Tag: Frito-Lay

REVIEW: Cheetos Mac ‘N Cheese Cups

Marvo 3 Comments

Cheetos Mac N Cheese Cups

I’m as angry red as the Flamin’ Hot version of Cheetos Mac ‘N Cheese (there are also Bold & Cheesy and Cheesy Jalapeno varieties).

For years, I’ve been longing for Cheetos-flavored seasoning to be bottled so that we all can sprinkle some Cheetle on whatever our taste buds desire. But here we are with a Cheetos-flavored powdery substance, but it’s not bottled. Instead, I have to mix it with cooked noodles and water to make mac ’n cheese in a cup.

WHY CAN’T WE HAVE NICE THINGS, LIKE BOTTLED CHEETOS SEASONING!

(Oh, Cheetle is the official term for what we’ve all called Cheeto Dust. Since Cheetos sent me these, I thought I’d be courteous and use the correct terminology.)

Can you imagine topping pasta with Cheetos seasoning instead of grated parmesan cheese? Or maybe put it on McDonald’s French fries, scrambled eggs, potato chips, hash browns, chili, anything from Taco Bell, anything made by Chef Boyardee, a Costco hot dog, Costco pizza, Costco rotisserie chicken, the frozen cauliflower crust pizza I always pick up from Costco…

Sorry, as you can see, I’ve imagined a life with Cheetos seasoning for a long time, and I often shop at Costco.

Cheetos Mac ’N Cheese is available in these single-serve cups, but they’re also sold as box dinners that involve doing more than adding water and mixing.

Cheetos Bold Cheesy Mac N Cheese Cups

The Bold & Cheesy variety is pretty much the adjective-heavy way of saying original Cheetos flavor. Does it taste like the beloved snack? It does, but it’s a bit unsatisfying to get the famous cheesiness this way. I’ll explain more after I go through all the varieties. But this one is my favorite of the three.

Cheetos Cheesy Jalapeno Mac N Cheese

Cheesy Jalapeno is a Cheetos variety I’ve eaten twice, but I can’t remember the last time I had it or how it tastes. So I don’t know if this mac ’n cheese’s flavor comes close to it. It has a strong jalapeno scent and taste that’s slightly more potent than the cheese. It’s also a tad spicy, but not as much as the Flamin’ Hot one. As I ate it, I kept thinking chile con queso.

Cheetos Flamin Hot Mac N Cheese

As for the Flamin’ Hot Mac ’N Cheese, it was, unfortunately, disappointing. It made me sweat a little, but I don’t know if it was the hot noodles or Flamin’ Hot seasoning that caused it. Also, it started off tasty, but about halfway through the cup, it became a bit bland, and the spiciness kind of fizzled. Also, and this might be just me, the angry red/Swedish Fish/B-movie blood color is a little off-putting.

The Bold & Cheesy and Cheesy Jalapeno varieties are decent, but with all three, it’s like I’m eating a cheesy Cup Noodles instead of mac ’n cheese. Look, I’ve had Kraft Macaroni and Cheese Cups, so I kind of expected the slightly watery texture of the sauce. But I feel like something that’s Cheetos flavored deserves better because most variations of the snack are addictive and hard to put down. I can’t say the same about these.

Cheetos Flamin Hot Mac N Cheese Powder

They could be improved, though. Most of the appeal for Cheetos is its cheesiness, but there’s also the crunch factor, which these lack. Yes, we could add some of the crunchy snack ourselves, but it would be easier for Frito-Lay to include some crushed Cheetos that we could use like bread crumbs to top the mac ‘n cheese. I’m pretty sure the folks there have no problem getting access to tons of the stuff.

As I mentioned earlier, Cheetos Mac ’N Cheese is also available in boxes that call for butter and milk to prepare them, which seems like you’ll get a better end result. So I’d recommend purchasing those instead of these single-serve cups.

DISCLOSURE: I received free samples of the product. (Thanks, Cheetos!) Doing so did not influence my review.

