Tag Archives: vegan snacks

Que Pasa Sweet and Spicy Ranch Chips Review

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I first discovered this brand in 2019, when I was pleasantly surprised by finding their Nacho chips in a No Frills.

As I explained in that article, I was having trouble at the time finding the chips at my favourite grocery stores. Even No Frills seemed to stop carrying the brand after the day I’d discovered them.

After perusing their website, I discovered they had thankfully not only didn’t discontinue the Nacho flavour, but had others as well! And, perhaps the best news, is that all their flavours are vegan!

Being cautiously excited at discovering a new vegan company, I set my sights on trying some of their other flavours. The next flavour I was interested in trying was their Sweet and Spicy Ranch chips. But just like the Nacho flavour, I couldn’t find the Ranch anywhere.

Not content on giving up, I discovered VeganSupply sells a variety of Que Pasa’s chip flavours, but as my luck would have it, they were sold out when I tried getting a bag. This irritation brought me to March of this year (2022), when I decided to try a new-ish wellness website called Well.ca.

I discovered that not only did Well carry supplements, personal products and other wellness products, but they also had quite an array of vegan foods available! In this order, I decided to get a few other products I wasn’t able to find elsewhere that I was planning on using in future reviews. This included Watermelon La Croix, Dandelion Tea, these Ranch chips, and a few other items.

To my great pleasure, I received 0 notices about the Que Pasa chips being out of stock, and actually (finally) got my hands on them when the order arrived.

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Now, I’ll be honest, I was so excited to see a chip bag that said Vegan Ranch on it, that I completely missed the Sweet and Spicy part of the name.

Luckily for me, I spotted the full name before digging in, so I was able to ration my taste test appropriately. The bag I bought was the same size as the Nacho ones had been, and while they were slightly more expensive (Well had them listed for $4.79, but No Frills had them for $3.49), I was more than happy to pay the difference considering I was having so much trouble finding them.

These chips were also more sweet than spicy for me. Being the detail oriented flavour taster that I am, the first chip I tried, I licked some of the flavouring off to get a more complete profile.

Keeping in mind I haven’t had actual ranch flavoured anything in… probably close to 15-ish years, I personally didn’t think these chips tasted ‘ranch-y’. They at least didn’t taste like the vegan Ranch dips/salad dressings I’ve gotten used to. The flavouring actually reminded me of being closer to maple syrup than ranch.

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The heat also didn’t come until swallowing, but luckily it wasn’t too overpowering. There was a little tingle in the back of my throat, but I was able to eat a few at a time without feeling the need to reach for water. There was also no sweating happening, unlike when I eat Sweet Chili Heat Doritos.

I’m not usually a big fan of contrasting flavour profiles in the same dish/food. I just got used to chocolate covered pretzels not too long ago. That said, I really thought the sweetness of the chip when chewing really helped to balance out the heat experienced when swallowing.

They complimented each other nicely, and while I would’ve loved these chips more if they didn’t have that kick at the end, I also can’t say they weren’t good. I will say that even though the Nacho ones were spicier, if given a choice, I’d probably pick the Nacho flavour over these ones.

Have you tried these Que Pasa Sweet and Spicy Ranch chips? How’d you like them? Let me know in the comments!


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Earth Balance Vegan Cheddar Flavoured Squares Review

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Cheesy crackers…

What can I say about cheesy crackers? They’re amazing? I wish I didn’t put off trying them for so long? I wish I could order a case and just always have them in my house?

I could say all that, but that doesn’t really make for a good review. Doesn’t really tell you much other than that I like them. And while I’m sure there’s some of you out there who value my opinion, I don’t think I’m quite popular/famous enough to have you flock to stores to go buy something just because I said so.

So, until that day comes (and mark my words, it will come!) I guess I’m stuck writing an entire article. But that’s also okay, because I talk a lot, sooo, let’s get started, shall we?

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These Earth Balance were actually hard to find. I had spotted them for the first time a few years ago at Good Rebel but at the time, I was on a mission looking for one of the other foods I’ve done for a different review, so I had to pass them by, but I made a mental note to go back and try them.

Well as we all know, life likes to get in the way of things, and by the time I remembered I wanted to try them (and was back at Good Rebel), they weren’t available anymore. So I started doing some online digging, and I came across something that said Earth Balance was actually discontinuing the crackers. I basically gave up hope after that, until I finally found VeganSupply. They’re a Canada-wide vegan only online grocer, and I was super excited to find them! Until I saw the shipping price.

I understand they’re in B.C., and I’m in Toronto, but there’s a reason ‘starving artist’ is a phrase. So I perused the site, and built up a list of what I’d get once I saved up enough to actually place an order.

