Who is this choice for?

Parents looking for more protein in a crisp-style snack

If a child wants crisps after school and protein is the buying priority, compare grams per bag rather than relying on the product name. Check salt and allergens before choosing a flavour.

Families checking dietary suitability

Ingredient and suitability statements apply to particular products, not every flavour a brand sells. Check the current pack for vegan or gluten-free information and for allergens, including may-contain warnings.

Parents planning regular snacks

A protein crisp is still a packaged snack. For a routine after-school choice, the NHS recommends fruit and vegetables and advises aiming for no more than two packaged snacks a day.

What should you compare?

Start with the amount the child would actually eat, then check the nutrition and ingredients for that exact product. A larger bag can contain more protein without being more protein-dense.

Priority What to check Your needs
Protein per portion Compare protein per bag or planned serving, then per 100g if pack sizes differ. Myprotein lists 11g per 25g serving; Applied Nutrition lists 15g per 50g bag. If protein is why I am choosing crisps, I want to know what the portion contributes. Walkers lists 1.6g per 25g Ready Salted pack and Seabrook lists 1.9g per 31.8g Sea Salted bag.
Salt and snack routine Read salt per serving as well as per 100g; Myprotein lists 1.40g in a 25g Salt & Vinegar serving. Use traffic-light labelling where the pack displays it. I do not want the word ‘protein’ to decide whether this is a regular snack. The NHS recommends fruit and vegetables as the usual choice and advises aiming for no more than two packaged snacks a day.
Ingredients and allergens Check the exact flavour’s ingredients, allergen statement and any may-contain warning. Review vegan or gluten-free statements for that variant rather than the brand as a whole. For a child with a food allergy or a dietary requirement, I need the current pack to match their requirements. Myprotein’s Salt & Vinegar crisps contain soya, so a general protein-crisp description is not enough.
Snack format Check whether the portion is a single bag or comes from a larger pack, and whether it is a potato crisp, protein crisp or lentil cake. If the child specifically wants ordinary crisps, a different format may not meet that preference. For a larger pack, I would decide the portion before comparing it with a single bag.

What is easy to overlook?

  • Assuming ordinary potato crisps meet a protein-led need

    Walkers Ready Salted lists 1.6g protein per 25g pack and Seabrook Sea Salted lists 1.9g per 31.8g bag. By comparison, Myprotein and Applied Nutrition list 11g and 15g in their stated protein-crisp servings.

    If protein is the deciding factor, compare the labelled portion figures. Choose an ordinary crisp for its particular flavour, texture or stated dietary suitability, not on the assumption that it provides a similar amount of protein.

  • Treating ‘protein’ as the whole snack decision

    Myprotein lists 1.40g salt in a 25g Salt & Vinegar serving. The NHS recommends fruit and vegetables as the usual snack choice and advises aiming for no more than two packaged snacks a day.

    Read the salt figure for the portion alongside the protein figure, and consider how a packaged crisp fits into the child’s usual snacks.

  • Relying on a brand name for allergen information

    Flavours can have different ingredients and warnings. Myprotein’s Salt & Vinegar product contains soya; its product information also carries may-contain warnings.

    Read the current label for the exact flavour, including its may-contain statement, before buying for a child with an allergy or dietary requirement.

  • Applying school rules to snacks eaten at home

    Department for Education school-food guidance concerns food provided in state-funded schools in England. Department of Health and Social Care guidance on HFSS promotions concerns affected businesses operating in and selling to England; neither is a blanket rule about a snack eaten at home across the UK.

    For food eaten or supplied at school, check that school’s policy and the rules applicable in its nation. For a snack at home, assess the particular product and the child’s needs.

Which brands are relevant?

These examples distinguish protein-focused products from conventional crisps; nutrition and dietary details belong to the named products and flavours, not every item in a brand’s range.

Applied Nutrition

A protein-focused crisp-style option.

  • Applied Nutrition lists 15g protein and 210 kcal per 50g bag of Protein Chips.
  • Check the chosen flavour’s salt, ingredients and allergen information rather than assuming every variant has the same recipe.

