Elephant Food Superfood Snack Nuttin' But Energy Megamix

You can't beat a good bag of trail mix for just carrying around for a little munch on when you're out and about or just something you can dip your hand into at the office or at home. However, I'm fed up of those standard boring bags of just raisins, sultanas with a few nuts (usually cheap peanuts) thrown in. So when I saw this mix by Elephant Food, the combination blew my mind,

This instead is the far more exotic sounding mix of raw cacao nibs, raw brazil nuts, cashews, roasted tamari almonds, sunflower seeds and toasted buckwheat clusters covered in 70% cacao dark chocolate, What an absolutely intriguing and original idea. The Elephant Food superfood snack range comes in little 30g individual satchets for eating in one or, as I bought, larger 100g bags that are also resealable.

Looking into the bag I was really impressed by the wide range of things going on. This is one bag where they haven't skimped and there's a really even mix of the ingredients. All the nuts and seeds are good quality and it's a really fantastic mix of textures and flavours with no two handfuls being the same. The star of the show I have to say is the dark choc coated buckwheat clusters - they are seriously good and addictive. Buckwheat is a low GI grain and it's crunchy texture pairs perfectly with the 70% cocoa choc which has just the right level of sweetness but also a dark intensity that marries beautifully with the buckwheat but also when you eat a piece along with the nuts and seeds. Frankly I could really happily buy a bag of these just by themselves.

The tamari almonds have a slight saltiness to them which also works fantastically with the other flavours. There's just so much going on with these and I found as well as eating from the bag by the handful it made a nice topping for yogurt or porridge as well. It's a genuinely healthy snack with the magnesium and minerals from the nuts and seeds, great for boosting your energy, and even with the choc buckwheat clusters, the product is only 6.3% sugars or only 3.2g per serving. It's also a good source of fibre and plant protein.

The bag is also resealable which I appreciate helping keep things fresh but also making it perfect to carry out and about with you without the fear of fishing seeds from the bottom of the bags. This is a top quality snack and really quite unlike any other trail mix I've seen. I'd be interested in trying more from Elephant Food

Price: £2.49
Bought at: Holland and Barrett
Nutrition per serving: 269 calories, 18g fat, 5.5g sat fat, 3.2g sugars, 4.3g fibre, 7.7g protein, 0.01g salt

Score: 8/10

Holland and Barrett Good Stuff Nicely Spicy Pumpkin Review

Everytime I go into Holland and Barrett, I just can’t help but come out with more than I need. It’s one of those places I always enjoy having a browse and come out feeling good due to all the healthy snacks. Whilst I can happily eat nuts on their own, I tend to only eat seeds if they’re mixed into muesli or porridge or with yogurt as I find them a bit dull for grazing on.

These pumpkin seeds however are coated in chilli and paprika, which sounded a bit more intriguing and I thought they would make a good bag for just diving into at work as I’m trying to not always go for a sweet snack. Nutritionally pumpkin seeds are full of good stuff – loads of magnesium, high in plant protein and good fats and some studies have linked them to lowering cholesterol as well as being a natural inflammatory.

Like most H+B products, they’re good quality – no dry or stale bits in here with a nice crunch. The coating helps make them a lot nicer to eat. They have a very gentle heat that is sweet and mellow with a bit of back burn too. There’s other herbs and spices going on – some garlic, some coriander, some cumin. It all just makes a nice savoury snack.

It’s a nice little 85g bag – I hate massive sacks of nuts and seeds. The only thing I would like to see and this goes for all H+B products like this is help make it resealable – even just provide a sticker or something to close it and make it easier to open so you don’t end up ripping a big hole making  it even harder to reseal. It’s also low in sugar and salt is pretty good at 0.7g per bag – often savoury snacks can be really quite high in this. Packed full of flavour, this is a winner with me

Price: £2.49
Bought at: Holland and Barrett
Nutrition per 100g: 510 calories, 35g fat, 6.2g sat fat, 4g sugars, 0.9g salt

Score: 7.5/10

Foodie Market Natural Seed Mix (Aldi)

This is a very short review as this is a very simple product. I picked this seed mix up in Aldi for the absolute bargain price of 65p. It's nothing complex - just sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, cranberries, goji berries and pine nuts. Nothing artificial or nasty, just clean, natural ingredients.

I liked the fact it's just a small 100g bag as, much as I like this kind of product, it's not something I want to keep eating loads of so it means you can get through it without getting bored of it.

Everything in it was very fresh and of high quality. The seeds were crunchy and crisp and the berries soft and plump, not shrivelled up and dried out. The ratio is done well too. Enough berries for sweetness but not so much that this becomes overly sugary. I will definitely pick these up again. Perfect pack size and perfect price.

Price: 65p
Available: Aldi

Pros: Healthy, natural, good price, good pack size
Cons: Pack isn't resealable

Score: 7/10