Flash forward to last October (Oct. 2020), the stars had somewhat aligned, and I decided the time was right to finally place the order. And boy am I glad I did! Most of the stuff in that order (which can be seen here) I’m actually using as product reviews for this and next year, which is how I justified spending so much money on non-essential foods. (My order total for those 7 items was $59.74)

After all that, I finally had my hands on the box of crackers! (Although it was a slightly wet from me washing it. Important tip: don’t wash things that come in cardboard) Now, I haven’t had cheesy crackers since… well I don’t actually remember, but I do remember I was little, like, early-grade-school-little. (Before we learned of my dairy allergy)

That said, I loved these! They taste like what I remember Goldfish crackers tasting like, but they are firmer than I remember. (I remember Goldfish being not very ‘cracker-y’ and being more ‘stiff bread-y’) They were quite ‘cheesy’ – not in the way nooch is cheesy, but in a similar way to how Skinny Pop White Cheddar is cheesy – and they were actually crunchy as well. (Unlike my distant memory of Goldfish crackers)

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They also got a little too salty after eating a bunch of them, though that was probably my bad. If you plan on eating half the box in one go, you’re definitely gonna need water! After the initial hype wore off and I was more in control of how many I was shoving in my face (for some reason my brain came up with ’10 is a good snack amount’) the saltiness was no longer an issue.

Another kind of downside to these crackers is that they get stuck in your teeth. Similar to what happens when you eat Vegetable Thins, there is some soft-like cracker residue that you need to pick out of your teeth when you’re done. (Oh don’t give me that look, I know it’s a universal human thing) So depending on how gross that sounds, you may want to try one to start, and then see how it goes.

And of course, my always complaint to most vegan foods: there could’ve been more crackers in the box! The crackers were in what looked like a foil bag inside the box, and there was a good amount of air space in them. Now, I’m no expert, but I know certain chip brands need the air in the bag to prevent the contents from breaking, so maybe that’s what’s going on here, but to that I say: make a bigger box! Or have a special or something where you sell them in a three pack or something, because seriously, trying to make that one box last longer than a week was a struggle.

All in all, these crackers are a great snack and I wish I could order them more often, and I highly recommend you try them, too. If you like cheesy things, and you like crackers, there’s really no downside.


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Vegan Rob’s Cheddar Puffs Review

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These things are amazing!

I’m not entirely sure if they’re supposed to be a straight up replacement for Cheeto’s or something, but I know these are definitely worth trying/buying all the time!

The bag they come in is somewhat small, which I don’t like, but that’s pretty much the only thing I don’t like about these!

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The puffs themselves are pretty big in size, and have a great amount of cheese-y dust on them, that gives them a great flavour. It doesn’t taste like nooch to me, which is good news for all you nooch haters.

They do get pretty dusty, so make sure you have some napkins handy, because that dust gets pretty much everywhere. Also, be sure to have water, because they will dry out your mouth. But, they’re delicious, so it’s definitely an okay trade off!

They have a good crunch to them, too. Again, I’m not sure how the crunch of other puffs compare, but these have a great one-bite crunch to them. It actually kind of reminds me of the consistency/crunchiness of Corn Pops. They have an initial hard crunch, and then almost basically dissolve in your mouth.

There’s really not too much more I can say about these, other than I hope you run out and buy them, because they’re awesome!

This Vegan Rob’s company makes a few different kinds of puffs, not just these Cheddar ones, but I’ve only tried these and the beet ones, and those were…. Well, they tasted like beets, and as someone who doesn’t like beets I did not like them. (They were given to me as a gift, btw) So, I can’t personally recommend checking out their other flavours, because I haven’t yet, but I definitely recommend trying out these Cheddar Puffs, and supporting this company!


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Que Pasa Nacho Chips Review

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I first discovered these chips in April last year, thanks to Eamon and Bec and HotforFoods’ Youtube channels. (I recommend checking out these guys, btw, they’re both awesome!) They each had videos that were only a few days apart featuring this snack, so I took it as a sign that I should try them.

And boy, am I glad that I did. They are awesome!

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They’re like vegan nacho Doritos. Or at least, they’re what I imagine nacho Doritos taste like, as I’ve never had them myself. The only kinds of Doritos I’ve had are the Sweet Chili Heat and Ketchup ones. Those two are great flavours as well, but I’m always down for discovering a new vegan snack.

They’re smaller in size to Doritos, though they’re still the classic tortilla chip shape. They’re pretty cheese-y as well, and not in a nooch-y way. I’m not sure what they use for the vegan nacho flavour, but it’s really good. It actually tastes a bit similar to the Skinny Pop White Cheddar popcorn. (Which I also recommend)

Now, these chips do have a bit of a kick to them, so if you’re sensitive to spicy food, or can’t handle spicy food, I recommend not eating the whole bag at once. (Trust me, it does not make for a happy stomach) The fact that they’re spicy is one of the only bad things about them. If they were not spicy cheese-y chips I’d definitely get them more often.

Another bad thing about them? I can barely find them anywhere!

I was able to find them at No Frills when I posted the pic to Instagram, but since then? I haven’t been able to find them.

Seriously, I don’t know if they’re getting discontinued, or if other vegans are just beating me to the punch, but I haven’t been able to get my hands on them since.

The size of the bag is another thing I don’t really like. They are similar in size to Vegan Rob’s Cheddar Puffs. That kind of bigger-than-single-size-but-not-big-enough-for-family-size bag that I hate. Either make them small enough for one person, or as big as regular chip bags! (Preferably the latter)

It sucks that they’re so hard to find though, because they’re one of the best vegan snacks I’ve tried.

…. Maybe they’re just hating on Canadians?

I don’t know, but one thing is for sure: You find them in a store? You buy 3 bags.

Do you know of a store that has a secret stash of these chips? Let me know in the comments below!


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