100 Calorie Snacks

Let’s cut to the chase: Of course this popcorn tastes good. It’s from Orville Redenbacher, and it’s sweet kettle corn. So, where can you go wrong? I’ll tell you: messing up the microwave popping process. Like many things in nature and snacks, it’s a delicate balance. With so few kernels at stake, pop too long and you’ll burn your snack. Don’t pop long enough and you leave precious kernels unpopped, wasting money and missing out on calories you deserve and planned for. Enjoy the kettle corn, but babysit that microwave closely.

Nabisco has released its famous animal crackers from their recognizable box-with-string and caged them in 100 calorie packs. Trouble is, the trip has not only made the animals shrink; they’re now too hard and crunchy, with less flavor. More importantly, their heads are too small to bite off with any real precision. Save these for kids’ play dates and seek out a more substantial snack for yourself.

Who would have thought the Dollar Tree would jump on the 100 calorie snack band wagon? At a price of $1, we couldn’t pass up this box of fudge shortbread cookies. They didn’t taste half bad, but they’re no Keeblers either. The chocolate isn’t very rich and the shortbread isn’t very buttery. Still, if you want to save money as well as calories, they’re worth a try. Think of them as the poor man’s (or woman’s) 100 calorie pack.

Reese’s has managed to cram a lot of peanut buttery taste into this 100 calorie wafer bar. In fact, you get two bars in the pack for the same 100 calories. They’re small, but with the rich taste, it feeds your fix just fine. They don’t skimp on the chocolate coating either. So crunchy and creamy, you’ll forget you were craving a Reese’s peanut butter cup.

Nabisco continues to dominate the 100 calorie snack market with its packs of Cheese Nips. These cheesy crackers have always been a thinner, crispier, perhaps slightly sweeter cousin of rival Cheez-Its. The 100-calorie packs don’t disappoint. These packs pack a lot of taste into a generous handful of crackers.

Nabisco has somehow managed to smoosh up Oreo cookies into a ball, cover them with chocolate and still fit enough of them into a 100 calorie pack to make for a satisfying little treat. These candy bites fit the bill for that sweet tooth craving; if you’re looking to stave off hunger grabbing a pack of crackers might be a better idea. The Oreo bites are dense and rich, and they do taste good. I just don’t know if this would be my first choice in consuming 100 calories.