Are vegetable chips dietary? Can You Eat Vegetable Chips On Your Diet? |

In this article you will learn, among others:

• Which vegetable chips should you choose?

• How much calories do vegetable chips have?

• Can Children Eat Vegetable Chips?

• Can You Eat Vegetable Chips On Your Diet?

• Are vegetable chips dietary?

Which vegetable chips should you choose?

Standard chips are deep-fried and that’s why they are so high in calories. The snacks that I am testing today are, surprisingly, dried at quite low temperatures (up to 40 degrees Celsius), as the manufacturer declares on its website:

Here we immediately see the first very big plus, actually two: – The chips will be much lower in calories, – The vitamins and minerals from the vegetables will be retained to a great extent in the snack. 

How much calories do vegetable chips have?

Thanks to the use of drying, the producer can actually afford to put information on the packaging that carrot chips are a source of vitamin A and potassium, while beetroot chips also contain potassium and folic acid. Of course, eating one packet of 18 g will not meet our daily requirement for these ingredients, but it can be treated as a supplementary source of them. In the case of carrot chips, according to the declaration on the package, this portion was made from two pieces of vegetables, the same was with beetroot chips. This is an undoubted advantage and can certainly make a great impression on the consumer. 

Lidl vegetable crisps

Here we smoothly move to a product feature that I personally consider a drawback – the weight of the package. It is 18 g, which unfortunately gives us a fairly small volume of food for a price between about PLN 2-3, I bought my chips in the Lidl store, where a package costs PLN 2,49 at the regular price (September 13, 2018, when the snacks were purchased there was a promotion in this chain during which the price of a package was PLN 2,29). Of course, I am aware that it is only a snack, and as a dietitian I do not encourage you to overeat 🙂 Nevertheless, I am perfectly able to understand someone who is discouraged by this fact, especially if we were talking about buying snacks for a party or for two or three kids.

Additionally, currently 1 kg of carrots can be bought for about PLN 2,99, and 1 kg of beetroots for PLN 1,99 (source: www.tesco.pl). According to the producer, the packets contain 266 g of carrots and 270 g of beets. This means that when drying vegetables at home, we would spend about PLN 0,80 on a package with carrot chips, and about PLN 0,54 on a package with beetroot chips. The difference is therefore quite big, but of course you should also add the cost of spices and drying, and in the case of the packaging manufacturer, distribution, advertising, etc. So I do not think that the price is too high in relation to what we get (how many he has hair dryers at home and patience for such a process), but I think that unfortunately it can scare you away.

No collective packaging

Here I will mention one more aspect that is close to my heart – even if someone decides to buy more packages in order to treat several people, the production of garbage will automatically increase as well. Personally, I try to limit them in my life, so the lack of larger packaging discourages me a bit. I know that this is certainly not an issue that is important to everyone, but I think it should not be overlooked. 

Can Children Eat Vegetable Chips?

The package itself, in my opinion, is very nice and pleasing to the eye. The colors encourage both adults and children to buy a snack. Exactly – children. In my opinion, this snack can also be served to children? Due to the short and healthy composition, I think that from time to time you can safely buy it for a child, especially if he is not yet convinced of eating vegetables. It all depends on whether it likes the taste and hardness, which are slightly different from those to which we are used to eating ordinary chips – I will get to that in a moment.

A colorful snack

We finally got to the most enjoyable part of the tests, which is opening packages and tasting dried vegetables. As for how visually the crisps look, I personally think that they do better than the standard ones. They have vivid colors and are hardly crushed at all, so definitely a plus.

Taste: beetroot better than carrot

Now the taste. We start with spicy carrots. They are definitely harder than regular chips. Although I have no problems with my teeth, I do not bite every patch with ease and therefore it takes a while to fully feel the taste of the snack, which is pleasant – sweet (thanks to the carrot) with a hint of spiciness, which is provided by Cayenne pepper. For me, however, these chips are not so tasty that I would like to buy this particular type again. I am also discouraged by the already mentioned hardness.

Lidl beetroot crisps

So let’s move on to the beetroot version with a vinaigrette flavor. Here I have no objection to the hardness and crunchiness of the snack. For me it is perfect, and thanks to fat-free drying, the chips do not leave a greasy streak on the fingers and (at least in my opinion) they are much nicer to eat. The taste here is also pleasant, I can sense beetroot much better than vinaigrette. So I’m happy and I think I would buy the beetroot version again.

Vegetable chips and slimming

In conclusion, I highly recommend dried vegetable crisps. They have advantages that outweigh minor disadvantages, such as: quite high price and hardness in the case of the carrot version. Of course, it all depends on your taste – if we do not like beetroot, vinaigrette or hot Cayenne pepper, then the chips, and above all, their taste will be assessed lower. The advantages that I mentioned at the beginning of this paragraph include: + very good and short composition – in fact, these are vegetables and spices used in their production, + low calorific value, + method of production, i.e. drying, thanks to which there is no need to add caloric oil to the chips, and two vegetables (as declared by the manufacturer) are used to make one package, + in the method of production, you should also immediately mention vitamins or minerals from vegetables, which remain mostly in the snack when dried at low temperature, + chips are suitable for children (although of course you have to take into account their hardness and taste – not every child will find it suitable).

Can You Eat Vegetable Chips On Your Diet?

This kind of chips is definitely worth trying. Certainly they will not hurt, and perhaps they will taste so much that we will give up their unhealthy and caloric version altogether. Of course, if you decide to buy this type of product, always check the composition and (if such information appears on the packaging) the method of production. 

The chips I describe are dried, but other companies may market, for example, fried versions, which will make them less different than the regular potato version and will not be as healthy and recommended then. 

Are vegetable chips dietary?

Lidl Bio Vegetable Chips

An example of such apparently dietary chips are, for example, those produced for Lidl Bio Organic Vegetable Chips Snack Day.

This snack will surely appeal to a large number of people, because despite the use of vegetables other than potatoes (parsnips, carrots, sweet potatoes, red beets), the taste is very similar to standard chips. They are fried, so they have a much higher fat content than the carrot and beetroot ones I described earlier. The table below from the packaging clearly shows that in terms of energy value and nutrient content, they are much closer to ordinary chips than the low-calorie, dried version. 

Of course, I absolutely do not think that you should never eat them 🙂 With this last paragraph, I would just like to point out to consumers that they should always read the information on the labels and not be fooled by the name itself vegetable chipsWhich vegetable chips do you like the most? Vegetable chips from Lidl? Or maybe Snack Day vegetable chips?