Review: Lay’s Bacon & Cheddar Potato Skins Stax & OPENING DAY OF THE NFL and my Week 1 NFL Picks
Junk Food Nation, I’m off to Baltimore Comic-Con today – time to geek away! As I mentioned two weeks ago, I’ll be headed to Charm City this morning in order to mingle with those who make superheroes come to life:
COMIC CON!!
I’ll be live tweeting the day @junkfoodguy and Instagramming the event on my Facebook Page – follow along with me!
But, first things first. I think I promised you my Week 1 NFL picks yesterday. Well, that clearly didn’t happen. I got caught up in all the Candy Corn Oreo talk, and got sidetracked. The one consequence about going to cover Baltimore Comic-Con is that I’m going to miss most of the opening slate of football games, which makes me sad. But, that doesn’t mean I can’t throw in my two cents. So, let’s get to it.
Cowboys @ Giants: Well, the other day I predicted GIANTS because clearly I don’t know anything. Tony Romo, you fooled me again. Ugh.
Colts @ Bears: If you remember, I predicted the BEARS to go to the Super Bowl…and it begins here. Luck will impress, however. But Matt Forte is the bomb diggity. BEARS.
Eagles @ Browns: If the EAGLES can’t beat a rookie QB and a rookie RB and basically one of the WORST TEAMS IN FOOTBALL, Andy Reid will be fired by the bye week. EAGLES.
Patriots @ Titans: This may be the year everyone, including a mid-30’s Brady, begins to regress. But it won’t be against the Titans. I like the CJ and Locker combo though…could be dangerous.
Falcons @ Chiefs: I like the Falcons to finish better on the season, but I’m gonna go upset special here and say that the Chiefs take care of business at home. The Birds just aren’t the same on the road. CHIEFS.
Jaguars @ Vikings: the UGH game of the week. Blaine Gabbert vs. Christian Ponder? Yucky. I’m giving the nod to the home team because the Jags are just a mess, even with MJD back. VIKINGS.
Redskins @ Saints: Er….. I wouldn’t want to face the angry Saints at home on opening day. They are gonna run up the score. Sorry, local Skins fans. SAINTS.
Bills @ Jets: BILLS. No reason needed.
Rams @ Lions: Will Sam Bradford have a bounceback season? He might. Is Megatron capable of scoring two TDs in this game? He might. Will the Rams win? Nope. LIONS.
Dolphins @ Texans: The STONE COLD LOCK OF THE CENTURY OF THE WEEK: The Texans are going to make Ryan Tannenhill regret wanting to play pro ball. TEXANS.
Niners @ Packers: The hardest game to predict of the week, and possibly the most exciting. If Alex Smith even suffers one setback, the Niners will crumple. For that reason, PACKERS win.
Seahawks @ Cardinals: The Seahawks are sneaky good – don’t believe in them and they’ll waste you. That defense is legit. SEAHAWKS.
Panthers @ Bucs: I dunno, this is a coin flip. The questions are: Can Cam Newton repeat? And are the Bucs REALLY that bad? I’m not sure, honestly, but I’ll give the nod to Cam for Week 1. PANTHERS.
Steelers @ Broncos: There is no way the Second Coming of Peyton Manning is ruined by a loss, even against a tough Steelers team. BRONCOS.
Bengals @ Ravens: Yes, Andy Dalton surprised me…but he isn’t surprising anyone this year. AJ Green, however, could be the best WR in the league by year’s end. Still, Baltimore has their own rising star in Torrey Smith. RAVENS win.
Chargers @ Raiders: No Ryan Matthews? No Vincent Jackson? No Vincent Brown? Norv Turner caoches you? Sorry Chargers – that’s four strikes. RAIDERS lock it up.
And there you go. I’m off to Baltimore, folks! Again, be sure to follow my tweets on Twitter @junkfoodguy or my Facebook Page updates – I’ll be Instagraming the entire experience!
Today’s junk food: Lay’s Bacon & Cheddar Potato Skins Stax!
Lay’s Bacon & Cheddar Potato Skins Stax: The Money Shot
I usually avoid Lay’s Stax because (1) they are so similar to Pringles, and (2) the flavors that exist aren’t that exotic or interesting. I’ve only reviewed them once on this blog. Still, when I saw these Lay’s Bacon & Cheddar Potato Skins Stax, I was intrigued.
