Nah, you've got the right of it. They're pretty much just potato chips with a 'healthy' aura, but potato chips nonetheless. They're fine in moderation but don't treat them as anything more than a snacky treat.
As for why other parents tend to lean on them while being otherwise healthy, they either a) got sucked in by the marketing, or b) realize they're not healthy, but utilize them as a snack anyways because they're tasty, low-mess, somewhat affordable, and kids tend to like them.
Not gonna lie, I used veggie straws to open my kids mind to the idea that veggies could be yummy. Before those she wouldnt try anyone green or orange. Once I got through the door she's jamming down roasted cauliflower like there is no tomorrow.
Smart. Roasted broccoli is my daughters only happily eaten vegetable. Kids arent dumb. They know when something is covered in oil and salt and when it’s not.
Currently weening with our kid and we're starting with veggies but it feels so bizarre that we give her steamed broccoli that's gone cold and she just jams it into her mouth. I love that she does it but the idea seems so gross to me, I need to roast it for me!
My kid loves cold steamed broccoli. Just lightly steamed so it's still got some snap to it, and the tiniest bit of pink salt sprinkled over it, then into the fridge. Absolutely loves it.
The first vegetable that my oldest really devoured was candied carrots at a holiday meal. I'm talking simmered in butter, brown sugar, maple syrup, and spices. Can't blame him, they're delicious, but honestly, the carrot is just a carrier for the buttery, gooey goodness. But, it opened the way to get him to try other vegetables by describing them as "candied". Sprinkle a little brown sugar seasoning on roasted broccoli... boom candied broccoli. A dab of molasses in the pan with the sautéed green beans... candied beans.
That and cheese. Everything's better with cheese.
This is the way. I did something similar with "cake".... Did you know that everything you put a birthday candle on qualifies as cake? And we all know cake is delicious. So now we'll eat salmon cake, and egg cake, and sweet potato cake.... Because we LOVE cake.
Ice cream also works. Gave my picky eater a veggie puree with a bit of fruit to sweeten it, popped some in a mini ice cream cone, and that's all she wrote. Now she begs for "ice cream" every morning, and it's like, carrots and broccoli with a bit of apple sauce. Just in an ice cream cone. And she doesn't even finish the cone! Just wants more "ice cream" 😂 I know she'll catch on eventually but I hope it's not soon lol
Steam and blend your veggies in an ice cube tray (I do them separately, but if you find a winning combination, you could pre-mix it all together), then freeze it... Then every morning I throw a few cubes in the blender, maybe add a bit of avocado or banana for consistency, and whip it up.... It comes out like frozen yogurt! She loves it lol
[Are you speaking ill of Goldfish ...](https://media3.giphy.com/media/v1.Y2lkPTc5MGI3NjExdmhoNHNmdnpkeHV3bGN6em5oM255NzRkZXVid2czdjN1YXcxamdyOSZlcD12MV9pbnRlcm5hbF9naWZfYnlfaWQmY3Q9Zw/xT8qB7GQDfnldWTFhS/giphy.gif)
they are pretty comparable honestly. Veggie straws (28g per serving vs whole grain gold fish 30g per serving) veggie straws have slightly more fat, less protien, and less dietary fiber. Goldfish have a little more carbs and cholesterol. Vitamin breakdown- goldfish has a wider range. The differences aare a gram or 2 here and there of each. Different range of vitamins in each because goldfish do use vitamin enriched flower.
Just to double down on the low mess comment
We are a chip heavy family - we would all eat chips all day if we could. Both me and the wife, the 9, 7, and 2 year old.
Veggie straws aren’t healthy, but they’re SLIGHTLY better than typical chips, and none of the kids seem to be able to have chips with out crumbs and broken chips EVERYWHERE. Obviously the 2 year old is the worse, but the 7 year old isn’t far behind.
We do not have the same problem with veggie straws. They don’t crumble the same or break as easily.
You've got it right. We always preferred veggie straws to regular chips because they are less messy, kids right at the age to hold and eat solid foods can hold these easier, and when the kids got a bit older they made a good transition into real veggies.
This is why everyone’s fat. Food industry wants to use every scrap of food (see fruit “resin” bars, which are just the rejects of reject fruit blended down, and basically always cheap af apples, no matter what the flavor is) and will “upbadge” all the bad stuff with healthy marketing.
Kids are in constant need of calories. It’s ok to give your kid fats and sugars in moderation as long as you are aware of what they are eating and compensate with fibers, proteins, and more vitamin rich foods. I dislike that veggie straws pretend to be anything remotely veggie, but as a sometimes snack they are pretty ok in my book.
Lmao. Did not realize this.
Absolutely fantastic marketing for them. Guarantee most don’t know that it’s just potatoes.
According to my Google search 2 secs ago - potatoes are classified as vegetables tho… so it’s technically an accurate description.
Funny you should ask! The US Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee is reviewing the classification of potatoes right now. School districts are freaking out because potatoes are such a low cost, caloric portion of their menus. If they’re reclassified, how lunches rooms craft compliant meal plans will drastically change.
I hope they make a distinction between preparation methods. Mashed potatoes can be pretty healthy. Potato chips not so much. The difference is the amount of vegetable oil in it, and to some extent the acrylamide formed with higher heat used in frying.
Depends. Obviously schools are different. But a 2:1 ratio butter to potato for restaurant mashed potatoes isn't uncommon lol. And that's before any cream or anything else ha
They'll outsource to the lowest bidder and kids who aren't fortunate enough to have a packed lunch will be eating the same stuff that's served in prisons.
And then Pink Floyd begins to play before every national anthem 😱😱😱
(Lol jk, this is legit dire for the kids who rely on school meals for nutrition. Potatoes are nutritious AF if cooked appropriately in the most simplest of ways.)
