Easy kitchen tips to save you money and time - this simple tip and video shows you how to keep bulk chips fresh longer so you actually save money.
You know those huge bags of tortilla chips they sell at warehouse stores?
Well, I use to avoid those large bags because when I did buy them, almost a third of the bag went stale before we could eat them all. Wasting food is no savings.
And yes, I know you can re-crisp chips by heating them in the oven for a bit, but I was not going to do that every time we ate chips.
Plus, I didn't think the savings was that great - tortilla chips are often on sale.
Ah, but then GMO corn came along, and as a gardener I began to avoid all GMO products that I could, making organic tortilla chips my only choice.
Ahh, now those large bags were a big savings, so I came up with a easy kitchen tip to keep bulk chips fresh for a lot longer.
It's still one of my favorite kitchen hacks that I use monthly when we get our organic tortilla chips from Costco (to eat with our favorite salsa or pico de gallo, of course).
So you can guess I'd want to share the tip to make sure everyone who buys big bags of chips knows about how to keep them fresh longer:
How to Keep Bulk Chips Fresh
When you are ready to use some of the chips, open the bag and immediately and:
- Transfer 1/3 of the chips into a gallon zipper baggie (a thick freezer one works best- less chance of the corners poking holes in them).
- Repeat with another 1/3 of the large bag.
- The last third stays in the original bag and becomes your first “bag” of chips.
Remove as much air as you can from the two zipper baggies (you're not surprised I use my trusty straw here again, are you?) and place in your pantry. Use them as you would smaller bags of chips.
We’ve had these bags in our pantry for weeks and they’ve never been stale when we’ve opened them up- they are just as crisp as the day I bagged them up (which actually shocked me at first- I thought the last bag would maybe be a bit stale).
Is this only for tortilla chips?
Nope. This works with any chip, not just tortilla chips. So feel free to buy the huge bags of potato chips, too.
We just don't regularly buy other chips - organic tortilla chips make a great snack with salsa, lunch as nachos, and dinner as a base for haystack-type dinners. Even though we do like homemade tortilla chips, which don't take a lot of time, it's still nice to have this one convenience food around.
And if they're well-made, inexpensive, and there's no waste involved, I feel good about it!
I'm pretty sure lots of other people do this - and it works with other bulk foods, too - so tell me, have you ever done this? Or do you have any other kitchen tips you use and love?
