I realised I’ll always have to review snack boxes a month late… cause it takes me a month to get through the snacks before I can let you guys know my opinion.

Just some spontaneous thoughts, after reviewing a few healthy snack boxes, I realised that a common trend in the business world is to hop on the bandwagon and start a business in an industry that appears to be doing well… only to oversaturate the industry and die out. I see so many businesses losing sight of why they even began, and getting caught up in profit-making that their product/service loses its personality. To survive, you have to be unique, and stay unique and true to your original intentions. It always helps to give back to society be it through donating some of your profits to a charity or promoting a cause you feel strongly about.

That said, I strongly support the idea of starting your own business, especially if it is something you feel strongly about and I admire Roslyn and Fangmin for coming this far. I came up with some business suggestions at the end of this post, so that might be useful 🙂

But without further ado, let’s move on to my review of the August Box!

This month’s theme was The Independence Edition, which featured products from local producers. 

I really liked that they supported the local businesses for this month’s box, rather than importing everything. We do have promising businesses in Singapore, and I think they should be given a chance to make a name for themselves.

There was the usual drink from TOP Taste:
Peppermint Honey Drink

It was okay. Better than the almond drink previously, which I didn’t enjoy. But not something I love.

Arab Dates:

It was my first time trying dates actually, so I don’t have anything to benchmark it against. I liked it though! I don’t see how some people can eat more than 10 dates? They are SO sweet.

Gula Melaka Cookies:

Like the laksa cookies in the previous box, this was my favourite!! The gula melaka flavour wasn’t super pronounced, but it was there. More of a butter cookie with a hint of gula melaka. Two thumbs up!

Banana chips:

It was good, but I’d rather eat a fresh banana haha. I could smell the vegetable oil, which wasn’t terribly appealing. It was almost diesel-like 🙁

Pili Nuts:

The Philippines Trade Industry sent me Pili Nuts previously, so I’m no stranger to Pili Nuts. These were the same. Nuts will be nuts!

Kaya Granola:

My next favourite item in the box! It was crazy. At first it just tastes sweet, then the kaya flavour hits you. And you just want to keep munching. It was so weird. They included desiccated coconut inside as well which was a nice touch (since kaya is a coconut jam).

Roasted Black Beans:

It was as the name stated. Hahaha. But yup, I can’t exactly make black beans sound like a gastronomical wonder.

Ideas for Made Real! (and other healthy snack boxes out there)

As a business/accountancy student, I look at things from the business standpoint. I do understand the need to make profits, and the constraints of delivering certain products. But in order to sustain a business, you need to create a product that is unique so that you won’t be swamped with direct competitors. You should offer a product that your customers cannot easily create/access without your service, so that would identify a need for your product.

I liked how the independent producers incorporated a local element into their products. I didn’t really see how the dates/black beans were very unique/singaporean, but I guess food is food. I feel that there is a lot more potential to healthy eating then just sticking to the conventional foods like fruit and nuts. By default, these are go-to healthy snacks, but I think to really stand out, the products need to go beyond the norm. Or at least create something out of these basic ingredients! After all, I can get my own dried fruits/nuts, so you need to convince me (or the consumer) why we should choose you, instead of another supplier, or even not at all!

So a suggestion to Made Real, since you already have connections with these local producers, you could work something out with them to healthify their products and set yourself apart from the health boxes, I think local health food producers could be your unique selling point!