Spare Snacks Fruit & Veg Crisps Review

Spare Snacks was founded by Ben Whitehead who worked as a Food Innovation Consultant for Unilever and as a freelance sustainability consultant before making the leap to founding his own brand. We were lucky enough to be able to taste test some of his Spare Snacks and give our verdict.

Concept

The story behind Spare Snacks is brilliant and is much needed in an era of unprecedented food waste. Shockingly, over a third of all food produced globally goes to waste which equals over 1.3 billion tons and is worth over $1 trillion. This food waste could feed every starving person in the world four times over which is just not acceptable.

That's why companies like Spare Snacks are so important and are paving the way for a better future. Spare Snacks take 'wonky' fruit and veg that would otherwise not be sold and air dry them to turn them into handy, tasty fruit and vegetable crisps. For example, they take beets that are rejected by retailers for being a little damaged when they get pulled from the ground. They use apples that might have the odd blemish which means supermarkets don't want them even though they are perfectly edible.

Spare Snacks are working hard to tackle food waste and for this alone, we immediately fell in love with this brand before we even tasted their snacks!

Beet Root Crisps

Beets are somewhat of an underrated vegetable, especially in the UK, despite being packed full of protein, fibre, and potassium. Spare Snacks pair this super healthy vegetable with apple cider vinegar to make a snack that will easily challenge your favourite bag of crisps or other savoury snacks. 

I loved the texture of these 'crisps' as they were a little chewy which worked well. The subtle tang of the apple cider vinegar offsets the beetroot's natural earthy flavour and they make for a very satisfying savoury snack. The beetroots in Spare Snacks' veg crisps are air dried which means you don't get the thick, oily texture that you sometimes get with classic fried potato crisps and you're not left feeling super dehydrated afterwards which is a big bonus. Not to mention the fact that the Spare Snacks beetroot crisps only have a minute fat content (0.1g total fat) compared to 10g of fat in a bag of Walkers Salt & Vinegar crisps. The beetroot crisps also have half the salt content of a bag of Walkers so they are objectively much healthier.  

My usual naughty salt and vinegar crisps have a new rival!

Apple Fruit Crisps

The Apple Fruit Crisps come in two flavours: plain or with cinnamon. I'm a huge fan of the match made in heaven that is apple and cinnamon so I was really excited to try these fruit crisps. If you're like me and need snacks throughout the day to prevent extreme hunger and consequent binges, you'll know how important it is to find delicious, healthy snacks like fruit and veg crisps. 

The flavour of the apple crisps is really satisfying and kicks that sweet craving right where it's needed. Again, the texture is chewy in a good way and they taste absolutely delicious. They're not overly sweet so you're not left craving more once you're finished and they make a perfectly satisfying snack, treat, or dessert. A lot of people (myself included) are conditioned to craving something sweet after both lunch and dinner, so these are the perfect compromise. 

Verdict

I have tried a few different brands of fruit and vegetable crisps in the past and I am always a huge fan. I think it's such a great, easy way to get more fruit and vegetables into your diet and as they can act as a replacement for less healthy snacks it really is a great win. The fact that Spare Snacks go the extra mile by using otherwise unsaleable produce and are making steps to reduce food waste is hugely impressive. I love this brand and everything it stands for so it's a resounding 10 out of 10 from me!