Walkers Cheese and Onion Crisps, 14 x 25g

Fourteen bags in one box is the size for a household that goes through crisps every day. This box of Walkers Cheese and Onion holds fourteen separate 25g bags, 350g of crisps altogether, and each bag is a single serving that stays sealed until the day it is eaten.

The flavour and the line

Cheese and onion is one of the flavours Walkers sells on its standard thin crisp, alongside ready salted, salt and vinegar, prawn cocktail, roast chicken and smoky bacon, all of which we stock. What makes this one cheese and onion is a seasoning that, on the published ingredients, leans on onion first and dairy second, so the flavour is soft and savoury rather than sharp.

What goes into a bag

According to the published pack listing, the ingredients are potatoes, sunflower and rapeseed oils in varying proportions, a cheese and onion seasoning, and four antioxidants: rosemary extract, ascorbic acid, a tocopherol rich extract and citric acid. The pack says the potatoes are 100% Great British potatoes.

The seasoning list is long, and its order tells you how it tastes. Dried onion comes first, then salt, dried milk whey, lactose from milk, sugar, a flavouring that contains milk, and cheese powder. After those come dried yeast, citric and malic acids, whey protein, dried garlic, and two colours, annatto bixin and paprika extract. Ingredients are listed by weight, heaviest first, so there is more dried onion in the seasoning than anything else, and the cheese powder sits some way down.

How a crisp like this is made

Classic sliced crisps start as whole potatoes, which are washed, usually peeled, and cut into thin slices. The slices are rinsed to take off surface starch, which would otherwise make them stick together, and then fried until nearly all the water in them has cooked away. What is left is a thin sheet of set starch and oil, which is why a crisp snaps rather than bends. The seasoning goes on while the crisps are still warm, so the film of oil on the surface holds the powder in place.

The four antioxidants are there for the oil, not the flavour. Oil that meets oxygen slowly turns stale, and that stale note is what makes an old crisp taste of cardboard. Rosemary extract and the tocopherol rich extract slow that change, and ascorbic and citric acid help them do it. The box also says each bag is packaged in a protective atmosphere, which means the air in the bag has been replaced with a gas mix before sealing, again to keep oxygen away from the oil.

Why fourteen bags

A six bag multipack runs out inside a week. Fourteen covers a fortnight at one bag a day, which suits a family packing lunches for more than one child, or anyone who would rather restock the cupboard less often. Because each bag is sealed on its own, the last bag in the box is as crisp as the first, which is not true of a big bag decanted into tubs, because moisture in the air is what turns a crisp soft.

The 25g bag is also a fixed portion. The label gives 128 kcal, 7.4g of fat, 0.6g of saturates, 0.7g of sugars and 0.29g of salt for each bag. Against the reference intake for an average adult, that is about 6% of the day's energy, 11% of the fat and 5% of the salt.

Reading the front of pack colours

Per 100g, the label gives 512 kcal, 29g of fat, 2.4g of saturates, 2.6g of sugars and 1.2g of salt. On the UK front of pack scale, fat above 17.5g per 100g is coloured high, so fat is high here, as it is for almost every fried crisp. Saturates fall between 1.5g and 5g, which is medium. Sugars are under 5g, which is low. Salt sits between 0.3g and 1.5g, which is medium.

Allergens and diet in plain words

The published ingredients highlight milk, which appears in the whey, the lactose, the flavouring, the cheese powder and the whey protein. The allergy advice adds that the crisps may contain cereals containing gluten, mustard and soya. The pack states they are suitable for vegetarians. No vegan claim is made, and with milk in the seasoning they are not vegan. No gluten free claim is made. Recipes and factory arrangements change, so check the allergy advice on the pack you receive, particularly if the bags are going into a lunchbox for a child with an allergy.

Other ways to buy it

If six bags are enough, the Walkers Cheese and Onion six bag multipack holds the same 25g bags. For the table there is a 150g sharing bag, and for one person a 45g bag. If the house splits between flavours, the Walkers Ready Salted and Cheese and Onion box holds seven bags of each, and every size of the Walkers Classic Variety box includes cheese and onion alongside ready salted and salt and vinegar.

Storing and serving

Keep the box in a cool, dry cupboard, away from the cooker and sunny windowsills, as the pack advises. In a lunchbox, keep the bag away from fruit and yoghurt pots; a crisp next to anything damp goes soft by mid morning. A bag that has gone slightly soft still makes a good crumb for the top of a macaroni cheese.

Sizes of Walkers Cheese and Onion Crisps we stock

Figures as published on each pack's label.

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