Trader Joe's Patio Potato Chips

Trader Joe's, Trader Joe's, oh how we love Trader Joe's! How TJ's can do no wrong, especially since they pay their workers a fair wage and provide decent benefits! Oh except for all those times products have been mysteriously discontinued without notice. Why does it matter, especially when new products come left and right? Oh..just you wait until it happens to you. (See Exhibit A, Exhibit B, Exhibit C, Exhibit D - I can keep going y'all)

On a positive note, I credit TJ's for introducing me to the world of pickle-flavored things, namely pickle popcorn and pickle chips. Since the latter has been discontinued, I've been on the search for a replacement (the best one being the dill pickle flavor by Kettle Brand. They are dangerous y'all, dangerous!). And maybe pickle is too weird of a flavor for most people to take on its own, so why not pair it with a hodgepodge of other condiment flavored chips? 

Punchy flavors for punchy people. Ketchup chips?? They're all the rage in Canada? 

 Oh hey Canada. No wonder ketchup made it to the party.

1) Whatever points that the packaging scored in my book (seriously cute packaging) are negated by the air to product ratio. We know that the product settles during shipping - but like...almost more than half of the packaging is AIR!

2) The packaging gives you a rough idea of how to distinguish each flavor in this mix - smokin' sweet BBQ, delicious dill, salt & vinegar, and ketchup. But can you actually tell which chip is which flavor from the picture? I kept trying to feed A ones I thought were sweet BBQ and they all turned out to be ketchup.

3) The fact that all the chips are jumbled together in one bag make the flavors difficult to distinguish from one another. It's rather disorienting and a tad bit annoying.

4) However, all the flavors except the dill are decently noticeable as long as you're eating one chip at a time. The ketchup tastes like a ketchup chip (A does not like. Tastes like McDonald's ketchup aka Heinz. But it tastes true to flavor, at least how Canadian ketchup chips taste anyway). The BBQ one is more sweet than smoky (but it's hard to tell this apart from the ketchup one by appearance alone). The salt & vinegar chip is definitely the saltiest, punchiest flavor, which means the chip that isn't any of the above is the dill by default. Does the dill taste like pickle? Ehhhhh sure maybe but not really.

5) At least the chips are all of the ridge cut, kettle cooked variety, which is the best textural vessel for punchy flavors IMO.

6) $2.29 for a 6 oz bag is a pretty standard price. I suppose naming this "condiment chips" doesn't have the same ring as "patio chips." They aren't bad but they aren't amazing. If you have a favorite flavor among this bunch, you're probably better off purchasing a bag of just one flavor so that your favorite flavor doesn't have to share the spotlight. Destiny's Child is great, but there's only one Beyonce if you know what I mean. :P

TL;DR: Trader Joe's Patio Potato Chips. Vinegary, sweet, salty, ketchup all in one bite? Ehhhhh..it's aiite. 6.5 out of 10. Mantou Joe repurchase? Probs not.