Chip Substitute

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CarolynFlowers2024
CarolynFlowers2024 Posts: 5 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
So what kind of chips or chip substitutes does everyone like with their sandwiches. I’ve tried some of the like quest, protein, chips, and stuff. I don’t like them. They’re just too gritty and charcoal I guess for a lack of better terms.
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Answers

  • COGypsy
    COGypsy Posts: 1,197 Member
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    I usually just have chips, but fewer when it comes to sandwiches and stuff. But for my daily required veggie snack, I really like carrot chips. They’re just carrots cut in the bias with a ridged blade, like wavy potato chips. They’re crunchy and virtually tasteless, so they’re really good with dips or salsa.
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,042 Member
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    I always have homemade potato salad in the fridge. A small (like 1/2 cup) serving is 130 calories, and it's very filling.

    Some sandwiches are just not that great with potato salad, though. In that case I find some other food - roasted chickpeas are a favorite, so are carrots or cucumbers.

    I mean, chips don't really fit in the plan very often - too many calories and too easy to keep eating too many.
  • Corina1143
    Corina1143 Posts: 3,018 Member
    edited May 15
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    I tried to quit eating chips cold turkey. I had good incentive. It took me several years to really quit. Now I just don't like/won't eat chips and fries. For almost 60 years.

    One thing that really helped was making old fashioned homemade potato chips one time. It took 2 big
    Jugs of Crisco oil, 1 large potato and a lot of salt to make enough chips to feed an army. I was still cleaning up the oil a week later. I decided it would be a lot easier to just give each one of my family 1/4 of a small potato, a 20 ounce glass of Crisco and a salt shaker. Now I see that image in my mind when I think of chips or fries.

    I'll take my potato baked and almost naked, thank you.

    Maybe try air fryer chips, or homemade tortillas cut into pieces and baked til crisp?

    Like the above posters, I like carrots, celery, broccoli, cucumbers, etc. For my "crispy ".
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 32,558 Member
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    Not a big chips fan, personally, so I don't eat them with a sandwich.

    Some salty/crunchy things I do eat, that might work as a chips substitute:

    * Beanitos tortilla chips (a little higher protein than regular tortilla chips),
    * crispy broad beans or chickpeas (commercial or homemade, most frequent commercial brand is Enlightened Bada Bean Bada Boom),
    * crispy veggies (carrots, celery, jicama, kohlrabi, cucumber whatever) with a salsa dip or a light sprinkling of seasoned salt,
    * pickles (not just pickled cucumbers, any kind of crispy veggie pickle),
    * puppodums/pappadams (microwaved, not fried),
    * a few microwaved pasta para duros (I'd moisten them slightly and dip in a combination of chili powder and popcorn salt before microwaving).

    Non-salty crispy things I might eat with a sandwich: Sliced apple, vinaigrette-dressed coleslaw.

    Popcorn would be another option, but I don't eat much popcorn TBH. I don't think it tastes totally like Doritos, but this was good:

    http://naturalchow.com/2014/03/healthy-dorito-flavored-popcorn/

  • csplatt
    csplatt Posts: 1,041 Member
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    I don't eat chips very often at all because they aren't filling enough for the calories. But someimtes I'll just weigh my Lays Potato Chips on a food scale and stop at one serving.
  • lisakatz2
    lisakatz2 Posts: 245 Member
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    csplatt wrote: »
    I don't eat chips very often at all because they aren't filling enough for the calories. But someimtes I'll just weigh my Lays Potato Chips on a food scale and stop at one serving.

    Now that's discipline! :)
  • MargaretYakoda
    MargaretYakoda Posts: 2,686 Member
    edited May 16
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    I admit I adore potato chips and French fries.

    But the chips never fill me up. And often just make me want to eat more. Which can be detrimental for my weekly calorie intake.

    I frequently bring my mind back to an old essay by the Soto Zen monk Edward Espe Brown. Maybe some of you old hippies would remember his book The Tasajara Bread Book. A book with the very best instruction for making homemade bread. Teaching the reader in great detail how to knead and prepare the dough.
    The basic bread recipe is delicious too.

    6292wcb2xmxa.jpeg

    Anyway, back to the potato chips…
    From his essay
    - First the room was loud with crunching, then quiet with savoring and swallowing. When all was fed and done, I invited comments. Many people had been startled by their experience: “I thought I would have trouble eating just one, but it really wasn’t very tasty.” “There’s nothing to it.” “There’s an instant of salt and grease, and them some tasteless pulpy stuff in your mouth.” “I can see why you might have trouble eating just one, because you take another and another to try to find some satisfaction where there is no real satisfaction to be found.” “If I was busy watching TV, I would probably think these were great; but when I actually experience what’s in my mouth, it’s kind of distasteful.”

    https://inquiringmind.com/article/1101_19_brown/


    Don’t take this to mean I never eat potato chips. I definitely do.
    Just not very often. And I really try to enjoy every moment with them. Salty and greasy as they are.

    An alternative that I really enjoy, although it is more expensive than potato chips, is dehydrated fruit slices.
    Mangoes are a real treat.

    They have a satisfying crunch like potato chips, taste great, and count as a healthy fruit in your diet.

    Amazon has many options.
    We get the aforementioned mangos, as well as pineapples, pears, and strawberries.
  • Theoldguy1
    Theoldguy1 Posts: 2,473 Member
    edited May 16
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    Eat crunchy vegetables in place of chips. Better for you and generally lower cost.
  • ccrdragon
    ccrdragon Posts: 3,368 Member
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    I gave up chips for Lent this year - I used to eat them every day... since Easter, I have had chips twice... figured out that I was eating them more out of habit than a desire to have chips.

