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Best International Snack Subscription Box:
Universal Yums or Munchpak?
[JULY 2019]
I’m a sucker for trying new things, especially foods. So I loved getting my Universal Yums and Munchpak international snack boxes in the mail this month. They both provided yummy snacks that I have never tried before, but the boxes were really different and offered totally different experiences.
Let’s get to the Showdown!
- Price: $15.00/Mo & FREE USA Shipping
- Coupon: $5 OFF With Referral Code ($10.00)
- Ship Date: 15th of Every Month
- Countries Shipped To: North America & Territories, UK, Australia, Israel
- Referral Program: YES
- Rewards Program: NO
- How To End Options: Cancel / Skip-A-Month
- Product Type: Food
- Price: $13.95/Mo & FREE USA Shipping/EXPEDITED Shipping for $3.95
- Coupon: $5 OFF With Newsletter Sign-Up ($8.95)
- Ship Date: 24 Hours After 1st Order / Order Date thereafter
- Countries Shipped To: USA & Some International
- Referral Program: YES
- Rewards Program: NO
- How To End Options: Cancel / Pause
- Product Type: Food
The Play-By-Play
To determine pros and cons of each subscription box, we must first establish what they offer and what comes in each box.
Let’s take a look at the contenders:
Contender #1: Universal Yums
- Turbana Plantain Chips (Garlic flavored) – These were…different. My palate isn’t used to eating plantains, so I am used to the sweet taste of bananas. These chips were much milder than I was expecting. The booklet in the box, did provide a recipe for a dip to dunk these chips in.
- Maxcoco – These were 2 large wafers filled with coconut creme filling. Not a huge fan of coconut flavor or texture, so these weren’t a favorite. They did offer some nostalgia though, as it reminded me of the pink and orange wafer cookies I ate as a child.
- Rizadas Mayonesas Chips – These chips were mayonnaise flavor. These didn’t taste exactly like mayo, but were tasty nonetheless.
- Galletas Maduritas – These are plantain cookies. They were hard in texture, kind of reminiscent of mini Famous Amos cookies. They were okay. Still wasn’t used to the plantain flavor.
- Tocineta Limon – These were fun chips. They are bacon flavored and shaped like bacon as well. They are also flavored with lime. It was a sour and salty kick. It was definitely an experience!
- Supercoco Tirudito – These were a chewy coconut flavored candy. As stated before, I have a strong aversion for anything coconut flavored, but these were actually not too bad. Apparently, these are a true staple for the people of Colombia. I could see why.
- Trululu Chocolores – These were straight up weird. Sorry. They were white chocolate covered gummy bears! Each were a different gummy flavor, so each had a different taste. Despite them not tasting so good, Universal Yums stated that these are often found at many quinceañeras.
- Passionfruit Bon Bon Bum – These were passion fruit flavored suckers / lollipops with a bubble gum center. These looked like an actual passion fruit, as it had little black dots throughout that looked like seeds. They say that Shakira keeps some of these in her purse at all times.
- Bianchi Bar with Carmelo and Mani – These were a chocolate coated caramel and peanut bar wafer. It was really tasty!
Universal Yums offers 3 types of boxes:
- Yum Box – 6+ Snacks for $15/mo
- Yum Yum Box – 12+ Snacks for $25/mo
- Super Yum Box – 20+ Snacks for $39/mo
Each one comes with a booklet with trivia and games.
Each box has an annual plan and gift option as well.
Contender #2: Munchpak
- Croky Chips (Paprika flavored) – These were very reminiscent in texture of Lay’s potato chips. Flavor was rather mild, like a milder BBQ taste. They were still tasty.
- Lotte Topo Vanilla Chocolate Pretzel Sticks – These are in between what a wafer stick and Pocky would be. They were skinny hollowed pretzels filled with chocolate inside.
- Cheetos Flamin’ Hot Shots – These were just Flamin’ Hot Cheetos in a different shape. So if you enjoy those, then you’ll probably enjoy these as well. They just had an extra lime kick to them. I didn’t like them though, because they were too spicy for me. I’m a wimp.
- Crown Saekom Dalkom Tart Lemonade Chews – These fruit chews did actually taste like lemonade. It was a refreshing, fresh lemon taste. The texture is that of a Hi-Chew.
- Paskesz Torah Oodles Mix – These were just little kosher mini fruit chews. They were just ok.
Munchpak offers 3 types of boxes:
- MunchPak Mini – 5+ Snacks for $13.95/mo
- MunckPak – 10+ Snacks for $23.95/mo
- FamilyPak – 20+ Snacks for $43.95/mo
There are 1 month, 3 month, 6 month, annual plans and gift option for each box.
You are able to add a drink to your box as well for an extra $6/mo, though the Munchpak Mini and International orders are excluded from this option.
ROUND 1
Sign-Up & Cancelling Process
Both Universal Yums and Munchpak had a straightforward sign up process, as sign up literally took 3-5 clicks on each site. The pricing on both is a bit misleading. BUT if I am being picky (and have to pick a winner), Munchpak edged out Universal Yums. Here’s why:
UNIVERSAL YUMS
The price quoted by Universal Yums is actually the price of each box if you purchase an annual plan, so you may be under the impression that the monthly box is $13.75. But the monthly box is $15.00 NOT $13.75.
