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Where to Buy Potato Chips Online

Looking for somewhere to buy potato chips online because you can't find your favorite chips where you live? Or maybe you are a potato chip collector or you collect the tazos that come in Sabritas chips. Well, look no further. Here are some chip related items available right now on eBay.

Traveling Munchies Radio: Who is that Potato Dude on the Calbee Chips?

Who is that Potato dude on the Calbee Hot and Spicy Potato chips from Hong Kong? He is kind of like Mr. Peanut but not as well dressed. In this episode we debate the possible explanations for this fellow.

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Traveling Munchies Radio: If I were a munchie in a vending machine

In this episode we discuss where the ultimate spot in the vending machine would be if we were a munchie.
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Traveling Munchies Radio: Mrs. Freshley Does Not Exist

In this episode we discuss the disturbing fact Mrs. Freshley does not exist. There's a Little Debbi, a Mrs. Fields, a Mr. Peanut, but there is no Mrs. Freshley. We also discuss the freshness of Bachmann's Potato Chips.

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Traveling Munchie #11 - Baby Star snacks and other Asian munchies

Traveling muncher Joe just got back from Hong Kong and brought us a delectable assortment of snack foods. Included in the bunch were Shrimp Chips, Hot and Spicy potato chips, Smoked Flavor Roller Coasters which appear to be some sort of potato snack shaped like Calamari, and some noodle snacks with great cartoon directions on the back which are titled "Way to Eat". The directions go as follows:

"Can eat by hand
Can eat from bag
Suits the time when drink beer or tea"

This munchie adds Asia to the list of continents from which our munchies have traveled leaving only Africa and Antarctica to go. So if you are a scientist freezing your buns off in Antarctica send us a picture of whatever it is you eat down there for snacks. Send your pictures to travelingmunchies@gmail.com.

Video: How Potato Chips are Made

Ever wonder how potato chips are made? Check out this video available on MetaCafe that shows the process. The best thing I learned was there are about 36 chips in the average potato. So that means we the bags we use for the Virtual Potato Chip Bag Collection contain about 1 potato each. peapod.com (a grocery delivery service) has Yellow Potatoes for about 50 cents each so that is about 50 cents for a bag of chips, whereas it cost 85 cents in the local vending machine. Not bad!

It's Raining Potato Chips! - For more funny movies, click here

Twinkie the Grandkid not as talented as his father

This Hostess Twinkie showed up in the vending machine this week and I have to admit I didn't recognize it at first. What is with the retro color scheme and even worse, what is with that new character on the front? I came to the conclusion that it must be Twinkie the Grandkid because that is definitely not the Twinkie the Kid I used to know and love.

Simply compare this YouTube video with the heroic twinkie rescuing a runaway train and compare it to that amorphous pseudo-phallic blob of a cowboy they have on the package now and you will see what I mean.


The grandkid has really squandered his father's legacy and let the twinkie product go to pot. The one I had was really rather disappointing. I hope Hostess takes notice and fires the grandkid, because he clearly does not know his way around a bakery.

Traveling Munchie #10 - Papas fritas from Mexico

Good old Jairo. He just brought back a whole bag full of different papas fritas (potato chips) from Mexico. I really like the Sabritas chips. Sabritas is the Mexican cousin of Lays as it is also owned by Pepsi Co. Of course they have been duly entered into the virtual potato chip bag collection.

Traveling Munchie #9 - Choc Koala from Australia

Got another contribution from traveling muncher Shar who sent in this chocolate koala bear from Australia and writes:

G'Day Mate, here's a fair dinkum munchie from Down Under.

Took this picture in Sydney, Australia. The zoo in Canberra had some baby platypusses, called "puggles." They were swimming and cavorting in some bubbly water but, alas, no pictures were allowed because they are shy.

Thanks for the munchie Shar! Keep 'em coming.

If you would like to submit a traveling munchie to the blog, send your photo to travelingmunchies@gmail.com.

