What is Apocabox? To call this a camping box wouldn't be the correct term, Apocabox is a mixture of tools and gear built for survivalist and hobbyists who are interested in doing things in the wilderness using nature and a minimal amount of gear. Apocabox is a bimonthly subscription service curated by the lively, Creek Stewart who is a sort of wilderness guru who has an survival skills training facility where he teaches newer folks to the scene like me how to utilize nature to the fullest. Apocabox runs about $50 a box plus shipping fees (US, Canada, Europe and AU) 

Check it out at: http://www.myapocabox.com/

If you're into tools and gadgets like I am then this box is great. I looked at previous boxes and was enticed by this box. Now that it's getting warmer I'm sure to start going out into trails and camping locations to test out my new bike. With this box you're sure to have plenty of hours trying out the kits and tools while you're out connecting with nature. 

Creek goes out of his way to hand draw and write all of the instructions and shows proper usage for everything in the box so you don't have to run to wikipedia to figure this stuff out. Great attention to detail.

Next we have two books and a tarp that accompanies one of the booklets. The first is Stuck: A Survival Short Story by the man himself, Creek Stewart. I have been reading a little bit of it but I think it's great to get a first hand look at what the guy has been through and what he's all about. The second is a 6x9 Emergency Tarp and an accompanying booklet titled How to Live Under a Tarp. The tarp is a special heat reflective tarp but is meant for emergency situations so it's good to keep in your car or emergency kit. The booklet shows several ways to set up the tarp for emergency situations,

Here we have x3 Wildflower Honey Straws. Honey is a miracle food that never expires with great healing properties, these honey sticks are a small and convenient way to add flavor to water or meat for that extra flavor and energy. Below we have x2 Latex Balloons and a Milkweed Pod. When I reached into the bag I wasn't sure what to expect, I grabbed onto this strange seed/pod and thought it was a bizarre totem covered in spider webs! This is actually one of Creek's "Skill Challenge" items where he likes to throw in a challenge for the subscribers with items to do something with. The challenge for these is a fire starter challenge which entails using the latex balloons as a point of heat through the utilization of the sun's light and the milkpod as culture for the embers to start burning. A very interesting concept that doesn't involve a pair of eyeglasses!

This next kit is another one of Creek's fire starting skill challenges but with a more interesting looking kit. This Fire Piston Kit is a tool that uses heat from quickly generated compressed air. This one seems like a fun way to make a fire and I'm going to give a try this weekend so look for that post! 

Last we have a banner that has the Apocabox logo on it, not really for survival uses but a cool little freebie he threw in the January box.

Final Impressions

I love this box and once I begin to go out more into expeditions I'll probably keep a subscription with these guys. Creek spends a good amount of time on detailing everything and putting his own experience into the box. He has video tutorials of him using and showing proper use of everything and I already feel like I'm becoming a great survivalist just by knowing these things. It's a bi-monthly box which gives him more time to put all this detail in the box. I absolutely think it's a box for nature hobbyists and anyone who goes out or even lives close to the woods. It gives extra incentive for you to actively go out into nature too, so I'll be getting my butt ready to go out this weekend to try out some of these things! 

Check it out at http://www.myapocabox.com/

From the left we have:

Fruit Gummy Kit - I really loved this, the gummy was beautiful and almost too pretty to eat (but I ate it anyways and it was delightful!) see below.

Pokemon Karipori - These little hard candy sticks came in grape and orange flavor, a really kind of sour citrus-y flavor when eating. Similar to the taste of shock tarts.

Candy Pizza Kit - I watched tons of these videos on youtube of people making miniature Japanese candy so I was really looking forward to making this. I was a little rushed at work so I didn't have time to dutiful do these pizzas justice. However the entire process was fun to do. If you need instructions there are videos online which are easier than guessing the photos on the back. It says "Candy Pizza" but the pizza was more like bagel bites and the potatoes were starchy and tasted like potatoes rather than candy! The "cheese" smelled like mozarella, the "sauce" smelled like tomato and the "meat" smelled meaty. I was enthralled at how everything transformed from powder and water in just a few seconds. Very fun!

Exciting Sticky Candy - I'm not sure if that's the real name of the item or just a lazy translator, this DIY candy kit included wafer sticks that you would dip in a chocolate mixture then into a strawberry icing mixture and finally into a candy mixture. I liked the dips but it only came with 3 thin wafers but you could always just dip other stuff from the box into them if you were feeling adventurous.

Chocolate Lollipop Kit - My second run in with this in a box, this kit comes with three different colored candy coated chocolate balls that you use to decorate a lollipop then fill it in with the melted chocolate bars that are included in the kit to create your own chocolate lollipop masterpiece.

Koala No March - If you're familiar with Asian grocery stores as I am then you're familiar with 2 candies, koala bear chocolate filled cookies and pocky sticks. These brought back some nostalgia.

