On day five of the freeze of the century here in Texas this past winter—because a global pandemic is just not punishment enough sometimes—my husband and I decided it was time to venture out and see if there was anything left on the grocery store shelves.
As soon as we walked in it was clear there wasn’t much left. My husband made a desperate, but hopeful, beeline for the dairy section, and I pushed the cart into the center aisles eager to find even a couple of things on the list. As I turned into the chip aisle, the shelves were completely empty, with one exception: huddled together on the otherwise barren shelves were 22 bags—yes, I counted—of Food Should Taste Good’s Sweet Potato Tortilla Chips.
I’ve never been much of a chip person (although there is no arguing over the deliciousness of restaurant-style homemade tortilla chips). But, along with millions of other sweet potato lovers, I was thrilled to see that the sweet potato started populating grocery store shelves year round. I gradually dispensed with the idea that I am “not a chip person.”
Here are my favorite non-potato chips:
Terra’s Sweet Potato Chips
A close second to the sweet potato tortilla chip is Terra’s Sweet Potato chip. If your favorite thing about chips is the guilty pleasure of salt and oil, this chip is for you. I like these because a little goes a long way to satisfy the craving for something with texture and salt, but if you don’t crave salt like I do or need to avoid it, all of Terra’s chips do come in salt-free varieties.
Terra’s Original + Sweets & Beets
My third favorite is a tie and both are also Terra: the Original Vegetable Chips or the Sweets & Beets are both delightful. The vegetable chips have a variety of vegetables, some that I admit I didn’t know existed: yuca, sweet potato, parsnip, taro, and batata. The sweets and beets are just what the name suggests: sweet potatoes and beets.
A word of caution: I will say that the list of what’s not in Terra’s chips is impressive and might lull one into a false sense of “these are so healthy I can eat a whole bag at a time!”
• Made with real vegetables
• Gluten free and vegan
• Kosher and non GMO Project verified
• 0 milligram of cholesterol and 0 gram of trans fat and no artificial flavors or artificial preservatives
Despite the impressive list of what’s not in the chips, in the end they are still chips and do have fat and sodium—and like all fat and sodium should be consumed in moderation.
Bare Snacks chips
This is one of the many reasons why I love number four: the Bare Snacks collection. Bare Snacks started out as apple chips but has branched out significantly in the past few years with quite an impressive collection of fruit and vegetable snacks.
As their name would imply, Bare Snacks takes pride in keeping their products simple with few ingredients and nothing added. Although they have branched out from their start in local farmer’s markets, they still aspire to use locally sourced, naturally ripened fruits and vegetables which isn’t terribly difficult to do since they are a California-based company.
Harvest Snaps
My last but certainly not least favorite chip is not really a chip at all, but it is crunchy, satisfying, and fully worthy of a seat at the favorite chip table.
Harvests Snaps started out as just Green Pea Snack Crisps but have proven to be wildly successful. Every time I look for them on the grocery shelf, I see there has been something new added: lentils, black beans, onions, and flavors such as tomato-basil and mango chili lime for those that like their snacks to bite back. While I enjoy exotic flavor combinations, my favorite remains the original lightly-salted green pea snack crisps.
