The Well Necessities Collection is a functional foods subscription box curated by a registered dietitian and a doctor. The folks behind TWN believe that overcoming illness is harder and more expensive than preventing it in the first place.
This box was sent to us at no cost for review purposes. (Check out the review process post to learn more about how we review boxes.)
The Subscription Box: The Well Necessities Collection
The Cost: $29.99/cycle (right now this box is quarterly) + $5 shipping (save with longer subscriptions)
COUPON: Use code MSAFREESHIP to get free shipping!
The Products: Foods and other products that protect and promote your health (all items in the box are vegan)
Ships to: US ($5; contact TWN about shipping to other countries)
Check out other healthy food subscription boxes in the Food Subscription Box Directory and make sure to add The Well Necessities Collection to your subscription list or wishlist!
The box came with this four-page printout containing more information about the items. There was A LOT of stuff in this box. It took me more than a week to get through it all.
Mediterra Savory Bar with Black Olives and Walnuts (1.23 oz) – Value $2.09
I’ve had sweet bars from this company before, but the savory bars are new to me. I have a little mental thing about savory bars – I tend to expect bars to be sweet – but once I got over this, I enjoyed it quite a bit. It helps that I am a fan of both olives and walnuts.
Truth Bar Prebiotic + Probiotic Chocolate Dipped Coconut (1.76 oz) – Value $2.96
I gobbled this up but it gave me a stomach ache. I suspect it had a lot more fat and a lot less protein than I am used to eating. It did taste pretty good, though. Reminded me of a healthy version of a Mounds bar.
Emmy’s Dark Cacao Macaroon (0.66 oz) – Value $0.96
Always a fan of these. Have had several other flavors in food subscription boxes and they’ve been consistently good.
Brami Snacking Lupini Beans (1.5 oz) – Value $1.41
These had an interesting texture and a mild vinegar flavor. I think I am still more of a fan of the texture of roasted chickpeas as opposed to these but it is nice to see a new form of bean for snacking.
Sir Kensington’s Ketchup (1.8 oz) – Value $0.83
I am not a ketchup fan but my husband loves it. We will save this for the next time we have veggie burgers.
Simply Gum Natural Mint (15 pieces) – Value $2.99
I am not sure what I think of this. It does not have a candy coating like many other types of gum out there. It also seemed to get softer the longer I chewed it, which was unusual.
PBFit Peanut Butter Powder (0.85 oz) – Value $0.52
Always a fan of powdered peanut butters. I have no brand loyalty so if this turns out to be cheaper than the PB2 I am currently buying, I will gladly switch.
Berry’d Treasure Blueberry-Apple Granola Bites from Nourish Snacks (1.4 oz) – Value $2
I just ate these plain but they would be good as a yogurt topper (some of them fell apart in the bag). The dried blueberries were not too hard, which was nice for a change (usually I don’t care for dried blueberries because of the texture, but they were good here).
Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free Oatmeal Classic with Flax and Chia (1.81 oz) – Value $2.49
Bob’s Red Mill stuff takes up like half my pantry. I’ll admit to not having paid much attention to their gluten free offerings in the past (since I do eat gluten), but this was a great work breakfast one day last week when I was in a hurry. I threw in some freeze-dried fruit to add a bit of flavor.
Munk Pack Apple Quinoa Cinnamon Oatmeal Fruit Squeeze (4.2 oz) – Value $2.59
Another good on-the-go breakfast. I’m not much for pouch snacks (I tend to think of them as kid food) but I’ve had these before and I like them. Even though there is a lot of apple, they don’t feel just like applesauce (which is great because a lot of pouch snacks are like eating applesauce with 1% of something else in there for color).
Eat Healthy Designs Thank You Berry Much Card – Value $4
This confused me because it has nutrition information on the back. Best I can tell, the nutrition information is for strawberries. (I had thought there might be something edible like a fruit leather inside the card, but it is just a plain thank you card.)
Tigernut Raw Peeled Snack (1 oz) – Value $1.06
This is one of the things I have just not gotten around to trying yet. This box was a bit overwhelming when it arrived – so many items in there. This will be part of my lunch or an afternoon snack later this week.
