I love snack food review days, because really, it just gives me the excuse to try every snack food I come across. I'm a habitual snacker; every couple hours, I want ... something. I particularly like things I can eat with my fingers. Thus, snacks, or, as I often call them, snacky-snacks.
These were basically Cheetoes, but less flavorful. I appreciated the crunch, and they were my favorite of the mix. "Like a Cheetoes, but less good", said another sampler. "Not that exciting," said another. The Real Deal also sells these as a standalone product, "Cheese Crunchies".
The nacho tortillas were round, and tasted strongly of tomato. I guess that is a component of nachos, but I didn't taste anything cheesy. I had only one of these. They sell regular white corn tortilla chips, and blue corn, but no seasoned ones individually.
Pretzels were both sticks and twists, just standard pretzels. I had only one twist. "Tastes like a pretzel stick," said another taster. The don't sell these pretzels standalone, only the corn based ones, and these were regular flour.
The corn chips were like large size Fritos. The bbq ones were very different from what I expected, I wouldn't have identified them as bbq, although they were clearly more seasoned than the regular ones. The non-bbq ones were saltier. "The salt makes them slightly less horrible", said my tastier.
Overall, I really liked the assorted sizes and textures, but none of the flavors were really that great.
I moved on to the Chili Lime version.
These were exactly the same as The Original, but with chili lime seasoning. The seasoning was a bit zesty, making everything taste a bit like Doritos, which I never like. I quickly handed this bag off to Ojan.
My only other note here is that the pretzels were particularly bad, they seemed burnt.
"Made from real corn, real peas and real rice". They come in a bunch of flavors: original, sriracha, and aged white cheddar.
Of course I went for sriracha.
These really grew on me. At first they were just confusing, not really what I'd call a "chip". They were tiny but also very light. I could taste rice. And I could taste peas. Super strange. And on top of all that ... some serious spice. I'm not sure I'd know it was sriracha, which surprised me, since that is a distinctive taste. But they were seriously spicy.
By the middle of the bag, I was hooked. When I hit the end, I was devastated. These were seriously tasty! The spice level is what kept them addicting :)
A fairly healthy snack too, only 100 calories per bag, 1.25 servings of vegetables, and 80% less fat than potato chips. And gluten free. And vegan.
Uh, anyway. Let's talk about the Real Deal Snacks. This is a company that has been around since 1946 making snack mixes. They claim to have created the first "party mix" and the first ones to make packaged tortilla chips. I sorta find this hard to believe, but, I'll go with it.
In addition to their snack mix and tortilla chips, they also make veggie chips, cheese crunchies, and gluten-free corn pretzels. While the snack mix wasn't a hit with myself or any other tasters in my group, I really did enjoy their veggie chips.
Well, since they invented party mix, seems like the snack mixes were the place to start. They say, "The Snack Mix is a delightful blend of ingredients: crunchy cheese curls, pretzels, nacho tortilla and corn chips." It comes in two flavors, Original and Chili Lime. I tried both.
I started by laying out the assortment. I expected 4 different items from the description, but, bonus, there were 6 - two types of corn chips and two types of pretzels.
Snack Mix
 |
| Original Snack Mix |
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| Crunchy cheese curl, nacho tortilla, pretzel rod, corn chip, bbq corn chip, pretzel twist (clockwise, from top left) |
(Clockwise, from top left)
Cheese Crunchies: "Light, crispy curls packed with delicious cheese flavor!"
These were basically Cheetoes, but less flavorful. I appreciated the crunch, and they were my favorite of the mix. "Like a Cheetoes, but less good", said another sampler. "Not that exciting," said another. The Real Deal also sells these as a standalone product, "Cheese Crunchies".
The nacho tortillas were round, and tasted strongly of tomato. I guess that is a component of nachos, but I didn't taste anything cheesy. I had only one of these. They sell regular white corn tortilla chips, and blue corn, but no seasoned ones individually.
Pretzels were both sticks and twists, just standard pretzels. I had only one twist. "Tastes like a pretzel stick," said another taster. The don't sell these pretzels standalone, only the corn based ones, and these were regular flour.
The corn chips were like large size Fritos. The bbq ones were very different from what I expected, I wouldn't have identified them as bbq, although they were clearly more seasoned than the regular ones. The non-bbq ones were saltier. "The salt makes them slightly less horrible", said my tastier.
Overall, I really liked the assorted sizes and textures, but none of the flavors were really that great.
 |
| Chili Lime Snack Mix. |
These were exactly the same as The Original, but with chili lime seasoning. The seasoning was a bit zesty, making everything taste a bit like Doritos, which I never like. I quickly handed this bag off to Ojan.
My only other note here is that the pretzels were particularly bad, they seemed burnt.
Real! Veggie Chips
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| Sriracha Real! Veggie Chips |
The other fun sounding product line is their veggie chips.
Of course I went for sriracha.
 |
| Close up. Tiny little chips! |
By the middle of the bag, I was hooked. When I hit the end, I was devastated. These were seriously tasty! The spice level is what kept them addicting :)
A fairly healthy snack too, only 100 calories per bag, 1.25 servings of vegetables, and 80% less fat than potato chips. And gluten free. And vegan.
