I seem to be working my way through a lot of the no frills ranges that are available in supermarkets, mostly from Sainsbury's Basics and Tesco's Value ranges. This time it is the turn of Sainsbury's Basics Tortilla Chips. They are very similar to the Tesco Value ones, apart from the logo on the front of the packet. The packaging style is very plain and simple, as is the case with all Basics products. The tortilla chips are only available as a salted flavour, and this is probably part of the reason why they are so cheap. A 100g pack only costs 17 pence. I think that they were 18 pence until recently.

The tortilla chips have a very crunchy texture and the flavour is quite salty (1.3g per 100g or 0.6g per half a bag/ 50g). I think that they would go very well with a dip (Sainsbury's do a Basics Salsa Dip but I haven't tried that yet) and a few drinks. I have just eaten them on their own as a snack, and think that they are really tasty and excellent value. They are not that healthy, but no snacks are, and have 483 calories per 100g and 23.8g of fat, 6.4g of which are saturates. The saturated fat is quite low, and this is probably due to the chips being cooked in mid oleic sunflower oil, which is high in mono-unsaturated fats, and may help to lower blood cholesterol levels and maintain a healthy heart (information from the back of the packet). They also contain 35% less saturated fat than in 2006. It is best to eat anything like this in moderation, of course, as they are still high in calories and fat, and too much salt in the diet can be a contributory factor in the development of hypertension (high blood pressure). The amount of fibre is not too bad though, at 5.3g per 100g. The tortilla chips contain just three ingredients - maize flour, sunflower oil and salt.

I will definitely be buying these tortilla chips again, as they are really good value at just 17p, but I will try not to eat too many of them.