Disclosure: If you make a purchase through the links posted below, I may receive a small compensation. Read the full disclosure.
Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links.
Mantry
Cost: $75/month
Ships To: United States.
B’s April 2014 Mantry, also known as the Modern Man’s Pantry, arrived earlier this afternoon. If you aren’t familiar with them, Mantry is a food of the month club that lets you discover the finest american artisan foods – and gives you ideas of what to do with them. At $75/month it’s a spendy box for sure, but B totally totally loves it.
Mantry ships via UPS Smart Post. It starts out as UPS and then typically ends up being delivered by the Post Office. Mantry ships around the 21st of the month and took two days to arrive this month.
Mantry now allows you to “Opt Out” of receiving the wooden Mantry crate each month. Your items will just come securely wrapped in a the cardboard package instead. If they offered a discount for opting out I’d totally do it, but they don’t so I am still opting to receive them.
The first look was great! I knew B would be excited about that top item!
The April 2014 Mantry theme was “Thai Game” and includes some far east flavors for your next game day feast. Here is what was inside:
~Apinya Thai Chili Sauce ($7): My eyes started watering as soon as I looked at this! Totally not my kind of thing. Mantry suggests using this on wings on game day. Or it can be used in place of ketchup, cocktail sauce or other hot sauces. I have no idea what B will make with this, but I hope it’s not too crazy spicy.
~Gordy’s Pickle Jar Thai Basil Jalapeños ($10): Our jar opened a bit in shipping and some leaked out, so I need to e-mail Mantry about a replacement. Mantry recommends throwing these (and some apinya sauce) on some nachos. I can see that working.
~Dang Toasted Coconut Chips ($4.49): These are okay (not awful but not my favorite either), but they pop up fairly often in subscription boxes. I wasn’t sure how they related to Thailand, but it turns out that they were inspired by Bangkok street hawkers. Totally makes sense for them to be included now.
~Pok Pok Thai Basil Som ($15): Oddly, we received this (but a different variety) last April from Mantry! I am not totally sure what B ended up doing with that one. Mantry has (or will since it’s not up right now) a recipe for Basil Margaritas on their site or another suggestion is to mix with soda for a bit of a kick. I’ll go the margarita route ;).
~Lord Nut Levington Thai Curry & Lemongrass Peanuts ($5.49): Did anyone else see Lord Nut Levington on Shark Tank last week? They didn’t end up getting a deal, but the Sharks all seemed to enjoy their product. They are always a big hit with B as well.
~Dried & True Sriracha Lime Jerky ($11.99): Ohh, this is amazing. B is going to go crazy for it. Dried & True is located in California and promises to bring you the freshest, tastiest jerky out there. They also appear to have a jerky of the month subscription, which B would love! I am going to have to remember that for Father’s Day.
All totaled I came up with a value of $53.97 for the April Mantry “Thai Game” box. I know that this subscription is more about the curation and experience and less about the cost of the box, however, I would still like to see the product value come a bit closer to the cost of the box. Mantry does say (in their FAQ) that they pay for the items that are included in the box (some of the boxes get free products / reduced cost products from companies), so it’s likely more difficult than I think to put out a high value box and pay for shipping while still turning a profit themselves.
Did you get Mantry this month? What’d you think? If you are interested in subscribing or just want to learn more, click here.
