French Vanilla Stevia Extract Packets – 100 Packets/Box by Now Foods

French Vanilla Stevia Extract Packets by Now Foods – Great Product, Horrible Packaging

I like stevia and I like french vanilla so I was excited to try the French Vanilla Stevia Extract Packets by Now Foods – until I tried to open the packets.

The one thing we learn as low carbers is how to add flavors to the foods we eat and the beverages we drink. When I’m home, its easy to flavor my coffee with DaVinci Gourmet’s Sugar Free French Vanilla syrup or any of their other flavors, but when I’m on the road or just going to my local breakfast restaurants, I usually just have Splenda or stevia – if I remember to bring my own stevia.

So when I found the French Vanilla stevia packets from Now Foods, I was ready to add them to my messenger bag so I can bring them anywhere and everywhere I go. So off to breakfast I went yesterday with a handful of packets in my bag. I ordered breakfast including coffee. When the server brought the coffee, I eagerly picked up two packets put them together, shook them (to gather all of the powder in the packets) and pulled across the top of the packets to open them. This was a little tough. Maybe I picked up more than 2 packets, I’ve done it before. No, it was only 2 packets so maybe they are a little thick so I put one down and tried to open one packet. Still a little tough. It didn’t seem right so I tried to rip the paper of the packet with my fingernail and as I started to pull, I could see that the packet was made of a foil layer and a plastic layer. Sometimes manufacturers will use foil or cellophane to help keep the contents fresh so this wasn’t that unusual.

The problem was, I couldn’t rip the packets with my bare hands.

I’m not kidding. The combination of everthing made it almost impossible to open the packets!

The French Vanilla Better Stevia Packets look like any other sweetener packets – same size, same weight but the combination of the paper, the foil and the cellophane, make it ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE to open. In fact, I got so frustrated, I tugged even harder and…

I pulled so hard the cellophane finally tore and I spilled the contents all over the table. Frustrating, yes. Embarrassing, yes. Happy, no.

Not wanting to waste the stevia sweetener, I gathered it up and put it in my coffee. Yes it was good. The mix of the french vanilla flavor and the Better Stevia worked well in my coffee and two packets seemed to sweeten and flavor it well.

I really like the company Now Foods because their products are very high quality. I use their vitamins and supplements. I like their almond flour and even their Natural Shave Gel. I love their Better Stevia product line, but I can’t recommend their French Vanilla Stevia Extract Packets unless you use them at home and have a pair of scissors handy to cut the packets open or until they change their packaging. Not very convenient but it does taste very good.