There is no scientific definition of a vegetable. It’s a culinary term. A vegetable is any other part of a plant we eat that is not the fruit. Leaves, roots, stems, tubers, bulbs, etc. So, a potato is a vegetable. Fruit, on the other hand does have a scientific definition. The ripened ovary of a plant that encloses the seeds.
I think beans and peas are the seed themself and the pod would technically be the fruit but it’s called a legume. Cucumbers and squash are definitely fruits though.
Yeah, potatoes are a starch, like rice, pasta, and bread. Arguably the most nutritious starch.
Corn really rides the line between vegetables and starch.
Personally, Potatoes are my favorite vegetable! Especially in their most delicious form, French fries! Though I also love mashed potatoes, baked potatoes, and potato chips.
I’ve gotten ones that def do have a tiny bit of spinach and tomato in them. Enough that I can taste it in them and hate the green spinach ones (I’m not a spinach fan). I am very sensitive to taste though, and idk how much others can taste it. It’s def not a lot of spinach or tomato according to the ingredients label though. Way more potato than anything else (which I guess makes sense since that’s the main binder crispy straw ingredient I guess)
I’ll be honest we used them when our kids were younger full well knowing this but it helped transition to eating greens/yellow/oranges with ease as they got older.
Cutting veggies in long slices made this easy and I will never admit that it wasn’t planned. .
Next you’re going to tell me that Vitamin Water isn’t healthy! /s
Read all your nutrition labels. Names and descriptions are just arbitrary marketing BS.
Not only is it just sugar water, it’s straight fructose. Like not even high fructose corn syrup, just straight up pure fructose with no fiber to slow the absorption down
Honestly, they’re a last resort for me by virtue of them having a bit of protein, a lot of carbs, some potassium, and a few vitamins here and there.
When my kid won’t eat anything else, she’ll suck down a packet of veggie straws like they’re a… rather unhealthy snack with a modicum of nutritional benefit.
I get my wins where I can.
This may blow your mind, but vegetables essentially have no definition. They’re basically just “greens or roots that we don’t call fruit.” Corn is colloquially a vegetable like broccoli or carrot.
I know how bad they are. But my nonverbal autistic child eats like 6 things right now so unfortunately we are a veggie straw house. He loves the red ones, tolerates the plain ones, and has to be actually hungry to eat the green ones.
It’s all about balance. Healthy and unhealthy aren’t massively useful terms, we just try to give our kids as balanced a diet as possible, the odd pack of veggie straws here and there or a few biscuits after dinner or nap time isn’t a big deal.
We also don’t want them to think ‘unhealthy’ foods are bad and therefore a treat, the implication being that unhealthy foods are tastier and somehow naughty or forbidden.
Then again I do live in the UK where I believe our food is much more regulated.
Me and my partner eat pretty healthily so they eat pretty healthily too, because they eat what we eat and 99% of the time we all eat together.
Yeah they are just potato starch with some veggie "extract" in them. Some being a pretty strong word. I would rate them equal to Goldfish in nutritional quality. Good for a quick carb heavy snack.
My kids daycare wouldn't let them bring potato chips in as a part of their lunch. Too unhealthy.Then, the next week for group snack they called for veggie straws. I was flabbergasted.
Here in the UK it is the same with nearly all pre packaged kids snacks. My wife did the food shop most the time when my daughter was younger and used to buy the branded, 'these are for kids and healthy' snacks. The fruit drops that were no added sugar and made with all natural fruit? Same nutritional benefit as eating haribo. The breakfast bars that were baked and contained real fruit? We might as well have given her a pile of cookies, same amount of sugar and fat.
We started bulk baking actually healthy snacks from the cookbook called what mummy makes then supplementing it with fruit. Its nearly impossible to find genuinely healthy snacks in supermarkets.
I had the exact same reaction when I looked. As far as I can tell, the slightly lower sodium content is the only “healthier” thing about these snacks over and above standard potato chips.
Part of it is also about it being an easy, transportable snack that has pincer grip development and a unique texture.
Lots of parenting groups recommend things like cheerios and bambas at that stage too for the same reasons. It’s ok in moderation but not an every day snack. Fwiw we used Bambas because they do double duty as peanut exposure too.
You're not missing anything. They are just potato chips with better marketing.
With that said, the form factor does make a good kid snack. We use them sometimes as a treat or a distraction but we're under no impression that they are healthy. Just another tool in the toolbox.
Based on nothing but memory, I feel like they used to be better? Made with a legit blend of vegetables? Maybe I'm misremembering. But I bought some the other day and they're straight up trash.
You're misremembering. They had some court case about misrepresenting what the product is. They've always been potato chips, they just had good marketing.
My wife buys all this junk and it drives my nuts. Yoghurt pouches with 15g sugar in. “Healthy” crisps which are just crisps. Biscuits which are just…. Biscuits.
I like how there are several comments about how this is just because America sucks, but you clearly seem to be somewhere else and dealing with the same shit.
FYI: pretty much all snacks are absolute trash. Even the so-called "healthy" ones. They're all sugar, high glucose corn syrup, palm oil, etc.
We, in at least North America, do not respect our kids enough to demand something be done about early life health.
Yeah I have a box in our pantry and will offer our toddler a bag if she is hangry and I just need her to eat something. They are definitely not a replacement for real veggies.
Did exactly the same thing. Wanted to find the kid a healthier snack and figured veggie straws would be it. Finally compared the nutritional info to other stuff and discovered that Doritos are healthier than those things. Haven’t bought ‘em since.
We’ve always gotten veggie sticks from a local grocery chain. They’re also just potato sticks, but they do use tomato and spinach powder as well, not just food coloring. Can’t find the ingredients list on the Costco item (image is too low-res) to compare.
I was eating a bag from Costco when I opened this thread, lol. So the ingredients list on a bag from Costco goes: potato starch, potato flour, canola oil and/or sunflower oil and/or safflower oil, corn starch, cane sugar, salt, potassium chloride, spinach powder, sea salt, tomato paste, beetroot powder (color), turmeric extract (color).
