Trader Joes Baked Snack-O’s

Trader Joe’s yet again tries yet again to ummm (rip off seems to harsh), how about “copycat” something that one of the big food companies make already. There is a long history of copycating products from well established brands. How about Joe’s O’s (aka Cheerios), Trader Joe’s Corn Dippers (aka Fritos) to name a couple off the top of my head. Many times I like the Trader Joe’s brand better than the original and who knows, Trader’s might be contracting with Frito Lay or whoever to make them, but slightly different. I’m sure anything can be done for enough money…

I spied this on the shelf the other day and thought the kids might like it for a snack after school or something. It’s basically made out of cornmeal and shaped into an onion ring shape and flavored with “sweet onion flavorings” whatever the hell that is. This is of course a blatant copy of something from Frito Lay called “Funyuns”. http://www.fritolay.com/our-snacks/funyuns-onion.html

These are Gluten Free and Vegan if you care about that stuff. But in my humble opinion they are a distant second to Funyuns. Not that I’m a huge Funyun fan. I can’t even remember when I had them last but the biggest difference between Funyuns and Trader Joe’s Snack O’s is that the Trader Joe’s version is too darn sweet for me! My kids even turned their noses up at them claiming they were too sweet.

On the package, these are clearly have less fat and calories than Funyuns, but you know you’ve got to like the taste or you’ll never eat them. Trader Joe’s is probably trying to make it up in the sweet department vs. the fat department. Sorry these just are too sweet for me! Anyway, I gave the rest of the bag to our backyard chickens and they loved them! (BTW, many of the duds I taste that are vegetable based like these end up as fodder for my chickens)

Anyway, these Trader Joe’s O’s are just not doing it for me! I am going to rate them 6 Bells! Pass on them if you have any hesitations…

3 Comments

  1. I bought a bag of Snack O’s this week and after just a couple of rings I’d had enough. I’m not looking for sweet when I want onion ring type snacks. Definitely disappointed in them.

  2. My kids and I love these! We do the Feingold Diet so avoid all the mainstream snacks so maybe that’s why. The only problem I have with them is that they are terrible for your teeth! Definitely have to floss after eating these.

  3. My son is on a gluten and casein free diet, his options for chips are very limited, so the Snack-O’s are a great option for him. He really enjoys them.

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