Also, with Universal Yums, regardless of when you purchased your 1st box, you will be re-billed the 1st of the month. I ordered my first box June 19th and was already renewed for another box on July 1st. So if you don’t want to continue your subscription, PLEASE cancel before the 1st of the month!
MUNCHPAK
The promoted price of the Munchpak box is rather misleading as well. It says “Starting At $9.95” in bold, so you assume that’s the price of the monthly box. Indeed, that is the price of each box after saving from purchasing an annual plan. I really dislike this method of marketing as the actual price isn’t immediately clear.
Even so, signing up was easy and so was the cancelling process. Just log into your account and cancel with the click of a button. If you don’t want to completely cancel, they do have an option to pause indefinitely. This means you can put your account on hold until you decide to come back, and you simply reactivate. I love this option, as you don’t have to babysit your account like most subscription services that only have options to pause bi-monthly, etc.
Winner: Munchpak
Renewal time between 1st box and 2nd box too soon with Universal Yums, and doesn’t allow enough time to know if you like it before cancelling or renewing. At least in my own personal experience.
ROUND 2
Value & Quality
I chose the smallest monthly box from Universal Yums, which was the Yum Box. And in order to be comparable in price and size, I ordered the Munchpak Mini instead of the original.
UNIVERSAL YUMS
As far as value goes, this box was chock full of snacks. They say you get 6+ snacks in the “smallest” box, but I got 9! That’s 4 more snacks than in the Munchpak (mini).
Universal Yums also state that they work directly with the manufacturers in the countries that they get their snacks from. So you can guarantee that you will get the same quality in your box as in the store.
You can tell that they put a lot of effort into their box by having the trivia booklet and added recipes to use some of the snacks with.
MUNCHPAK
Although Munchpak was around $1 cheaper than Universal Yums, I did get 4 less snacks in this box. Therefore, I don’t think the value of this box is greater than Universal Yums. I’d spend the extra dollar to get more snacks.
Quality wise, there was no issues with old or damaged snacks, so no complaints there.
Winner: Universal Yums
Universal Yums was the clear winner this round, simply because you get more for what you pay for in this box.
ROUND 3
Overall Experience
This round was the hardest to compare, simply because these boxes do well at what they offer. They’re two different experiences, so this round came down to personal preference. Note that the snacks in Universal Yums are from one specific country that they feature for the month, whereas Munchpak offers a variety of snacks from different countries.
UNIVERSAL YUMS
So, let’s start with the things I loved about this box. I enjoyed the trivia and activity booklet that came with the box. Learning the history behind every snack provided in the box was fun. I think this would be great for families to do together.
Along with all the research that Universal Yums has put into the trivia booklet and the snacks that they pick from the featured country, it makes this box feel like a true curated box. It provided me with a small essence of Columbia. A glance into their culture through their food. I enjoyed that.
Now for the “bad”. While I did enjoy the experience of trying the snacks of an entire country, I found myself disliking more snacks in this box, than I did in Munchpak.
This was because I’m not a coconut or plantain fan, and these were common flavors in Colombia. I don’t care for spicy food or snacks either, so I probably wouldn’t like a box from Mexico or another country that thrives on spice.
So if you have general dislikes in food, you may be disappointed with a certain month’s box. You don’t know the featured country ahead of time, so you wouldn’t be able to cancel a particular country’s box.
MUNCHPAK
The shipping was a huge plus with this box. When you purchase your 1st box with them, it immediately ships out the next day!
I also liked the variety that comes in each box. It allows you to get a taste of treats from multiple different countries at a time. There were many different flavors, which made it a more enjoyable experience for me.
Munchpak also created an app called, Snack Scanner. You can scan each snack’s barcode and it brings up the price and you can save your favorite snacks. I personally wouldn’t find a lot of use for it though.
This brings me to the last point. After trying out your snacks, Munchpak has their own store online that you can buy any individual snacks that were your faves.
I checked the prices of some items elsewhere online, and it’s actually cheaper to just buy from the Munchpak site, which is great! Universal Yums doesn’t have a store set up, so you would have to look online if you want to purchase snacks that you liked.
Winner: Munchpak
I really do think they are both great boxes, but I like the more diverse variety that I got with Munchpak.
VERDICT
Worth It?
BOX I WOULD REPURCHASE / KEEP
If I had to choose, I’d stick with Munchpak. Regardless of the amount of snacks that were in the Universal Yums box, I found myself not liking a lot of the snacks anyway. Therefore, I honestly found more value in liking 4 out of the 5 snacks in my Munchpak box, than the 4 out of 9 in my Universal Yums box.
Overall Winner: Munchpak
I recommend both boxes, so if you decide on one, here’s what you should consider when choosing:
Consider UNIVERSAL YUMS if:
You want to completely immerse yourself in what a country has to offer. Also, if you want more bang for your buck, this is probably the more obvious choice.
Consider MUNCHPAK if:
You favor more variety in your snack boxes. Also, if you’re particular about certain flavors that you don’t like, you won’t have a full box of similar flavors.
Let me know which snack box subscription you would go with in the comments! And as always, please follow me on my social media channels. I’d love to connect with you!
If beauty is more your jam, check out the latest Showdown featuring Scentbox and Scentbird!