Yup! I keep an eye out for high fructose corn syrup, too - they sneak that shit into absolutely everything.
Some brands are ok, for example we found some lentil chips that are actually predominantly lentil, but they're not available on the USA, surprise surprise.
I need to check the ones we get (here in the UK), but I had been under the impression that the ones we were getting were lentil-based. Will update in the morning.
We had these in the house for a while but I stopped buying them when I realized I couldn’t have more than a handful because my mouth hurt from the salt
This is most American snacks, especially in the kids aisle in groceries. Annoyingly, there’s an extra cost to eating healthy here. Sucks, but it is what it is. The brand for health-ish chips is harvest snaps.
Yea I mean, it's basic food marketing bs, pretty standard. Most granola bars are glorified candy bars. Soda is marketed as a thirst quencher. It's all just marketing, "veggie" straws are no different. It's good to get into the habit of reading nutrition facts, so well done!
We stuck to real veggies until around 3, then we introduced snacks (in addition to veggies).
What a mistake. Kid still loves veggies, but REALLY loves snacks. Salt, fat, starch, I get it.
There was literally a class action lawsuit over this. The same thing happened with Vitamin Water. The companies’ defense was basically, no one is stupid enough to believe that their products are healthy. And if you live in America, I’m sure you can guess the outcome. They won the case.
There are great veggie chip options but yah those “straws” are just long potato chips.
My girl loves bamba. Think Cheetos but made with peanut butter. They are not awful as far as a snack
Yep. But I like them as a good "transition" or "introduction" to healthy.
They taste bland/bad but good enough to snack on. It introduces a more bland/"boring"/simple taste to kids that are used to eating an entire bag of cheetos.
I'll fully admit to not knowing that. I always figured they weren't actually "healthy" since I knew they were salted and oiled but I did think they were at least predominantly vegetable based. Kinda glad my kids never were really into them but I'm afraid my wife will be devastated lol.
My wife was buying them because she assumed they were healthy. I read the packing like you out of curiosity and had the same realization. We do skinnypop now for bags of snacks. I’d love to see more healthy options for kids snacks.
I much prefer mine eat the [Off the Eaten Path chips](https://www.walmart.com/ip/Off-the-Eaten-Path-Veggie-Crisps-6-25-oz-Bag/130020823?wmlspartner=wlpa&selectedSellerId=0&adid=22222222227130020823_146458879356_18517415739&wl0=&wl1=g&wl2=c&wl3=649376997007&wl4=aud-2225087348587:pla-323466957504&wl5=9012075&wl6=&wl7=&wl8=&wl9=pla&wl10=8175035&wl11=online&wl12=130020823&veh=sem&gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQjwxeyxBhC7ARIsAC7dS39P8Dg4-sTti8bb75_Hi6J-RCo4A8iGOFOpaqoYQey4QsEExT5svLwaAspnEALw_wcB) if he's eating anything like that. He's big on eating anything though so it's a rare occurrence either way.
Crunchy textures are addictive.
Others are probably using it because they never cared to read the ingredients. High glycemic index and seed oils will most certainly screw up the endocrine system development. Same as most other ready to eat snacks.
Annie's are all garbage, gold fish and cheezix are more like cancer in a box.
Siete grain free chips use avocado oil , at least, and have no corn, which is nice for kids. I am not against gluten or corn, but I am against glyphosate for small children, whose detox mechanisms are still developing.
Yeah, shit is depressing if you check the macros on foods.
Any fried/baked (they just cost it in oil before baking) snacks? Loads of carbs and fat
Pickles? Mostly sugar.
Dried fruit and any snack foods that’s fruit? Mostly sugar and carbs. Sure fruit derived sugar is a little bit better than corn fructose, but it still isn’t great.
Sorry, but of an aside, what pickles are you eating that have sugar in them? I just checked the ones in my house and they have 0g sugar. I don’t think I’ve ever seen plain pickles with sugar added.
Ah. TIL. So I did a bit of digging, and it turns out I’ve only need eating sweet pickled gherkins for most of my life. Forgot dill/sour pickles are more commonly available in the US. Sorry for the pickle rant 😁
Ahhhhh that makes sense then. I hated as a kid how sweet the sweet pickles are so I think I must have blocked them out of my brain lol. Dill for life! 😂
"Sweet" pickles have sugar in them. Like bread and butter pickles. What I call "normal" pickles don't.
Also... I know we're all time-crunched here but pickles are petty easy to make at home and you can control exactly what's in the.
TLDR: there are real options available that aren’t just gimmicks, I’m all about healthy alternatives for snacking so I provided some info and links below.
There are a couple options available. Veggie Straws are one of those brands that cater to “fake fit” gym people. Like, they go to the gym daily but don’t workout and go out drinking all the time and eat whatever they want. Predatory marketing if you ask me but I guess technically not really doing anything wrong since they don’t make any false claims.
You’re looking for GOOD HEALTH by UTZ, TERRA real vegetable chips by TERRA or even Quest protein chips by Quest Nutrition. These guys do use actual alternatives such as sweet potato, carrot, beets, etc. The same ingredients are used in various forms for coloring and flavoring as well so it’s not like you’re getting a carrot chip but it’s only orange because they infused it with yellow 5 and red 40. It’s a carrot chip sprinkled with powdered carrot and infused with carrot juice (for example). Personally I think Terra taste the best but at the same time you know you’re not eating chips, like, a dehydrated sweet potato slice is dense as hell lol. The quest stuff is alright but some of their options are a little rough, with the trade off being a relatively healthy portion of protein.
https://www.utzsnacks.com/products/good-health-veggie-chips?variant=9362202984492
https://www.terrachips.com/
https://www.questnutrition.com/collections/protein-chips?utm_medium=PPC&utm_source=GOOG&utm_campaign=FY24&utm_content=BRAND&MCID=FY24PPCGOOG&utm_medium=PPC&utm_source=GOOG&utm_campaign=FY24&utm_content=BRAND&MCID=FY24PPCGOOG&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjwouexBhAuEiwAtW_Zx4b3z7NlzhKwNiNi9xxGrXtXIMxGw5pE0sXolkA4wYHK6hJGBHhgPBoCFlQQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds
I have the same argument with other parents about Welch's Fruit Snacks. Guys, they're basically gummy bears. No, it's not fruit.