Fotoflexer: A new flavor of mashed potato heads

Doh! I wish I had known about FotoFlexer before I did my Potato/Head Mashup.
FotoFlexer is a fun and easy website that lets you manipulate photos, store them online, or share them on photo and social networking sites. Way cool! Look for more munchie mashups in the future.

Potato/Head Mashup - Try 'em All

While doing research for the Traveling Munchies the other day, I happened to stumble upon some pages on the U.S. Potato Board site written by the President & CEO of the U.S. Potato Board, a Mr. Tim O'Connor. Immediately I was struck by the uncanny resemblance to none other than Mr. Potato Head himself. This got me thinking. Isn't it ironic that the head of the potato board is a twin of Mr. Potato Head?

Then I got the idea.

How about a "Potato / Head mashup" of the head of the potatoes with Mr. Potato Head? Of course, mashing up 2 heads is not all that fun so I decided to throw in Dabney Coleman, because, well, he looks like Mr. Potato head too. Play the potato/head mashup for yourself here.

Traveling Munchie #8 goes to Chile

Traveling Munchie #8 continues its tour of South America with a visit to Santiago de Chile. Here is a picture of the the well-travelled Nutri-Grain bar visiting the famous "Centro Artesenal de los Dominicos" as seen on the back of the 2000 pesos bill.

Traveling Munchie #8 - American Nutri-Grain in Mexico

Jairo took a Nutri-Grain bar from Connecticut, USA to Guadalajara, Mexico to see the sights. Here are a couple of photos of the munchie's tour.


TM#8 contemplates its own mortality as a perishible food item as it looks at a statue of "La Muerte".


TM#8 Enjoys the lighter side of Mexico City art.

Visit the Web Album here.

Utz Potato Chips - For The Dumb But Healthy

On this bag of Utz potato chips, the Utz copy writers proclaim that their recipe has:
"the lowest sodium level among leading chip brands"
Then they go on to say:
"We have never advertised that fact, but we thought those concerned with their sodium intake would want to know."

Apparently writing and distributing that fact on millions of bags of potato chips is not considered advertising. I could let that one slide, but the part that really gets me is the fact that they write this drivel right next to the government mandated Nutrition Facts box which clearly labels the sodium level of the chips! So I suppose what they are really saying is:

"If you're concerned with your sodium level but you are not sure if 95 mg (4% daily recommended value) is good for you, well let us reassure you that it is less than those other guys."

Maybe I'm being to hard on the good folks at Utz. They really do make a tasty chip. Plus, just to make sure their less than smart clients understand the nutritional value of their snacks, the Utz website includes a handy PDF document called How to Read Nutrition Labels. This informative document will straighten everything out with simple to understand descriptions such as:

"CALORIES: Lists the number of calories in the serving stated above."
"TOTAL FAT: Lists the grams of fat in a serving of the food."

Homemade Commercial: Giant Chicken Likes Potato Chips

Here is a fairly hilarious user generated commercial for Lays Potato chips. Bob likes potato chips. Giant chicken likes potato chips. Bob doesn't like to share. Need I say more? Link

Branding Run Amok: Route 11 Potato Chips

I'm all for advertising, but I have limits to the amount of hyperbole I can withstand on a single package of potato chips.

Take for example this bag of Route 11 potato chips. The tag line at the bottom of all their bags these days is:
"Made in Limited Quantities, but in Unlimited Quality."

First of all, is it possible to make ANYTHING in unlimited quantities? What are they trying to contrast themselves with? Are they saying Lays and Wise makes their potato chips in infinite quantities? It doesn't take and economics expert to figure out where the supply/demand curve ends up when there is an infinite supply.

Second of all, what is with the "unlimited quality" claim right next to the expiration date? Are they saying that going stale as of February 2008 is not a limitation to the quality of their chips? Ridiculous.



