Free So Delicious Ice Cream from Social Nature - Review

Received an offer from Social Nature to try some Dairy-Free Ice Cream. It was good! I have previously tried “Happy Water” through them (you can see my review in a previous blog post) and now I got the opportunity to try ice cream!

A  recap of Social Nature is it’s a site that encourages people to flag items they would like to try that are new, healthy, Made in Canada/USA and all the good things.

You go through a list of available offers and flag items as “Want It”, then answer a few questions relating to what else like it you have tried or regularly buy. Then they will choose a pool of people to accept and send free product coupons to take to a store to purchase. You need to do a review of the product after to increase your chances of getting more “want it” items, plus the more people you have on your lists the better an influencer you are and again the better chances you have at being selected.

Only downside is occasionally where the products are sold.. Happy Water was a tough one for me to find as only certain stores carried certain versions. Luckily, this ice cream was at the grocery store we normally shop at.

So we were looking for this ice cream and found a big cooler of it near all the organic foods. All of the bigger tubs were on clearance, which still made them within the coupon max price limit, so we opted to go big or go home! Lots of flavours to choose from, but I had to go with the all chocolate Soy version!

The other night, I was craving ice cream and so I pulled this out for a few spoonfuls. It tastes like ice cream, all good, did the trick. While I am not lactose-intolerant, it was great to try this and see that healthier foods can actually taste good. I recommend it to anyone needing the dairy-free route.

As I’ve said in my review, the only thing that would make me hesitate from buying it in the future was the price. The size of a “normal” ice cream tub was normally $7, but was on clearance for $5.99. The smaller tubs, similar to a Ben&Jerry’s small size, was around $5. When you can watch for the Chapman’s ice cream sales, you can get the big box for $2 (or free if you request your yearly free product coupon).

Have your say and get rewarded - Sample Review Sites

So there are a bunch of sites like this, and just to try, I've signed up for three. In the short time I've been on these sites I've received an offer from two of them. 

Basically the premise is that you get either free samples or points for reviewing products. Easy right? 

Influenster 

This one is all over the Internet, the most popular one I've read about. So far though, not a great fit for me, as I am not on every single social media system there is. I am on 4 of the 7 they ask you for, and my "reach" is only medium. The idea here is that the more you are a social media influencer, the more "campaigns" available to you. This site seems to work off points and badges, points for completing questions and posting reviews, and badges for milestones. I'm not sure I understand it all, but I'm still poking around. They have just come out with an app, maybe I'll give that a try. From the sounds of it by others, there's a lot of initial work to build up your numbers before they offer you a bunch of samples. 

ChickAdvisor

They want your product reviews, and that's the simple description. They will have various offers that you can apply for and they will choose a set number from the applicants. Sometimes it's trade show passes, sometimes it's product.. Their breadth of offers has been kind of random so far. 

SocialNature

This is a group that offer natural, holistic, human/environment-friendly products. Basically you go through their current list of products and select the ones you "want" and that puts you in a pool of applicants that they then choose to offer samples to. You receive the sample and review it, and that's it. I would be open to more sites like this as it is easy and simple to understand!

A quick search on the web has given a bunch of similar programs to both Influenster and SocialNature. For a more detailed understanding of Influenster and 2 other sites to give a try (the Smiley360 is for Americans only it looks like, but the other two are next on my list to sign up for and see if Canadians can get them) check out http://brokegirlrich.com/?p=721 

Free Sample Review: Happy Water

So I am on a bunch of "advisor" websites that will reward your reviews with free samples and free product coupons. 

I'll do a different blog post on the panels I'm on, but this one was through "Social Nature". So they sent me an offer via email asking if I would be willing to try and review this product, and I clicked on the I Want It button. 

After saying yes, they sent me these items in the mail, including the free product coupon. 

Now, I don't like water. The only way I can drink it is if it's ice cold or has mixed powder/squirt flavouring in it. BUT, I like free, and my roommate drinks a lot of water, so I figured it would be used one way or another. 

On the back of the coupon it lists the stores that carry this product, in Ontario and BC only right now it looks like. The only one near me was Sobeys, so that's where we headed. 

So walking into a store and asking the team if they had heard of "Happy Water" gave a few chuckles and raised eyebrows, but it was there in the water bottle section, as expected. However, they were sold out of the 5L cases. Long story short, and after waiting a long time a customer service, they let me use the max value on the coupon towards the purchase of a 10L case.  

Basically it's a big bag of water in a box. The spout design pops out from it easily, and doesn't drip. It's like a mini water cooler in a box. The taste is very smooth and I was surprised that I actually liked it. I've tried mixing it with cordials and drink mixes and they all mix well, with a clean taste. My review I posted is below:

Anyways, sharing here because it was part coupon/great deal and part good product.