After trying the Steak and Onion and the Roast Chicken flavours in the past two days I decided it was time to return to a flavour that was one of my childhood favourites:- Smoky Bacon. I haven't actually had this in quite some time so it will be interesting to compare it to the other two meaty flavours I've tried from the multipack so far.


Packaging.

The front of the multipack bag is predominantly red and brown with the usual Walkers logo and various bands of colour telling you that it contains:-

4 x Roast Chicken
4 x Smoky Bacon
4 x Steak and Onion
4 x Salt and Vinegar
4 x Ready Salted
4 x Cheese and Onion.

The back of the bag contains the usual lists of ingredients and nutritional information for each of the flavours and a blurb about the spuds used for the crisps.

The Smoky Bacon flavour itself comes in a pinky-purple bag and has the usual ingredients and nutritional information printed on the back of the bag as well.

You can also visit Walkers at:- www.walkers-baked.co.uk


Nutritional Information per 25g bag {per 100g in brackets}

Energy kJ: 546kJ {2182kJ}
kcal: 131kcal {523kcal}
Protein: 1.4g {5.7g}
Carbohydrate: 12.9g {51.7g}
of which sugars: 1.1g {4.4g}
Fat: 8.2g {32.6g}
(of which saturates): 0.6g {2.5g}
(of which mono-unsaturates): 6.7g {26.6g}
(of which polyunsaturates): 0.5g {2.1g}
Fibre: 1.0g {4.0g}
Sodium: 0.13g {0.53g}
Equivalent as salt: 0.34g {1.35g}

Allergy advice. These are suitable for coeliacs and vegetarians.
These crisps contain no MSG, no preservatives and no artificial colours


Ingredients:

Potatoes, Sunflower Oil (33%), Smoky Bacon Seasoning [Milk Lactose, Salt, Sugar, Flavouring, Hydrolysed Soya Protein, Colour: Paprika Extract, Allspice]


Price:

At the time of writing Morrisons are charging £2.68 for a multipack containing 26 bags of crisps.


Taste & Opinion:

After opening the packet I take a smell and catch that Smoky Bacon Crisp smell. Ok, we all know that these crisps don't particularly taste or smell or genuine Smoky Bacon but whether it's these crisps, Frazzles, Sainsbury's Bacon Crispies or some of brand of Bacon flavoured crisps they all have that same smell that purports to be Smoky Bacon but isn't.

Lookswise these look pretty much the same as the Roast Chicken flavour. They have that slight orangey coating on them which leaves your hands feeling slightly greasy after you've eaten then. Put both flavours in two separate dishes and you wouldn't be able to tell them apart unless you either tasted or smelt them. Unlike, the Steak and Onion which, of course, has those tell-tale black flecks.

Tastewise, it's quite difficult to describe what these actually taste of. If you've had Frazzles or Sainsbury's Bacon Crispies you'll know the sort of flavour I'm talking about but these Walkers variety are less strongly flavoured than both of the aforementioned brands. There's a hint of paprika in the taste of the crisps but this isn't over pronounced by any stretch of the imagination and the overall taste is very pleasant indeed.

Like the rest of the regular Walkers range these crisps are pleasantly crunchy, not too hard that they're uncomfortable to eat and not so soft that they melt as soon as you put them into your mouth. In nutritional terms these are very similar to both the Roast Chicken and the Steak and Onion flavour with most of the nutritional values being very close indeed. There doesn't appear to be any more than about 1.0g difference for any of the three flavours that I've had from the multipack so far and I suspect that this will be the case with all of the flavours in the regular Walkers line.

As I said, these are very pleasant indeed and, for my money have a nicer taste than both the Steak and Onion and Roast Chicken flavours. However, like the other two flavours they do still have a fairly high fat content and would perhaps be better as an occasional treat rather than something to be eaten on a regular basis. As crisps go there are plenty of other alternatives that are not so high in fat.



Crisps ranked in order of fat content:-

01) Golden Wonder Nik Naks (Rib 'n' Saucy Flavour): 38.3%
02) Frisps (Ready Salted Flavour): 35.1%
03) Walker (Ready Salted): 34.1%
04) Frisps (Cheese 'n' Onion Flavour): 34.0%
05) Frisps (Salt 'n' Vinegar Flavour): 33.9%

06) Walkers (Salt and Vinegar Flavour): 33.1%
07=) Walkers (Cheese and Onion Flavour): 33.0%
07=) Walkers (Steak and Onion Flavour): 33.0%
09=) Walkers (Prawn Cocktail Flavour): 32.7%
09=) Walkers (Roast Chicken Flavour): 32.7%

09=) Walkers (Worcester Sauce Flavour): 32.7%
12=) Walkers (BBQ Rib): 32.6%
12=) Walkers (Smoky Bacon Flavour): 32.6%
14=) Pringles Extreme (Smokin' Ribs Flavour): 32.0%
14=) Pringles (Hot & Spicy Flavour): 32.0%

16) Quavers (Prawn Cocktail Flavour): 31.0%
17) McCoys (Flame Grilled Steak Flavour): 30.7%
18) McCoys (Roast Ham and Mustard Flavour): 30.6%
19) McCoys (Thai Sweet Chicken Flavour): 30.3%
20=) Quavers (Cheese Flavour): 30.0%

20=) Quavers (Salt 'n' Vinegar Flavour): 30/0%
22) KP Discos (Salt 'n' Vinegar Flavour): 29.6%
23) KP Skips (Prawn Cocktail Flavour): 29.5%
24) Hula Hoops (Roast Chicken Flavour): 28.6g
25) Hula Hoops (Barbecue Beef Flavour): 28.5g

26 Hula Hoops (Original Flavour): 28.4g
27) Golden Wonder Wheat Crunchies (Crispy Bacon flavour): 25.1%
27) Golden Wonder Wheat Crunchies (Worcester Sauce flavour): 25.1%
29=) Golden Wonder Wheat Crunchies (Spicy Tomato flavour): 25.0%
29=) Monster Munch (Pickled Onion Flavour): 25.0%

31=) Smith's Chipsticks: 23.0%
31=) Smith's Frazzles: 23.0%
33) Space Raiders: 22.8%
34) Red Sky (Anglesey Sea Salt flavour): 21.8%
35) Red Sky (West Country Bacon & Cream Cheese flavour): 20.9%


36) Sainsbury's Bacon Crispies (20.6%)
37) Walkers Squares (Salt and Vinegar flavour): 18.0%
38) Walkers French Fries (Ready Salted / Cheese and Onion / Salt and Vinegar flavours): 16.0%
39) Walker Baked (Sour Cream and Chive flavour): 8.7%
40) Walkers Baked (Bacon and Cheddar flavour): 8.5%

41) Walkers Baked (Cheese and Onion flavour): 8.3%
42) Walkers Baked (Salt and Vinegar flavour): 8.1%
43) Ryvita Limbos (Salt and Vinegar flavour): 1.9%