Walkers French Fries Ready Salted Snacks, 6 x 18g

Walkers French Fries are thin, crispy potato sticks, made from a potato dough rather than sliced potato, and Ready Salted is the plain one. This multipack holds six 18g bags, 108g in all, and the pack says each bag is one serving. The full product name on the pack is ready salted flavour crispy potato snack, and the pack names Walkers Snack Foods Ltd as the maker.

The ingredients

According to the published pack listing, the snacks are made from potato granules, potato starch, sunflower oil, salt, a flavour enhancer (monosodium glutamate) and a colour (annatto norbixin). That is six ingredients in all.

Potato granules

Potato granules are dried, cooked potato, the same thing as instant mash. Mixed with potato starch into a dough and shaped into thin sticks, they give French Fries their light, crisp, even texture.

Ready salted, with MSG

The seasoning is salt with monosodium glutamate, which rounds the salt with a savoury note. Anyone who avoids MSG should read the list.

Potato starch

Potato starch binds the granules into a dough that holds its thin stick shape and crisps evenly.

About MSG

Monosodium glutamate is the sodium salt of glutamic acid, the savoury compound found naturally in tomatoes and aged cheese. It rounds and deepens a salty flavour.

The colour

The golden colour comes from annatto norbixin, a natural orange colour made from the seeds of the achiote tree. The pack says there are no artificial colours.

The salt

At 2.5g of salt per 100g, Ready Salted French Fries are among the saltiest Walkers snacks we stock, red on the front of pack scale. The small 18g bag keeps it to 0.45g.

The fat

The label gives 16g of fat per 100g and 2.9g in a bag, amber on the front of pack scale, with 1.4g of saturates per 100g, green.

Carbohydrate, fibre and protein

Carbohydrate is 65g per 100g, most of it starch from the potato; sugars are 1.1g. The label gives 5g of fibre and 5g of protein per 100g.

Ready salted

Ready salted is the British name for a plain salted crisp: salt and nothing else in the way of flavour, here with MSG to round it.

Numbers for one bag

The pack gives 78 kcal (328 kJ), 2.9g of fat, 0.3g of saturates, 11.7g of carbohydrate, 0.2g of sugars, 0.9g of fibre, 0.9g of protein and 0.45g of salt for each 18g bag. That is about 4% of an average adult's daily energy reference intake, 4% of the fat and 8% of the salt. Per 100g it is 434 kcal (1822 kJ), 16g of fat, 1.4g of saturates, 65g of carbohydrate, 1.1g of sugars, 5g of fibre, 5g of protein and 2.5g of salt.

Reading the front of the pack

On the UK front of pack scale, per 100g, fat at 16g is amber. Saturates at 1.4g are green. Sugars at 1.1g are green. Salt at 2.5g is red. The small 18g bag keeps each portion to 78 kcal, the figure on the front of the pack.

Allergens and diet

No allergens from the UK list of 14 are highlighted in the published ingredients. The allergy advice says the snacks may contain cereals containing gluten, milk and soya. The listing marks them suitable for vegetarians; there is no vegan statement and no gluten free claim. Recipes and factory arrangements change, so check the allergy advice on the pack you receive.

Sunflower oil

Sunflower oil is the only oil on the list.

The shape

French Fries are long, thin, slightly twisted sticks, crisp all the way through, and light enough to eat by the handful.

A small bag

At 18g, a bag of French Fries is smaller than the 25g bags in most of the crisp multipacks we stock, and the light sticks fill it well.

In the variety packs

Ready Salted is in every French Fries variety pack we stock: two bags in the six, four in the twelve and seven in the twenty.

The crunch

The sticks are crisp all the way through, with no soft centre, and they break cleanly, which makes them easy for small hands.

Six bags

At 18g, each bag is a small portion, 78 kcal. Six bags cover a school week with one to spare.

The pack

The red outer bag carries the Walkers logo, the golden French Fries script, a 78 kcal per pack roundel and a band for six bags of ready salted, with one of the small bags in the corner.

Who it suits

A light, plain potato stick in a small bag suits a lunchbox. It is not suitable for anyone avoiding MSG, and anyone watching salt should know it is among the saltiest Walkers snacks we stock.

Serving ideas

A bag goes with a ham or cheese sandwich, or beside a bowl of tomato soup.

In the kitchen

Crushed, French Fries make a fine, salty crumb for the top of a macaroni cheese or a coating for chicken strips.

Storage and packaging

The pack advises a cool, dry place.

Other French Fries

Ready Salted is also in all three French Fries Variety packs we stock, with Cheese and Onion and Salt and Vinegar: six, twelve and twenty bags.

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.