Options Hot Chocolate Review

   I love this stuff. Seriously, it's delicious. It's amazing. It's the best hot chocolate in the world.

   I'm very picky about hot chocolate. I've had basic home brand rubbish from several places, and it's always bitter. I realise that it was always bitter in the old days, but if you added even a little bit of sugar it was always too sweet, and it was never chocolatey. It was also never thick enough, so I'd add more powder, which would need more sugar, and no matter what I did, it was awful. I then tried things like Cadbury hot chocolate drums. They were much better, but they were still not thick enough. But I use Cadbury hot chocolate in my baking and it works a treat. It makes some awfully chocolatey cakes.

   But then, a few years ago, Options came out. They were cheap - about 25p a sachet. Each sachet had the powder in it, but it also had powdered milk in it, too. All you needed was hot water. Of course, me being me and thinking I know best, I added sugar to it right away and ruined it. Of course, me being me, I also bought more than one sachet anyway, so I made sure not to add anything to my second attempt.

   Heaven.

   But I've not told you the two best bits. First of all, there are loads of types. There's plain belgian chocolate, there's white chocolate, there's vanilla chocolate, there's chocolate and mint, there's chocolate and orange, there's turkish delight (so rose chocolate) and there's caramel. These are just the ones I can recall off of the top of my head. And, each sachet has between only 38 to 46 calories per mug. 38 to 46, which depends entirely on the flavour. You add no sugar to it, no milk, so it's all very controlled, which makes for much easier calorie counting. Consider the fact that the average hot chocolate has about 225 calories and Options is even more amazing.

   This chocolate is not too thick. Given that the sachets are already in their ideal portions, it doesn't give you the opportunity to misbehave and add in an extra spoonful, which also really helps if you're trying to lose weight. But, if you fancy a thick chocolate, the solution is simple: use a smaller mug. I used to use relatively normal sized mugs, but it was always a bit thin, so I would add a single teaspoon of normal cocoa powder to it. It thickened it, certainly, but it also literally doubled the calories. Since then, I don't use my awesome Misfits mug, instead I use the smaller coffee mugs Seeg's parents brought over from the Netherlands. They hold a good cup of chocolate, but they guarantee it to be thick. Afterall, it's the same calories regardless - so it's just as filling. I'd rather have a thicker cup than a thin, watery one.

   Another great thing about them is that, despite the low calories, they are so very filling. Honestly, Seeg and I will plan to crack open a packet of Fox's chunky cookies that night, and I'll ruin the whole thing for myself by making a cup of chocolate.

   Honestly, if you have them as part of a controlled diet, these hot chocolates are just the best thing in the world. You get a warm drink, thick chocolate, and a full tummy, all with only 40 calories. It is amazing. And there are so many flavours! Of course, if you have self control, you can buy them in drums as well as sachets. 3 teaspoons from a drum will give you the same as a sachet. Of course, if you're anything like me, a teaspoon is quite steep, if you catch my meaning. They also have another line of hot chocolate sachets, called 'Indulgence' - these are bigger, so they offer a thicker chocolate, but there are only a few flavours: toffee, cherry banana, and plain. There  may be others, but I've forgotten them if there are. And they have between 60-70 calories depending on the flavour. So they're thicker than the normal Options, but if it's a special occasion, or you are actually quite a bit more well behaved than some of us (read: me), then they can be just as good. They're still less than half of an average hot chocolate anyway.

   You can find them in just about any supermarket, though the smaller ones might be more likely to only stock the drums to make a bit of money off of them. Tesco charge around £3 or so for a drum, but you can get about 15 mugs from it, working out at about 23p a mug, while they currently charge around 35p per sachet, and are sometimes on offer as 4 for £1. The larger supermarkets stock a much, much larger range than the smaller ones, too, and probably cover all flavours.

   I had intended to host a giveaway for several sachets in several flavours during the winter, but I never got around to it because I totally forgot. So watch this space! I still plan to do it.