and Salted Caramel Protein Cookies . Opening the wrapper I was immediately hit with the smell of peanut...never mind cashew nuts these had a super strong peanut butter aroma! (peanuts are second on the ingredients list). They smelled very inviting indeed! I broke one in half and it looked quite stodgy, almost like a flapjack. There's a thin chocolate and coconut coating on top. They taste very, very nutty indeed and that is certainly no bad thing! The cashews give it that creamy smoothness whilst the peanuts add a more savoury crunch. Yum! The whey powder has that distinctive whe...

Another review of The Protein Works today, following on from the  Salted Caramel Protein Cookies  today it's the turn of their Protein "Crunkies", which are not only gluten free but vegan. Hurrah! They're made with a mix of oats, sucralose, corn fibre, apple, sultanas, rice crispies and soy protein. So why are they called Crunkies? Beats me - they're pretty much cereal bars! There's a dark chocolate flavour coating on one side and the other side has raisins clearly visible. And they taste pretty good! The apple and cinnamon flavour is unmistakable, and gave me that warm feeling of autumn when cinnamon flavours are more common. Of course it goes perfectly with the raisins, as well as the rice crispies and oats. The dark chocolate coating adds a nice touch although I didn't feel it was necessary - the bar is nice enough as is.  All in all, this is a sweet and satisfying bar and the perfect snack for after a workout (if that's your thing!). It'...

A huge thankyou to The Protein Works, who recently sent me some of their Protein Cookies to review! Protein Cookies are a new one on me, something I've never tried before so I was very intrigued. You can find these from www.theproteinworks.com , and they come in a wide variety of flavours. There's also Protein Brownies and all manner of protein based truffles to enjoy if you're of the #fitfam way of life! The protein comes from a whey powder, milk protein and collagen blend which forms the bulk of the cookie. There's also oat flour, corn fibre and the sweetener sucralose mixed in. Opening the wrapper, the cookie had a rather interesting looking appearance with a golden brown colour. I split it open, which was easy enough. There's cubes of fudge pieces embedded within the cookie. The smell was very different to a regular cookie, it has that "whey" powder aroma that I'm sure many are familiar with. It's not unpleasant at all but it's ...

When I'm trying to eat healthy (#thestruggleisreal!) I do like a nice refined sugar, gluten and dairy free snack to munch on. There's always the trusty, tasty Nakd bars on hand in most shops, but a lesser-known brand is The Primal Pantry, who make Paleo and Vegan approved bars with ingredients like nuts, dried fruit, coconut sugar etc. I've tried their stuff before and really enjoyed it. So when I spotted this caffeine infused Espresso variety in the Co Op recently I got very excited indeed - probably too excited, must have been the thought of that shake-inducing caffeine! Described as simply a "Double Espresso Protein Bar" it contains real coffee beans and seemed to be promising an energy boost in bar form - protein AND coffee all at once?! Can't get more #fitfam than that ey? Unfortunately, the bar turned out to be a bit pants. Overlooking the fact it looked like something you'd find in your pants, the texture was my first point of contention: it ...

It's been a while since I tried the Deliciously Ella Ginger Energy Balls , which were nice enough, so I thought I'd try the Hazelnut and Raisin variety next. These are available from Waitrose for a hefty £1.89, although they do sometimes get reduced to half that. They're raw, vegan, vegetarian, gluten free and dairy free, but not nut free. The ingredients consist of dates, hazelnuts, raisins, cacao, cinnamon and cardamom. Opening the wrapper revealed a hefty...er...mound, on a cardboard sleeve. It looked somewhat like Christmas pudding, which is quite fitting since it also tastes like it. The ball was dense and chewy, firmer than a Nakd Bar, with crunchy hazelnuts studded throughout. And it tasted delicious! The hazelnut flavour was very noticeable as was the cinnamon and cardamom, making it taste a lot like Christmas Pudding indeed. More so than Nakd's Christmas Pudding bars, in fact. I thoroughly enjoyed this and I like that it's a bit different ...

When offered to try this new #fitfam friendly gluten free snacks box from Nutri Bombz recently, I really couldn't say no. It's a favourite of premiership footballers, professional athletes and celebrity trainers, so I felt very special indeed receiving this! The boxes are designed to fit neatly through your letterbox, are biodegradable and can even be sent to your workplace - handy for keeping on the clean eating train! The box inbcludes healthy gluten-free snacks that provide energy and protein, whether you need a post-workout snack or an energy boost in general. Salted Caramel Protein Bombz - these are the ones I went for immediately, because who doesn't love something caramel flavoured? They're made with a mixture of dates, whey, coconut oil, cacao and chia seeds. They were pretty chewy and dense but with a gorgeous salted caramel flavour that made them very moreish! The chia seeds added a little bit of crunch but otherwise this was a pretty dense and ...

Since joining the gym (not that I'm bragging) I've found myself in need of more #fitfam friendly snacks, and one that caught my eye whilst in Asda recently were these Good 4U Super Bites that I've never tried before. My blogger pal Reaching For Refreshment reviewed the Orange & Cocoa and Coconut ones way back and wasn't a fan, but I've never been one to let that stop me...so into my basket they went! These cost 85p for 40g which isn't too bad compared to similar products like this. They're raw, vegan, vegetarian, gluten free and contain no added sugars. They're also nut and legume free, and are made with a mixture of sunflower seeds, dates, raisins, chia seeds, cocoa powder, inulin, banana, rice flour and bizarrely, red algae seaweed (?!) Must be the super food aspect! Opening the bag they had a lovely fruity banana aroma, that for some reason reminded me of bubblegum. I was intrigued! The bites are a nice size to nibble on and I didn...

I'd heard about this new Squirrel Sisters range launching in Boots via The Grocer recently and was quite intrigued...there's a lot of raw healthy eating bars around right now, and this trend seems to be gathering pace. So how is this range different? Well, the bar I'm reviewing today has won a Great Taste 2016 Award so that's a good start! There's several varieties out in Boots: Coconut Cashew... Raspberry Ripple... ...and Cacao Orange! But today's review is for the Cacao Brownie which is raw, vegan, vegetarian, gluten free, dairy free, soya free and contains no added sugar. It does however contain cashew nuts, dates, cacao nibs, cacao powder, currants and cacao butter. It costs £2 for 40g in Boots which is a lot , but of course that doesn't matter if it tastes good right? Rather than being one bar, the brownie is split into two "logs" with a sort of square shape. I'm guessing this is for portion control, which seems ...