(cracking and sizzling)
(air whooshing) (doorbell ringing)
(paper ripping) (lively music)
- Hello, and welcome back to Sorted Food.
- Now, as the world of food and drink
becomes more and more convenient,
we thought we'd test a bunch of food subscriptions
to see if they're worth signing up.
- Or if they simply don't make the cut.
- You can't start with the puns already,
we haven't even got into it yet.
- [Barry] We're going strong.
(upbeat music)
- Ta-da.
- Perky Blenders Specialty Coffee.
A coffee subscription?
- [Ben] Yeah, Jay, this is coffee subscription
from Perky Blenders.
"Perky Blenders send coffee through the post
to keep everyone nicely caffeinated."
- [Jamie] That to me, stands out.
I'd love to learn more about coffee,
but it's the same with anything that we do.
We don't wanna become snobby or pretentious about it.
We just wanna be able to enjoy something
and have a bit more knowledge about it.
- [Ben] These guys have won
Indy's Best Coffee Subscription Service.
Recently it won two Time Out Awards as best coffee place
within three London postcodes.
We've been signed up for a couple of weeks
so we've got a few different flavours.
We've also got a forest blend,
and we got thousand hills.
All different tasting notes from different origins,
and it's a bit of a lucky dip.
Yes, you choose the grind
but they will mix up the flavours.
- Wow.
Let's give 'em a go.
(upbeat music)
- [Ben] So Perky Blenders is a couple of brothers
who set it up.
They started by just selling coffee out of a cart.
Then they expanded to supply coffee to a few coffee shops
and a few kinds of artisanal places.
And now they've realised their expertise
can actually be delivered to your door.
And I think that's in part
because of the changing habits of the last year or so.
More people working from home,
and more people upping their coffee game at home.
- Let's go for the sour blend first.
Cheers.
(upbeat music)
- Oh.
- Rich.
- It's very nice.
- [Jamie] Very, very nice.
There's a smokiness to it but not like a burny smokiness.
- I am getting the sourness from it as well.
- I get sour not smoke.
- [Jamie] And this is the forest blend.
(upbeat music)
- [Barry] Oh, okay.
- That's more you. - Yeah.
- That is chocolate. - [Barry] Yeah.
- That is big time chocolate.
- Really smooth.
- They're very different from each other,
but not in a way that makes me go
"I prefer one over the other."
- They are noticeably different
in terms of their broad flavour profiles.
I don't know if I could pick out plumb or cranberry
or chocolate or whatever the other one was.
However, both really good and both quite different.
- I never do this with coffee though.
- [Ben] No, and that's-
- And that's a thing that I find really interesting.
- Isn't that kind of the point of a subscription?
You are educating yourself
as much as you are just feeding your pleasures.
- To potentially pay a little bit more
but have some more knowledge about what it is
that I'm drinking.
Know that it's ethically sourced
and know that it's doing all the right things and I'm...
I'm improving myself and my knowledge and things.
I think that's a good thing.
- So in that case, how much?
Subscription through your letterbox.
Biodegradable, well-sourced, freshly roasted and curated.
- I reckon £10 per bag.
Three months, £30?
Oh no, you're doing a face.
I can't tell whether I'm an,
it's an under-face or an over-face.
- That's quite an over-face.
- [Jamie] Oh really? - You can have three bags,
one a month, for 19.50.
So it's £6.50 a bag. - [Jamie] Cool.
Okay, I'm happy with that
'cause it takes a decision out of my hands
in terms of what do I get?
Have I got that one before?
Or oh, I don't know.
Did I like that one?
You know, it doesn't matter.
Send me stuff
and it's gonna be new and interesting every time.
- In which case Jay, worth the grind
or would you leave it behind?
- This is worth the grind.
I reckon I'll probably sign up tonight when I get home.
(upbeat music)
- Your turn Baz, lift the cloth.
(upbeat music)
- Oh, you know what I'm gonna say?
- Oh, he's done it already, he's done it.
What's the point?
- These guys are pretty early to the,
kind of food subscription box game.