Purchased Price: FREE
Size: 2.32 oz cup (Bold & Cheesy), 2.25 oz cup (Cheesy Jalapeno), 2.11 oz cup (Flamin’ Hot)
Purchased at: Received from Cheetos
Rating: 6 out of 10 (Bold & Cheesy), 6 out of 10 (Cheesy Jalapeno), 4 out of 10 (Flamin’ Hot)
Nutrition Facts: (1 package) Bold & Cheesy – 240 calories, 5 grams of fat, 1.5 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, less than 5 milligrams of cholesterol, 690 milligrams of sodium, 43 grams of carbohydrates, 2 grams of fiber, 5 grams of sugar, and 7 grams of protein. Cheesy Jalapeno

REVIEW: Lay’s Sea Salt & Vinegar Poppables

Marvo 1 Comment

Lay s Salt Vinegar Poppables

To determine whether you’ll love Lay’s Sea Salt & Vinegar Poppables, you have to ask yourself three simple questions.

  1. Do you like salt and vinegar potato chips?
  2. Do you enjoy the crispy texture of Lay’s Poppables?
  3. If it was discontinued, would you send a tear-jerking email to Frito-Lay about how there’s now a hole in your heart that could only be filled with Lay’s Salt & Vinegar Poppables?

If you said “yes” to all three questions, I now pronounce you husband and life snack or wife and life snack. You may now eat your life snack.

Well, actually, if you said “yes” to the first two questions, then you’ll probably end up enjoying this salty and tangy version of the airy potato snack. It has the same flavor you’d taste with Lay’s original and Kettle Cooked Salt & Vinegar Potato Chips, and the same satisfying crispiness as all the other Lay’s Poppables.

It’s exactly what I expected, and I LOVED them.

Yes, past tense.

That deep affection from eating the first few handfuls blinded me from realizing something disheartening about Poppables — there’s not much of it in the bag.

When I mindlessly eat regular or Kettle Cooked salt and vinegar potato chips, which happens more often than I’d like to admit, I can look into the bag after munching for a while and see that I’ve put a noticeable dent into what’s there. But there’s still a lot left.

Lay s Salt Vinegar Poppables 1

With these Poppables, I did the same mindless eating, and when I checked to see how much was left, I was shocked that three-fourths of the bag was gone.

I guess I never paid attention to how much is stuffed inside. A regular bag of Kettle Cooked has eight ounces, and standard Lay’s has 7.75. Poppables has just five.

So that made me ask myself, “How much do I like Poppables’ crispiness?” Is it enough for me to overlook the fact that I can get more salty and tangy munching satisfaction with its crunchier chip cousins?

I took a hard look at myself in a mirror and thought I didn’t truly LOVE Lay’s Sea Salt & Vinegar Poppables. I really like them, and I’d take them over any other Poppables variety, but if they ever go away, I won’t be writing a sad email to Frito-Lay. I’ll move on and chomp Lay’s Kettle Cooked Salt & Vinegar Potato Chips.

Purchased Price: $5.89*
Size: 5 oz. bag
Purchased at: Times Supermarket
Rating: 7 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: (about 28 pieces) 140 calories, 8 grams of fat, 1 gram of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 0 milligrams of cholesterol, 220 milligrams of sodium, 16 grams of carbohydrates, less than 1 gram of fiber, less than 1 gram of sugar, and 0 grams of protein.

*Because I live on a rock in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, things are a bit pricier here. You’ll probably pay less than I did.

REVIEW: Doritos Flamin’ Hot Limón

Marvo 4 Comments

Doritos Flamin Hot Limon

Nowadays, if you throw a Doritos chip while blindfolded in the chip aisle ninja star-style, there’s an excellent chance it’ll hit a snack that has “Flamin’ Hot” blazed across its packaging. That’s because Frito-Lay has been in the giving mood with the seasoning over the past couple of years. It has found its way onto Ruffles, popcorn, pretzels, and more.

Last year, some of that love got us Doritos Flamin’ Hot Nacho. This year, we have Doritos Flamin’ Hot Limón, a new spicy chip to chomp on while watching football, binge-watching something on Netflix, or Googling to find out if “limón” is Spanish for lemon or lime.

With Doritos Flamin’ Hot Limón, there’s no confusion whether it’s lemon or lime, thanks to the green color that takes up most of the top half of the chip’s bag and the lime wedge image sitting at the bottom of the bag that might secretly wish it was at the top of a Corona bottle.

