Often taken for granted the humble chip , whether straight cut or crinkle , is one of the biggest sellers in our supermarkets . When I head to the freezer at my local Coles New World they regularly runs out of their home brand by mid afternoon and I have to walk around to Aldis and often there is 5 or less packs left in their freezer to purchase . It is the same at the other Coles near me .
Let us know what brand , whether home brand , McCains or whatever , you buy .
Keep it to potato . Down the line Sweet Potato chips and potato wedges will be covered under a separate post .
I buy Coles Crinkle cut and Aldiās Straight cut . The Aldiās shade the Coleās for taste in my opinion . I cook them in the oven . I donāt blitz them in the microwave .
Iāve never had chips treated with 2450Mhz that came out OK - Iām sure itās the radiation ā¦
But more seriously - it seems all about the cooking. Thin chips/fries had lots of failures with results like kindling. Thicker, always keep an eye on them - cook them well and havenāt had a bad batch.
McCain Beer Batter (need to try the newer Craft Beer varieties) steak cut chips or wedges or Bell Farms steak cut chips are the go for me ā¦ typically only buy on special and only for home grown quickie meals - home cooked wedges always win if I have time
I buy the beer batter ones when we get chips. We deep fry them with 2 deep fries. First one is not to the point of being cooked all the way then let them cool and then re fry the 2nd time to crisp the outside. While they are supposedly pre cooked already we find doing a 2 step fry works best for us, like they do double fries at a fish n chip shop.
I never buy frozen chips, always make my own by cutting up spuds into long pieces or sometimes slices, depending on shape of potato, washing then drying, and cooking them in the Actifry with about a tablespoon of olive oil.
We donāt have chips often - maybe once a fortnight. Mr Z likes thick ones, soft on the inside and a little crunchy outside. I prefer thinner and crunchier and few of. So far we have been buying 1kg Black & Gold Straight Cut Potato Chips $1.87 and cook either in the oven (not that great) or a handful in the flying pan in whatever was left from previous cooking (mullet fat, olive oil etc).
We were given Birdseye, Golden Crunch, Microwave Shoestring Chips by family (who only give us stuff they hate, out of date or doesnāt work), and after the Choice review, I didnāt hold out much hope. But Mr Z declared them OK, but at over $4 a 300g box we wonāt be going past our 3 āfreeā boxes.
I bought some Birdseye Deli Chips 600g (2 flavours). These work very well in the oven and Mr Zās favourite. Unfortunately they are nearly $5. They also come on special regularly. Latest was $2 (which gives an indication of the mark-up) so we have a yearās supply.
We also check the amount of fats (inc. trans) and salts and some have elevated amounts of both.
We also chose the larger style chips over say the narrow french fries as they usually have less fats (a smaller/narrower chip has higher surface area for absorbing oils during their manufacture).
Once or twice per month here at home, so quite similar to zackarii. We do however sometimes buy them at a particular place on the highway when travelling south, maybe once every few months.
Hi @zackarii . I find the Aldis Australian straight cut Chips good value at $2.00 a KG pack . They are more consistent in size than the Coles offerings which are either as thick as railway sleepers or that thin that half of them crisp up and are inedible . Aldis also have have that real old time fish and chip shop taste too .
I remember walking home from school as a kid and mum would give me 3 pence to buy some chips but would always tell me dont get 6 pence worth or you wont eat your tea .
Two shillings and sixpence got you a "School Lunch " Flake , usually 2 , potato cake and chips . Arghh the good old days .
Thanks for your contributions @zackarii in the past , now and in the future . They always add something positive to the post .
We would do home cooked chips about once in a blue moon.
Our preference, several times each week is baked or large wedges, all part microwaved first before placing in the oven or occasionally shallow fried in the pan. Sometimes all three steps, micro, pan, oven in that order. Not really chips because of the shape and bulk. Much better value per kg and perhaps healthier too?
About once a month we have fish/and chips from the local. Or the occasional burger and oiled salt sticks (fries) when travelling.
When I was feeding a family, chips were always always freshly peeled spuds, thick cut & double fried. Now, as an empty nester, I always have a packet of Birdseye Golden Crunch in the freezer, which are oven baked: I still prefer home made chips, but I canāt justify the wastage of the cooking oil, with such infrequent useā¦
Yes that is an issue which used to bother me too, one of the reasons I started using the Actifry, which only requires a tablespoon of oil for a batch of chips.
I always order asking for NO salt. Even then some Iāve occasionally ended up with way too salty chips, and have taken them back for replacement, minus the salt.
Iāve always made chips from scratch, but now that Iām getting a bit lazy with my cooking, I think Iāll try the frozen ones, at least theyāre already peeled and cut!
Disappointed to learn that was a typo, @vax2000, I thought you were being creative in naming the monsters that line
the back walls of supermarkets
