Graze Box Review - Marvellous Macaroon & Fruity Ploughmans

Graze Box Delivery Date: 13 July 2012

Seven months of Graze box deliveries, and not one has ever missed its delivery date. Quite a feat considering the vagaries of the postal system. But it looked like Friday the 13th was going to break the spell, as my fortnightly Graze box failed to materialise along with the rest of the post.

Ah well, if it was going to happen, it made sense it would be on this day. But no sooner had I resigned myself waiting another day, when the postie returned an hour later, armed with my Graze box. I couldn’t open it soon enough.

So what was inside? Four snacks as usual, two of which have been received earlier and two new ones.

Weight Watchers Double Chocolate Chip & Orange Mini Cookies

Weight Watchers have an extensive variety of biscuits and their range is expanding all the time. Here's another new one called Weight Watchers Double Chocolate Chip & Orange Mini Cookies.

They’re sold in a multipack (95g) and inside each bag are five mini bags of cookies.

Mini Medals Chocolate Coated Ice Creams - NEW

You may have to grab these while you can. Mini Medals mini ice creams on sticks are new arrivals at Sainsbury’s, timed to coincide with the Olympic Games.

Inside each box of 12 ice lollies you’ll find three different coloured varieties: Gold, Silver and Bronze. And because they’re mini ice creams, they have fewer calories than regular sized ice creams on sticks. Whichever colour you choose, they all have 134 calories.

Nestle Cheerios Grab2Go Mini Bags - 95 Calories

How many of us are ‘guilty’ of dipping our hands into the cereal box when we fancy a quick snack. I know I do. But what if you fancy munching on your favourite breakfast cereal when you’re away from home?

Unless you're into carrying around a large box of cereal wherever you go, snacking on your favourite breakfast cereal out of the home isn't usually an option. Or is it?

With Nestle's new Cheerios Grab2Go bags, you can do just that. These individual snack sized bags of Cheerios are designed to be taken out of the house, packed into lunch boxes or your bag and can be eaten dry or with milk. 


If you’re concerned about calories, there’s no need. Each pack is carefully portion controlled and has just 95 calories, ideal for a snack.

Blue Diamond Almond Breeze Almond Milk Review

Until a few days ago, I thought the lowest calorie soya milk alternative was Alpro’s Almond Milk with only 24 calories per 100ml. However, I recently spotted this brand of unsweetened Almond Milk from Blue Diamond which has a mere 14 calories!

I've never seen or heard of this brand before, and after a bit of online research, discovered it's only recently been launched in the UK.

Information on the carton says:

  ‘Made from non-GM California almonds, Almond Breeze is an all natural, great tasting creamy alternative to milk and soya.’

It sounds wonderful, but would the taste live up to its description?

Mini Breadsticks (mini calories) from Morrisons

Always on the lookout for lower calorie snacks, I recently spotted these mini breadsticks from Morrisons. I haven’t noticed them before and they’re hard to miss with their bright red label.

I particularly like the style of packaging – a cylindrical cardboard tube with a plastic resealable lid. They are also the lowest calorie breadsticks I’ve found so far.

This style of pack, similar to the Pringles tubes, stands up neatly on a shelf so you can easily open the lid to take what you want. It’s easy to close so you can keep the contents fresh without having to worry about the pack splitting and crumbs falling everywhere!

Weight Watchers Mini Pot Swirls

Weight Watchers Mini pots are delicious, frozen iced desserts and they taste just like ice cream, but with a fraction of the calories.

They're available in Chocolate and Toffee flavours as shown in this post and also Strawberry and Raspberry mini pots.

Boxes contain 4 x 100ml pots: 2 strawberry and 2 raspberry.

Strawberry with Strawberry Swirl: 84 calories, 2 ProPoints; and

Vanilla with Raspberry Swirl: 88 calories, 2 ProPoints.

Top 20 Lowest Calorie Fruits Chart

Fresh fruit is naturally sweet, packed with vitamins and antioxidants and makes the ideal healthy snack. It's also a snack you can eat without worrying about the calories. Or is it?

Although the majority of fresh fruit is very low in calories, not all are. For example, a banana has around twice as many calories as an apple. If you're trying to lose weight, you might find that choosing more of the lower calorie fruits  instead of the higher calorie fruits, could help you save hundreds of calories throughout the week. 

Kellogg's All Bran Chocolate Crunch Review

Normally I avoid any breakfast cereals which have chocolate in them. With the majority of breakfast cereals already crammed with too much sugar, adding chocolate seems a step too far. Do we really need chocolate at breakfast?

This week, however, I made an exception. Kellogg's All Bran, my favourite high fibre breakfast cereal, recently launched the delicious All Bran Golden Crunch. And now they've produced a variation of this by adding chocolate. Yes, All Bran Chocolate Crunch has now arrived on the supermarket shelves.

Weight Watchers Rich Chocolate Dessert

Do you ever fancy something sweet and chocolatey after your meal but feel the calorie content will spoil your diet? If you’re eating out, then quite possibly it will.

But when you’re dining at home you can ensure you only have lower calorie options available in the fridge.

Fortunately there are many delicious and tempting desserts which manage to pack in loads of taste while keeping the calories down. Take Weight Watchers Rich Chocolate Desserts. They're deliciously creamy and made with real chocolate, but have only 62 calories per pot and 2 ProPoints.