Full disclosure, I didn’t fully enjoy the previously mentioned Doritos Flamin’ Hot Nacho. Its cheesiness didn’t help make it stand out from other Flamin’ Hot products. If it flamed out and disappeared to the depths of hell, I wouldn’t care. But I feel a lot different towards this citrus-flavored version.

While they appear spicy, nothing about the chip’s look or smell gives away that there’s a bit of lime. But its sweet and tangy flavor is noticeable with every chew. It’s as potent as the Flamin’ Hot seasoning. Actually, it might be even more so because the citrus seems to temper the spiciness, making these chips a little easier to eat than other Flamin’ Hot products. But, for the heat-adverse, they’re still quite spicy.

Oh, there are a couple of cheeses listed in the ingredients, but they get lost among the bombardment of pepper, spice, and lime. And I don’t care because, with the way they are, these chips are my favorite snack of the year. Yes, I’m writing this in the first half of January, but I’ve been enjoying every moment with them.

Although, I have to admit I like them a little less than I did when I first tried them. That happened because my curiosity got the best of me. I wondered in the back of my head, “Didn’t Frito-Lay already have something like this?”

That, of course, led me to the internet, which took me to Doritos Flamas, a spicy, lime-flavored chip under Frito-Lay’s Mexican Sabritas brand. That led me to a review of those chips, written by a former TIB writer who, on his blog, described them as tasting like a very spicy lime Froot Loop. I haven’t tried Doritos Flamas, so I can’t make a comparison. But when I read that description of it, it made my tongue and brain think in unison, “Oh, this does too. That’s super weird.”

But even with that nugget of slight buzzkill stuck in my head, this combination of lime and Flamin’ Hot seasoning is extremely tasty.

DISCLOSURE: I received a free sample of the product. Doing so did not influence my review in any way. Although, it totally seems like it. But I assure you it did not.

Purchased Price: FREE
Size: 9 3/4 oz. bag
Purchased at: Received from Doritos
Rating: 8 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: (about 12 chips) 150 calories, 8 grams of fat, 1 gram of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 0 milligrams of cholesterol, 190 milligrams of sodium, 18 grams of carbohydrates, 1 gram of fiber, less than 1 gram of sugar, and 2 grams of protein.

REVIEW: Ruffles Double Crunch Sweet & Smoky BBQ Potato Chips

Dustin 3 Comments

Ruffles Double Crunch Sweet Smoky BBQ Potato Chips

Ruffles’ Double Crunch lineup has been quite promising so far, albeit a tad derivative. The chips live up to their name by delivering a satisfying crunch and seem to have extra coatings of their respective flavors. The cheddar and buffalo wing varieties are tasty, but not that original.

Ruffles has ramped up the flavor library of the Double Crunch line with the “new” Sweet & Smoky BBQ. They appear to be similar to the old Ruffles Ultimate Sweet & Smokin’ BBQ, but I don’t remember what those taste like, so I can’t say for certain.

The ridges on the chips are more pronounced than those on standard Ruffles. The chips are generously covered in a welcoming burnt-orange dust. They appear to be as heavily seasoned as their cheddar and buffalo wing counterparts.

Ruffles Double Crunch Sweet Smoky BBQ Potato Chips Bag

The aroma wafting from the bag is that of typical BBQ chips, but with a little hint of vinegar and a more pronounced spice. Vinegar isn’t listed on the ingredients list, so it could very well be a trick of my imagination. Regardless, it’s very inviting.

The flavor profile hits hard with brown sugar, onion, and paprika at the onset. As I chew, hints of molasses, tomato and garlic start to shine through. They’ve got more of a kick to them than standard BBQ chips. I don’t taste any actual vinegar on the chips themselves. Upon looking at the ingredients, that all checks out. The proprietary BBQ seasoning has sugar, salt, brown sugar, paprika, spices, molasses, onion powder, tomato powder, garlic, honey, and delicious, magnificent MSG. There’s nothing new or original here; it’s like every BBQ chip I’ve ever had, just done a little bit better.

Ruffles Double Crunch Sweet Smoky BBQ Potato Chips Closeup

While the crunch is not as pronounced as it is on a kettle-cooked chip, it still delivers a rewarding bite every time.

I find myself losing control and shoveling more of these chips into my mouth. I’m typing this review with one hand, so I don’t get magical BBQ dust on the keyboard from my chip fingers.

