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FitSnack Subscription Box Review – January 2015

Lindsey Morse
ByLindsey MorseFeb 6, 2015 | 28 comments

FitSnack Subscription Box Review - January 2015 Box

FitSnack is a new monthly snack subscription box. The box includes snacks that are “not only delicious but are also designed to provide clean energy to support an active, fitness-focused lifestyle.”

The FitSnack team has created a “FitSnack Perfect 10” checklist for snacks that includes categories like: high in protein, low sugar index, GMO free, organic, gluten free, and Paelo. While not all snacks included in the box will fit into each category, by focusing on these guidelines FitSnack aims to provide a well-balanced and nutrient-dense selection.

FitSnack Subscription Box Review - January 2015 Packaging

This box was sent to us for review purposes. (Check out the review process post to learn more about how we review boxes.)

FitSnack Subscription Box Review - January 2015 Items

The Subscription Box: FitSnack

The Cost: $24/monthly, $23/monthly with 3-month subscription, $22/monthly with 6-month subscription, and $20/monthly with annual subscription for US subscribers. (International subscribers will be charged an additional $6-$9 per month for shipping.)

The Products: 6-9 healthy, nutrient-dense snacks valued at over $30.

Ships to: US, Canada, and worldwide!

Check out the Food Subscription Box Directory for more food boxes!

FitSnack Subscription Box Review - January 2015 Artwork

My FitSnack box did not include an informational card listing the items included; however, a quick Internet search tells me other boxes did, so it looks like mine was left out by mistake.

FitSnack Subscription Box Review - January 2015 Chips

Simply 7 Lentil Chips- .8 oz, value $.80

Simply 7 Quinoa Chips- .8 oz, value $.80

The Protein Bakery Oatmeal Cranberry Cookies- 2 oz, value $3.50

The Protein Bakery Peanut Butter Blondie- 3oz, value $4.50

I’ve tried Simply 7 snacks before, and I’m already a fan of their Hummus Chips. These made with lentils and quinoa are delicious too! They contain no cholesterol, trans fat, artificial colors or flavors, and are free from preservatives and gluten. I appreciate their ethos and additive-free approach to chip making, and I think both are a great, healthier alternative to potato chips. FitSnack box also included a coupon for $.50 off one full-sized bag of chips.

Both of the snacks included from The Protein Bakery are made using muscle-building whey protein powder, to help prevent spikes in blood sugar levels and make the baked goods more filling. (Perhaps unsurprisingly, the bakery’s owner is a fitness guru!) Theoretically, I like the idea of creating healthy baked goods; however, I wasn’t crazy about the blondie. I could taste the protein powder right away, which I found a bit off-putting. Fortunately, I thought the cookies were much tastier.

FitSnack Subscription Box Review - January 2015 Fitsnacks

FitSnack Veggie Chips- 2.75 oz, value $3? (FitSnacks are not available for sale online, so I’m estimating the value based on similar online products.)

FitSnack Almond & Pumpkin Seed Mix- 3 oz, value $4.75?

I like that FitSnack has included signature snacks in this box! The Almond & Pumpkin Seed Mix seems like a generous portion, and contains only two ingredients: almonds and pumpkin seeds. I personally would have enjoyed them more if they’d been roasted with some salt, but I appreciate how healthy and clean the snack is. The Veggie Chips were lightly salted, satisfyingly crunchy, and included whole green beans and identifiable slices of beet, carrot, and sweet potato. I hope FitSnack starts selling them online, because I would definitely buy them again!

FitSnack Subscription Box Review - January 2015 Pancake Mix

Oven Baked Organics Gluten Free Pancake Mix- 6.91oz, value $5 (sold in packs of 3)

Kay’s Naturals Mocha Espresso Cookie Bites - 1.2 oz, value $1.69 (on sale for $1.49)

This gluten free pancake mix calls for milk (your FAV kind!), oil, honey (or agave), and an egg; however, they suggest substituting applesauce for the egg, if desired. I like that the instructions are fairly traditional with the option to make the pancakes vegan and/or dairy-free.

The Cookie Bites are really tasty! The texture reminds me a little bit of puffed cereal, and the chocolate espresso flavor is nicely pronounced. (As an aside: has anyone ever seen espresso-flavored cereal before? Now I really want some!) FitSnack box also included a coupon for 30% off Kay’s Naturals.