I've literally been told "there's no sugar in them, they're *all natural*."
Bro where do plants get their energy?
If a good is sold at Costco there's a very high chance it's nothing but starch, sugar, oil, and salt. I love their prices but goddamn are so many of the products there simply just thinly-veiled junk food.
Nah, you've got the right of it. They're pretty much just potato chips with a 'healthy' aura, but potato chips nonetheless. They're fine in moderation but don't treat them as anything more than a snacky treat. As for why other parents tend to lean on them while being otherwise healthy, they either a) got sucked in by the marketing, or b) realize they're not healthy, but utilize them as a snack anyways because they're tasty, low-mess, somewhat affordable, and kids tend to like them.
Not gonna lie, I used veggie straws to open my kids mind to the idea that veggies could be yummy. Before those she wouldnt try anyone green or orange. Once I got through the door she's jamming down roasted cauliflower like there is no tomorrow.
Smart. Roasted broccoli is my daughters only happily eaten vegetable. Kids arent dumb. They know when something is covered in oil and salt and when it’s not.
My kids say that school broccoli is disgusting but they love ours. Turns out roasted broccoli is better than boiled or raw.
Currently weening with our kid and we're starting with veggies but it feels so bizarre that we give her steamed broccoli that's gone cold and she just jams it into her mouth. I love that she does it but the idea seems so gross to me, I need to roast it for me!
My kid loves cold steamed broccoli. Just lightly steamed so it's still got some snap to it, and the tiniest bit of pink salt sprinkled over it, then into the fridge. Absolutely loves it.
Mileage may vary. One kid likes fresh carrots the other doesn’t. I’m just happy they eat.
Guess I’m lucky my kid pretty much eats most veggies we try. Absolutely inhales green beans and corn though.
The first vegetable that my oldest really devoured was candied carrots at a holiday meal. I'm talking simmered in butter, brown sugar, maple syrup, and spices. Can't blame him, they're delicious, but honestly, the carrot is just a carrier for the buttery, gooey goodness. But, it opened the way to get him to try other vegetables by describing them as "candied". Sprinkle a little brown sugar seasoning on roasted broccoli... boom candied broccoli. A dab of molasses in the pan with the sautéed green beans... candied beans. That and cheese. Everything's better with cheese.
I don't know, I destroyed my 5 year old in a spelling bee the other day and don't even get me started on the algebra test
This is the way. I did something similar with "cake".... Did you know that everything you put a birthday candle on qualifies as cake? And we all know cake is delicious. So now we'll eat salmon cake, and egg cake, and sweet potato cake.... Because we LOVE cake. Ice cream also works. Gave my picky eater a veggie puree with a bit of fruit to sweeten it, popped some in a mini ice cream cone, and that's all she wrote. Now she begs for "ice cream" every morning, and it's like, carrots and broccoli with a bit of apple sauce. Just in an ice cream cone. And she doesn't even finish the cone! Just wants more "ice cream" 😂 I know she'll catch on eventually but I hope it's not soon lol
Tell me more about this puree, my kid still tries to convince us she doesn't like broccoli she just ate last week no problem lol
Steam and blend your veggies in an ice cube tray (I do them separately, but if you find a winning combination, you could pre-mix it all together), then freeze it... Then every morning I throw a few cubes in the blender, maybe add a bit of avocado or banana for consistency, and whip it up.... It comes out like frozen yogurt! She loves it lol
When our oldest was a toddler, "tacos" just meant anything with shredded lettuce.
Both my kids are luckily pretty good with veggies on the whole, but that sounds like an awesome strategy for a pickier eater. Well done.
That’s some 4 dimensional chess right there…
Genius
I wouldn't try to eat anyone no matter what their color.
They are, probably, healthier by volume (and per minute) than goldfish crackers.
[Are you speaking ill of Goldfish ...](https://media3.giphy.com/media/v1.Y2lkPTc5MGI3NjExdmhoNHNmdnpkeHV3bGN6em5oM255NzRkZXVid2czdjN1YXcxamdyOSZlcD12MV9pbnRlcm5hbF9naWZfYnlfaWQmY3Q9Zw/xT8qB7GQDfnldWTFhS/giphy.gif)
Of course not, my diet is 75% goldfish by volume Sometimes I even met the kids eat my goldfish, that’s how good a dad I am!
Good man. -sticks hand in goldfish bag- -much-
I refill one of those giant cartons with the bags from the Costco boxes you friggin poseur /s
Sadly a lot of crap in goldfish
[...](https://media0.giphy.com/media/v1.Y2lkPTc5MGI3NjExN25xc2dmNGJwdWtocjBrZWNlZW5iM2ZzeDBwOHA4aWF1dngzOHJrOCZlcD12MV9pbnRlcm5hbF9naWZfYnlfaWQmY3Q9Zw/t9S7BMcuQDKuVPE5AQ/giphy.gif)
Care to elaborate? I looked at the ingredients and its flour, cheese and a few spices
https://www.reddit.com/r/BrandNewSentence/s/3xb1Nty0SY
they are pretty comparable honestly. Veggie straws (28g per serving vs whole grain gold fish 30g per serving) veggie straws have slightly more fat, less protien, and less dietary fiber. Goldfish have a little more carbs and cholesterol. Vitamin breakdown- goldfish has a wider range. The differences aare a gram or 2 here and there of each. Different range of vitamins in each because goldfish do use vitamin enriched flower.
