Review: Fritos Wild and Mild Ranch Corn Chips Limited Edition

On a recent trip out to Arizona I was delighted to spot this bag in the aisle at Wal-Mart. It’s been about 20 years since I have seen ranch corn chips! I loved snacking on them in high school but they mysteriously disappeared and I haven’t seen them since. I snatched up a bag (which I regret, I should have picked up at least one more!)

Do you like Fritos? Do you like Cool Ranch Doritos? If the answer to either of these questions is yes, congratulations, you will like this chip. If the answer to BOTH questions is yes, your life is about to change forever. You can mark on the calender BRF and ARF (Before Ranch Fritos and After Ranch Fritos). They taste just like you hope they do: Cool Ranch seasoning on a Frito. It is quite mild, and the wildness comes in when you consider how awesome they taste.

I think these are only limited to Wal-Mart (if I’m wrong, someone let me know). So make haste and try them before I buy them all up. Fair warning.

Happy snacking!

Review: Ruffles Ultimate Kickin’ Jalapeno Ranch Potato Chips

I have previously reviewed the Ruffles Ultimate Sweet Smokin’ BBQ Potato Chips, so I was excited to give these a shot when I came across them. I am a big fan of jalapeno peppers, and my thought was the ranch would provide a nice “cool-off” balance to the heat from those peppers.

Here is a close-up of what the actual chips look like. Check out those ridges! You could lose a small child in there!

Honestly, I was concerned when I first opened the bag. The smell is not exactly pleasant. Have you ever smelled a lightning bug? It almost smells like that when you open the bag. The flavor of the chip is unexpected, too. It is definitely kickin’ (the chip brings the heat pretty strong), but I wouldn’t describe the flavor as jalapeno. Just “random hot spice” taste. There is definitely ranch flavor, as it tastes like the chip has already been dipped in a ranch sauce.

Overall, I would recommend the BBQ version over this one, unless you really like ranch. Then again, I love Cool Ranch Doritos much more than these. I am curious to see how these taste with the Ultimate Smokehouse Bacon dip advertised on the bag. This might be a case where the chip needs a dip to be successful. If you have tried these with the dip, let me know your thoughts. Happy snacking!

Review: Doritos Jacked Ranch Dipped Hot Wings

Doritos brought out the Jacked style of chips about a month ago. The difference between this type of chip and regular Doritos is that they are Bigger, Bolder, and Thicker. I can verify all three of these attributes, as each chip is larger than a regular Dorito, has a stronger flavor, and is a thicker, crunchier chip. I will be providing reviews of all the flavors I can find of these chips, but we will start with this one.

I really love buffalo sauce, and Cool Ranch Doritos are one of my favorite chips, so I practically knocked down the display grabbing this bag.

The bag provides the following description:

“Savor the burn of TANGY hot wings smothered in buffalo sauce. Then COOL down your taste buds with a second wave of flavor: a blast of CREAMY ranch.’

You can tell the chip has a strong flavor just by looking at it. You can definitely taste the buffalo to start with. It’s pretty spicy, but it doesn’t burn your mouth up. There is a ranch taste mixed in there as well. It is kind of like Cool Ranch Doritos with an extra layer of flavor (buffalo in this case). I approve!

I don’t know about Bolder, but I will definitely be getting Bigger and Thicker if I buy these on a regular basis!

Review: Herr’s Snack Friez Cheesy Bacon Ranch

Sometimes, when I am on a long road trip, I get tired of the typical fast food menu. That is when I usually decide to “mini-mart it” for dinner. Yes, I have been known to eat chips for dinner. That doesn’t sound very appetizing, and I’m not going to try to convince anyone reading this that this is a good idea, or a healthy idea. But sometimes, chips just sound good — simple as that.

So, driving through Ohio on my way back to Indiana, I pulled into a convenience store and perused the snack aisles in search of dinner.

I wandered up and down the chip aisle, and nothing was calling out to me. I was in the mood for something new, but I was coming up short. Then I made my way to the end cap and noticed a display of Herr’s Snack Friez. Jackpot! And even better, there was a NEW flavor. I’m a sucker for new snacks, because I am always searching for the next great snack that nobody knows about. So I picked up a bag of Cheesy Bacon Ranch Snack Friez, paid for it (boy, did I ever), and left.

I opened the bag and examined the contents. I am sad to say that, in my opinion, the contents stank. I can describe it as a strong, smoky odor that was not pleasant. This did not bode well.

Cautiously, I took a bite of a fry (frie?). I was assaulted mainly by the overwhelming flavor of SALT. Salty, salty, salty. I quickly guzzled some Coke Zero to get the taste out of my mouth. Against my better judgment, I tried another, and I discovered that it was not as salty. It appears that the coating of “flavor dust” was very uneven from frie to frie. The less flavored were not as bad, but the aggressively flavored friez were terrible. Even the lightly flavored friez were still greasy and unappetizing. The bacon flavor was mild and too smoky. The cheese was too salty, and the ranch flavor was just a different kind of salty.

Overall, this snack is pretty bad, especially compared to the other brands of oven-baked fries that I have tried in the past, such as Andy Capp’s. Do not try it under any circumstances, unless you happen to love the flavor of salty smoke, or smoky salt.