FitSnack Subscription Box Review - January 2015 Nogii

Nogii Whey & Quinoa Protein in Vanilla Bean -.74 oz, value $1.78

Nogii Whey & Quinoa Protein in Cocoa Chocolate - .74 oz, value $1.78

Gocopod- 15ml, value $.99

Somersaults in Cinnamon Crunch- .5 oz, value $.89

Nogii was created by Elizabeth Hasselbeck, a longtime sufferer of Celiac Disease and advocate for gluten free living. These Nogii samples are gluten free, high protein powders.

Gocopod is an individually packaged serving of virgin, non-GMO coconut oil. Their website recommends using coconut oil to improve metabolism and digestion, as a skin moisturizer, or for conditioning hair.

The Cinnamon Crunch Somersaults are a little difficult to describe. They taste a bit like granola bar cookies tossed in cinnamon sugar and manage to taste healthy and delicious at the same time- quite a feat, I think! I definitely recommend them for someone looking for a nutritious snack that doesn’t taste TOO healthy. 

Verdict: Overall, I’m very pleased with the quality, selection, and value of FitSnack box. Most of the snacks were very tasty, and I like that FitSnack has a “Perfect 10” checklist to help ensure the snacks they provide are healthy and nutrient-dense. According to my estimates, the value of this box comes in just under $30 (though I could be undervaluing the FitSnack brand items).

What do you think of the January FitSnack box?

Lindsey Morse
Lindsey Morse

Lindsey is a professional baker, cold brew coffee addict, and rosé aficionado who loves writing about food and wine. When she’s not sharing her love of subscription boxes with the world, you’ll find her in the podcasting studio, perfecting her cake decorating techniques, or cursing her way through the New York Times daily crossword puzzle. 


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28 comments

Crystal

As a mother of a daughter with severe food allergies (soy, dairy, egg, peanut, cashew, pistachio, celery) it amazes me that people are so eager to jump down the throats of people with gluten allergies. It also surprises me that people with gluten allergies aren’t always meticulous in checking ingredients, even if something claims to be allergy friendly you can bet that I check the ingredient list every single time. Ultimately, regardless of what someone claims on their website or packaging, you should already know how vitally important it is to check ingredients. I would NEVER order a box of mystery food goodies if food allergies are an issue for the person intended to eat said goodies. Those are just the cards that are dealt when you have food allergies.

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CreativelySwank

I don’t think anyone was jumping on people with food allergies. I just think if it’s that big of a deal where you are going to be FURIOUS enough to go ballistic on a website then maybe subscription food boxes that never claim to be a gluten free box are not for you. I’m gluten free and find this just to be common sense. I’m not going to order from Just Fab for instance and then be mad that they are selling boots when they are a shoe store and I can’t wear boots.

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CreativelySwank

For many of us boot free is not a lifestyle…how dare they also sell boots when they say they sell shoes. It’s a little ridiculous, so perhaps simmer down was appropriate. 😉

Aimee

I was tempted to order this, however, when I attempted to go to this website my security software warned me the site was not secure

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Erin

I think this is a great review! It’s honest not negative (there is a difference). I find Liz’s food box reviews to be generally positive as well. I’m never interested in reviews that are relentlessly sunshine and roses unless it’s obvious there’s a good reason for such a response. I think it’s a rare scenario for a food box reviewer to love every single item included in every box. Likewise I don’t find it negative for a reviewer to provide a product value breakdown. That’s an important factor for many potential subscribers. From my year and a half following MSA I’ve determined that food box item values rarely will equal the cost of the subscription itself and that the subs are more about curation that literal value. That’s something all reviewers point out in MSA food box reviews. I also never thought this particular sub was marketed as GF since the site and the review state just the opposite, so I don’t see any misrepresentation.

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Greta

Let’s not get all upset about false representation. First, I never saw this box positioned as a gluten free subscription. It is presented as a “Clean energy to support an active, fitness-focused lifestyle” box. Second, The Protein Bakery’s website is quite clear on their gluten stance. They print clearly on their website that they themselves are gluten- free, but do not produce in a gluten free facility, so they can not use that label. Simmer down.

