Do you love bread? Silly question for most runners, right? Although there are runners with gluten issues or runners like me who gain weight easily when we eat too much bread. Which doesn’t mean I don’t eat bread!
If you fall into the runner who loves their bread category, have I got the subscription box for you! I became obsessed with Wildgrain box (click here, not an affiliate link) at the end of the year. What is Wildgrain box? Glad you asked! Their mission, from their Website:
Wildgrain is a small business based in Boston, MA. We’re passionate about delivering slow fermented sourdough breads, fresh pastas, and artisan pastries directly to your door.
Shortly before my birthday I decided to order a trial box. I figured it would be an early Valentine’s gift to Mr. Judy (and me). Yes, I usually get him a gift on my birthday.
Wildgrain is actually a subscription box, but the trial box is a one time deal which allows you try it without committing to a subscription. Every time I looked at the trial box, there would be a message that there were only x number of boxes left. I looked again for a link to this month’s trial box for this review, but I didn’t find any — so either they sold out of trial boxes or no longer offer them.
What was in the box
- 3 sourdough loaves: one regular, one cranberry whole wheat, and one rosemary and garlic
- 6 cranberry biscuits
- 4 english muffins
- 4 croissants
- 4 chocolate croissants
What did it cost?
The cost for the trial box (and actually a subscription box) is $89, although I was able to find a discount somewhere. Yes, it is a bit pricey. I always say what price is your health worth? So much bread is just full of junk. The ingredients in this are relatively clean. Shipping is included in the price of the box.
How does it work?
Every thing was still frozen on arrival — no shock, it was February — although it did seem to be well packaged. You stick it in the freezer and bake it from frozen. There are baking instructions printed on the package of every thing in the box.
While the Website claims the baked bread is ready in 25 minutes, sometimes the instructions tell you to let it stand. For loaves that can add almost 20 minutes to the time when the bread is ready to eat. So you have to figure that in.
I did one bread in the regular oven, but I did everything else in our toaster oven (which is quite large). There was a bit of trial and error, since ovens vary. For instance I had to cover pretty much everything while baking with foil until about the last 5 minutes or the top would get overcooked.
There were no major disasters.
You have a choice of bread, fresh pasta, and pastries or bread and pastries. I chose the bread and pastries.
The box changes slightly from month to month. I ordered our box in January, and in February I could have added cookies and brownies to the box. Oops!
Final Thoughts
We both liked pretty much everything in box. I asked Mr. Judy if he would do it again, and he said yes. He probably wouldn’t on his own, because of the expense, but he enjoyed everything in the box and loves his bread. I love it when he eats healthier bread.
The only thing we haven’t tried yet are the chocolate scones. Yes, this actually lasted us 2 months, but that was because I made sure it lasted. It would have all disappeared much quicker if Mr. Judy had his way.
Pros
- Delicious bread
- No defrosting necessary
- Healthy ingredients
- Clear baking instructions
- Variety
- Free shipping
Cons
- Expensive
- Trial and error baking in your oven
- Budgeting for the cool down after baking
- Might be too small for a large family
If you decided to go the subscription box route, you can cancel, skip, or reschedule at any time. Since ours was a one time thing you couldn’t really schedule the delivery. I wanted it to be delivered on Valentine’s Day, but it just came when it came. Again if you’re interested, check out the Wildgrain Website here. Just a satisfied customer.
What’s your favorite subscription box?
Do you eat lots of bread?
Butcher Box (see my review here) is actually our only one (so far)
Although we do also get a veggie box in the summer
Linking up with Zenaida Arroyo and Kim @ Kookyrunner
This week I am also joining up with the new Runners’ Roundup linkup.
Chocolaterunsjudy 
The bread and especially the croissant look delicious, Judy!
It’s mind-boggling to me that a company can ship frozen goods and ensure an uninterrupted cold chain. Literally very cool!
We are lucky in that South Africa has excellent bread. I guess that’s due to the early settlers from the Netherlands and France. There’s a market within a 5-minute walking distance from our home where we can buy fresh bread for less than USD 2.
Having said that, we don’t eat that much bread to start with, but it’s a lovely treat!
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That’s so awesome you have that available so easily! I actually don’t eat a whole lot of bread (although I love it & would if I could) but my husband eats a fair amount. I try to make sure it’s got decent ingredients.
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Never done any subscription boxes. I like going to the stores and picking out my food lol.
It does look delicious esp the chocolate croissants.
I mostly eat bread and pastries when I go out. It’s a treat. Beside my daily bagel for lunch.
And yes that is expensive. That’s my weekly food budget which includes meat.
But hey you don’t know unless you try. Thanks for sharing another review.
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Everything was very good! I considered a birthday/valentines gift. You only turn 60 once. 😉
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Wow that’s very expensive. I love bread but rarely eat it as it goes straight to my stomach lol.
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I hear you! I’m definitely careful about eating bread. I explained that bread really wasn’t a food group to my husband. He’s not convinced.
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Hahahahahaha!! My daughter is a lot like your husband. Carbs in general is a good group to her lol.
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:p
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I don’t do any subscription boxes but this one sounds pretty tasty! The closest I came was when I belonged to a CSA and picked up a box from them every week. I love to bake and just this last weekend baked muffins, scones, and a loaf of bread. Actually my daughter (16) baked the muffins and did most of the work on the scones, so that’s a huge help now that she’s older.
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We get a veggie box through our local Foodbank, so it benefits them too — but even though it’s a small box, it still some weeks overwhelms us. I eat a lot of veggies but my husband doesn’t.
I used to bake a lot. Not as much now. I just have to be more careful about what I eat! Especially as I haven’t been running as many miles as I used to.
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That’s made me hungry!! I like that it comes frozen – I’m the only bread-eater in the house now that Mr Liz has slipped into diabetes (he’s got his bloods back under control but hasn’t reversed it as yet so still being very low-carb) so you can just cook what you need to.
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It was nice to bake the biscuits, english muffins, and croissants as needed. Of course the bread you have to bake the whole loaf at once.
I’m sorry about Mr. Liz’s dx — not eating bread is definitely a good thing, but I know that can also be hard sometimes.
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Carbs are my first love so all of these photos made me hungry!
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Sorry! That seemed to be a typical reaction!
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Oh, yum. I don’t think we would do this, because Mr PugRunner isn’t eating carbs right now. Annoying. However, I love fresh bread and butter so much. Why is it so comforting?
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Well, carbs are basically sugar in disguise. I do love bread, but I just have to be careful about it. But if one person wasn’t eating bread I could see that that would be difficult.
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That sounds like it would be a great gift box for my parents! I will check it out
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If you decide to do it I hope they enjoy it. We did, but I don’t think we’ll be subscribing. Although I probably check tomorrow to see if they have trial boxes for April, LOL! The box is different month to month.
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