On the back of the bag, there is another branding-run-amok display on the mailing address. Because these are "Route 11" potato chips, they somehow feel it is more in line with the brand to include "Route 11" not only in the Name of the company but also the first line of the address, EVEN THOUGH THEY HAVE A POST OFFICE BOX.

Just to make sure I wasn't over-reacting, I checked the address out with the U.S. Post Office address verification service. Sure enough, the post office address scrubber drops the U.S. Route 11 off the address.

Come on, people. Give me a break.

I invite all opinions via the comment link below, or via writing at:
Traveling Munchies
c/o Traveling Munchies
travelingmunchies@travelingmunchies.com

Traveling Munchies Radio - Episode 1: Fruit snack vs. nut snack

We are experimenting with trying to add audio to the Traveling Munchies experience. To that end, here is the first experimental sound track of the Traveling Munchies crew analyzing the local vending machine and debating the age old topic: Would you rather be a fruit snack or a nut snack?

To listen, download the mp3 file here.

Lays runs out of ideas for potato chip flavors

Can it be that the good folks at Lay's have completely run out of ideas for potato chip flavors? While reading the back of a Lay's Original Potato Chips bag, I read the following:

...We add salt for flavor as the final touch. In fact, we can't think of anything else that would make our crispy chips more delicious.

Say What???? A quick trip to the Lay's Website revealed a long list of flavors other than "salt".

LAY'S Chile Limon Flavored Potato Chips
LAY'S Dill Pickle Flavored Potato Chips
LAY'S FLAMIN' HOT® Flavored Potato Chips
LAY'S Hot'n Spicy Barbeque Flavored Potato Chips
LAY'S Kettle Cooked Jalapeno Potato Chips
LAY'S Kettle Cooked Maui Onion Potato Chips
LAY'S Kettle Cooked Mesquite BBQ Potato Chips
LAY'S Kettle Cooked Original Potato Chips
LAY'S Kettle Cooked Reduced Fat Original Flavored Potato Chips
LAY'S Kettle Cooked Sea Salt & Vinegar Potato Chips
LAY'S Light KC Masterpiece® Barbeque Flavored Potato Chips
LAY'S Light Original Potato Chips
LAY'S Lightly Salted Potato Chips
LAY'S Limon Tangy Lime Flavored Potato Chips
LAY'S Natural Country BBQ Thick Cut Potato Chips
LAY'S Salt & Vinegar Artificially Flavored Potato Chips
LAY'S Sour Cream & Onion Artificially Flavored Potato Chips
LAY'S Wavy Au Gratin Flavored Potato Chips
LAY'S Wavy Hickory BBQ Flavored Potato Chips
LAY'S Wavy Ranch Flavored Potato Chips
LAY'S Wavy Regular Potato Chips

What kind of super dysfunctional siloed organization is Lays if the marketing team for the original flavor potato chips has no idea about the other flavors the company makes?

I suppose there is an alternative explanation. Perhaps, it is the "more delicious" part that matters. Maybe they mean that all those alternative flavors are not "more delicious" but, at best, equally delicious if not inferior. "This is it folks, we tried and tried and this is as delicious as it gets. If you don't like this chip then you won't like any of our chips. We have completely run out of ideas so you might as well stop now and switch to pretzels."

Snack like a pirate on National Talk Like a Pirate Day

Ahoy there ye scurvy dogs. The 19th o' September be National Talk Like a Pirate Day so I thought it only be fittin' to examine a snack fit for a pirate.

This here picture be from a bag o' Pirate's Booty popcorn snack. Only I don't be thinkin' tis the work o' a real pirate. Look what it says thar on the package.

"Thar be good"

Tisn't the way to be sayin' that matey. By rights, that ought to be:

"They be good"

"Thar" is to be used to indicate a place like "Thar she blows".

If your wantin' to be talkin' like a pirate proper, then set sail for the english-to-pirate translator and do it the right way.

