The Vegan Kind is a Scottish company founded in 2013 with the aim to alleviate all the tedious time spent looking at food labels during shopping. TVK is one of the most famous vegan subscription boxes out there which offers both the monthly food box and the quarterly beauty box. The food (or "lifestyle" as they call it) box is priced £13.15 (£10 for the box and £3.15 for delivery) and £18.15 for beauty box (£15.00 for the box and £3.15 for delivery). These prices may increase in the short future following an Instagram post on TVK page that they may be changing from Royal Mail to a courier service due to customer complaints of boxes not arriving.


I have been eyeing their boxes for a while but I have never plunged to purchase one because:

1. The previous beauty boxes feature companies which use ingredients I am not happy with
2. The "bargain power" of boxes is not high enough for me
3. I am very picky and I do not like not knowing what will arrive in my box (double negative there, how naughty)

A good way to get round this would be to order a box after it comes out - TVK offers a limited number of their previous food boxes from their shop. The catch is that the delivery will cost £3.99 instead of £3.15 if you were a subscriber, making the actual cost to you a little bit higher. When I ordered my box I shopped their website for other offers and picked up a few other items thereby spreading the delivery cost - winner!

So jumping to the box ->

First and the main reason I purchased this box - Harpers Bizarre Halo Christmas Candle (RRP £5). Boy, I love a good candle and Harpers Bizarre make one of the best candles. Ever! (Maybe even the best). Family run business of making handmade, cruelty-free, vegan soy candles which smell incredible and very strong. None of that nonsense of having to stick the candle up your nose to get the slightest waft of smell - these candles WILL fill your room (and the next room. In fact one candle will probably fragrance the whole floor - you've been warned). Unlike the usual festive candles which smell of cinnamon and other spices (if you are lucky), this candle is more of a fresh clean smell. 




This is a mini-candle (see the original size) and the original candles come at £8 each. The only point of critique is these candles come in tins which to me looks less eye-appealing than glass jars. At the same time tins come with lids to these are easier to store and transfer 😀



Next, Food of Athenry Very Fruity Starry Mince Pies 280g (RRP £4.50). I was never a fan of mince pies (*gasp*) but I thought maybe these will break the cycle and convert me. Unfortunately, this did not happen, I still do not like spiced up fruity filling and the crust was too crumbly (maybe because these are also gluten free). However, if you do know anyone who has GF diet and a fan of mince pies, these can make a lovely pretty present.




Cocoa Libre Chocolate Orange Santas and Reindeers 60g (RRP £2.99). You get 6 figures with very nice details. These are made from rice milk and have an orange taste to them which makes them very similar to Sainsbury's Freefrom Orange Choc bar 35g (RRP £0.45) minus the nice detail. This kit looks very pretty so great as a gift but if you are simply after the taste I would opt for a cheaper version from Sainsbury's.

We Are Tea 1 x Glow Tea pyramid (RRP £3.49 for 12 pyramids). A blend of calendula, red berries and herbs are a perfect 'pick me up' for winter time. I wish this came in full version because I absolutely love tea! We Are Tea feature loose and pyramid tea of old favourite classics to more unusual lines. I love the charitable aspect of the company too. After a quick browsing on this blog, I came across an article on ways to recycle used tea bags - I particularly liked the suggestion of adding used bags to puddings and rice!

Ape Snack Crispy Coconut Curls Salted Chocolate 20g (RRP £1.10). OK, I have to admit I was rather skeptical of this because I am skeptical of all these types of snacks but this turned out to be rather yummy! Would I buy it again though? Probably not, I'd rather a chocolate with coconut flavour instead.




Good Full Stop Double Choc Bar 45g (RRP £0.90) feature dates, cashew and chocolate. For some reason, I was not impressed by it, not sweet and chocolaty enough for my liking. I would rather go for my old time favourite Nakd bars (I tend to buy them from H&B during promotion).

Peppermint Candy Cane. I love peppermint so this was first to go.

Charity of the month (10p from each box) - Jacobs Ridge, Spanish Sanctuary.

Overall box value - £14.49. As you can see the "bargain power" is only £1.34 if you were a subscriber. Considering I cannot choose what I want and I was not impressed by quite a few items, for me it was not the best value for money. The majority of the items I can purchase from my local health food shop where I can choose the different flavours too! On the other hand, if you are looking to explore the vegan snack range, discover artisan companies or you are not lucky to have a health shop nearby this subscription service could be for you. Also one of these boxes could be a great gift for your vegan friend if you are out of ideas. The problem I have with food subscription boxes is that you can eat all of it one day, whereas if you are subscribed to a beauty box the products are likely to last you for several months. The "bargain power" of beauty boxes also tends to be much higher (depending on a subscription company). I think this is because beauty products can be "hyped up" and the real production cost is much lower than the final price, whereas it is much harder to PR a box of chocolates hence the final price is likely to be largely made up of up the production cost. Does this make sense? If anyone else thought about this please leave a comment below, I am genuinely interested to hear if anyone else has a different theory.

Back to the grand shopping. The other item to pick up was CocoYou 100% Virgin coconut oil 500ml (RRP £9.99 discounted to £4.99). I use coconut oil mainly for my hair masks and baking so I am always on the hunt for coconut oil bargain. I was going to order 2 tubs however the shipping became £6.99 and I have decided against it. Still, this is a great bargain for unbleached, cold-pressed coconut oil. A quick search revealed this is sold for £4.00 on Amazon.



Ombar Centres Raspberry and Coconut 35g (RRP £1.99 discounted to £1.85). I LOOOOOVE these chocolates with nice surprise creamy fruity centre! They seldom come at a discounted price so I thought I better stock up. Raw and organic so these small chocolates come at a steep price.




Primal Strips Thai Peanut and Hickory Smoked (RRP £1.45 each). A vegan version of beef jerky, however, since I never had the original I cannot comment on authentic taste or texture. These are definitely quite rich flavoured and the texture is rather stringy.

Ah, finally this is the end of my shopping. What is your favourite vegan snack? Have you came across any nice vegan chocolates?