Seabrook Crinkle Cut Meaty Variety Crisps, 12 x 25g

Seabrook's Meaty Variety box is a twelve bag selection of its meat and seafood flavours, with a plain bag to balance them: three each of Canadian ham, beefy, prawn cocktail and sea salted, 300g in all. Despite the name, none of the four ingredient lists includes meat or fish; the flavours are built from yeast extract, honey, smoke flavouring, sugar and acids. The pack names Calbee Group UK Ltd as the maker.

What is in the box

According to the published pack listing, the box holds 3 x Canadian Ham Flavour, 3 x Beefy Flavour, 3 x Prawn Cocktail Flavour and 3 x Sea Salted, each a 25g bag of crinkle cut crisps. Twelve bags cover a fortnight of weekday lunches with two to spare, or a family week.

Canadian ham

According to the published pack listing, the Canadian ham bags are made from potatoes, vegetable oils (sunflower and rapeseed, in varying proportions), maltodextrin, yeast extract, potato starch, sugar, salt, flavouring, honey powder and smoke flavouring. Honey and sugar give the sweetness of a glazed ham, smoke flavouring the cure, and yeast extract the savoury depth. It is the only flavour in the box with honey, which is why it is marked vegetarian rather than vegan.

Beefy

The beefy bags are made from potatoes, the same oils, yeast extract, rice flour, onion powder, flavouring and citric acid. Yeast extract, naturally rich in the glutamates behind the savour of gravy and stock, gives the meaty taste without any meat, and onion adds a browned sweetness.

Prawn cocktail

The prawn cocktail bags are made from potatoes, the same oils, sugar, sodium diacetate, icing sugar, rice flour, sea salt, yeast extract, onion powder, salt, paprika extract for colour, citric acid and flavouring. Sugar and acids copy the sweet and tangy sauce of the starter, and no seafood is listed.

Sea salted

The sea salted bags are simply potatoes, the same oils and sea salt. They give the box a plain crisp for anyone who wants a break from the stronger flavours, or for a younger child.

Numbers bag by bag

The labels give, for each 25g bag: Canadian ham 126 kcal and 0.33g of salt; beefy 126 kcal and 0.3g of salt; prawn cocktail 126 kcal and 0.4g of salt; sea salted 128 kcal and 0.33g of salt. Every bag is about 6% of an average adult's daily energy reference intake, and between 5% and 7% of the salt.

Per 100g

Per 100g, the labels give Canadian ham 505 kcal, 27.3g of fat, 2.6g of saturates, 1.3g of sugars and 1.31g of salt; beefy 504 kcal, 27.4g of fat, 2.6g of saturates, 0.8g of sugars and 1.19g of salt; prawn cocktail 503 kcal, 28.7g of fat, 2.5g of saturates, 3.1g of sugars and 1.4g of salt; sea salted 514 kcal, 28.9g of fat, 2.8g of saturates, 0.4g of sugars and 1.32g of salt.

Reading the front of the pack

On the UK front of pack scale, per 100g, all four flavours are red for fat, as fried crisps generally are, amber for saturates, green for sugars and amber for salt. Prawn cocktail is the saltiest at 1.4g per 100g, still inside the amber band, and beefy the least salty at 1.19g.

Vegetarian, vegan and gluten free

The pack carries a gluten free claim with the Crossed Grain symbol, the gluten free mark licensed by Coeliac UK, with its licence number, and says the crisps are Vegetarian Society Approved. Flavour by flavour, the listing marks the prawn cocktail bags as suitable for vegetarians and vegans and the Canadian ham bags as suitable for vegetarians. Beefy and sea salted carry Vegetarian Society vegan approval when sold in their own six bag packs; check the bags in your box.

Allergens

No allergens from the UK list of 14 are highlighted in any of the four published ingredient lists, and the listing gives no may contain advice. None of the four lists milk, egg or a gluten containing cereal. Recipes and factory arrangements change, so check the allergy advice on the pack you receive.

What crinkle cut adds

Every bag is Seabrook's crinkle cut: slices cut with a wavy blade, ridged on both faces, firmer than a flat crisp and able to hold more seasoning in the grooves. The front of the pack shows two crinkle cut crisps under the list of flavours, on bands of purple, brown, pink and red.

How the crisps are made

Washed potatoes are sliced with a crinkled blade, rinsed and fried in the sunflower and rapeseed blend until the ridged slices are firm. The flavoured bags are seasoned while warm, and the pack says the bags are packaged in a protective atmosphere.

Who the box suits

A mixed box suits a household where not everyone likes the same flavour: sweet and smoky ham, savoury beef, sweet and tangy prawn cocktail and a plain bag. With no milk on any list and a gluten free claim across the box, it also suits many lunchboxes that have to avoid those, with the usual check of each bag.

Serving ideas

Tip a mix of bags into bowls for a buffet or a children's party, or pair them with sandwiches: Canadian ham beside a cheese sandwich, beefy with a tomato soup, prawn cocktail with a salmon sandwich and sea salted with anything.

Storage and packaging

The pack advises a cool, dry place away from bright light. 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 Seabrook packs

Beefy, prawn cocktail and sea salted are each sold on their own in six bag packs, and we stock those too, alongside Seabrook Crinkle Cut Cheese and Onion, Salt and Vinegar, Cream Cheese and Chives and Tomato Ketchup. The six bag Seabrook Crinkle Cut Variety box has two bags each of sea salted, sea salt and vinegar and cheese and onion.

The tasting notes on this page are our own editorial assessment against the current pack format and the brand's published description.