Virtual Potato Chip Collection: photos of boutiuqe chip bags

Unewsman01 has started a virtual collection of all the various boutique potato chip bags he runs across.

My personal favorites so far from this newly started potato chip collection are "Mama Zuma's Revenge" and "Sweet Chili and Sour Cream". The latter of which sounds to me like some sort of colorful saying you run across in sterotype movies of the south, like Dukes of Hazard. I've now taken to annoying friends and family alike with exclamations such as:

"Sweet Chili and Sour Cream it's hot today!"

Greatest Snack Commercial Ever

I just saw what may be the best snack commercial ever. At the very least it is the greatest I have seen in a long time. It is a totally senseless, yet LOL funny commercial for Cadbury chocolate. Check it out here.

Left Behind

Got another picture via camera phone from Nick today. This one comes from the halls at work. Inexpicably, there was a single cracker left sitting in this planter near the cafeteria. What can it mean? Leave your interpretations via the comments link.

New URL

Same great taste, with 5 less keystrokes.

We've finally bitten the bullet here at Traveling Munchies and converted the blog to a new url. From now on, the former http://travelingmunchies.blogspot.com will now be http://www.travelingmunchies.com. Thanks for your continued readership.

Podcast for Munchie Lovers

Fellow munchie lovers. I just discovered a new podcast by the ever prolific Leo Laporte and his twit.tv network. It is called Munchast and it stars Cammy Blackwell as his co-host. Cammy and Leo discuss many luscious treats and amusing munchie facts. Check it out here.

Monkeys on Mt. Dorito?

OK, I'm really torn over this one. One the one hand I love snacks, monkeys, and video games. On the other hand, do I really want to combine them all together into a game about Monkey's scurrying to collect Doritos spewed from the volcanic Mt. Dorito before the time runs out?

Apparently Doritos held a game design contest to promote their products and this idea is actually one of the five finalists. I don't think I will play this when it is done though. It will never measure up to the snacking monkey chaos I have in my mind's eye right now. Ooh! Ooh!
Read more about it here.

Final Stop for Munchie #5

This just in from Nick via camera phone. The final stop for Munchie #5.

Thanks for the update Nick. I hope #5 was tasty.

Although I am sad to see the well-traveled munchie come to its inevitable fate, I am also heartened to see that someone has a desk drawer that is actually more crammed full of junk than mine is. It kind of reminds me of the Capital One "What's in your wallet?" commercials.

Send us a picture all you people out there. What's in your desk?

Here's your change, idiot!

Nick and I ran across a machine with a real bad attitude the other day. Now, before I tell you about it, I should just say that in some ways I can hardly blame it. The machine was in a group of machines labeled "Balanced Choice". Also, the machine was clearly labeled on the side as a bottled water vending machine. So, you can just imagine that here is this machine, thinking it is going to sell pure, fresh, bottled water in the "Balanced Choice" department, but then its true fate became obvious. This particular machine was not full of water, but instead was full of soda pop and "juice" (think flavored corn syrup). This obviously had it somewhat disillusioned with its job.

Back to the story. Nick decided he was going to purchase one of the drinks from this particular machine so he put a dollar bill into the slot and pushed the appropriate selection buttons. At this point, the machine slid his dollar bill back out and flashed "$1.40" on its display as if tapping its foot on the floor. I think it probably longed for eyes it could roll at that point.

Nick, realizing his mistake, then put 2 dollar bills into the slot and pushed the appropriate selection buttons once again. The machine threw the soda bottle down into the dispenser and literally spit 60 cents out onto the floor for Nick to gather up. "Here's your change, idiot!", the machine thought to itself. "Not only do you think that soda and corn syrup are balanced choices, but you can't even read or count."

We haven't gone back to that machine since then to see if it is in a better mood. Maybe we should. Maybe it needs a friend.

Maybe Cookie

What has this world come to? Remember when fortune cookies were like:

You will find new fortune in an old place.