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Greta

Wheat-free! I meant to say Protein Bakery states they are wheat-free! Gluten is not limited to wheat. I was multitasking when I posted that and didn’t have a chance to correct it (not that you can edit). Thank you to the person that posted what is stated on their website. I think they do a good job at stating the record. Also, yes, there are loosely two kinds of people that go GF: those that choose to for health reasons, and those that have to for medical reasons. This box appears to be targeting those people that CHOOSE to limit (not eliminate) elements in their diet in order to stay on a healthy trajectory. There is really no reason to attack people on here or make it personal. We are all here for similar reasons and just wish to gain insight into boxes before making a commitment or see if we wish to remain committed. It is a wonderful community of sharing experiences, knowledge, and products. Let’s not ruin it.

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CreativelySwank

Considering they sell a separate gf box I don’t understand the confusion of how this was supposed to be a gf box? Perhaps if people would take the time to read thoroughly before they react and attack others would find those of us with food sensitivities so annoying.

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CreativelySwank

*Wouldn’t find us annoying
I wish we could edit

CreativelySwank

And while I am gluten free, I am also not the only person in my family so this is a great sub for me if I think outside the box.

Sneaky Burrito

Agreed. The first part of the review says not all the snacks will fit into every category listed. That means not all the snacks will be GF, but some of them will be.

Also, among the GF people I know, there are varying degrees of avoidance. Those with celiac disease have to be very careful, of course. But someone else I know with only a mild (medically diagnosed) sensitivity avoids gluten but can eat things produced on shared equipment.

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Shelley

Are you kidding me? I will not simmer down. I was halfway to ordering this box. How can you say they don’t claim to be gluten-free? It’s right there are there splash page: http://imgur.com/bQq6gyl If I had subscribed to this box, I would have trusted the curation and eaten what they had chosen for me. And I likely would not have gone into every one of their vendor’s websites pages-deep to confirm that I got what I paid for.

For many of us, GF is NOT a lifestyle. Consuming gluten can have serious, even life-complicating results for many of us – me included (and also Liz, I believe?) This company is making a major launch and is offering up wheat-free products as GF – that is so insane I don’t even know what to say. There’s a reason why the GF community has to be vigilant about stuff like this – every time you belittle GF as a fad, or claim something is GF that is not, you could be really harming someone. See, e.g., http://nogluten-noproblem.com/2015/02/why-the-nascar-super-bowl-ad-mattered.html.

Your comment has me even more upset than the original inclusion of these items – I seriously hope Liz wouldn’t choose to make a reviewer out of someone who could be so, so wrong. How dare you?

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Liz Cadman

Hi Shelley,

Sorry for any confusion. This is not a gluten-free box, but the FitSnack site doesn’t explain that very well.

At the beginning of this review Lindsey called out that while this box will send some gluten free items, not all items will be gluten free:

“The FitSnack team has created a “FitSnack Perfect 10” checklist for snacks that includes categories like: high in protein, low sugar index, GMO free, organic, gluten free, and Paelo. While not all snacks included in the box will fit into each category, by focusing on these guidelines FitSnack aims to provide a well-balanced and nutrient-dense selection.”

On FitSnack’s site, they also call it out under “The Perfect 10” explained: https://www.fitsnack.com/box, but it’s not very clear from the first look at the page. (I had to read the entire page to find the part that says not every item will have each one of their Perfect 10 characteristics).

As someone who is gluten free, I can tell you that it doesn’t make a lot of sense to me. I look at it like either someone needs to avoid gluten or they don’t (me vs. my husband). So a sometimes-gluten free box wouldn’t work for me, but I’m guessing it works for some people.

I hope that makes sense – I am super ingredient conscious when it comes to food due to my food allergies and intolerances, and would never want this site to give anyone the wrong information about what is in a box.

