Dr Karg Emmental Cheese and Pumpkin Seed Crackers

I am currently staying in Cambridge for a few days with a great aunt of mine. She is a fine cook and incredible baker and definitely likes the finer foods. Because of the reversal to our heatwave we have ended up with 'normal' September weather; rain. So we stayed in town for some shopping to keep dry and popped into Waitrose. These Dr Karg snacks are what we decided on to be our treat for the few days we are here, along with some stilton cheese and home grown cherry tomatoes. I haven't managed to take my own photo as they were quickly finished amongst us and friends when they got home, however I still managed to review them.

When I browse the cracker section of the supermarket aisles these often catch my eye because they are so loaded (i.e. lots of seeds/toppings). But there are probably 8-10 in a pack which means they won't lost me very long. Anyway, I finally got to try them and they are delicious. It's nice to see a product that is primarily made of natural and organice ingredients. Here they are: organic wholegrain wheat flour, organic Emmental cheese, organic pumpkin seeds, extra virgin olive oil, organic oats, organic sunflower seeds, organic linseeds, organic sesame seeds, sea salt, yeast, and organic barley malt extract. Healthy or what!

In one, (large!), cracker here are 114kcal, 5.2g fat (only 1.2 saturates), 10.3g carbohydrates (only 0.5 sugars), and a whopping 4.9g of protein and 3.1g fibre. Definitely packs a punch in the healthy nutrition department.

Other flavours to try include classic 3 seed, seeded spelt, and tomato and mozzarella. They appear to even sell snack packs which I have failed to locate in many stores.

It's definitely a grown ups cracker and could be topped with anything. Would be great for breakfast because of its nutritional breakdown, works perfect as snack, but also with tea instead of dunking a biscuit and losing it just have some crackers and a small piece of strong cheese (stilton!).

What I thought

Taste: nutty, cheesy

Texture: super crunchy almost crack your teeth

Nutrition: 114kcal per cracker

Affordable: £2.29 for 8-10 crackers

Find it at: Waitrose

Have it with: stilton and cherry tomatoes, fromage frais, soup

Rating: 4/5 - lost a point because kinda hard to bite

NuMe Beetroot Crisps

Who'd have thought that the purple juicy root vegetable could be transformed into healthy air dried crisps. 

Morrison's is the supermarket next door to my gym so I often pop in there after and am usually impressed with their deals. It's nice because it is a fairly small one too so you can walk in and out in minutes. These beetroot crisps were hidden within the nuts and dried fruit section and I was pleased to come across them a few months ago. When I looked at the ingredients to see only: BEETROOT I was a bit too excited. I've not seen these in any other store except when they trick you into thinking the vegetable crisps next to Walkers are healthy however they are fried and salted!!!!!!!!!!!! NuMe is the healthier supermarket own brand and they produce apple and carrot crisps too which are just as tasty. For only 70p or 2 for £1 you can mix and match between vegetable crisps, nuts, and dried fruits all in snack bags so no over-eating possible (unless of course you eat more bags but that's not the idea)

They are so vibrant in colour and smell. Unique indeed. It's also amusing to witness the looks of envy and 'What IS that?' from the strangers who see you eat them on the train. 

I struggle to not eat a whole pack when leaving the till and walking to my bike - that's how good they are.

So that purple vegetable you avoid in the supermarket is now perfectly crisp and 100% a better alternative than potato crisps (or chips). But please Morrison's sell them in multipacks so I don't look like the crazy lady when at the till!

What I thought

Taste: naturally sweet, beetroot-y, err scrummy

Texture: crispy and light

Nutrition: 62kcal per 20g

Affordable: 70p per bag, or 2 for £1

Find it at: Morrisons NuMe range 

Have it with: hummus or the Metro newspaper

Rating: 4.5/5 - I want multipacks so deducted half a star

Shanie says: 'Beet cravings with veggie crisps.'

Special K Cracker Crisps (or Chips)

Recently Kellogs have launched there Special K Cracker Crisps which is a more savoury snack compared to their Special K cereals and bars. They come in three amazing flavours including Sour Cream and Onion, Sea Salt and Balsamic Vinegar and Sweet Chilli. And one portion (a large one at that) is only 95 calories. 

On my first visit to B'n'M which is a discounted food and home store I saw these on offer for £0.79. In comparison to all the supermarkets who have them on offer for £1.99. When a serving is 25g it means this box holds 4 portions at 20p each. A cheap and healthier alternative snack. Perfect for the movies too. However dipping into the box makes it hard to control portions, just like popcorn.

I chose the Sour Cream and Onion flavour and am highly impressed with its flavour. It also has a good crunch and I have personally nicknamed them the 'posh Disco'. You remember: those old school crisps which were disc shaped too. Other reviewers think that the Sweet Chilli is disappointing and although the Sea Salt and Balsamic Vinegar is tasty it's hard to identify the balsamic hints. I'll be back when I try them to give you my opinion. 

This is the ingredient and nutrition. So unlike normal crisps which use slices of potato this only uses dried potato starch similarly found in lower fat crisps and it means they aren't fried. Oddly it contains milk powder which I assume aids the texture and sour cream flavour. 

It's great to see that the carbohydrates of which sugars is around 10% of total carbohydrates because too many of modern day snacks are high in sugar. And as with all Special K snacks it is roughly 10% fat with only saturates at 0.5g per serving. WOW! Be careful of salt content as that can creep up when we eat other food throughout the day. 

And although I don't promote eating the entire box on your own but if you were to share it the whole box contains just over 400kcal which is less than half of regular share bags of crisps. Or count out the crisps and take to work for your snack :)

What I thought

Taste: great flavour and super addictive

Texture: perfect crunch and majority of them were whole discs

Nutrition: 95kcal per 23g serving; low sugar and fat

Affordable: 79p per 100g at B'n'M at most supermarkets £2.00 per 100g

Find it at: all major supermarkets

Have it with: dips, cheese, pickled onions, a movie

Rating: 5/5

Shanie says: 'Happy snacking. Thanks Kellogs!'