And I was intrigued by the idea at the start.
- [Ben] This is an artisan pasta recipe kit
from Pasta Evangelists.
And they say that pasta makes everything feel better
so why not make pasta taste better?
Inspired by a simple mission
to bring the freshness and quality of the style of pasta
he grew up making, the founder,
with his nona in Italy to our British kitchens.
So you can pick and choose the frequency of delivery,
and whether you want single portion or double portion.
We've given you two boxes of single portion.
So you got four times one portion.
So we can see the variety
- Why I guess I'll just start cooking something,
shouldn't I really. - Deal.
- To test this fairly,
I was gonna try three very different dishes.
There's a lasagna, which all we do is cardboard off,
plastic off, into the oven.
(shouts) It's always impossible!.
(chuckles loudly)
Into the oven for 15 minutes.
The others I'm gonna try is the tortelloni,
is the most extravagant of them all.
Lobster, is something that I wouldn't cook midweek,
but this looks really easy and could tempt me in.
The other is carbonara.
Something that I can make with my eyes closed.
- So for me, a carbonara is absolutely one of those
throw together meals.
While the pasta's cooking,
you're frying off whatever your flavour is.
Traditionally pancetta but it can be done
with a number of other things.
And then your source is egg yolks, sometimes whole eggs
depending on where you are.
Parmesan and black pepper, that's pretty much it.
Use the pasta water and it all combines.
This has got cream in it
which I think helps to stabilise it,
and helps to make it even easier for at home.
- [Jamie] But you would get slapped around the face
if you took this to Italy.
- I'd have thought so.
We've done it that way before
and the comments had a go.
(upbeat music)
- [Barry] Yes! - So out of interest, Baz.
Which one did you sack off?
- The only one I haven't,
I'm not cooking right now is the ragù.
'Cause I think I know it's gonna be great.
A ragù takes ages to make,
and it's something that I know I can't do at home,
and I know that's gonna be amazing.
- So every week there is a changing menu.
A dozen, 15 or so different recipes.
I'm sure there's favourites that come and go.
The menu gives you not just the method, the ingredients,
the allergens, obviously,
but wine pairings and a little bit about each dish.
- [Jamie] Nice. - [Ben] The region in Italy,
and you kind of learn bits and pieces as you go.
(upbeat music)
- Cheers. - Cheers.
- [Barry] Cheers.
This is not gonna be pretty.
(giggling) (upbeat music)
That is definitely luxurious.
That is laced with a lot of cream, very rich or naughty.
- This feels also very naughty.
It is a very rich, creamy, cheesy sauce.
And I like it a lot.
- Which makes it a trio
because I'd say not necessarily too rich actually
but super, super, there's that word,
depth of flavour and that comes from the bisque
and all the shells that take forever to make
if you're making your own bisque,
'cause that sauce is phenomenal
and the fish is really fresh.
- They're delicious.
It's just for me, as a subscription,
it doesn't quite make sense.
- It's a bit different to most subscriptions
'cause it's not a reoccurring price.
You get 15 dishes to choose from each week,
of which you pick two.
And depending which dishes, the prices vary.
- Okay. - So the pasta carbonara,
£7 for a single portion.
You get a discount if you do the double portion.
It's not twice that, it's a bit less.
Whereas the tortelloni with the crab and the lobster
and the prawn bisque,
£11.50 for a single portion.
No denying it's easy and it's convenient.
And I think if you wanted to taste
different regions of Italy,
maybe once a month and actually do the whole,
get the wine to pair with it,
explore the region, understand the region.
Then it's quite a nice way of curating that.
For me, I don't get it as a subscription.
I think it becomes very expensive for the experience.
This is purely good quality convenience.
- [Jamie] Well, there's only gonna be one question
on everyone's lips, Baz. - Yeah.
- Is it pasta through the posty maybe,
or is it pasta la vista, baby?
- I (laughs), I think it's pasta through the post, maybe.
Because I'll just do it the once
and then I might cancel that subscription.
