Talk about Full of (Hot) Air

My current health obsession is snacking on 100 Calorie snack packs that have been out on the market for a couple of years now. It started with 100 Calorie packs of Oreo crisps, Chips Ahoy crisps and Sun Chips. I grew tired of these three flavors pretty quickly - but just as quickly, there was more variety - I could get 100-calorie pack of Cheetos and Doritos. I was very excited. This was all about two years ago. I've since laid off the 100 calorie packs - not that I didn't like them - just trying to eat healthier (I think) but on a recent trip to Target, I jumped back on the 100-Calorie wagon and an area of my desk now looks like the taste testing center of 100-Calorie snack packs.

I re-introduced myself to some new snack packs, thanks to Target. I picked up the Oreo granola bar, York Peppermint Patty wafers, and Oreo candy bites. This was on New Year's Day. Since then (only eight days later), I have added Kisses Snackers, Entenmann's Little Bites and the Chips Ahoy granola bar. All packaged in 100-Calorie packs. (I wasn't kidding about the taste testing thing.)

It's kind of exciting to have this much variety for afternoon snacks - as long as you don't go eating like multiple snack packs in one sitting - I believe the idea is to satisfy any cravings for only 100 calories and not feel guilty about it. I'm down with that. What I'm not down with is the excess air that fills these packs that make snacks look larger/more plentiful than they actually are. For example, the granola bar looks to be 4.5 inches x 2 inches. In reality, the granola bar is closer to 3 inches x 1.25 inches. If that isn't a deception, then I don't know what is. I'm expecting 4.5 inches of 100-calorie goodness. Instead, my snack time gets cut seconds short with the missing 1.5 inches of granola bar. I mean, let's face it - it will take you less than one minute to finish any of these 100 calorie snack packs but every second counts!

The Entenmann's Little Bites, which are soft baked Brownie squares are the most deceptive of all. It comes in a large box - larger than a Hostess cupcake box - with eight pre-packaged packs. When I whipped out my first bag before lunch today, I knew I would be sadly disappointed. The bag itself is 5.5 inches x 3.25 inches. I'm thinking about 10 little brownie bites could fit in there and 10 sounds just about right. When I tear open the bag, what I get is five 0.5 inch squares and a whole lotta air. I'm sure they'll tell me the air is to keep things fresh and moist - but what is the reasoning for the Kisses snackers, that is packed with Cocoa Puffs, kiss-shaped lucky charms, two kissables and two naked kissables (no hard candy shell)? Nothing in there needs to stay moist or super-fresh. So why all the air?

Now that I've had a few days to taste test, my expectations have diminished in terms of volume and sizes. The taste is still good - I'm going to keep buying them, but I won't be so shocked anymore with how much they're giving me. I guess 100-calories is really 100-calories and I shouldn't expect a 100-calorie snack the size of a hot fudge sundae...with sprinkles...and a cherry on top.