I know I’m supposed to be watching my weight and, as part of that, cutting back on the junk food. However, I was a bit idle on Labor Day (the result of my wife working and me being unable to do anything outside while my youngest daughter was napping). And, as is usually the case when I’m not doing anything, I wound up snacking out of boredom.
Thanks to my wife’s family, we have plenty of Utz potato chips lying around out house and I ended up looking for a bag of those. However, I also wanted something a bit different so, instead of regular chips, I ended up picking out a bag of Utz Cheese Crunchies.
This particular product is basically their version of crunchy Cheetos. They are crunchy stick shaped snacks covered in an orange cheese powder. However, I tried these knowing not every Cheetos rip-off was as good as the original. And, unfortunately, these would fall into that “not-as-good-as” category.
While not the worst version of this type of chip I have had, there was definitely some drop off in terms of quality. At first, this didn’t seem to be the case. The chips looked just like crunchy Cheetos; both in shape and in the quantity of that cheese powder. And, unlike many other brands we have tried in the past, there was a decent quantity inside that little bag.
However, when it came to taste, there was definitely a difference. When I first tried these, my first impression was the Utz brand used sharper cheddar in their powder. Then, after a couple more, I realized they weren’t sharper than the cheese used on Cheetos. Instead, what I mistook for a sharp flavor was really a very salty taste. In fact, I don’t think that powder tasted anything like cheese.
I was able to get used to this taste after about half the bag. But, getting used to it wasn’t quite the same as liking it and I ended up not finishing the chips. I apparently wasn’t alone in my opinion of these either because I offered some to my youngest daughter and she only ate one bite before handing them back to me (and she normally will eat a bag of these by herself).
As I said before, this wasn’t the worst brand I have ever tried. However, these chips aren’t anything special and I would recommend spending more money on the Cheetos brand instead.