Creative Nature Superfoods Bars (WHSmith)

Creative Nature got in touch with me a couple of weeks ago to ask if I would mind reviewing some of their products. I didn't know much about the company but had seen (and been tempted by!) their bars in WHSmith. Of course I agreed and a few days later received a parcel containing one of each of their bars, as well as a bag of their award winning brownie mix -which will be reviewed in the coming weeks.

For those of you who aren't aware of Creative Nature, they're a brand who specialise in healthfoods. Their current range encompasses their raw flapjack bars as well as items such as goji berries, maca powder, cacao powder and muffin mixes to name just a few.

It's their bars that are the name of the game today though! They're all raw, gluten free, vegan, and (bar the peanut one) contain one of your five a day. Creative Nature only use natural and raw ingredients in their products too.

Ginger Teatox
Now I have to admit that the name of this bar grated on me a bit. I'm not a believer in the whole fad diet/clean eating approach, and certainly don't agree with teatoxes. I do, however, like ginger.

“I’m the ginger one, packed with natural detox ingredients like Organic Barley Grass, Yerba Mate Tea, Ginger and Coconut”

I decided to break up the bar and serve it on top of some Greek yogurt mixed with honey and topped with plums.

Crikey. I was surprised at the power behind the taste of this bar. The boldness is a brave mood by Creative Nature, but it's delicious too. The pineapple, coconut and papaya counteracted the zingy ginger with enough sweetness to bring the flavours into balance. It's soft and squidgy too,  meaning that it's comforting to eat.

The Ginger Teatox is also one of the few raw bars I've tried that doesn't contain dates, which enables the flavours to remain pure. A great tasting bar

9/10

Goji Goodness
I'm not sure I can tell you what the flavour of Goji is because I don't think I've ever eaten them on their own before! Still I love my berries so looked forward to this fruity bar in the middle of a dull afternoon lecture.

“I’m the fruity one, packed with raw superfood ingredients like Goji Berries, Cranberries and Gluten Free Oats”

Weirdly I thought this bar tasted of dates, which I must've imagined because there's none listed in the ingredients. I didn't find the flavour as punchy as the ginger teatox though; it just had a mild but sweet berry taste. I thought that the texture was as soft as the other bar until I came across something that I thought was a stone, but in reality was a reaglly hard bit of dried fruit.

I'd happily eat this bar again but didn't enjoy it as much as the Ginger Teatox.

6/10

Peanut Protein
I think it's hard to ignore how much I love peanut butter on this blog. It gives me life and I can't go a day without it, so this was the bar that excites me most. It contains 7g of protein from pea protein powder, as well as a mixture of dates, sunflower seeds, sultanas and vegetable glycerine.

“I’m the protein one, giving you a vegan, dairy free alternative to whey protein snacks!”

I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of chopped peanuts, it was literally chock full! They were crunchy too, adding texture to the otherwise smooth bar. Flavour-wise it was sweeter than I expected, and I felt like it could do with a touch of sea salt. I warmed the second half of my bar in the microwave and can definitely recommend doing so for an extra comforting, healthy, peanutty snack.

7/10

Raw Cacao
Chocolate anything? I'm all over it. But could a healthy cacao bar at 125kcals that counts as one fruit portion cut the mustard?

“I’m the chocolate one, packed with raw superfood ingredients like Cacao, Goji Berries and Maca“

Again despite the lack of dates I'm sure I could taste them! The bar had a sweet chocolate taste that reminded me of Trek's Cocoa Chaos bar (no bad thing). Texturally it's much softer than Trek though. I topped my Raw Cacao bar with M&S' Maple & Pecan peanut butter -the perfect match.

8/10.

The Creative Nature Superfoods bars are great lunchbox staples. They're full of goodness, and help towards hitting your 5 (or 10!) a day. They have also just launched a new line of high protein flapjacks that sound rather good...

Photo courtesy of Creative Nature's Instagram

Creative Nature is stocked in ASDA, WHSmith, Ocado, Revital and Lloyds Pharmacy, or alternatively check your nearest supplier here.

Thank you to Creative Nature for the samples!