Shelley

I would have been FURIOUS had I ordered this box. The Protein Bakery is NOT gluten-free, they use a shared facility where gluten-containing ingredients are used. There is virtually no way to prevent cross-contamination from occurring in such a facility (trust me – I’m a GF baker under my state’s cottage food law who is having trouble keeping up with orders because I can’t move to a shared kitchen and am not ready to rent my own yet – I have researched this to death). And if there was no information card, it sounds like they didn’t highlight the problem. Do the products themselves make it really, REALLY clear that they aren’t GF? Like in big red letters on the front? I was actually interested in this box, but I would never trust the curation again. (And FWIW, I used to live in NYC and before I was diagnosed I got stuff from Protein Bakery all the time – I loved their stuff! I was so bummed when I researched it after I was diagnosed and found that I couldn’t rely on their items to be GF.)

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Shelley

So I just wrote a further, exquisitely withering comment that got erased because I was so incensed I forgot to add my email address… but the important part was this, from Protein Bakery’s webstie: WHY WHEAT-FLOUR FREE?
Many people today are looking for products that contain no wheat. If you fall under the category of being wheat intolerant then you should know that all of our baked goods are wheat-flour free. Everything is high in dietary fiber because we use rolled oats and grind them into flour.

WHEAT-FLOUR FREE! DOES THAT MEAN GLUTEN-FREE?
No. We are not Gluten-Free. We grind the finest rolled oats into flour to make our products wheat free and higher in dietary fiber. However, we are baked in a facility that uses gluten in other products, so we are NOT certified gluten free.

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Shelley

Oh wait, Ranty has more that is actually relevant as opposed to my views on how things should be – Protein Bakery uses oats in everything and they do not say they are certified GF oats, which are way more expensive than regular oats. If oats are NOT certified GF, they almost definitely have been contaminated with gluten. This means their main ingredient could contain gluten, and I’m guessing none of their add-ins (like chocolate chips etc.) are certified GF either – wouldn’t make sense, those ingredients are much more expensive. And Protein Bakery doesn’t claim to be anything but wheat-free, so why bother?

I’m sorry for the continuous ranting, this has made me absolutely livid.

CreativelySwank

I had the opportunity to see a bit behind the scenes of this Colorado company and I’m so glad to see you like their product. I know she also has a gf box either out or soon to be out as well. The women behind FitSnack are wonderful strong, empowering women and I am eager to see them succeed!

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Ladyk927

Love protein bakery. As another poster said, I received a sample pack of their brownies in a pretty fit box. The peanut butter blonde was ok, but their brownie was amazing. I don’t think you can taste the protein powder, but I don’t mind the taste of a good powder anyway, the good ones are delicious! I also love Kay’s, also introduced to me through pretty fit. I love their honey almond cereal. It tastes a little like Kix cereal.

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Beth

Living social has a special today for 1-month of the Fit Snack box for $12, but when I clicked on the “view deal” tab it said I could get the box for $10 for a “limited time.” Thinking about trying it out for $10.

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Dawn

Note that with the LS deal, you have to pay $5 shipping for US. Pretty sneaky. On the plus side, LS will give you a refund if you have not yet used the voucher.

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cheryl

I’d love to get a box like this seems a little high priced.

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Emma C

An honest, great review! Seems like a cool new box. I’m interested in The Protein Bakery company because I’m a low-carb dieter, but I CAN spare 14 carbs for a cookie 😉 .

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Greta

I’m very familiar with the popular Protein Bakery in NYC. I have also received a big bag of their brownies in one of my I’m PrettyFit Box. I absolutely LOVE their cookies and brownies!! I have large shipments sent to me in CA from NY. I have protein shakes every morning and as a fitness finatic , have for many years. So, the flavor of protein powder doesn’t put me off one bit. I guess if you are a fitness finatic you don’t mind those things and have a different palette.

Kay’s Naturals is another popular protein source food line that rocks.

I can’t help but notice a slight negative bias in all your fitness food reviews. It’s clearly just not for you. That hardly means they are bad. You are giving bad reviews on products that are hugely popular and raved about in the fitness food world.

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Liz Cadman

Hi Greta – This review is from our newest reviewer Lindsey, and it is her first food box reviewed on the site. I wanted to clarify to make sure my previous reviews on this site aren’t reflected on her.

And thanks for the feedback in general – I hope you’ll see this year that we are trying to add more reviewers with different areas of expertise. As you mentioned, I’m not an expert in this category, and hopefully this move will help make reviews more helpful! 🙂

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Liz Cadman

Also – if anyone is a fan of fitness and supplement boxes and wants to review them – send me an email! 🙂