Lundberg: Rice Chips: Sea Salt

“The original taste of sea salt with the delicious crunch of brown rice.

Lundberg® Sea Salt Rice Chips™ are great right out of the bag or with your favorite dip or salsa.”

There are 1.5 oz (43g) of chips in each bag. For a comparison, a snack sized bag of Doritos has 1 ¾ oz (49.6g) of chips. There was about 9-14 chips in the bag, which is a sad amount but that is expected from most chips nowadays. They seem similar to tortilla chips, except they are made out of brown rice (not corn) and are whole grain, kosher, non-GMO, and gluten free.

Nutrition Facts	Ingredients
Serving Size: 1.5 oz (43g) Calories: 150 Calories from fat: 70 Total fat: 8g Saturated fat: 0.5g Trans Fat: 0g Cholesterol: 0mg Sodium: 90mg Total Carbohydrates: 18g Fiber: 1g Sugars: 0g Protein: 2g Vitamin C 2% Calcium 2%	>Organic Rice Flour (Parboiled Brown Rice Flour, White Rice Flour) >Organic Whole Grain Brown Rice >High Oleic Expeller- Pressed Safflower or Sunflower Oil >Organic Whole Grain Corn Masa Flour >Organic Sesame Seeds >Sea Salt >Organic Caramel Color

Since these are most comparable to tortilla chips, I am going to compare both of their nutrition facts. For one ounce, typical tortilla chips have about 140 calories, 6g of fat, 1g saturated fat, 110g sodium, 19g carbohydrates, 2g fiber, and 2g protein. There are not any significant nutritional benefits of rice chips compared to tortilla chips except that they have less calories. In this case, picking between these two chips will just come down to taste preference.

In addition to chips, Lundberg sells entrees, dishes, grains, snacks, and baking ingredients. The price of these rice chips varies from store to store, but they retail for about $1-2 for 1.5 oz, and $3 for 6 oz. For reference, a 32oz bag of Santina’s tortilla chips are $2.

The Lundberg website has a 'Where to Buy' page where you can enter in your zip code and a map showing local stores will appear. Some common grocery stores around me that carry this brand are Stop n Shop, Super Stop n Shop, and Whole Foods.

I love these chips. I much prefer them over tortilla chips, and they are cheap enough that I would not mind buying them over and over again. They are thicker than ordinary chips, and a lot crunchier. They taste like a bowl of salted and buttered brown rice! These rice chips are very hearty-- after eating the 1.5oz bag, I was content. These won’t make you overindulge like potato chips do. Though I could get a huge bag of tortilla chips for $2, I would choose these instead as I am only feeding myself. If you want to feed an entire family, perhaps these chips would not be for you since the largest size is only 6oz.

COST: If you are feeding yourself like me, these chips are the perfect size won’t hurt the wallet. If you are feeding a family, you should stick to chips that come in large bags.

TASTE: Buttery, salty, tastes like a bowl of rice.

AVAILABILITY: Available in fairly many stores

NUTRITION: Not much better than corn tortilla chips, but a plus is that they are whole grain

Party-Tizers: Dippin’ Chips: Veggie

“Party-tizers Veggie Dippin’ Chips™ are uniquely designed dippable tortilla chips made with certified gluten-free ingredients. Our recipe starts with US home grown corn and a blend of delicious veggies, carrots, spinach & kale. We challenge you to try them with or without a dip. We love them both ways!!!”

There are 1 oz (28g) of chips in each bag. For a comparison, a snack sized bag of Doritos has 1 ¾ oz (49.6g) of chips. As you can see in the picture, there are not many chips per bag. I counted approximately 8-10. These are suppose to be a “healthier” version of tortilla chips as they are made out of kale, carrots, and spinach.

Nutrition Facts	Ingredients
Serving Size: 1 oz (28g) Calories: 140 Calories from fat: 70 Total fat: 8g Saturated fat: 0.5g Trans Fat: 0g Cholesterol: 0mg Sodium: 120mg Potassium: 25mg Total Carbohydrates: 17g Fiber: 2g Sugars: 1g Protein: 2g	>Vegetable Oil (Sunflower and/or Canola) >Sea Salt >Dehydrated Carrot Granules >Tomato Powder >Cassava Flour >Corn >Spinach Powder >Dehydrated Broccoli >Kale >Parsley Flakes >Minced Onion >Dehydrated Roasted Garlic and Ginger

Ordinary tortilla chips have roughly the same amount of calories per ounce, and interestingly the same amount of fiber and protein. The only aspect that the Dippin’ Chips have that other tortilla chips do not is 25mg of Potassium. So essentially, there is really not much health benefit to the veggie chips, despite the plethora of vegetables in the ingredients. My guess is that dehydrating vegetables causes them to lose most of their nutrition. (If you are curious to learn more about nutrients in dehydrated vegetables, you can read this article.)

Dippin’ Chips only have 5 products total, which are all flavored tortilla chips (veggie, fiesta bean, super grains, blue corn, and original). You cannot buy them on their website, but they do provide a list of retailers you can buy them from. I do not know how much the snack bags retail for, but the 5oz bags cost around $3.59. Santitas Tortilla Chips however, are sold in 10oz bags for only $2.00.

List of Retailers

These chips taste like a blander version of tortilla chips, with a small spinach/carrot flavor. As for their challenge to, “try them with or without a dip”,  I would recommend only using these as dipping chips, because by themselves they are pretty boring. They are also less salty than Santitas Tortilla Chips even though they have roughly the same sodium amounts. If you like less salty chips then these may be for you.

COST: Twice the price of typical tortilla chips for half the amount.

TASTE:Not very flavorful or salty- I prefer ordinary tortilla chips. But the shape is good for dipping

AVAILABILITY: Available in fairly many stores

NUTRITION: Not much nutritional benefits despite having a lot of vegetables in the ingredients, but not terrible or worse than regular tortilla chips