The scam of potato chips

[NoTine42]

Aren't prepared/pre-packaged foods always more expensive than the constituent parts?

"Chicken" nuggets can be cheaper than raw chicken

(I guess its the quotes that make a difference)

 

[poofyhairguy]

Kale chips are better anyway

 

[Chiropteran]

salad dressing, there's a scam

Salad dressing isn't the scam, the salad is. Who would ever eat a salad without dressing? Nobody, because salad isn't made of food.

It's a known fact that not a single vegetable was eaten by a human prior to the invention of ranch dressing.

Kale chips are better anyway

Better if you are trying to repel insects, I suppose.

 

[BoberFett]

The salt mine
The oil refine
You be buyin
So you can dine

Burma shave

 

[Vdubchaos]

New average size bag of potato chips: 11oz.

Average weight of a potato: 13oz.

You're paying $3-$4 for 1 potato.

You can apply this analogy to ENTIRE BUSINESS SECTOR.

American economy THRIVES on ignorant consumer.

 

[preslove]

Only dumb people think that input costs are what determine most products' prices.

 

[Drako]

Has anybody mention the fact the potatoes are 85% water yet?

 

[Markbnj]

Actually it's less than one potato. You're forgetting to factor in moisture loss + oil weight gained during frying.

Isn't it the other way around? What percentage of a potato's weight is water? I'm betting that by the time the potato is sliced, cooked, dried, and packaged it takes more than one normal-sized potato to make a full-size bag of chips. Remember they also throw away the skin and the ends.

edit:

Has anybody mention the fact the potatoes are 85% water yet?

Drako beat me to it.

 

[smackababy]

Believe it or not, that's a good thing for us. It's inert gasses (nitrogen usually) which helps preserve the chips, and, even better, helps keep the chips in good shape during shipping. The precious chips could be crushed without that cushion of air!

I know. But, the marketing is deceptive! I don't buy a beer in a gallon jug, only to enjoy 12 oz that it contains.

"Chicken" nuggets can be cheaper than raw chicken

(I guess its the quotes that make a difference)

I don't know why you would put quotes around the chicken. They are all made entirely out of chicken as far as I know. The only difference is the raw chicken you buy is more prepared (cut into pieces rather than entire chickens ground up into paste).

 

[poofyhairguy]

Better if you are trying to repel insects, I suppose.

A good kale chip is delicious.

My wife makes this awesome vegan queso using nutritional yeast that I use for sauce on my homemade kale chips and it is amazing.

These are a great alternative if you lack a nice dehydrator to do it yourself:

http://www.amazon.com/Alive-Radiant-.../dp/B005Q1812W

 

[preslove]

Has anybody mentioned the fact the potatoes are 85% water yet?

 

[alkemyst]

Kale chips are better anyway

You definitely drink with your pinky finger out.

 

[poofyhairguy]

You definitely drink with your pinky finger out.

Just because I like some kale chips?

Yall are missing out, kale chips are delicious. You get ones with some sort of nut-based sauce (like cashews or pecans) and it can be fairly filling too.

They are my second favorite chip to a pine apple chip.

 

[IronWing]

Has anyone asked if anybody has mentioned the fact the potatoes are 85% water yet?

 

[Drako]

Has anybody mentioned the fact the potatoes are 85% water yet?

:hmm:

Has anyone asked if anybody has mentioned the fact the potatoes are 85% water yet?

:hmm:

 

[The Boston Dangler]

did you guys know that bottled water is at least 85% water?

 

[highland145]

It's a known fact that not a single vegetable was eaten by a human prior to the invention of ranch dressing.

 

[nCred]

New average size bag of potato chips: 11oz.

Average weight of a potato: 13oz.

You're paying $3-$4 for 1 potato.

dat gmo.

Ok i guess there are some potato types that weight that much.

 

[Pacfanweb]

New average size bag of potato chips: 11oz.

Average weight of a potato: 13oz.

You're paying $3-$4 for 1 potato.

And a bunch of labor that goes into turning that potato into a bunch of chips.

 

[SunnyD]

New average size bag of potato chips: 11oz.

Average weight of a potato: 13oz.

You're paying $3-$4 for 1 potato.

What's funny is that the "average" sized bag not too long ago used to be about 7oz. The 10.5-13oz bags you are quoting are normally considered "party/family size" now.

In fact, back in the day, an average sized bag used to be 9oz for $0.99. That same size classification now hovers between 5.5-6.5oz for $2.49 on average.

 

[Fritzo]

what is your point? do you really think a steak at a restaurant costs $40 for the meat? no, it costs a lot less. you are paying for the final product and how it was prepared.

same with a potato chip. you are paying for the final product, which consists of potato, oil, spices, marketing, packaging, and whatever else is in it.

Just saying, one average sized potato would cost about .08 in bulk, and I read somewhere Lay's overhead is about .22 per bag, so .30 to charge $4 is a pretty good racket.

And as for going home and making potato chips- it actually IS that easy. 1 pot of oil and a mandolin slicer will get you kettle cooked chips in about 3 minutes Made some over the weekend.

 

[andylawcc]

weak rant is weak.

 

[Kaido]

they sell homemade chips here at work. tastes amazing.

More details please!

 

[M0oG0oGaiPan]

well you need to take into account packaging. it's only cheap because they order in massive quantities but if you ever looked at designing your own it's pretty expensive if you do a small run.

 

[M0oG0oGaiPan]

More details please!

nothing to explain. we have a couple of cafeterias ran by outside vendors. when your buy a sandwich they'll include a plate full of homemade potato chips. probably just sliced potatoes and salt. tastes amazing though.

at this ski resort i go to they sell homemade bbq chips which are pretty awesome. it's like $5 and you get a lot of chips.