Snack Review: Wheat Thins Toasted Chips
The folks at Nabisco/Kraft are mighty crafty. And I don’t mean cunning or guileful, but rather smart. At the introduction of their new toasted chip line, they’ve jumped on the eco-friendly “green” bandwagon with a gymnastic and graceful flourish.
One bag features a wispy sepiatone photo of a mountainside, while the other shows a little girl in a sun dress smiling radiantly down at healthy stalks of wheat. If their product were subpar I’d chide them for a blatant attempt at riding the conservation tide. But these snacks are lip-smacking good! Go, Nabisco/Kraft, go!
Still, I wonder why they refer to them as chips when they sure seem like crackers to me.
For this product, gone is the traditional Wheat Thins box, replaced by a Terracycle foil bag that, according to the package, can be recycled into “backpacks, totes and pencil cases.” How very green.
I was never a huge fan of Wheat Thins; they were always a bit bland, perhaps lending to their healthier stance over traditional fried potato chips. The new Toasted Chips are 50-60% lower in fat than traditional chips and contain omega-3 fatty acids from soybean oil.
Great Plains Multigrain: Similar flavor to original brand but with a pleasing initial crunch and a light, airy, melt-in-your-mouth finish. The chips are 2-inch serrated squares which actually appear darker around the edges giving them a true toasted look. Unlike the original Wheat Thins, not all chips were perfectly shaped; some were melded together, others mangled or broken which only added to the “fresh and natural” overall feel.
Garden Valley Veggie: Very, very salty. I liked the flavor, which reminded me of Sociables with a touch of the ancient Chicken in a Biskit, but after a single serving (about 8 chips) of the Garden Valley chips, I was ready for a tall glass of icewater. The culprit? Monosodium Glutamate - good old MSG. These chips contain nearly the exact ingredients of Nabisco’s Veggie Thins, but with slightly less fat, carbs and sodium, but one gram more sugar.
Pros: I liked the attempt at a “green” product with the links to recycling programs. The bags also feature a reusable adhesive tab to keep the package closed between snacking sessions. Same tasty whole wheat ingredients in both, and the Garden Veggie contains (dehydrated) carrots, cabbage, tomato, red and green bell peppers, and (absent from Veggie Thins) pumpkin! The toasted texture was a sheer delight.
Cons: Too much salt per serving in the Garden Veggie (290mg). Resealable tabs leave a very tacky residue on the bag after repeated use.
Last words: Fresh and tasty with a satisfying texture - lighter than the original but still more substantial than a saltine cracker. I recommend these. There is also a Parmesan & Herb blend that I did not try.
Buy Wheat Thins Toasted Chips Online:
- at Amazon.com
2 Comments
dmisewich on February 9th, 2010
I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE THE WHEAT THINS GREAT PLAINS MULTIGRAIN CRACKERS BUT WAS WONDERING IF YOU COULD MAKE A LOW SODIUM KIND ???? SO I COULD EAT MORE OF THEM ?????
karlbecker_com on February 5th, 2010
These chips are SO delicious. Thanks for reminding me of Veggie Chips - I miss them! But these are a great replacement.