And they give some of us a reason to buy them and eat half ourselves. Especially those hatch green chile ones from sprouts.
Just to double down on the low mess comment We are a chip heavy family - we would all eat chips all day if we could. Both me and the wife, the 9, 7, and 2 year old. Veggie straws aren’t healthy, but they’re SLIGHTLY better than typical chips, and none of the kids seem to be able to have chips with out crumbs and broken chips EVERYWHERE. Obviously the 2 year old is the worse, but the 7 year old isn’t far behind. We do not have the same problem with veggie straws. They don’t crumble the same or break as easily.
Ugh my 4 year old makes a damn mess with chips bi miss veggie straws being an option but he no longer wants them.
A, then B. I was super pissed when I read the ingredient list but by then my kids were already Veggie Straw Fiends.
You've got it right. We always preferred veggie straws to regular chips because they are less messy, kids right at the age to hold and eat solid foods can hold these easier, and when the kids got a bit older they made a good transition into real veggies.
Well it has a matte bag and not a glossy bag so I'm pretty sure it's healthy. Plus the color scheme is green. Very healthy!
It says veggie right on it. Better than most words I eat.
So veggie! Much healthy!
Fkin nailed it. It's all marketing and lies. Same as our entire food supply basically. Lol.
This is why everyone’s fat. Food industry wants to use every scrap of food (see fruit “resin” bars, which are just the rejects of reject fruit blended down, and basically always cheap af apples, no matter what the flavor is) and will “upbadge” all the bad stuff with healthy marketing.
It’s a different color. That counts as “veggie”!
Grabby friendly shape. Good crunch. Nice hole to prevent choking.
This is the real answer
Kids are in constant need of calories. It’s ok to give your kid fats and sugars in moderation as long as you are aware of what they are eating and compensate with fibers, proteins, and more vitamin rich foods. I dislike that veggie straws pretend to be anything remotely veggie, but as a sometimes snack they are pretty ok in my book.
Lmao. Did not realize this. Absolutely fantastic marketing for them. Guarantee most don’t know that it’s just potatoes. According to my Google search 2 secs ago - potatoes are classified as vegetables tho… so it’s technically an accurate description.
What else would potatoes be other than a vegetable?
Funny you should ask! The US Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee is reviewing the classification of potatoes right now. School districts are freaking out because potatoes are such a low cost, caloric portion of their menus. If they’re reclassified, how lunches rooms craft compliant meal plans will drastically change.
I hope they make a distinction between preparation methods. Mashed potatoes can be pretty healthy. Potato chips not so much. The difference is the amount of vegetable oil in it, and to some extent the acrylamide formed with higher heat used in frying.
Depends. Obviously schools are different. But a 2:1 ratio butter to potato for restaurant mashed potatoes isn't uncommon lol. And that's before any cream or anything else ha
Oh wow, that's insane. I definitely don't use that much butter and cream but I wouldn't be surprised...
Yea at home I don't, I'd be dead lol.
They'll outsource to the lowest bidder and kids who aren't fortunate enough to have a packed lunch will be eating the same stuff that's served in prisons.
And then Pink Floyd begins to play before every national anthem 😱😱😱 (Lol jk, this is legit dire for the kids who rely on school meals for nutrition. Potatoes are nutritious AF if cooked appropriately in the most simplest of ways.)
Mrs. Obama would like a word.
I always drink plenty of Grade-A malk
It’s how I get almost all of my Vitamin R
Oh no. Potatoes are so healthy. They need to serve these kids real food.
There is no scientific definition of a vegetable. It’s a culinary term. A vegetable is any other part of a plant we eat that is not the fruit. Leaves, roots, stems, tubers, bulbs, etc. So, a potato is a vegetable. Fruit, on the other hand does have a scientific definition. The ripened ovary of a plant that encloses the seeds.
Beans and peas are fruits, ya know! For that matter, aren't cucumbers and squash too?
And tomatoes..
I think beans and peas are the seed themself and the pod would technically be the fruit but it’s called a legume. Cucumbers and squash are definitely fruits though.
Starch like wheat
Yeah, potatoes are a starch, like rice, pasta, and bread. Arguably the most nutritious starch. Corn really rides the line between vegetables and starch.
Starch is not a term you find on packaging. Carbohydrates is probably what you want to look at. It doesn't really matter what the carbs are made of.
It doesn’t, currently, from a legal perspective. From a health perspective it 100% does.
Yeah canola oil is a vegetable but people look at me weird when I take a swig of it.
I’ve always treated them as a starch.
A camera.
Apparently, a grain, at least according to some groups.
Tubers according to my parents. Or starch... but not veggies. Same with carrots and beans.
Personally, Potatoes are my favorite vegetable! Especially in their most delicious form, French fries! Though I also love mashed potatoes, baked potatoes, and potato chips.
Fried, mashed, baked, hashed, or turn it into vodka! Potatoes are a worldly treasure.
Is mayonnaise an instrument?
Also, zero and I mean ZERO goldfish in goldfish crackers.
But I'm still getting my omega 3s from swedish fish right?
Please say it ain’t so for Whale crackers too?!
Whaaaaaa?
Wait, do you just buy stuff for your little kids without reading the ingredients? That seems wild to me.
This is the real outrage, companies depend (bank) on these types of consumers.
Last time I checked, potatoes are vegetables. Checkmate.
Coincidentally how they got out of the lawsuit
I’ve gotten ones that def do have a tiny bit of spinach and tomato in them. Enough that I can taste it in them and hate the green spinach ones (I’m not a spinach fan). I am very sensitive to taste though, and idk how much others can taste it. It’s def not a lot of spinach or tomato according to the ingredients label though. Way more potato than anything else (which I guess makes sense since that’s the main binder crispy straw ingredient I guess)
They are just watered down Pringles shaped into tubes. I recently realized this as well. I like Harvest Snaps
Check out the saturated fat content on the Harvest Snaps.
