Everyone likes a snack once in awhile, even dieters. So the advent of the 100-calorie snack is a welcome addition to the snack food aisle. In my household, they’ve become a pantry staple, great not only for myself but also as additions to my son’s lunchbox. It’s nice to know that when I send him to school with one of those little packs he’s not consuming 300 calories in one handful of cookies. The key players in this snack aisle drama are Keebler’s Right Bites and Nabisco’s 100-calorie packs. Both offer smaller variations of some of their most popular snacks. But which one is the better buy, and which one matches the original products taste?
I’ve personally tried several of the different variations offered by each company. Nabisco certainly comes out on top as far as varieties available. In addition to popular cookies and crackers like Chips Ahoy!, Oreo and Ritz Chips, they offer 100-calorie pudding cups and instant cappuccino.
While I can’t vouch for the pudding or cappuccino, I can say that all of the different Nabisco 100-calorie Packs that I’ve tried (Lorna Doone, Teddy Grahams, Wheat Thins Chips, Ritz Chips, Cheese Nips, Chips Ahoy and Oreo) have the exact same flavor as the original product except for 1. The 100-calorie Oreo cookies just don’t come close. Essentially they’re chocolate graham crackers with little white sugary sprinkles on them – and the sprinkles don’t add anything to the product. There is no “white stuff” and the cookie lacks the dark richness of an Oreo cookie. It’s a tasty snack, to be sure, but if you want an Oreo it’s just not going to satisfy your craving. Conversely, the Keebler Right Bites products that I’ve sampled (Cheeze-it, Grasshopper, Chips Delux, Fudge Stripes & Pecan Sandies) have all tasted precisely like the products they were meant to mimic.
The quality of both the Keebler and Nabisco brands is outstanding. Both have the same high quality that we’ve all come to expect from these brands. The portion sizes of both brands (generally around 1 ounce) are perfect for a quick snack to carry you through until your next meal. They’re also great accompaniments to a sandwich or salad at lunchtime.
Where the overall price of the products is concerned, it’s highly subjective. After all, prices vary from region to region, even store to store, based on demand and a number of other factors. The store that I usually shop at prices the Keebler products about $1 lower than the Nabisco snacks.
While Nabisco certainly wins in the variety department – currently my local grocery store carries only 5 of the Keebler cookie/cracker varieties and 8 of the Nabisco varieties, most of my purchases are Keebler. It’s not just a matter of preferring little elves; I find the products that they offer to be more appealing, in addition to the price. The Chips Delux by Keebler, for example are just like mini cookies in texture while Nabisco’s Chips Ahoy are more like crackers. The flavor is exactly the same as the regular Chips Ahoy cookies, but the texture takes a little getting used to; and you simply can’t dunk them, even a mini Chips Delux can be dunked (if you don’t mind getting milk on your fingers).
In the matter of Nabisco 100-calorie Packs vs. Keebler Right Bites, the hands-down winner (in this household at least) is Keebler. While somewhat lacking in variety at this time, they win out in price, flavor and overall consistency in matching the original products. I’m certainly not saying that the Nabisco product isn’t worth picking up from time to time, the Keebler product is simply more worthy of a place in the pantry.
