Product Review: Dynamite Hot! Chilli with Beans.

Today I posted on my Instagram a photo of my lunch which I had picked up from Woolworths for $3.25. It was the Stagg Chilli “Dynamite Hot” Chilli with beans. I am not a fan of canned lunches, however when I noticed the big yellow exclamation bubble It sparked my curiosity, a quick check of the back to ensure I could in fact eat it and it was in our basket.

The can is 425g and is supposed to contain 2 serves. It claims to be “Ignited by Habanero peppers” which made me more eager to try it out; I definitely enjoy the habanero flavour. Serving the product is simple, you can use a stove top or a microwave. I used the microwave at work and just popped the contents of the can into a bowl and microwaved for 2 minutes on HIGH.

The chilli contained lots of beans and was meaty enough for my standards, with chunks of mince meat in a thick sauce. At first I didn’t seem to taste any heat and I was more than half the way through the bowl before it began to feel hot. Rather than being a sharp sting the chilli had a flavour and the heat built as you ate. The product left a nice tingle in my mouth and on my lips. On the last bite I did notice my nose get a little runny however it was nothing more than a few sniffles. If you were only having the recommended serving size, you probably wouldn’t feel much heat at all. To me it was delicious but just the same as any regular Bolognese that I make at home. On a scale of 1 to 15, where 1 is tomato sauce and 15 is my too hot to handle, I’d place this at a four.

Disappointingly, it was nothing spectacular, however I would purchase again if I needed a quick lunch with just a bit of a chilli hit. It was definitely delicious and the ratio of meat, tomato and beans was decent. The small amount of heat that did hit me lingered for at most ten minutes, with the tingly feeling in my mouth and on my lips lasting for at least five. If you’re like me and a bit of a chilli freak and looking for a nice burn, then it’s probably best to give this one a miss. It will fill you but will not result in sweats, tears or coughing.

The product is not fructose tummy friendly; it contains at least both garlic and onion. The product ingredient list is gluten free and has no cross contamination statement (a bit of a risk on my part in case they do manufacture in the same factory and just don’t list it), for obvious reasons it is neither vegan or vegetarian.

Until next time.

Ashlee. xx 

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AGFL "The Box" - May

We moved into our own home over the weekend and yesterday. Yes, this 23 year old and her partner of 25 can say they own their own home and it feels great. Amongst all the moving and unpacking, my May gluten free box from 'Australian Gluten Free Life' arrived.
This is my second box, you can find my first box opening and first impressions here.
The cut off for the May box was Sunday the 17th and I received my box at work this morning.
I also received the second of my subscription boxes the Fortune Cookie Soap Box which you can find the review for here.

Again prices are $30AUD a month or $80AUD for 3 months. The cut off date for the June box is 5pm on Thursday the 11th of June. Boxes generally start shipping the third week of the month.

With all those details out of the way, let's get on to the box.

Once again, it came with a hand written tag and envelope.
There were eight items inside this months box and all but one were full size, the recipe card inside the envelope was for ANZAC biscuits.
I will edit this post later to give some further descriptions of what each product was like.

The first item that I pulled out of the box, I have decided I will eat for lunch tomorrow.

This is an instant All Natural Green Curry Soup. This soup is made with Konjac noodles, which are derived from an Asian root.
These soup cups will set you back $1.99AUD from Woolworths or Coles.

The soup itself was a tad watery, I would recommend not adding the boiling water to the line and perhaps just a little under it, if you want a thicker and fuller flavour.

The Brookfarm macadamia power food, this product is gluten-free and Paleo, it is also great for those on vegan and ketogenic diets according to the information card.

 The size of the packet is 500g and this packet from the Brookfarm website will set you back, $16.95AUD

I personally am not a big muesli or trail mix person, but this goes really well in a smoothie. At the time of editing this section in, I've had it in my morning breakfast smoothies for a week or so. It adds a lovely coconut and nutty flavour and also a bit of texture to my otherwise bland banana and greek yoghurt smoothies.

We also has in the box two packets of the Simply Wize, Barbeque CornCrunch.

These are roasted corn kernels in BBQ flavour. I have seen these in the shops previously but have never bought them.

You can't buy these 30g packets individually, however you can find the 150g box, containing 5 packets for $4.18AUD. 

I didn't like these on their own, the texture was a bit unusual for my liking, however I added them to my rice cooker with some rice, ham, sesame oil and soy sauce to make an incredible BBQ steamed 'fried' rice.

We got another breakfast bar, this one I enjoyed a lot, I love fruit bars that are essentially all natural fruit roll-ups.
The brand is The Australian Superfood Co.
I received the Ancient Rainforest Berry, raw bar.

This fine bar will cost you $4.50AUD which personally is a bit pricey, so I don't think I'll be repurchasing this product.

The sample sized product we received was from Stoney Creek. We got a small Organic Golden Flaxseed Meal. The brochure it was attached to contained, ways to use the Flaxseed as well as information on how to store it, how it was produced and other tid bits of information.
The card suggests using this over your morning cereal or gluten-free muesli.
You can get 1KG from their website for $11.30AUD

The Fever Tree Ginger Beer, looks appetizing. I've never had ginger beer before, Mr. B swears that it is the worst thing he has ever tried. I'll decide for myself.
It was difficult to find pricing for this one. The website only has wholesaler contacts and they didn't have a website. I did find that from Dan Murphys you can pay a 4 pack for $6.90AUD, which puts them at around $1.73AUD each

I can't wait to find a time to enjoy this.

The final product in the box is a very interesting item. The Virgin Coco Cocoarolls were something i had to try instantly. They are nutty, sweet and coconutty all at once. Both sweet and savoury as well. It isn't a surprise that the box is almost half gone between myself and Mr. B.

I was unable to find a price for this box, but we could estimate it based on similar products at around $5AUD a box, that may be being generous.



All up, the box was certainly worth it this month. Those Cocoarolls, were something I would never have heard about if it wasn't for the box, same with the Fever tree company.
This box was a little harder to price but I estimate its worth ot be somewhere between $29 and $31AUD.

Until next time.
Ashlee.

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