Pocky Midi (Strawberry Latte) - I'm a little tired of seeing pocky in everything asian (besides matcha ones) but the plain strawberry, vanilla and chocolate staples are terribly trite but at least this one is a latte version with a chocolate stick so it's a slight improvement.

Mystery Flavor Soft Candy - Coming in two different shapes, a star and some kind of pumpkin, I really found this one to be interesting in texture, taste and look! I enjoyed the softness, similar to the mini bananas in the previous kit review. It's kind of like a chewy gummy marshmallow.

Vegetable Juice Ramune - This is my first time finding out it was vegetable juice ramune. No, it did not taste like V8, but it did taste like an orangey fruity candy.

Pokemon Soft Candy - Shaped like chewing gum, this pokemon candy is fully edible and enjoyable.

Overall impressions

The big selling point to this box is the DIY kits. Looking through their store you can tell that they are crazy about them and even if you're not in the mood for boxes you can find plenty of interesting goods in their shop. If you like surprises and like candy that you make yourself then this box is right up your alley.

You can find them over at:

https://marimomarshmallowstore.com/

Unboxing

The box was a little small but there were no fillers inside, you get the normal variety of goods as you would other boxes. Inside were 10 snacks, salty, sweet and savory. A decent mix of everything. The snacks seem to lean more on the traditional side of Japanese snacks, even the toy I found in one of the boxes was a traditional little pizza made of wooden blocks. The company seems to revolve more on the education and tradition of Japan rather than the kawaii, kitchy niche side of Japan.

Nabisco Chip Star Sweet Potato Chips - After trying the nori version and then these, I think I've become a big fan of these Asian Nabisco chips. It has a real subtle, savory taste that you don't see too often in American chips. 

Glico Hearts - This is a very long-standing candy company from Japan (founded in 1922) I've seen their products growing up in all types of different Asian markets. You get the small cracker jack type of prize inside the top box (mine came with a wooden pizza) and in the candy portion there are soft chewy caramel hearts that are like werther's soft chews.

Puccho - In their description it says that these are gummies but these are more like hard chewing melon/mango candies. Think hi-chew.

Pandaro - Melon & Original - The old 90s style Asian artwork on all of these treats really bring me back. I was a little disappointed because inside these you get one cookie and mine were both broken so I couldn't see what the snack itself looked like. I really look forward to cookies like the melon one because you don't often see melon flavored cookies in America. Go try it, it's definitely tasty! The original (black) one was just a butter cookie with a panda face on it.

Tamanegi San - Lightly onion flavored, these were soft like cheese puffs but with the flavor of funyons. I really enjoyed these!

Cream Soda Candy - Cream Soda flavored hard candy, these smell like a fruity bubblegum and taste like a creamy milky fruit too.

Puchi Kabukiage - Japanese rice crackers with a sweet soy sauce blend. These are like quintessential Japanese snacking food I'm guessing. In the US you would find peanuts at a bar in Japan you would find these. They looked like little hashbrowns and tasted like heaven. There isn't a situation where these wouldn't be perfect to bring along to snack on.

From the top left going clockwise we have:

Apothederm Stretch Mark Cream - .17 oz most of these are sample sizes with coupons attached, has cocoa butter, shea butter, olive oil and meadowfoam seed oil, says it has visible results within 2 weeks.

Starting from the top left we have:

Tessemae's All Natural Sauce (Honey Mustard / Lemon Garlic) - Now I'm not sure if this is meant only for salads, I'm going to try the lemon garlic on some baked chicken later on and see how it goes! The honey mustard had a strong dijon flavor, a little bitter I think this is best for salad mixes.

3x Blaistix Chipotle Adobo beef sticks - I'm more of a jerky man myself, I don't really like the texture of beef sticks but I do admire their convenient shape. You get the beef stick-y taste and then the chipotle adobo flavor after which wasn't too bad at all.

Grab The Gold snack bar - These are "unbaked" style cookies/bars which was light and a had a nice mix of ingredients (peanut butter, chocolate, brown rice and fruits)

Final Impressions

Foxy Boxes have a nice variety of items to fit the lifestyles of the growing healthy living youth, ranging from vitamins, powders, snacks, sauces and skincare products. I really would like it if they had a larger volume of the products rather than just the sample sizes but a travel size version of these. It's hard to tell if you really like a product from just a few applications especially if it's one of the skin care products for example. They do work hand in hand with these companies and most of the products come with coupon codes you can only get through foxy boxes so it's not just a random selection. The box definitely gives you some ideas and guides you to finding what items work well with your routine so kudos to that. As a biker myself I think the endurance box would have been a better fit. If you're into active and healthy living then you can try these guys out over at:

http://www.myfoxyboxes.com/