Growing up, I used to LOVE these Keebler chips called Tato Skins:
However, this chip brand was eventually bought out and re-marketed as T.G.I.Friday’s Potato skins Snack Chips. BOOOOO. The vestiges of my childhood warped by corporate America!!! (yeah, because Keebler wasn’t corporate at all. What am I talking about?)
Anyways, I’ve had the T.G.I.Friday’s version, and the chip was never the same, I’m convinced. 🙁 Would these Stax be a closer version of what I remember?
Lay’s Bacon & Cheddar Potato Skins Stax: Loaded potato skins and sour cream! MMMMMM
Lay’s Bacon & Cheddar Potato Skins Stax: Standard health info for a compressed potato chip
Lay’s Bacon & Cheddar Potato Skins Stax: Lots of ingredients in this, including Natural Bacon and Natural Smoke flavor.
Lay’s Bacon & Cheddar Potato Skins Stax: Flowing stacks (or Stax) of chips, each powdered with orange and speckled with…bacon?
Lay’s Bacon & Cheddar Potato Skins Stax: Deeply seasoned.
I took a crunch of these Lay’s Bacon & Cheddar Potato Skins Stax, and was pleased! Was it EXACTLY like how I remember the old fashioned Tato Skins? No – the older Tato Skins were MUCH crunchier, and according to Wiki, each chip had a light-colored side meant to represent the inside of the potato, and a dark-colored side meant to represent the skin. Here, these reminded me of thicker Pringles – not bad, but not the texture I was looking for.
Still, the FLAVOR of these Stax were really on point! As soon as I crunched, my mouth filled with the taste of cheese, sour cream, and bacon. Immediately. The flavors were unmistakable; they tasted like restaurant ordered potato skins, from the sharpness of the cheddar cheese to the smokiness of the bacon. The only thing missing was that fresh scallion taste, but even then there was enough onion powder to add that savory edge. All in all, a decent savory chip – and the thickness of this particular chip as compared to a Pringle played in its favor.
Not bad, Stax. I think if you buy these, you’ll be pleased.
PURCHASED AT: Walmart
COST: $1.18
Thoughts? Please comment below (I always reply) or hit me up on Twitter @junkfoodguy or LIKE my Facebook Page and message me there. Also, you can always email me at junkfoodguy@junkfoodguy.com. Let’s hang out.
Sincerely,
Junk Food Guy
Discuss - 11 Comments
Intriguing….
Again, another chip we have not yet spotted!! Flavor sounds good, but just like you we are not the biggest fans of Stax.
And, we’re pretty sure they still Tato Skins are also still available from Inventure Foods (at least in the Twin Cities area..), but they are just also being repackaged and called Potato Skins for TGIFridays….
For some reason, these skins do taste better when they are eaten from a Tato Skins bag, rather than a TGIF bag!!
Go Vikes!
@ChipReview: nice squeak out win for MINN!
OMG, I remember Tato Skins! Thank goodness for YouTube capturing those fabulous old commercials. I remember they were really thick chips – so yummy. Should try these Pringles-wannabes!
@Teresapalooza: TGIFriday’s ruins everything.
I’m just going to say this has been one of the most interesting opening weekends of football I have seen in my lifetime. Well besides the pats destroying the titans but that was a given.
@Nick: Dude, Comic Con ruined my ability to watch both the Skins surprise win and the Bills horrible loss. Man. How many road teams won, too?
Seeing as I don’t have any football packages, those were actually the two early games that were on my television. I couldn’t believe how hard the jets took it to the bills or how good rg3 looked for his first true start especially against a pissed off saints team.
@Nick: THOSE were the two games?? Weird.
Yeah, them playing the ny game is pretty obvious but not so much the saints game. I guess that was the only game that had a lot of story lines, in turn leading to more viewers. Either way it was a nice game to watch.
Yep, and we were worried that AP wasn’t even going to play…. Going to cherish that first place position for right now :)_
Interesting. I liked these but they weren’t nearly as good as Pringles’ Loaded Baked Potato chips in my opinion. I honestly could only really taste the strong bacon and a light sense of others. With the Pringles ones, I could taste everything as it popped in and out in my mouth.
Good review though! Enjoying these now that I try so many more types of Pringles, haha.