Discos Variety Crisps, 6 x 25.5g

The Discos Variety pack is six 25.5g bags of the round wheat and potato discs from KP Snacks in three flavours: two each of Cheese and Onion, Salt and Vinegar and Prawn Cocktail, 153g in all. Each bag is one serving, and the published listing gives a separate ingredients list and nutrition table for every flavour. The pack gives a freepost address for KP Snacks.

The discs

Every bag starts the same way: wheat starch, dried potato, sunflower oil and wheat flour (with calcium, niacin, iron, folic acid and thiamin), with an emulsifier, mono and diglycerides of fatty acids, formed into even, round discs. The difference is the seasoning.

Cheese and Onion

The cheese and onion flavour lists dried onion, dried yeast extract, rice flour, salt, sugar, natural flavouring (containing milk), dried cheese (milk), citric acid, cayenne pepper extract and onion extract. Onion leads, with cheese behind and a touch of cayenne.

Salt and Vinegar

The salt and vinegar flavour lists natural flavouring, rice flour, salt, potassium chloride, citric acid, malic acid, dried barley malt vinegar extract and dried yeast extract. It is the sharpest bag, and the saltiest.

Prawn Cocktail

The prawn cocktail flavour lists sugar, rice flour, natural flavouring, salt, citric acid, dried spirit vinegar extract, potato starch, dried onion, dried yeast extract and paprika extract for colour. There is no prawn or other shellfish on the list; sugar leads, so it is the sweetest bag.

Numbers for one bag

Per 25.5g bag, the listing gives Cheese and Onion 135 kcal (562 kJ) and 0.36g of salt; Prawn Cocktail 134 kcal (562 kJ) and 0.28g of salt; and Salt and Vinegar 133 kcal (556 kJ) and 0.43g of salt. Every bag has 7.7g of fat and 1.4g of saturates.

Per 100g

Per 100g, Cheese and Onion has 528 kcal and 1.4g of salt, Prawn Cocktail 527 kcal and 1.1g, and Salt and Vinegar 522 kcal and 1.7g. On the UK front of pack scale all three are red for fat and saturates, at 30g and 5.5g, and green for sugars.

Salt order

Prawn Cocktail is the least salty bag, at 1.1g per 100g, amber; Cheese and Onion has 1.4g, amber; Salt and Vinegar has 1.7g, red.

Citric acid and sugar

Citric acid appears in all three seasonings, giving each a light sharpness; the Salt and Vinegar bags add malic acid and malt vinegar for more. Sugar is in the Cheese and Onion and Prawn Cocktail seasonings, and sugars are 1.5g and 2.1g per 100g, green on the front of pack scale.

Saturates

All three flavours have 5.5g of saturates per 100g, red on the front of pack scale, and 1.4g in a bag.

The emulsifier and rice flour

Mono and diglycerides of fatty acids are an emulsifier that helps the dough hold together and set evenly, and rice flour carries each seasoning so it spreads evenly over the discs.

Allergens and diet

Every bag contains wheat, in the wheat starch and wheat flour. The Salt and Vinegar bags also contain barley, in the malt vinegar extract, and the Cheese and Onion bags contain milk, in the flavouring and dried cheese. The published listing gives no may contain advice. The pack says the snacks are suitable for vegetarians; it is not a vegan pack, because of the milk, and none of the bags suits anyone avoiding gluten. Recipes and factory arrangements change, so check the allergy advice on the pack you receive.

No MSG

The pack says no MSG, and none is on any of the three lists. Dried yeast extract, in every flavour, is naturally rich in glutamates, worth knowing for anyone who avoids them altogether.

What the pack leaves out

The pack says there are no artificial colours or flavours. Only the Prawn Cocktail bags carry a colour, paprika extract.

The crunch

A formed disc has a smooth, even crunch, lighter and more regular than a fried potato slice, and every one is the same shape.

Six bags

At 25.5g, each bag is one serving, 133 to 135 kcal. Six bags cover a school or working week with one to spare, and the three flavours keep it varied.

The pack

The blue outer bag carries the Discos name in a glitter ball over a 6 pack label, with green, blue and pink panels for two cheese and onion, two salt and vinegar and two prawn cocktail.

Who it suits

A mixed pack suits a family lunchbox rota, with a sweet bag, a sharp bag and a cheesy bag. It is not suitable for anyone avoiding gluten, and keep the Cheese and Onion bags away from anyone avoiding milk.

Serving ideas

Put a bag in a sandwich lunch: prawn cocktail with a salmon sandwich, cheese and onion with ham, salt and vinegar with fish fingers.

In the kitchen

Crushed, any flavour makes a fine, even crumb for fish or chicken.

Storage and packaging

The pack advises a cool, dry place. The published recycling guidance says the whole packaging can be recycled with carrier bags at large supermarkets and should not go in home recycling.

Other Discos

For a single flavour, we stock Discos Salt and Vinegar in a six pack, a 50g grab bag and a 105g sharing bag.

The published listing gives the United Kingdom as the country of origin. The tasting notes on this page are our own editorial assessment against the current pack format and the brand's published description.