I love it as a treat.
But I must stop there.
- Ebber's in the hot seat.
- [Barry] Lift it, boy.
(laughing)
- [Ben] Earth & Wheat.
Crumpet.
Focaccia.
Seeded wraps.
Wholemeal tortilla.
Pancakes.
- [Jamie] This is the Earth & Wheat wonky bread box.
In fact, they are the UK's first wonky bread box,
connecting UK bakeries directly with customers
looking to reduce food waste.
They deliver perfectly tasty fresh bread
that would otherwise have gone to waste
due to appearance standards or overproduction.
- Straight off, not a problem I considered.
So I like the concept and the principle.
- 24 million pieces of bread are wasted in the UK every day.
- That's 12 million sandwiches, Barry.
(laughs)
While Ebbers, it's bread,
and we'd happily just eat it, but you're a chef.
So do you wanna rustle up some stuff
to put with the bread and then we'll try that?
- Okay, I've raided the fridge
and given what we've got in the box,
few things I think we could do.
- His version of raiding the fridge
is very different from mine.
- [Barry] Yeah, (laughs loudly) yeah.
- Dairylea Dunkers and maybe a three week old Babybel.
- And some salad cream. - And some salad cream.
(laughing loudly)
- [Ben] What a nightmare.
- [Jamie] Have you spotted anything wrong
with any of the breads?
- They're all super fresh.
They don't look very wonky to me.
They look exactly the same.
They just haven't got a home to go to.
(Barry and Jamie ahhing)
I'm gonna give them a great home.
- In my belly. (laughs)
- [Ben] Right, those crumpets, toasty, toasty warm,
which means they need butter.
And what they absolutely need
is some homemade seville marmalade.
- He's bought all that in from home.
- He has bought that in from home.
- [Jamie] Can I give you a statistic
that I find really hard to believe.
- Go on.
- So this is from Earth & Wheat's website.
Each box you rescue helps to save our planet,
rescuing around 3,240 litres of fresh water
and 3,053 grammes of CO2 from going to waste.
That's some big numbers from every box, from a box of bread.
- Somebody has had to plough the field,
sow the seed, look after all of the crop,
harvest it, mill it, bag it, transport it to a baker.
The baker's got their premises.
They've put their own labour in, their own expertise,
their own ovens,
They've then packaged it.
And then it ends up in the bin.
That's a real shame.
I think it's that chain you're saving.
- That's astonishing, isn't it?
When you think about it like that.
- [Barry] I mean, talk about variety.
What, Ebbers, what have you done there?
- [Ben] Store cupboard staples.
A couple of focaccia with some char-grilled asparagus.
This one's got sun dried tomato, caper, and parmesan.
This one's got olive, some pickled cabbage and feta.
Crumpets, butter, seville orange marmalade.
And this is blueberry and maple compote with Greek yoghurt.
- [Barry] None of that looks wonky.
- [Jamie] Cheers. - [Barry] Cheers.
(upbeat music)
That, if anything,
is fresher than I'd get it in the supermarket.
- Which has been on the shelf for a few days,
almost certainly.
- And that's one of the things they say on the website.
These breads come directly from the bakers
and get sent out the next day.
Let's talk money, Ebbers.
How much are you thinking?
You get a new box delivered to you every Wednesday.
- £10 of bread a week?
- £6.99, delivered to your door.
- That seems smart.
- That, it does feel like a pretty good deal.
I think you'd struggle to get that much bread
off the supermarket shelf for that price.
- [Jamie] I know everyone in the audience
is already asking it, but let me ask you now-
- In the audience? - Yes.
- They're sitting there, in the audience.
- Sitting there with these exact words
on the tip of their tongue.
Are they on a bread roll,
or will the direct debit take its toll?
- Well, I don't think at that price,
the direct debit's gonna take a toll
if that much bread is for you.
So on a roll.
(upbeat music)
- Lift the metal thing. - What?
Cool!
The Brixton Wine Club.
- [Jamie] In a can?
- Cans of wine?
