Nibble my nachos & I'll spice up your salsa... (Tesco Value Tortilla Chips)

Member Name: fruityzo

Product:	Tesco Value Tortilla Chips
Date:	28/05/09 (56 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Cheap, good taste

Disadvantages: None

So in between my generally healthy food choices, lurks one of my naughty diet shames; nachos! (or 'tortilla chips' [pronounced "tor-tee-ya"]).

For those unfamiliar with these little gems, they are ground maize/corn shaped triangles, which are usually baked or fried, thus making them crunchy like crisps but thicker with more texture. They are generally considered to be a Mexican food, often served with salsa and jalapeno chillies.

I generally always keep a bag of Doritos in the cupboard for *emergency* munching, but in these times of reigning in the purse strings, I decided to force myself to try the Tesco value equivalent of Doritos.

PACKET:

The usual distinctive white, with blue and red 'value' across the pack. The packet is now slightly different from the dooyoo picture, the majority of the front is now made of clear wrapping so you can actually see the product inside. I find this much more appealing.
The back of the pack also mentions that the packaging is recyclable & that the chips are suitable for veggies.

Each pack contains 100g worth of tortilla chips and costs 25p. Although I am a little miffed by this as not that long ago my local Tesco only charged 17p! However I can't really complain too much, as you're still paying less than that of an individual 25g pack of Walkers crisps, for example.

PRODUCT:

The tortillas themselves are a good size, plenty of room to get digging into your favourite dip!
They are a nice uniform colour, which I'd imagine is natural due to them only containing; Maize, Vegetable Oil, Salt, nothing else. Nada (there you go, a bit of Espanol for you)!

Taste-wise, I have to say that these were a pleasant surprise. Due to the price, I was expecting them to be incredibly greasy and oily, but I did not find this at all.
They have a good 'crunch' to them, without being too hard and unappetizing. The major difference I did notice between these and Doritos, would be that the Tesco value chips have a slightly rougher texture to them - most probably to do with how much the maize has been ground down.
Regardless, I would certainly not describe the texture as unpleasant, in fact I actually preferred it!

NUTRITIONAL CONTENT:

Per 100g bag you will find;

480 calories
24.5g fat
10.3g saturated fat
0.3g salt

Which when all things considered, is not actually as bad as I thought they were going to be. Anyway, nachos are much more fun when smothered in something dreadfully fattening like sour cream, cheese, or guacamole - or all three of course!

CONCLUSION:

If you do like nachos (or have never tried them), please give these a go. I was pleasantly surprised by them, but even more so when comparing them to my more expensive usual equivalent; Doritos 'Lightly Salted'.

Doritos - per 100g - Calories - 510, Fat - 27g, Saturates - 2.3g, Salt - 0.3g

The only major difference is the sat-fat level is higher in the Tesco chips.
If you factor in price though it makes the Tesco value chips even more appealing:

Tesco - 25p/100g
Doritos - 66p/100g (based roughly on an average RRP of £1.48)

These are a great thing to have sat in the cupboard, especially for unexpected guests & parties (the two may go hand in hand!).
Failing this you could always keep yourself entertained by fashioning an impressive cheesy tortilla stegosaurus...

For 25p per pack, you can't go wrong!

Summary: Cheap as chips (sorry - had to!)