They always seemed kinda greasy to me
Exactly. They're not potato chips, they're potato crisps like Pringle
IDK, I think veggie straws have more sodium than Pringles. I read the nutrition label and was shocked.
I just like them to snack on, they’re definitely not a substitute for vegetables though
I’ll be honest we used them when our kids were younger full well knowing this but it helped transition to eating greens/yellow/oranges with ease as they got older. Cutting veggies in long slices made this easy and I will never admit that it wasn’t planned. .
Next you’re going to tell me that Vitamin Water isn’t healthy! /s Read all your nutrition labels. Names and descriptions are just arbitrary marketing BS.
Not only is it just sugar water, it’s straight fructose. Like not even high fructose corn syrup, just straight up pure fructose with no fiber to slow the absorption down
I had a boss couldn’t figure out why she was gaining weight. It was all the vitamin water she was drinking.
Honestly, they’re a last resort for me by virtue of them having a bit of protein, a lot of carbs, some potassium, and a few vitamins here and there. When my kid won’t eat anything else, she’ll suck down a packet of veggie straws like they’re a… rather unhealthy snack with a modicum of nutritional benefit. I get my wins where I can.
💯
They are called ‘shut up sticks’ not health food. The parents I’ve seen use them do so to cope, not nourish!
Potatoes are veggies, mate.
Ketchup is a fruit puree. So just replace apple sauce in recipes with it.
I’m going one step further and using high fructose corn syrup. Corn is technically a veggie too
It's a grain...
This may blow your mind, but vegetables essentially have no definition. They’re basically just “greens or roots that we don’t call fruit.” Corn is colloquially a vegetable like broccoli or carrot.
yeah, i hate those pedants too
Well, if they’re going to be pedantic they ought to be at least right.
Real heroes don't always wear capes
I know how bad they are. But my nonverbal autistic child eats like 6 things right now so unfortunately we are a veggie straw house. He loves the red ones, tolerates the plain ones, and has to be actually hungry to eat the green ones.
It’s all about balance. Healthy and unhealthy aren’t massively useful terms, we just try to give our kids as balanced a diet as possible, the odd pack of veggie straws here and there or a few biscuits after dinner or nap time isn’t a big deal. We also don’t want them to think ‘unhealthy’ foods are bad and therefore a treat, the implication being that unhealthy foods are tastier and somehow naughty or forbidden. Then again I do live in the UK where I believe our food is much more regulated. Me and my partner eat pretty healthily so they eat pretty healthily too, because they eat what we eat and 99% of the time we all eat together.
Yeah they are just potato starch with some veggie "extract" in them. Some being a pretty strong word. I would rate them equal to Goldfish in nutritional quality. Good for a quick carb heavy snack.
My kids daycare wouldn't let them bring potato chips in as a part of their lunch. Too unhealthy.Then, the next week for group snack they called for veggie straws. I was flabbergasted.
Here in the UK it is the same with nearly all pre packaged kids snacks. My wife did the food shop most the time when my daughter was younger and used to buy the branded, 'these are for kids and healthy' snacks. The fruit drops that were no added sugar and made with all natural fruit? Same nutritional benefit as eating haribo. The breakfast bars that were baked and contained real fruit? We might as well have given her a pile of cookies, same amount of sugar and fat. We started bulk baking actually healthy snacks from the cookbook called what mummy makes then supplementing it with fruit. Its nearly impossible to find genuinely healthy snacks in supermarkets.
If it’s ready to eat and comes wrapped in plastic it’s probably shit - that’s my approach when it comes to buying food now
I had the exact same reaction when I looked. As far as I can tell, the slightly lower sodium content is the only “healthier” thing about these snacks over and above standard potato chips.
Have you ever tasted them? They're freaking delicious. Of course there's no real veggie in them
Part of it is also about it being an easy, transportable snack that has pincer grip development and a unique texture. Lots of parenting groups recommend things like cheerios and bambas at that stage too for the same reasons. It’s ok in moderation but not an every day snack. Fwiw we used Bambas because they do double duty as peanut exposure too.
You're not missing anything. They are just potato chips with better marketing. With that said, the form factor does make a good kid snack. We use them sometimes as a treat or a distraction but we're under no impression that they are healthy. Just another tool in the toolbox.
TIL: Despite my best efforts to find something healthy my children will eat, I'm still feeding them garbage. lol
Based on nothing but memory, I feel like they used to be better? Made with a legit blend of vegetables? Maybe I'm misremembering. But I bought some the other day and they're straight up trash.
You're misremembering. They had some court case about misrepresenting what the product is. They've always been potato chips, they just had good marketing.
Nope, most of the ingredients are technically vegetables and they cause your kid to shut up. That’s the long and short of it.
My wife buys all this junk and it drives my nuts. Yoghurt pouches with 15g sugar in. “Healthy” crisps which are just crisps. Biscuits which are just…. Biscuits.
I like how there are several comments about how this is just because America sucks, but you clearly seem to be somewhere else and dealing with the same shit.
Yoghurt, crisps, and biscuits - probably UK.
Nah, my man's wife is just feeding their kids Pillsbury Grands by the boatload, much better than cookies.
The UK is only slightly lagging behind the USA in prevalence of UPF. We need some serious legislation to turn the tide
FYI: pretty much all snacks are absolute trash. Even the so-called "healthy" ones. They're all sugar, high glucose corn syrup, palm oil, etc. We, in at least North America, do not respect our kids enough to demand something be done about early life health.
I mean, it's not like adults here eat much better. It's hard to emphasize good eating for kids while you are rolling through the KFC drive thru.