Well apparently the lawyers down at Golden Bowl have gotten the best of the fortune telling department, leaving me to get this totally noncomittal, theoretical fortune:

You should be able to make money and hold on to it.

I think they should add:

But obviously not today, because you bought this useless fortune cookie.

Mr. Nature gets a job

Looks like Mr. Nature got tired of puttering around the house while Mother Nature does all the work. He is now riding on her coat tails by selling raisins in a bag.

However, Mr. Nature is kind of a cheap skate. I mean, how much can the production costs be, what with being married to Mother Nature and all. I got 57 raisins in this bag for 85 cents. That means 3 raisins is all my 2 cents are worth.

The best part of the bag is a little notice at the bottom that says:

Please Don't Litter. Dispose of bag properly.

You can just imagine the real meaning:

Please people. I'm in enough trouble with the Mrs. as it is. I don't need you all leaving your bags everywhere as a constant reminder to her about how I take her "nature's perfect snack" and wrap it up in plastic. Help me out here.

Caption This

Got this funny picture from Marisa. Not sure what it is all about so I leave it up to you, my capable readers to come up with an appropriate caption. Use the comments link below to leave a suggested caption for this photo.

Traveling Munchie #7

Jeepers! It's a traveling munchie all the way from Canada, eh? There was a lack of vending machines in the campground and surrounding small town, but this munchie was released from the local A&P. It is even called "Munchies", by Frito Lay.

So the lucky Munchie, was freed from the supermarket and got to go camping for 2 weeks and had a brief tour of Ottawa, the capital of it's homeland. It hitched a ride back to the USA, where it now awaits it's next big adventure.

Here is a slideshow of the camping trip and Ottawa visit.

Or you can visit this way-cool interactive munchie map.

Traveling Munchie #5 Tours New York City

Taveling Munchie #5, the animal crackers from Nashville, have just come back from their exciting tour of New York City with Christine. Of course, what else would animal crackers want to see? They visited the zoo and various eating establishments. And, in honor of being set free and having fun out in the world they visited the Statue of Liberty and Coney Island. This tour even included another munchie first in that these are the first traveling munchies to completely blur the lines of reality. Animal crackers made by Elves in a tree sent into the real world and taken to a real world reprentation of the fictional Simpson's Kwik-E-Mart for a look at the Squishee machine. It hurts my brain just to think about it.

The other thing I love about these munchies is if you look closely at the bag it says "On Safari". They sure are! Thanks for the tour Christine.


Follow along on Google Maps to see where all they have been.

Traveling Munchies #6

First International Munchie!
In a process known as "reverse rendition," Traveling Munchie #6 was released from this undisclosed location in Stockholm and transported to the U.S. by an unnamed Homeland Security official through airports operating under heightened security, then ... um ... "debriefed" by Homeland Security technicians and analysts at a secure facility in Washington D.C..

Some animals are more equal than others

Animal crackers really are the best deal out of my local snack machine. You get a good size 2.5 - 3 oz. of food and you get entertainment value. However, not all animal crackers are made the same and as there seems to be quite a competetion for shelf space in the animal cracker kingdom I thought I would compare a few. This first bag here was, for awhile, the only animal cracker you could get out the machine. So, being blissfully ingnorant of the competition I loved them. However, there is one thing that irked me to no end about these particular animal crackers, and that is the false advertising on the bag. Notice how the lion and the lioness are shown standing face-to-face on the bag. However, then notice the actual crackers. Every single animal in the bag is facing to the right. I can understand why the picture on the bag is the way it is...because having them face the same way looks ridiculous! I mean really, other than eating them, what else can you do with these animal crackers? I figure they are good for marching, mating, and racing. But that is about all the action you will get out of them.
Then one day, a new bag of animal crackers appeared in the machine. I had to try them. When I opened this bag, what a joyful suprise I received. This bag had half the animals facing to the left and half the animals facing to the right. Awesome! Now I had unlimited animal kingdom action! Not only that, but there was a much wider assortment of animals available as well. In addition to the normal jungle/african animal assortment, this bag also included penguins, an owl, a turtle and a hare. Alas, the one flaw of this bag was that the two animals that really ought to be facing the same way for racing purposes were not. Thus the turtle and the hare just stare each other down trying to psych the other one out. When I turned over the bag to see who made them, I discovered that of course they were made by the keebler elves. I should have known. You can't beat the elves for cookie making. They do it out of love, not greed.