9 Non-Artificial Alternatives to Sugar

Humans naturally enjoy sweet tastes. Right from birth, the first food passing our lips contains sugar (lactose) which gives milk its slightly sweet taste. From then on, through childhood to adulthood, the treats we crave the most are those sugar laden, high calorie snacks such as biscuits, ice cream, cakes and chocolate.

The majority of these sweet foods are generally sweetened with refined sugar, or worse, high fructose corn syrup. When using sugar at home, it's commonly of the refined white or brown variety. But, while these types of sugar give food it's sweet taste, it provides nothing nutritionally, except calories. It also has a high Glycaemic Index (GI), meaning it's quickly absorbed into the bloodstream. This often results in a sugar rush followed by a low and a craving for more sugar.

But not all sweeteners have such a negative effect on blood sugar. If you're looking for sugar substitutes but don't want to use artificial sweeteners, there are many non-artificial alternatives to sugar that you can use at home and some even have fewer calories.

Weight Watchers Low Fat Creme Fraiche

Weight Watchers low fat crème fraiche has significantly fewer calories than virtually all others on the market. Each 100g has only 76 calories and 2.7g of fat. Per 30g serving (a heaped tablespoon), this is 23 calories, 0.8g of fat and 1 ProPoint. 

Crème fraiche is often used as a healthier, lower calorie alternative to fresh cream. But, although creme fraiche does have less fat than cream, it's not always an ideal swap for dieters as it's usually still high in calories.

Tomato & Basil Melba Toasts - Morrisons

Melba toasts are wafer thin, crunchy crackers which are generally very low in calories. They're ideal for slimmers looking for something to snack on without worrying about the fat or calories.

These days you can find numerous brands of melba toasts and often it's hard to tell them apart as they're all quite similar. I suppose there's only so much you can do to when making them. But here's variety which is a little different from many others on sale.

Weight Watchers Wavy Squares

Here’s another crunchy snack from Weight Watchers. Multigrain Wavy Squares are made from corn, wheat, rice, oat and barley and are available in two flavours: Tomato & Italian Herb or Mature Cheddar Cheese & Onion. 

You can buy them in a multi-pack which contains two 18g bags of each variety. Packs have no more than 70 calories and both are worth 2 ProPoints.

Graze Box Review - Cookies & Cream Snack

 Graze Box Delivery Date: 29th June2012

Graze Snack Box 29 June

With my new fortnightly Graze box deliveries, it seems ages since the last box arrived. So when this week's box was waiting for me on the floor (where the post drops), I couldn't wait to get stuck in.

The first thing I noticed on opening the box was the Graze nutrition leaflet informing me ‘You have a new Snack in this box’. And as soon as I  took a look at my new snack, I instantly knew it would become a favourite.

Quorn Spicy Light Bites

Quorn Light Bites are ‘pseudo’ meaty snacks which are ready to eat straight from the bag. Each 60g pack has only 86 calories, making them a tasty lower calorie snack to eat between meals.

Made with mycoprotein, these Quorn snacks are completely meat free. They’re mildly spiced with ingredients including cumin, paprika, onion powder, red peppers, garlic and chilli powder.

Ham & Mushroom Tagliatelle - Sainsbury's

Here’s Sainsbury’s Be Good To Yourself version of the Ham & Mushroom Tagliatelle ready meal. The 400g pack has just 361 calories and 4.6g of fat.

This is a big reduction in calories and fat grams when compared with Sainsbury’s Italian Ham & Mushroom tagliatelle which has 541 calories and 19.4g of fat.

The Food Doctor Multigrain and Seed Porridge

I was browsing around the cereal aisle recently, trying to find my usual brand of porridge. I generally buy plain oats rather than the flavoured varieties as most contain a lot of added sugar. But this shopping trip led me to buy a different type of porridge from The Food Doctor.

Despite being tucked away on the bottom shelf, The Food Doctor's Multigrain & Seed Porridge stood out with its eye catching green apple logo and attractive pack design featuring a peek through window. The description ‘Indulgently packed with wholesome wholegrains & seeds’ tempted me to pick it up.

Cadbury Choc Full of Popcorn - NEW

It was my daughter who first spotted the new snack from Cadbury called Choc' Full of Popcorn and she couldn't wait to tell me about them. I almost wish she hadn't. She knew not to bother asking me to buy them, for it would be only a matter of days before they'd show up in the shopping. 


No matter how hard I try to stay on the straight and narrow with my diet, where Cadbury's chocolate is concerned, if there's a new treat on the shelves, I have to try it.

Low Calorie Fairtrade Hot Chocolate, Sainsbury's

While looking for my usual brand of low calorie hot chocolate, I spotted a new Sainsbury's own label variety called Lighter Malted drink. However, it wasn’t light enough for me.

Instead, my focus settled on the jar of Low Calorie Hot Chocolate sitting beside it. Picking up the jar to check the nutritional information, I was delighted to see each cup was worth only 36 calories.

I’ve probably seen it before, but haven’t taken much notice, perhaps because it’s right down on the bottom shelf and has quite a plain appearance (no offence intended!) It mentions it's made with Fairtrade cocoa which I like, and the price was another plus factor – just over £1.00 for a 250g jar.