Myprotein

Popped Protein Crisps offer another protein-focused format.

  • The Salt & Vinegar product lists 11g protein per 25g serving.
  • That serving also lists 1.40g salt; the product contains soya and carries may-contain warnings.

Walkers

Ready Salted is a conventional potato crisp rather than a protein-focused alternative.

  • Its labelled 25g pack provides a clear single-pack basis for comparison.
  • Walkers lists 1.6g protein and 0.34g salt per 25g Ready Salted pack.

Tyrrells

Tyrrells lists potato, Furrows and lentil crisp ranges.

  • The different product types give shoppers a choice of crisp format.
  • Check the exact pack before making a protein, allergen or dietary-suitability comparison.

KETTLE Chips

Lightly Salted is a conventional potato crisp with stated dietary suitability.

  • KETTLE Chips states that Lightly Salted is gluten-free and suitable for vegans and vegetarians.
  • Its label lists 6.5g protein and 0.7g salt per 100g; dietary suitability does not establish a high-protein claim.

Seabrook

Sea Salted is a conventional crisp with product-specific dietary statements.

  • Seabrook states that Sea Salted is gluten-free and suitable for vegetarians and vegans.
  • A 31.8g bag lists 1.9g protein and 0.4g salt.

McCoy's

A ridged potato-crisp range with different pack formats.

  • The range includes single and sharing formats, making the intended portion worth checking.
  • McCoy's Salted lists 6.6g protein and 1.3g salt per 100g and carries may-contain allergen warnings.

REAL Hand Cooked Crisps

A hand-cooked crisp brand that describes itself as British-made and family-owned.

  • Use the exact product’s nutrition and allergen label when comparing it with a protein-focused crisp.

A Joybuy snack option

This lentil-cake option is for shoppers considering a savoury alternative to a bag of crisps. Compare the portion you would serve rather than treating the whole pack as one after-school snack.

Kallo Protein Packed Lentil Cakes 100g pack

Kallo Protein Packed Lentil Cakes 100g

These are lentil cakes, not potato crisps, and come in a 100g pack. Decide how many cakes make up the after-school portion before comparing protein with a single bag of crisps. The supplied product information conflicts on vegan suitability and lists MILK under allergens; check the current pack before buying for a milk allergy or a vegan diet.

View on Joybuy

Questions about after-school crisps

Do ordinary potato crisps provide as much protein as protein crisps?

Not in the labelled examples here. Walkers Ready Salted lists 1.6g per 25g pack and Seabrook Sea Salted lists 1.9g per 31.8g bag, while Myprotein lists 11g per 25g serving and Applied Nutrition lists 15g per 50g bag. Check both the serving and per-100g figures when comparing other products.

Should protein crisps be an everyday after-school snack?

Protein content alone is not a reason to make them the routine choice. The NHS recommends fruit and vegetables as the usual snack choice and advises aiming for no more than two packaged snacks a day. If choosing crisps, check the portion, salt and ingredients for the particular product.

Why check salt per bag as well as per 100g?

The per-bag figure shows the salt in the serving being considered. Myprotein lists 1.40g salt in a 25g serving of Salt & Vinegar Popped Protein Crisps; the per-100g figure serves a different purpose when comparing products with different pack sizes.

Are all protein crisps suitable for a vegan or allergy-aware household?

No assumption should be made across a category or brand. Myprotein’s Salt & Vinegar Popped Protein Crisps are described as vegan but contain soya and carry may-contain warnings. Check the current ingredients and allergen statement for the exact flavour against the household’s requirements.

Do school-food or HFSS rules ban crisps as snacks at home?

The cited rules do not establish a general ban on crisps eaten at home. Department for Education school-food guidance addresses food provided in state-funded schools in England, while Department of Health and Social Care HFSS guidance addresses promotions and placement by affected businesses operating in and selling to England. If the snack is for school, check the school’s policy and the rules applicable where it is located.