Speaking of greed, guess what shows up about one week later in the very same machine? The sub-standard, greedy cookie brand with the unidirectional animals re-emerges in an exciting new red color. However, the greedy bastards reduced the size of the bag from 3oz. to 2.5oz. This, of course, elimanates size as the only superiority they had over the elves. What were these people thinking? This was obviously not the work of a cookie loving elf. Accountants, keep your money grubbing hands off my cookies!
One last note. I even noticed that the cafeteria was getting in on the act. They now offer these organic "Snackimals". What the heck is a snackimal? I ate them, but man they were not good. Dry, ground wheat, in the general shape of an animal. However, almost every cracker was broken. One of the lone survivors was the fox. Which, I begrudgingly admit, is a cool shape. I'll have to send a note to the elves.

Traveling Munchie #5

Howdy Ya'll! Traveling Munchie number 5 comes from Nashville, TN. Scott freed this one from the hotel gift shop, because for some reason the hotel did not see fit to have any snack machines at all. This country music snack is now on its way to The Big Apple with Christine to see The Statue of Liberty.

View my munchie map here.

Traveling Munchie #4

California here I come. Traveling munchie #4 was freed in the munchie homeland of Hartford, CT. But it is now California bound in the company of Leda. Good luck little munchie.

Traveling Munchie #3

Woo Hoo! Our first traveling munchie orginating from outside Hartford, CT. This munchie is currently traveling with DearOldDad who writes:

These munchies reportedly came from a retro vending machine buried deep in an undisclosed location by the Department of Homeland Security. They begin their travels at Iwo Jima, with DC monuments in the background.

Declassified photo	Munchie #3 at Iwo Jima Memorial

Traveling Munchie #2

At long last! Traveling Munchie #2 has been freed from the confies of it's vending machine and is now on it's way. Appropriately enough, #2 is "Trail Mix". So good luck on the trail little buddy!

Just Born - David hands the munchie off to Carey

Join The Fun

We want you to join the fun with the traveling munchies. If you receive a traveling munchie from a friend and want to upload the munchie's status. Send an e-mail with the munchie's identifier (Traveling Munchie #) and where you are. If you like you can include your name, some information about the place or the munchie, whatever you like and we will post it to the blog. We would really like to have a picture too.

Just send the info to travelingmunchies@gmail.com and we'll do the rest.

Or better yet, buy a munchie from your favorite snack machine and send it's on its way. Let us know about it and we'll assign it an official Traveling Munchie # and upload it to the blog.


Have fun!

Traveling Munchie #1

Today Nick and I started our new hobby. The traveling munchies. The idea is to get a snack out of a vending machine then send it on a trip. We'll track it's progress and post picture from all the destinations it visits before it is ultimately eaten. Here is the first ever traveling munchie.

We bought this package of Fig Newtons from a vending machine in Hartford CT. It then travelled to Tolland CT for a visit with the chickens at Horse Hill Farm.

Traveling Munchie #1 - just born


Traveling Munchie #1 - on the farm


Traveling Munchie #1 - in Newington


Traveling Munchie #1 - Visiting Jonathan in Southington


Traveling Munchie #1 - With Scott in Westchester, NY (First out of state Munchie!)


Traveling Munchie #1 - Little Fig in the Big Apple, Traveling with Jonathan to Times Square, NYC