Although millions of people in England enjoy a bag of crisps, most brands contain way too much salt (‘green light’ recommendations are usually for mini-bags or small portions of bigger bags). Child nutritionists say the best choice is Kettle Unsalted Chips.
Never give crisps to pets, garden birds or wildlife (salt is toxic and crisps/crackers/crusty bread could choke).
Never sold in supermarkets, The British Crisp Co grows its own potatoes on an Essex farm, then packs its crisps in easy-to-recycle bags (at supermarket bag bins). All flavours (including ‘roast beef’) are vegan. Buy online or they sell wholesale to pubs, hotels and coffee shops. The company also recently launched paper bag crisps, which have a tiny layer of aluminium that does not affect the bags being recycled, so can be placed in kerbside waste paper packaging. Walkers Crisps has only launched paper bags for some of their multi-packs.
Brown Bag Crisps use local potatoes and their new packaging is easy to recycle. You can drop them off at flexible plastic recycling points or just save up and write ‘Freepost Brownbagcrisps’ on the envelope and they’ll recycle them for you. Not all the range if vegan, but some that are include sea salt and root-veggie beetroot, carrot and parsnip. lightly salted, oak-smoked chilli, sea salt & malt vinegar and rosemary sea salt.
Two Farmers (Herefordshire) is one of the first brands of crisps to sell in tins . Find them in shops and pubs, or buy online in a box of 2 x 500g tins (we like Sea Salted & Salt & Cider Vinegar as they’re vegan-friendly). The brand was founded by two farmers (obviously) who met over a beer and a bag of crisps, and decided to do something better. These crisps have such low food miles that they go from potato harvesting to farm shops within a day or so. The farm runs on renewable energy, and each batch is taste-tested before being packed. The tins are also available at wholesale prices for pubs, hotels and restaurants.
Although the brand also sells crisps in compostable bags, most ‘biodegradable packaging’ for crisps, coffee and chocolate is made with fibres from flammable eucalyptus trees which have caused many wildfires – Spain and Portugal are banning new plantations. So we only recommend tins (you can recycle other crisp packets at Terracycle drop-off points (most people live within a few miles).
crisps made from upcycled wonky fruit
Scrapples is a great brand of crisps, which turns upcycled wonky fruit into tasty crisps. The founder says his mum would keep leftover food so long, some had its own pension plan! So he got to work creating an alternative, ensuring the packs can be recycled at partipicating Terracycle outlets.
recipes to make your own salted crisps
Making your own crisps is a good alternative to bags, most of which are not easily recycled and frequently littered on our streets (Walker’s Crisps is one of the most littered items listed from volunteer beach clean-ups). If you prefer ready-made, you can buy salted crisps in tins!
The Simple Veganista is a good simple recipe.For more nutrients, make root veggie crisps (So Vegan) with carrots, sweet potato, beetroot.
You’ll need a mandoline (buy a quality brand with a guard, so you don’t end up with a lost finger in your crisps). Keep crisps away from pets and don’t give them to birds or wildilfe (salt is toxic and they are choking hazards).