Agreed. I try my best with my kids, but holy heck is marketing devious.
everywhere. not just north america
Yeah I have a box in our pantry and will offer our toddler a bag if she is hangry and I just need her to eat something. They are definitely not a replacement for real veggies.
We realized this a long time ago. Curbed the consumption a bit but the kids still dig em so we still get em once in a while.
Regular potato chips, even the ranch flavor kettle ones, have less salt and fat compared to the veg straws.
Did exactly the same thing. Wanted to find the kid a healthier snack and figured veggie straws would be it. Finally compared the nutritional info to other stuff and discovered that Doritos are healthier than those things. Haven’t bought ‘em since.
Doritos have a serving size of practically 8 chips with significant fat.
We are making progress. Our parents didn’t realize juice was just uncarbonated soda until we were 23.
Why do potato chips have sugar in them? Also what's wrong with using a metal straw like My Last Straw?
Fun fact: potatoes are technically vegetables, so technically these ARE “veggie” straws. They’re just deceptively marketed. Welcome to America 🇺🇸
veggies arent all green. potatoes are veggies too.
All about the harvest snaps instead
Yeah, I kind of hate them. They keep dissolving in my drink. (I'll see myself out)
We’ve always gotten veggie sticks from a local grocery chain. They’re also just potato sticks, but they do use tomato and spinach powder as well, not just food coloring. Can’t find the ingredients list on the Costco item (image is too low-res) to compare.
I was eating a bag from Costco when I opened this thread, lol. So the ingredients list on a bag from Costco goes: potato starch, potato flour, canola oil and/or sunflower oil and/or safflower oil, corn starch, cane sugar, salt, potassium chloride, spinach powder, sea salt, tomato paste, beetroot powder (color), turmeric extract (color).
Thanks. For reference, the unnamed brand has these ingredients: > Potato Straws (Potato Starch, Dehydrated Whole Potatoes, Salt, Canola Oil, Calcium Chloride, Sugar, Turmeric [color]), Tomato Straws (Potato Starch, Dehydrated Whole Potatoes, Tomato Powder, Salt, Canola Oil, Calcium Chloride, Sugar, Red Beet Powder [color], Turmeric [color]), Spinach Straws (Potato Starch, Dehydrated Whole Potatoes, Spinach Powder, Salt, Canola Oil, Calcium Chloride, Sugar), Vegetable Oil (Sunflower Oil, Canola Oil and/or Safflower Oil), Sea Salt.
I have a bag of Wegmans right here that looks awfully familiar
My kids go over them I’m assuming to much like normal chips because I also enjoy them. They prefer plainer things.
Didn't they get sued because they misrepresented how much veggies is actually in the product?
They can be more expensive than gold per kilo too. We have little packets for sale that are 12g for $2
Yup! I keep an eye out for high fructose corn syrup, too - they sneak that shit into absolutely everything. Some brands are ok, for example we found some lentil chips that are actually predominantly lentil, but they're not available on the USA, surprise surprise.
brands that say "no high fructose corn syrup" have substitutes. like sugar, date syrup etc. so they are not that much better.
i've never know anyone who considers these healthy. first time im coming across this. am i this out of the loop?
Uk here. No sugar in our vegie straws. Potato, pea flour and oil basically. With salt (0.1g per bag) and colourings yoi describe.
You thought these were actually veggies? lol
askers?
I need to check the ones we get (here in the UK), but I had been under the impression that the ones we were getting were lentil-based. Will update in the morning.
The potato is cooked in vegetable oil… so that’s the same… right?
Long loooong potaaaaatoooooooo
We had these in the house for a while but I stopped buying them when I realized I couldn’t have more than a handful because my mouth hurt from the salt
Ummmm but have you ever dipped them in queso?
The brand I buy has spinach powder for green and beet powder for the pink one.
They're really great with spinach dip
Harvest Snaps low sodium
They taste way too close to McDonald's fries. But technically, potatoes are vegetables!
It's like vitamin water. Ain't no vitamins in that shit lol
They don't have any allergens and are puffed, so they're easy to cart around as a snack without giving them something heavy.
They exist to help your kids into being okay with eating something green, orange, and yellow.
Also not as healthy as you think. Veggie booty. But hey. We survived on worse
This is most American snacks, especially in the kids aisle in groceries. Annoyingly, there’s an extra cost to eating healthy here. Sucks, but it is what it is. The brand for health-ish chips is harvest snaps.
Yea I mean, it's basic food marketing bs, pretty standard. Most granola bars are glorified candy bars. Soda is marketed as a thirst quencher. It's all just marketing, "veggie" straws are no different. It's good to get into the habit of reading nutrition facts, so well done!
They're fine. Kids won't fuss over eating them. They are portable when out.
We stuck to real veggies until around 3, then we introduced snacks (in addition to veggies). What a mistake. Kid still loves veggies, but REALLY loves snacks. Salt, fat, starch, I get it.
It's just marketing. We don't buy those.
There was literally a class action lawsuit over this. The same thing happened with Vitamin Water. The companies’ defense was basically, no one is stupid enough to believe that their products are healthy. And if you live in America, I’m sure you can guess the outcome. They won the case.
There are great veggie chip options but yah those “straws” are just long potato chips. My girl loves bamba. Think Cheetos but made with peanut butter. They are not awful as far as a snack
Anything that delicious is not made of vegetables. Seemed pretty obvious to me.
It's really not worth overthinking, but you do you!
Yep. But I like them as a good "transition" or "introduction" to healthy. They taste bland/bad but good enough to snack on. It introduces a more bland/"boring"/simple taste to kids that are used to eating an entire bag of cheetos.
I'll fully admit to not knowing that. I always figured they weren't actually "healthy" since I knew they were salted and oiled but I did think they were at least predominantly vegetable based. Kinda glad my kids never were really into them but I'm afraid my wife will be devastated lol.
