How healthy are supermarket frozen chips?

But how healthy are they? We checked out 49 products, including shoestring, crinkle-cut, wedges and coated fries, to see how healthy they are and how much potato they contain.

Importantly, we discovered there’s a big range when it comes to sodium content – and that’s before you add the tomato sauce on the side.

What’s in frozen chips?

Potato

Not surprisingly, potato is the main ingredient. Potato is a source of potassium and B and C vitamins. Potatoes can also contribute to your fibre intake, especially if you leave the skin on.

Nineteen products in our survey had 95% or more potato. Pams Original Wedges and Woolworths Straight Cut Chips topped the spud stakes with 97%.

Only one product – Pams Seasoned Wedges – was less than 80% spud. The rest of the product was made up of oil and seasonings (a combination of flour, salt, spices, thickeners and colour).

Of the remaining products, 28 contained between 83% and 94% potato. One didn’t say.

Most products also stated where the potatoes are grown. See the table below for where the potatoes in each product are from

TIP: The percentage of potato should be stated in the ingredients list. All but one product disclosed this information.

Oil

Frozen chips are typically pre-fried and contain oil (you don’t need to add extra oil when you’re cooking them). Most of the products in our survey contained canola oil (46) which is a healthier alternative to other oils as it contains less saturated fat.

Two Birds Eye products (Golden Crunch Lattice Crispy Potato Chips and Golden Crunch Sidewinders Twisty Potato Chips) contained vegetable oil, which could be a blend of palm oil. Palm oil is higher in saturated fat than other vegetable oils and comes with an environmental cost. We asked the company what the vegetable oil is in these products. To date, the company has not replied.

Makakihi Crinkle Cut Fries contain beef tallow, so aren’t suitable for vegetarians or vegans. Beef tallow is also high in saturated fat, so isn’t the healthiest choice for a cooking oil. This product had the most saturated fat (2g/100g) compared to the other fries in our survey which had 1g/100g or less.

Coating or batter

Many products contain a coating to help make them crunchy and stay crispier for longer. It’s often a starch extracted from wheat, corn or potatoes.

Other ingredients

Some products in our survey have a lengthy ingredient list, which may include additives and preservatives that you wouldn’t have in your pantry or cook with at home.

How healthy are supermarket fries?

Supermarket oven fries are likely to be healthier than deep-fried takeaway options. Most products we surveyed were low in saturated fat (1.5g/100g or lower), which is unlikely to be the case for their chip-shop cousins, and most were made predominantly of potato.

When it comes to nutrition, the sodium content of these products is one of the main factors affecting how “healthy” they are for you – and in the products we surveyed, there was a big range.

Eating too much sodium (the baddie in salt) can increase your blood pressure, the number one cause of stroke in New Zealanders.

According to the Stroke Foundation of New Zealand, most Kiwis consume double the maximum recommended daily salt intake – and around 75% of this comes from processed and packaged foods.

Twenty-four of the products we looked at were low sodium choices (less than 120mg/100g), so are healthier options.

Products with batters and coatings, as well as seasoned products had the highest sodium content in our survey.

Quick cooking

McCain’s Quick Cook fries claim to cook in half the time of McCain’s SuperFries Straight Cut – 10 minutes according to the packaging. We put them to the test, preheating the oven for 10 minutes in line with the instructions. After 10 minutes of cooking, we were impressed – crunchy fluffy fries in double time.

Belinda’s DIY oven fries

It can be cheaper and healthier to make your own oven fries. Here’s my homemade version – I prefer thick cut wedges, but the kids prefer chopping them thinner. I also leave the skin on.

Ingredients

• 1kg potatoes (I buy what’s on special but prefer agria for fluffier fries).
• Drizzle of oil for cooking (I use rice bran).
• Seasoning optional (I use iodised sea salt and pepper, but another option is for people to season their own once cooked).

Method

• Heat oven to 200℃ on fan bake. Drizzle a thin layer of cooking oil in a roasting dish.
• Cut potatoes into desired shape and size. Make sure the pieces are a similar size, so they cook evenly.
• Add potatoes to your roasting dish in a single layer if possible. Cook for 20 minutes, then turn the chips (shaking the pan also works well). Cook for a further 20 minutes or until potatoes are cooked through and crunchy. Cooking times will vary depending on your oven.

Frozen potato products compared