I fell into a junk food mood again a little while ago. I’d actually had these Lays Cheddar and Sour Cream Potato Chips since near the new year, but didn’t have the heart to open them. Well, I think I actually bought two bags of these and ate one right away. So I didn’t have the heart to open TWO of them at once.

This is actually an enormous bag of chips; I could almost climb into it and use it in a potato sack race. Or I could inflate the empty bag and use it as an air pillow while camping. Or I could put some handles on it and use it as a shopping bag at the mall. Not that I’ve been to the mall in 10 years.

Anyhow you get the picture - it’s an oversized bag of chips. In fact you get 20% more chips according to the screaming words on the bag. Which is a good thing for Cheap Eats, I guess because you’re getting more for less. Still, it took a good amount of time to eat the entire bag - I don’t know if I need this much chips unless there’s a party. Not that I’ve been to a party in 10 years.

Potato Chip makers have gotten hit pretty hard with all the negative publicity over how fattening and bad their chips are for you. So it’s no surprise that they’ve tried to reform their image - 0 grams of trans fat, 100% sunflower oil. I guess it’s better than nothing (right, healthy eats peeps?)

They claim that the taste is still the same. I don’t know about that because I don’t have potato chips too often any more. But I rather liked the taste and texture of these chips. They just seemed chunkier and substantial without being overly oily. I think the Lays I used to get were more “feathery” light and lacy in texture, but more oily. My personal preference is thicker potato chips over thinner ones so it suits me fine.

The cheese and sour cream taste was actually quite good. I was sort of expecting an artificially flavored cheese taste, like in Cheetos or Doritos, but it tasted more authentic or something. Not that authentic cheese flavor is something you’re necessarily expecting in potato chips. It sort of reminded me of the taste of Cheez-Its or those Goldfish Crackers but with a sour cream tang to them.

I made the mistake of throwing away the bag without writing down the actual size in ounces … but just take my word for it that it’s oversized. It’s almost “Max-Pack” sized. I also threw away the receipt though I know I got these on sale… I think it was $2.50? At the MSRP of around $3.50, it’s a bit expensive - though it lasted me a long time because I don’t subscribe to the “Lays - You Can’t Just Eat One” philosophy. But if you can get it on sale, it’s decent for being a commercial bag of potato chips.

Price: $3.49 ($2-3 on sale)
Found At: Albertsons
Cheap Eats Score: 7/10