Plant Fusion Complete Plant Protein in Chocolate (1.06 oz) – Value $1.09
I make smoothies with protein powder every morning. This blended pretty well and the flavor didn’t stand out much (but I also added PB2, cacao, matcha, powdered greens, and mixed berries, so no flavor stands out much).
Cocokind Lip Balm in Mint (0.15 oz) – Value $2.99
I’ve been seeing this brand a lot in subscription boxes the last few months. I didn’t open this yet because I really can’t justify having more lip balms that I’ve used once (a consequence of several years’ worth of subscription boxes). But it will get used eventually.
Cocokind Organic Facial Repair Serum (0.08 fl oz) – Value $1.12
A larger container of this was in last month’s Vegan Cuts beauty box. I was pretty happy with it then so it is nice to have a little one for travel.
Banza Chickpea Pasta Shells (8 oz) - $5
I got this in a recent Vegan Cuts snack box. We do eat a lot of pasta around here and I enjoyed this. It didn’t taste too beany. (Fair warning: I try to eat only whole grains at home and the texture was fine for me, but may not be what you are used to if you eat regular – white – pasta.)
Go Raw Super Simple Sprouted Flax Snacks (3 oz) – Value $5.49
I see this brand in subscription boxes a lot although this product was new to me. These were good dipped in hummus.
Sinfully Thin Blue Corn Popcorn (0.35 oz) – Value $0.27
I had this somewhere else before. It’s a nice non-oily, lightly salted popcorn. There weren’t too many kernels or small pieces, which was nice.
Simply 7 Quinoa Chips in Sea Salt (0.5 oz) – Value $0.41
These don’t have as much quinoa in them as I would like, from a nutritional standpoint (they’re kind of starchy). But I do enjoy salty snacks so they were gone quickly.
I heart Keenwah Chocolate Sea Salt Quinoa Cluster (1 oz) – Value $1.61
I think I got these in like my first food subscription box ever. I ate a whole full-sized bag then in about two days. I’m glad this is smaller so I can’t overindulge. I find the texture of these to be a little bit hard (but the flavor makes up for it).
NuNaturals NuStevia No Carbs Blend Zero Calorie Sweetener (0.02 oz x 2 packets) – Value $0.12
There were actually two packets of this but one didn’t make it in the picture. They were pretty average as stevia goes. I appreciate wanting to use something natural for your non-caloric sweetener but stevia is not my favorite.
Ojio Sport Thunderbolt Electrolyte in Berry (0.25 oz) – Value $1
This was a nice change of pace from pre-workout or BCAA supplements in my water bottle while exercising.
Kuli Kuli Pure Moringa Vegetable Powder (0.4 oz) – Value $1.09
This went in my morning smoothies. I don’t like the flavor of moringa on its own but in a smoothie, it blends pretty well. (This moringa is from the leaves of an African tree and is a recently popular superfood.)
Pukka Three Ginger Tea (1.8 g, 1 bag) – Value $0.30
This was wonderful. Very warming and calming to the stomach. I will be buying this again.
Salba Chia Seeds Boost (0.5 oz) – Value $0.71
Chia seeds are a staple in my pantry. They make it into my smoothies fairly often and are also good in oatmeal (if you add too much water by accident, these will soak it right up).
Sun Chlorella Granules (3 g) – Value $1.82
Another smoothie inclusion. Chlorella is a species of algae that may stimulate the immune system and/or promote the growth of healthy gut bacteria populations. It is hard to see an effect from one small packet, though.
NuNaturals NuStevia Cocoa Syrup (0.085 fl oz) – Value $0.07
I was more of a fan of the powder than this liquid. I guess it is hard for the cocoa flavor to add much to Crio-Bru, which is how I used this. (In my defense, I don’t like coffee and I did want to try it out!)
Verdict: I calculated a value of about $47 for this quarter’s The Well Necessities Collection. This box promises over $50 in value and, to be fair, a lot of the prices above are Vitacost sale prices, so the MSRP of the box is almost certainly at least a few dollars higher. At any rate, for a $35 food box (including shipping), this is a good value. Although I had tried many of these products already in other food subscriptions, there were also quite a few new items. I appreciated that everything was generally quite low in sugar; I felt like someone was actually paying attention to the nutritional profiles of the items in the box instead of just grabbing food items and throwing them in there.
What do you think of the Spring 2016 The Well Necessities Collection?
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