Ruffles Double Crunch Sweet & Smoky BBQ are definitely good enough to become a staple in my rotation, but I feel like they won’t be around long. Ruffles’ website makes no mention of the product, so I assume it’s a limited offering. They’re definitely worth your time if you enjoy BBQ chip, so give ‘em a shot before they’re gone.

Purchased Price: $2.50
Size: 7 3/4 oz. bag
Purchased at: Walmart
Rating: 8 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: (10 chips) 140 calories; 8 grams of fat, 1 gram of saturated fat, 0 milligrams of cholesterol, 170 milligrams of sodium, 17 grams of carbohydrates, 1 gram of fiber, 2 grams of sugar, and 2 grams of protein.

REVIEW: Ruffles Double Crunch Potato Chips

Tiffany 7 Comments

Ruffles Double Crunch Potato Chips

UPDATE: We also reviewed the Sweet & Smoky BBQ, Honey Mustard, and Spicy Cheddar Jack flavors.

As an ice chewer, I am all about crunchy goodness. So, Ruffles “new” Double Crunch chips are right in my wheelhouse.

The “new” is in quotes because Ruffles launched very crunchy chips a couple of times before with Ultimate and Deep Ridged lines. It even secured two U.S. patents for the “chip’s ornamental design,” and 24+ prototypes were created to land on this specific crunchy form that incidentally looks like the chevron design on Charlie Brown’s shirt.

Full disclosure, I haven’t tried the previous iterations. But, I see it as it as a blank slate!

It seems like Double Crunch is closer to Deep Ridged because of the similar flavors AND because Ultimate seemed more wannabe macho with its pseudo-metal pattern on the packaging and tailgate-inspired varieties like Kickin’ Jalapeno Ranch, Sweet & Smokin’ BBQ, and Loaded Bacon & Cheddar Potato Skins.

This version even leans into the same “2x” claim but instead of saying “Ridges 2x As Deep,” it reads “2x The Crunch.” The fine print indicates that it’s only versus original Ruffles, so that’s kind of disappointing.

Ruffles Double Crunch Potato Chips Ridges

But, it is dang crunchy though. It’s so much so that you probably don’t want to eat this in class or work cubicle because someone will side-eye you for being too noisy. The chip itself is very kettle chip-like down to the smell (slight stale oil eau de parfum), which makes sense because that’s how it’s cooked as noted on the back panel. I don’t smell either the Zesty Cheddar or Hot Wings seasoning. Take that at face value based on your own preferences! I don’t mind either way.

Ruffles Double Crunch Potato Chips Open Bags

The Zesty Cheddar is basically like a saltier Cheddar & Sour Cream. I was so surprised by the saltiness that I immediately went to check the nutrition facts but learned that both flavors have the same amount of sodium. Unless the salt was supposed to be the zesty part, I didn’t get a kick either. Disappointing.

Ruffles Double Crunch Potato Chips Closeup

On the flipside, I enjoyed the Hot Wings variety! It’s like a true buffalo wing flavor dancing on my taste buds with a touch of tanginess followed by this creaminess that I can only describe as eating a side of celery with ranch. I don’t know if my mind was playing tricks on me because it tasted so similar to actual wings that I imagined the actual eating experience with sides and all. I didn’t find it THAT spicy but could see folks finding this a bit on the spicier side.

These Ruffles do indeed have some crunchy r-r-r-ridges, but not quite consistent flavors!

Purchased Price: $3.00 each
Size: 7 3/4 oz. bag
Purchased at: Target
Rating: 6 out of 10 (Zesty Cheddar)
Rating: 8 out of 10 (Hot Wings)
Nutrition Facts: (about 10 chips) Zesty Cheddar – 150 calories, 8 grams of total fat, 1 gram of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 0 milligrams of cholesterol, 170 milligrams of sodium, 17 grams of carbohydrates, 1 gram of dietary fiber, 1 gram of sugars, and 2 grams of protein. Hot Wings – 150 calories, 8 grams of total fat, 1 gram of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 0 milligrams of cholesterol, 170 milligrams of sodium, 17 grams of carbohydrates, 1 gram of dietary fiber, less than 1 gram of sugars, and 2 grams of protein.