Tortilla Chips

Test date: June 2010

Testers: Michele and husband Marc, two sisters, and father (c'mon, who doesn't want to taste eight bags of tortilla chips? It was not a hard sell....)

Products for this test purchased at Fred Meyer and Trader Joe's.

MICHELE'S OPINION: It is amazing how many types of tortilla chips there are at Trader Joes! I need to save SOME money for my son's college education, so I couldn't purchase them all. It is important to pick the right one though, because as we found out, there is a BIG difference between their products. If you have the choice at your regular grocery store, go for the Santitas Yellow Corn. They are very tasty and really cheap. If you must choose a well-known brand, pick Mission.

PRICE COMPARISON FOR 16OZ OF CHIPS (store first, then brand):
$3.58 Trader Joe's Restaurant Style
$3.55 Fred Meyer Tostitos
$3.30 Fred Meyer Mission
$2.49 Trader Joe's Organic White Corn
$2.46 Fred Meyer Santitas White Corn
$2.46 Fred Meyer Santitas Yellow Corn
$1.99 Trader Jose's Salted
$1.71 Fred Meyer Calidad

1. Trader Joe's Organic White Corn Tortilla Chips: The general consensus among the testers was that the three Trader Joe's chips were not good, but this one was the best of the three. It has a light crunch and salty flavor that made Marc choose this one over the other seven products. However, the ladies were not big fans.

2. Trader Joe's Restaurant Style Tortilla Chips:  Even Marc thought these were terrible. We all were in agreement about this product. They were hard, fake tasting, and were very bland. Yuck!

3. Trader Jose's Salted Tortilla Chips: These matched the above product in terms of the testers dislike. It is a very hard chip and tastes like cardboard. Double yuck.

4. Santitas White Corn: These chips were good, but we all prefered the Santitas Yellow Corn chips a bit better. These were a little bit blander and a little less salty than the yellow version.

5. Santitas Yellow Corn Blend: This is a great chip and received three overall best taste votes. They are well salted, crispy, and do not get mushy while in your mouth. Excellent chips.

6. Calidad Tortilla Chips: These chips were not as crunchy as the other products and some commented that they are very salty.

7. Mission Tortilla Strips: These are also really good chips and won one overall best taste votes. They are well salted, light, crunchy and taste like what a traditional 'chips n' dip' chip should taste like. One of my sisters commented though that they are slightly chewy, but that was the only dissenting opinion.

8. Tostitos 100% White Corn Restaurant Style: These chips received the following conflicting reviews: thick, thinly cut, lighter, hard, and an overall mediocre 'eh'. Not sure what to make of all of those random notes.....

NUTRITIONAL NOTES: We all know that chips are bad for you, so just eat them in moderation (don't eat eight bags at one time like we did, we felt a little sick after this test...).

TASTE WINNER: Three votes for Santitas, one for Mission, one for Trader Joe's Organic White Corn Tortilla Chips