Facebook PixelQuarterly Culinary Box Review #YUM01 | MSA
My Subscription Addiction
My Subscription Addiction
Our reviewers research, test, and recommend the best subscriptions and products independently; click to learn more about our editorial guidelines. We may receive commissions on purchases made through links on our site.

Quarterly Culinary Box Review #YUM01

Liz Cadman
ByLiz CadmanAug 24, 2015 | 13 comments

culinary-box-quarterly-august-2015-

The Quarterly Culinary box is a new subscription box from Quarterly. Once a season they send you kitchen tools, ingredients and recipes selected by a rotating curator. For the first box, the curators are Amanda Hesser and Merrill Stubbs from Food 52.

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

Check out my review of the Quarterly Culinary Box #YUM01 Items

The Subscription Box: Quarterly Culinary Box

The Cost: $50 a box plus shipping costs (ships every quarter)

The Products: Kitchen tools, ingredients and recipes.

Ships to: US and International

Check out my review of the Quarterly Culinary Box #YUM01 Letter

Each Quarterly box comes with a letter from the curator detailing the items included. For the first mailing, Food 52 has sent items and recipes for beating the summer heat!

Check out my review of the Quarterly Culinary Box #YUM01 Pops

Zuko Round Pops - Value $19.99

Yay! These popsicle molds are BPA and phthalate free! They get great reviews on Amazon too.

The letter also included recipes for Raspberry Ice Pops and Blackberry, Rosemary and Yogurt Ice Pops.

Check out my review of the Quarterly Culinary Box #YUM01 Raspberry

Royal Rose Lavender Lemon Simple Syrup - 2 oz Value $3

Royal Rose Raspberry Simple Syrup - 8 oz Value $11.50

I've sampled Royal Rose simple syrups before thanks to subscription boxes, and they are fantastic! They are all natural/organic, and I've loved every flavor I've tried - including these two! The raspberry syrup is featured in the Raspberry Ice Pops recipe, so I'll probably try that, but these also work great for mixers in cocktails!

Check out my review of the Quarterly Culinary Box #YUM01 Sticks

Sucre Shop Polka Dot Ice Pop Sticks - Value $10

These popsicle sticks are adorable, but they seemed like a bit of a weird inclusion to me since the Zoku Round Pops popsicle mold comes with sticks/bases. (Also $10 for 20 popsicle sticks seems a bit pricey to me - but then again I've never bought specialty design popsicle sticks! Now I've learned that Sucre Shop has a lot of cute stuff if you need party supplies!).

Heirloom Porcelain Berry Basket - Value $12.95

This porcelain "basket" was included to go with the raspberries needed for the Raspberry Ice Pops recipe. I love how realistic it looks:

Check out my review of the Quarterly Culinary Box #YUM01 Heirloom

And it is dishwasher safe!

Verdict: This box has a value of about $58 - which is the exact cost of the box plus shipping. In general Quarterly boxes seem to be more about curation than value, but I'm happy to see that in this case the value at least matches the total cost to the subscriber.

I think this box is fun, and I'm curious to see how the next boxes compare. (Each box will have a different curator, so who knows what to expect with #YUM02!).

What do you think of the first Quarterly Culinary Box?

Liz Cadman
Liz Cadman
Liz is the founder of My Subscription Addiction. She's been hooked on subscription boxes since 2011 thanks to Birchbox, and she now subscribes to over 100 boxes. Her favorites include POPSUGAR Must Have, FabFitFun, and any box that features natural beauty products!

Join the Conversation

Please do not enter your email address in the Name field or in the comment content. Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *. Remember to post with kindness and respect. Comments with offensive language, cruelness to others, etc will not be approved. See our full comment policy here.

13 comments

Rosemary

I didn’t quite understand why there were 2 simple syrups. I would have rather had more of a variety I guess.

Reply ButtonReply

Biki

I like the idea and the theme but it does feel like there’s something missing from the box. I liked the items but I would’ve suggested putting in something like a fruit mold or gelatin candies that would’ve been interesting and fun.

Reply ButtonReply

lisa

I just added the Zoku and the berry basket to my amazon shopping cart for $29. The simple syrup and toothpicks I can get at TJ Maxx. If anything, I get great gifts ideas from the Quarterly curations without having to give them a dime.

Reply ButtonReply

heyhey

I purchased the same popsicle sticks about 2 or 3 weeks ago at home goods for $2.50.

Reply ButtonReply

nursermk

Kudos for you and your smart idea, much appreciated. I was thinking of subscribing but am glad I skipped this box; for fifty bucks I would have been gobsmacked at paying that much for a bunch of popsicles. They really could have put a few more things in to sweeten the deal a bit and give this a little WOW. Wholesale it probably cost them less than half this price to put the box together.

Reply ButtonReply

Stacy

I’m not too surprised about how underwhelming this box is bc the Food52 box I received was awful and way under value. I cancelled that one immediately. I may get this box when they announce the next curator.

Reply ButtonReply

Paula

I was so disappointed with this box! It actually kind of p***ed me off. I was originally subscribed to the Chef Ludo box and Quarterly sent me an email letting me know that I would now be signed up for this box. I thought “ok, they are combining the food curators so that will be ok” Well, I was so wrong, I wanted a chef box not a goofy, quirky box. I can see where this is fun for some people but I am not one of those people, I guess. What a giant waste of $58 dollars. Also, I had ordered the Ludo box before the shipping charges were in place, you would have thought since they were the ones who changed the box, I wouldn’t have been charged shipping! Ugh, this was the only Quarterly box I was still receiving and now I am done with them for good.

Reply ButtonReply

lisa

^^^ this

Reply ButtonReply

:)

i was so excited when this box launched and signed up immediately. I was so disappointed when it arrived! It’s not that the items are not nice, but I’d never pay the retail value for any of it. In fact, this disappointment caused me to run out to TJ Maxx & spend the same amount on several things in the cooking/food section that I DID want. Then I spent the extra $12.65 on shipping to swap the entire box away. Cancelled with quarterly immediately.

Reply ButtonReply

Jen

As someone who is a huge fan of the culinary arts, I find this box extremely disappointing & not worth the $50+

Reply ButtonReply

Erin

Ditto – it looks like it’s missing half the items that should have been included. I can’t get past paying $58 for Popsicle sticks, Popsicle molds, flavored simple syrups (they are good but they were just included in the Birchbox summer LE box) and a small bowl. In my 2 years of experience with various Quarterly subs I’ve found “light” boxes to be the rule versus the exception. Precisely the reason I no longer sub to any boxes.

Reply ButtonReply

Sher

Agreed. I had seriously considered ordering this box … I am SO happy I decided not to.

PA Anna

I did not order the box. I think it is a fun box that my family would had enjoyed. I love the porcelain berry basket.

Reply ButtonReply