The Food Doctor Pineapple & Banana Wholesome Bar (Tesco)

In an effort to combat obesity and stop us from overindulging on chocolate and sweeties, Britain's checkouts have gradually been moving towards displaying healthier snacks. It was thanks to this change that a range of snack bars I've not seen before caught by eye, made by nutritional therapists turned health-food manufacturers 'The Food Doctor'. I've been vaguely aware of the brand for a while now, gently ignoring their healthy -but expensive- products including their multi-seed pittas and quinoa pots, but I hadn't come across their 'wholesome' bars before -which Tesco have recently started stocking. A quick google search informed me that the bars themselves aren't new -infact Kev reviewed the range way back in June 2014.

The bars are wheat and dairy free, contain no added sugars, are high in fibre and Vegan friendly. I almost opted for the apricot and almond, but then I was swayed by the inclusion of my favourite fruit (banana) and chose the pineapple bar instead.

It was extremely sticky (even more so than the Perk!er goji bar), and it was an unattractive brown colour (think slimy bananas!). It  had a chewy consistency, broken up nicely with the slight crunch of the plentiful sunflower seeds that permeated the bar. Flavour-wise, I could only taste a generic fruity sweetness, which unfortunately mean it lacked the real tropical or banana punch that I longed for.

I liked the texture of the bar, but that's about it. Food Doctor have got a long way to go to compete with Nakd's products in terms of flavour, so I probably won't buy them again.

4/10

NEW! Coconut & Pineapple Flavour Popcorn (Boots)

Whilst picking up my meal deal from Boots, I spied this new Coconut & Pineapple flavour popcorn. I hesitated, wondering whether it would fare any better than their rather revolting Cinnamon & Vanilla flavour which I reviewed back in October, but as the bag cost just 70p I decided to take a punt on Boot's having improved their range. 

I opened it up, and saw lots of fluffy looking plain coloured kernels. I could detect a slight whiff of tropical flavour, which unfortunately wasn't as aromatic as the popcorn made my Propercorn or Portlebay. Biting into my corn, I realised that the flavour was just as lacking as the smell -there was the mildest hint of pineapple, with absolutely no coconut to be found. 

The kernels lacked the crunchiness of Portlebay's Kracklecorn, and without any flavour to back it up, I just felt like I was eating mouthful upon mouthful of polystyrene. To make things worse there was loads of unpopped corn, and at one point I actually thought I'd broken a tooth. Propercorn Peanut & Almond is an absolute taste sensation and utter joy to munch, but this popcorn from Boots just felt like a never-ending chore to eat. 

1/10

Laffy Taffy Apple, Funyuns & Trident Pineapple (Taffy Mail Part 1)

As a lover of American snacks, I was over-the-moon when Taffy Mail kindly offered to send me a box of their November 'Classic' Box to review. Taffy Mail are a subscription based service who will send a surprise selection of American treats to your door every month, with prices range from £7.49-£24.99 depending on how many goodies you'd like to receive. The classic box is their mid-priced product and contains 10-12 American Sweets & 1 can of Pop.

I felt like Christmas had come early when the Postie dropped mine off. The box was chock-a-block full of goodies, and so I'll be reviewing it in parts over the next week or so! 





















Just for info, the box contained:

• Laffy Taffy Sour Apple
• Laffy Taffy Strawberry
• Mike & Ike Zours
• Trident Pineapple
• Take 5
• Twinkies
• Double Dipped Nerd
• Hawaiian Punch "Juicy fruit Red"
• Twizzlers Twists
• Milk Duds
• Funyuns

Laffy Taffy Apple














The Laffy Taffy was a very long rope style sweet, and although it claimed to contain no artificial flavours, it certainly contained  artificial colours as it was luminescent green and would have made an excellent glow-stick!




















It was apple-y although not particularly sour, and had a good amount of chewiness (which I was thankful for as my teeth can't handle hard caramels). It was fun, but nothing hugely different to what we can get here in the UK -it's  similar to a long Maoam- although I did like the terrible joke on the back!

5/10

Trident Pineapple
I get through quite a lot of chewing gum, and I really like flavoured gum- especially the Turbulence range because the flavour is powerful and it lasts a long time too. I wish we had more of the exciting flavours that the Americans are accustomed to, and so I was looking forward to enjoying a fresh new flavour.

It certainly tasted exotic and refreshing to begin will, but within 30 seconds the flavour faded to nothing and I was forced to throw my piece in the bin.
3/10

Funyuns

Ooh clever play on words- but basically these are just onion rings -standard, maize based snacks that you can buy from any British supermarket. 

They were tasty, but they're not particularly different to what we have here in good ol' Blighty (and pickled onion Monster Munch waaaay outstrip them!)
4/10