Care Pack NZ - August 2014

Kia Ora!

My second Care Pack arrived! This is a fairly new subscription service in New Zealand, and it brings out NZ made, ethical, natural and organic, and eco-friendly products to your door each month. It costs $32.00 per month, including  shipping. 

This is my second box, and I wasn't overly thrilled with some of the products that came in the first one, but decided it deserved a second chance to see what was next. 

Here's a blurry photo of the unopened box (my bad). 

It come in a cardboard box, and wrapped in brown paper. I like that they are committed to their eco-friendly image, even in the packaging. And the card is purple - my favourite colour, so that's a positive sign!

The card for those who like the extra info.

Oooh this looks like it could be a good box. Superfoods seems to be the new buzzword in food and health, and I'm pretty excited to try some New Zealand products that are good for me! Although I sense the box will disappear within a few hours if everything is edible.

Roar Kale Chips - Garlic Chilli

I've been hearing so much about kale, but I've never known how to use/cook/eat it. Kale chips seems to be the healthy version of potato chips, mainly without the carbs. Garlic chilli seems like a fantastic flavour and I'm excited to have these to try.

After a mandatory taste test (hah, or my huge lack of self-control), the chips are crunchy and delicious. They smell a bit weird, and I'm not sure on the kale itself, but the flavouring is the real hero of this product.

Website: roarfood.co.nz
RRP: $6.95

Skinfood Cleansing Body Bar

A soap! Soap is always useful. Not very exciting but useful and a good inclusion in the box. The fact that it is made with manuka honey, lime and avocado is awesome, and this New Zealand brand is great. I've tried Skinfood before, and I like the natural products they use to make beauty products.

This soap smells like generic soap. These days soaps are all about the pretty smell, and enticing people to buy soaps that have delicious scents. I like this one because it is plain and boring, but you know you'll get clean when you use it.

RRP: $2.89

Skinfood Body Butter - Sample (5ml)

I'm not super keen on foil packets, but I like that they have followed up with a soap and body butter combo. I'm excited to use this, especially as the ingredients sound really great for my skin. I haven't tried this, and can't open it to smell it so I can't really say much more at this stage.

RRP: $0.37
$18.99 full size (250g)

Ola Pacifica 70% Cacao Chocolate Bar

Mmmmm chocolate. This is always a great addition. Apparently the trinitario cacao is sourced from family and village owned plantations in Samoa and then poured over dried papaya. Although I'm not sure how this is New Zealand exactly, but Samoa is still pretty local so I'm happy with this.

This little bar tastes like heaven. It has some vanilla, little chunks of papaya and so much dark chocolate I'm heading straight out to buy several more of these bars. Everyone needs to try this stuff. Unfortunately it seems that most stockists are in the Hawke's Bay, so there might be a road trip coming up. Yes, that is how good this chocolate is.

RRP: $??? (I can't find a price online).

Chia Seed Drink - Orange Passionfruit & Apple

Well this is certainly different. I'm not sure if this actually counts as a liquid ...

Chia seeds are a great source of omega-3 as well as a bunch of other really great things (amino acids, antioxidents, slow release carbs). This drink tastes pretty great, once you get used to the fact that this is like wet soup rather than a drink-drink. It's a good thing though, I want to try the other flavours now too.

RPP: $5.50

Pure Coco Extra Virgin Coconut Oil

I've been hearing a whole bunch about coconut oil on the interwebs too. I don't really know what to use this for, but luckily the website provides some hints and tricks which are good for newbies like me. I'm excited to try this out and see what difference it makes in my life.

The oil is hard and white, and smells like coconut. I want to lick it! Apparently it should invigorate the flavour of anything you cook in it, perhaps my chicken will taste more chicken-y for dinner tonight.

Fun fact: Apparently this can also be used as a lubricant. Multi-purpose coconut oil!

RRP: $1.67
Update: Apparently this is $5.98, but was hidden in the depths of the website earlier.

ViBeri Organic Blackcurrants

Yum. Yum. Yum. Dried fruit is my favourite thing to eat/snack on and I'm stoked to see this in the box. I refuse to confirm this, but word on the street is that the packet is empty by the time this blog post is finished.

These are organic blackcurrants, sweetened with apple juice. They are very delicious, and would be great in nut mixes, on cereal, or in baking. However I'm apparently experiencing a major lack of self-control today, and scoffed the packet by itself. Yum!

RRP: ????

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Total value of the box: $21.69 (not including blackcurrants and Cacao bar as no available RRP).
Update: I have been contacted by Care Pack, who say the box has an RRP of $35, $40 if shipping is included. 

Overall I'm really happy with this box. I really like the variety of different foods and how they are all different things that I've never tried before. I'm excited to widen my 'superfoods' experience, and the products included in this box are quickly disappearing. 

However, when I added up the total value of the things I received I'm not really sure it's worth it. The products are great, but if I pay $32 then I want at least $32 worth of product. One way of ensuring subscribers know that they are getting their money's worth is by putting an RRP by each item on the card.

I'm very conflicted because I like everything in this box, but it's not working out to the value I think it should. I'm going to have to think really carefully about whether this box deserves a third chance.

What do you guys think?