- [Ben] This is the Brixton Wine Club
and they say "We are wine lovers, not wine snobs.
Brixton Wine Clubs sells premium wines just in cans.
No need for underground cellar or fancy wine fridges.
Just great wines, ready to drink at a moment's notice."
- It means you get more variety.
- [Ben] And that's why I love it,
because in order to try lots of wines,
you have to open lots of bottles of wine.
And actually, smaller measures makes it easier
to try a greater variety and expand your knowledge.
So Barry, open up, one to six,
and let's pour some samples out.
- [Barry] I'm opening up all the drinks.
(upbeat music)
- [Ben] Brixton Wine, as a whole, are premium wines in cans.
And they've actually had a master of wine,
so highest qualification in wine,
there's only 400 or so around the world,
who could not taste the difference in a blind tasting
of the fact that it had come from a can.
Also, a fairly inert way of storing wine.
It shouldn't impact the flavour.
These are sealed,
they've got a special lining on the tin,
so they're not gonna affect the wine,
they're not gonna taste aluminum-y.
So this is their juice box,
which means that once a month you get six wines,
and it is a real mixture.
Or if you prefer whites or sparkling or reds
then you can pick and choose your box.
But this is the juice box that has the mixture.
- Right, well, I should get drinking.
Firstly, can secco rosé.
(upbeat music)
That is absolutely delicious.
I had no idea that was from a can and not a bottle.
- Pop it down, move on to the next one.
- [Barry] Okay sure. Wicked. - So, so what I love
is you get very, very basic tasting notes
and they basically say,
if you want to just enjoy wine,
who cares what the tasting notes are,
or if you want to know about the tasting notes,
they do live Instagrams once a month
and will talk you through, in the course of half an hour,
all the wines, all the vineyards, all the vintners,
and tell you all the different notes.
(laughing)
- A lot smoother.
I find white wine, is they can be a bit acidy and a bit
na, na, na.
That was really smooth,
and goes, ahh.
- [Ben] Well that's, that's a sauvignon blanc.
- And this is generally how we see Ebbers on a night out.
Triple parked. (laughing)
- What I love about Brixton Wine,
and I watched their wine tasting,
is they have a few rules.
No red trousers. - Yes!
Does that include red shorts?
(laughing)
- No spittoons, and ultimately, enjoy the process.
It cuts through all the crap.
She tells it to you, but then she kind of says,
"And these are tasting notes,
but if you get something different, that's also cool."
If you don't care, drink it at the beach and enjoy it.
It doesn't matter.
Okay, so talking about price,
you can vary whether you buy three, four or six cans
in your monthly subscription, but we got the six.
So how much did we pay for six?
- £30.
- Including shipping, you're bang on.
So they work out at £5 each.
Gonna cost you more to go to a restaurant
and buy six glasses of different wines.
But you can do it at your own leisure.
- [Jamie] There's various options for this question, Baz.
- Of course.
- I'm just gonna go with one of them,
so we'll see how we get on.
Is it wine in a tin,
or straight in the bin?
- What was the other one?
(laughing loudly)
- Wine through the post,
or would you not raise a toast?
- Oh yeah, I prefer that.
I think it's, it's gotta be wine in the post.
- So over to you guys, would you sign up for any
of these food or drink subscriptions?
If so, why?
If not, why not?
- Comment down below
if you've also seen other food subscriptions
you'd love for us to give a go.
And as always, give the video a thumbs up.
- [Barry] Have you ever got to the end of a long day
with no ideas, ingredients, or energy to cook?
Take away?
Hmm, it'd be the fourth this week.
Well, that's why we built our revolutionary Meal Packs app.
Thousands of people are using it to shop, cook,
and eat a whole lot better and easier
while saving money as a result.
You can go and use it in its entirety for free
for a whole month and see if it's for you.
The link is in the description box below.
(upbeat music)
And now for the blooper.
(loud ringing)
- Would you like to grind,
or you gonna leave it behind?
- That's not the one we agreed.
That's not how we agreed it, that was not the wording.