Health Hampers

Health Hampers are a fairly new company, run by Lucie Bryan. Lucie suffered with CFS/ME, which she’s managed to recover from. During this time she discovered the importance of a healthy diet. She works with Juliet Schaffer who is a Registered Nutritional Therapist to make sure everything that goes into their hampers is free from gluten, dairy, refined sugar and is suitable for vegans. The hampers include things like raw chocolate, organic teas, treats and snacks. Each hamper costs less than £20 and is available as a one off gift, or as a monthly subscription. I was gifted a box at Christmas from my parents who had met Lucie at a market in Harrogate, and since then I’ve had 2 subscription boxes courtesy of my Dad! It’s a great way to try out different products you might not ordinarily buy yourself, and I’ve found several of my favourites in my local health food shop now too.

Here’s what we got in the March 2017 hamper:

Sweet Revolution raw lime chocolate 75% bar: The lime flavour wasn’t too strong, and it took away the bitterness you sometimes find with dark chocolate, plus raw cacao has “superfood” status. It was the perfect size portion too (so I couldn’t over-eat it if I tried!)

TreeVitalise Birch water: This water was lemon flavoured, and wasn’t something I’d ever tried before. I’ve seen these in my local health food shops and always thought they seemed a bit unnecessary – I mean, what’s wrong with just water? This is described as “undiluted, pure and silky birch sap, just comes out of the tree in spring.” It tasted pretty much the same as water with sliced lemon added, which was really nice. I think I need to know more about the benefits of drinking birch water to warrant buying it myself in the future.

The Ludlow Nut Company almond and pumpkin seed butter: I’m pretty obsessed with nut butter, I’d happily sit and eat this one out the jar with a spoon! I’m trying to ration myself……This brand is great, there’s nothing nasty in there, just pure nuts and seeds. As well as eating it straight from the jar(!!) I’ve had it in smoothies, on porridge and on toast.

Nim’s peppers & courgettes vegetable crisps: These were dried slices of courgette and red pepper which retained their natural flavour. Not sure I'd go out and buy these myself, but great if you want a healthy alternative to normal crisps!

Joe’s Tea Company Organic Teas: There were actually two of these tea bags, and they were low caffeine rather than the normal stronger green teas. I drink lots of herbal and fruit teas normally, with the occasional green tea now and again. These ones definitely make it onto my favourite teas list – they had a really mild flavour with none of the bitterness you sometimes get with green tea.

Sweet Revolution 10 raw chocolate florentinis: These little raw chocolate treats are topped with raisins, goji berries, pistachio nuts and seeds, and they’re sweetened with agave rather than a refined white sugar. They look like Florentines, but are small chocolate discs with toppings. May have accidently eaten all of them in one sitting…..!

Marvellous Superfood Organic Wellbeing blend: This is basically a greens powder. I’ve been adding a spoonful of this to my green smoothies for a few days and its definitely made them more filling. It’s a mix of chlorella, spirulina, barley grass, wheatgrass, kelp, hemp protein and beetroot. I’m going to have to track this one down as its definitely one I’d go out and buy myself.

Check out their website www.healthhampers.com for more information on hampers and their subscription service. Have you tried any of these products before?