    For my afternoon snack I now have a handful of cashews or some plain greek yogurt with fresh fruit. Better tasting and better for me.
  • yirara
    yirara Posts: 9,478 Member
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    Are we talking about French fries or crisps? Either way, why do you think you need either with a sandwich? Is it a traditional thing to have where you're from? From my perspective, continental Europe: A sandwich contains possibly butter if you like, something like deli meat, cheese, something vegan, and possibly, if you really want to some garnish. Traditionally it's one to two meals here besides dinner. No crisps or fries next to it, just food. If this is such a problem for you can you try to disconnect the two?
  • MargaretYakoda
    MargaretYakoda Posts: 2,686 Member
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    Oh! These are pretty good too!
    Gluten free. Single serve so portion controlled. Tasty with a very satisfying crunch. Only 13 carbs and 110 calories.

    Corn free and grain free, but not vegan.

    nque7m2rdcsw.jpeg
    v8uyadtx2z7c.jpeg
  • lisakatz2
    lisakatz2 Posts: 245 Member
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    Hubs likes chips so I have him buy the variety packs with the mini bags (single portions) and have him hide it! Then when I'm dying for chips, I ask him for a bag. I have no self-control when it comes to chips so my loving hubs is my partner in keeping me on the straight and narrow.
  • springlering62
    springlering62 Posts: 7,703 Member
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    Pretzels are lower cal than chips

    Sometimes (today) I’ll swap a couple servings hot air popcorn for chips. I get waaaaaaay more volume, for less than two servings of chips.

    If out at Mexican, and low on calories, I’ll ask for a bowl of sliced bell pepper in lieu of tortilla chips, to dip in my salsa. It’s such a mindless hand to mouth thing anyway I seldom notice the difference, and don’t feel like my meal has been “less than”.

    I keep meaning to take my scale just to sample how many servings of chips are in the bowl anyway. Would that be crass? 🤣

    I think next time I make enchiladas, I’m going to slip some zuchinni slices inside of them before baking to pad them out. I find enchiladas very more’ish.
  • wm3796
    wm3796 Posts: 74 Member
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    I like to use low carb tortillas, spray with olive oil, salt, and put in air fryer.
  • springlering62
    springlering62 Posts: 7,703 Member
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    Oh, for low cal fries, cut a couple pounds of Russett potatoes into even sized slivers, spray with three or four grams of olive oil (Mr Mister is the bomb for this), and air fry til crispy, tossing halfway through.

    You’ll have virtually oil free fries with no other ingredient than potatoes in 15 minutes.

    And if you get a crinkle fry cutter from a kitchen shop or Amazon, it’s not only fun to do, but the extra surface area makes them even crisper.

    Air fries are even better than fast food ones. We don’t bother to peel the potatoes, either.
  • DFW_Tom
    DFW_Tom Posts: 221 Member
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    Snacks, specifically chips, are my personal Rubicon. Once I get going on some ultra processed junk, it's misery time so I try to avoid as much as I can make myself.

    There are some good ideals offered on this thread so I've book marked it for future reference as needed.

    My go to chip replacement is popcorn, lightly oiled with EVOO after popping then dusted with paprika, salt, pepper and nutritional yeast.
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 27,982 Member
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    yirara wrote: »
    Are we talking about French fries or crisps? Either way, why do you think you need either with a sandwich? Is it a traditional thing to have where you're from? From my perspective, continental Europe: A sandwich contains possibly butter if you like, something like deli meat, cheese, something vegan, and possibly, if you really want to some garnish. Traditionally it's one to two meals here besides dinner. No crisps or fries next to it, just food. If this is such a problem for you can you try to disconnect the two?

    I think generally in the US "chips" means "potato chips," which I think is your "crisps," but it can also mean corn chips such as Fritos, Doritos, tortilla chips, etc.

    I never had chips with sandwiches until I met my BF. Depending on the sandwich and my mood, sometimes I'll have them, but only 0.5 oz / 14 grams. Sometimes I have a tangerine or a fruit cup.

    https://www.vocabulary.com/articles/candlepwr/when-it-comes-to-the-crunch/

    It's one of the enduring cross-cultural culinary conundrums: Why are packaged potato snacks called chips in the US and crisps in the UK? The answer is equal parts history, legend, and marketing savvy. And the spudscape is getting more complicated as cultural boundaries dissolve and the snack-food industry grows more creative and prolific.

    First, some traditional definitions:
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 27,982 Member
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    CarolynFlowers2024 wrote: »
    So what kind of chips or chip substitutes does everyone like with their sandwiches. I’ve tried some of the like quest, protein, chips, and stuff. I don’t like them. They’re just too gritty and charcoal I guess for a lack of better terms.

    Perhaps weigh out a small serving and put the bag away.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 32,558 Member
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    I figured OP was using the "chips" term in its US meaning, since the post mentioned things like Quest chips. I don't think Quests makes US "french fries" or UK "chips".

    It's dead common here for restaurants to serve potato chips alongside sandwiches as a default. Is that not true elsewhere in the US? (I understand that it wouldn't necessarily be true internationally.)

    While I understood OP's question the way I did because of that, I don't generally eat sandwiches with chips myself.

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