The Fare Trade Food Subscription Box Review – December 2014
The Fare Trade is a new gourmet food subscription box. Each month the box is curated by a different chef who pairs their food selections with their own recipes. It looked like a really interesting subscription to me, and I decided to sign up for a 6-month subscription when Gilt City was offering a deal on subscriptions.
My Subscription Addiction pays for this subscription. (Check out the review process post to learn more about how we review boxes).
The Subscription Box: The Fare Trade
The Cost: $65 a month
The Products: Tastemaker curated products, included extra info and recipes to go with each new food item. (Bonus video content is available for subscribers as well).
Ships to: US only
Check out all of my Fare Trade reviews, and the Food Subscription Box Directory for similar boxes!
Each box includes a featured chef and their item picks and recipes for the month. For December, Fare Trade did a Retrospective themed box, including items from past boxes.
Here are the included recipe cards that feature the items.
Unbound Pickling Pickled Okra – Value $9
Baia Pasta Organic Durum Wheat Semolina – Value $7
I haven’t tried this Picked Okra before, so I may have to look up some recipes to find one that will work for me. (They included a recipe for Okra Tempura with Lemon Aioli).
We received this Baia Pasta in the August Fare Trade box. I don’t eat gluten, so I passed this along to my mom and she loved it. (Looks like she’ll be getting another box soon!)
Skillet Bacon Spread – Value $13
Liber & Co. Texas Grapefruit Shrub – Value $13
Both of these items were featured in the June Fare Trade box. My husband is a fan of this bacon jam for his breakfast sandwiches, and this Texas Grapefruit Shrub will now be a backup bottle at our bar!
Drunken Monkey Jam – Value $10
McFaddy Candy Toffee Sampler – Value $5?
I hadn’t received either of these items in Fare Trade boxes before, but I am a fan of this banana Drunken Monkey jam thanks to sampling from other subscription boxes!
(And I was told the toffee was delicious).
Verdict: In general this subscription is more about the curation than the retail value, so I recommend keeping that in mind if you are thinking about subscribing. This month’s box has a retail value of about $57, which I think is pretty good compared to previous months.. I would have preferred to get all new food products instead of some repeats from past boxes, but at least they picked some great products we will use.
What do you think of the December Fare Trade box?
Written by Liz Cadman
I have been really pleased with Fare Trade and have found some items that are now pantry staples like the Herbnzest Pumpkin curry pesto. I also have been very impressed with their customer care. Jake has been very helpful and I get the feeling that he has a real passion to highlight the chefs and different food items. Value seems to border on cost or a little less so I agree with Liz that this is more about curation.