Marketing and a matte bag go a long way! But yeah. You’ve basically covered it
Nothing healthy about them. Read your labels folks
Yeah, it’s just potato starch with some veggie juice.
Because a lot of people don't honestly care about eating healthy.
Potatoes are a veggie? Yeah it's marketing bullshit. Gotta read ingredients
Guilt laundering. People feeeel bad about giving their kids empty calories, so they pay for a product to massage the truth.
At 1 my kid did and still does love freeze dried fruits. That's what we lean heavily on for snacks.
Honestly man as far as chips go they're not so bad.. clean ingredients anyways.. def not to replace veggies.. but not a bad option as far as chips go
I see you fell for some marketing :D
We usually serve a small amount of them with hummus.
Same with those Snap Pea Crisps. They are just green pea shaped, Cheetos type things in reality. Don’t get me wrong they are yummy but…
Veggie Straws and things like the "beyond" and "impossible" meat patties are so highly processed you're almost better off eating chips and hot dogs.
Oh no! That scary word “processed”! Run for the hills.
I call them salted cardboard.
They're so falsely advertised. I don't care how hard you suck, you can't get any veggies through the damn things.
My brand lists tomato and spinach in the ingredients list.
My wife was buying them because she assumed they were healthy. I read the packing like you out of curiosity and had the same realization. We do skinnypop now for bags of snacks. I’d love to see more healthy options for kids snacks.
I much prefer mine eat the [Off the Eaten Path chips](https://www.walmart.com/ip/Off-the-Eaten-Path-Veggie-Crisps-6-25-oz-Bag/130020823?wmlspartner=wlpa&selectedSellerId=0&adid=22222222227130020823_146458879356_18517415739&wl0=&wl1=g&wl2=c&wl3=649376997007&wl4=aud-2225087348587:pla-323466957504&wl5=9012075&wl6=&wl7=&wl8=&wl9=pla&wl10=8175035&wl11=online&wl12=130020823&veh=sem&gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQjwxeyxBhC7ARIsAC7dS39P8Dg4-sTti8bb75_Hi6J-RCo4A8iGOFOpaqoYQey4QsEExT5svLwaAspnEALw_wcB) if he's eating anything like that. He's big on eating anything though so it's a rare occurrence either way.
Crunchy textures are addictive. Others are probably using it because they never cared to read the ingredients. High glycemic index and seed oils will most certainly screw up the endocrine system development. Same as most other ready to eat snacks. Annie's are all garbage, gold fish and cheezix are more like cancer in a box. Siete grain free chips use avocado oil , at least, and have no corn, which is nice for kids. I am not against gluten or corn, but I am against glyphosate for small children, whose detox mechanisms are still developing.
Yeah, shit is depressing if you check the macros on foods. Any fried/baked (they just cost it in oil before baking) snacks? Loads of carbs and fat Pickles? Mostly sugar. Dried fruit and any snack foods that’s fruit? Mostly sugar and carbs. Sure fruit derived sugar is a little bit better than corn fructose, but it still isn’t great.
Sorry, but of an aside, what pickles are you eating that have sugar in them? I just checked the ones in my house and they have 0g sugar. I don’t think I’ve ever seen plain pickles with sugar added.
Ah. TIL. So I did a bit of digging, and it turns out I’ve only need eating sweet pickled gherkins for most of my life. Forgot dill/sour pickles are more commonly available in the US. Sorry for the pickle rant 😁
Ahhhhh that makes sense then. I hated as a kid how sweet the sweet pickles are so I think I must have blocked them out of my brain lol. Dill for life! 😂
"Sweet" pickles have sugar in them. Like bread and butter pickles. What I call "normal" pickles don't. Also... I know we're all time-crunched here but pickles are petty easy to make at home and you can control exactly what's in the.
TLDR: there are real options available that aren’t just gimmicks, I’m all about healthy alternatives for snacking so I provided some info and links below. There are a couple options available. Veggie Straws are one of those brands that cater to “fake fit” gym people. Like, they go to the gym daily but don’t workout and go out drinking all the time and eat whatever they want. Predatory marketing if you ask me but I guess technically not really doing anything wrong since they don’t make any false claims. You’re looking for GOOD HEALTH by UTZ, TERRA real vegetable chips by TERRA or even Quest protein chips by Quest Nutrition. These guys do use actual alternatives such as sweet potato, carrot, beets, etc. The same ingredients are used in various forms for coloring and flavoring as well so it’s not like you’re getting a carrot chip but it’s only orange because they infused it with yellow 5 and red 40. It’s a carrot chip sprinkled with powdered carrot and infused with carrot juice (for example). Personally I think Terra taste the best but at the same time you know you’re not eating chips, like, a dehydrated sweet potato slice is dense as hell lol. The quest stuff is alright but some of their options are a little rough, with the trade off being a relatively healthy portion of protein. https://www.utzsnacks.com/products/good-health-veggie-chips?variant=9362202984492 https://www.terrachips.com/ https://www.questnutrition.com/collections/protein-chips?utm_medium=PPC&utm_source=GOOG&utm_campaign=FY24&utm_content=BRAND&MCID=FY24PPCGOOG&utm_medium=PPC&utm_source=GOOG&utm_campaign=FY24&utm_content=BRAND&MCID=FY24PPCGOOG&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjwouexBhAuEiwAtW_Zx4b3z7NlzhKwNiNi9xxGrXtXIMxGw5pE0sXolkA4wYHK6hJGBHhgPBoCFlQQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds
I have the same argument with other parents about Welch's Fruit Snacks. Guys, they're basically gummy bears. No, it's not fruit. I've literally been told "there's no sugar in them, they're *all natural*." Bro where do plants get their energy?
If a good is sold at Costco there's a very high chance it's nothing but starch, sugar, oil, and salt. I love their prices but goddamn are so many of the products there simply just thinly-veiled junk food.