Jays Potato ChipsChicago's Own Snack!

Blagica Stefanovski, NBC5 Street Team (Video)
I love potato chips. I can polish off a whole bag of these salty friends in a matter of hours without blinking. Michael and I have a running joke – if I have chips in the house and OPEN them, it’s all over. When I go to the grocery store, I need two buy two bags of chips – one for him and one for me. My chip obsession is so bad that I may even add the following phrase to my wedding vows, “I promise to leave you at least six chips at the bottom of the bag.”

With so many Jewel trips to replenish my cupboard (and multiple gym excursions to burn off what I ate), you’d think my chip budget would be pretty extreme. Not at all, when you live in Chicago and have access to a homegrown tater snack, costs are pretty low. The next time you go to Jewel or Dominicks and see the bottom of the chip isle, you’ll see Jays. Tucked away from the Doritos, Tostitos (Hint of Lime are my fav’) and Ruffles (I miss those ‘Ruffles have rrrridges commercials’), you’ll see a collection of Jays chips, complete with the trusty blue logo.

Since 1927, the Japp family’s (they changed the company named to Jays after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, no joke) been peppering Chicago with not only potato chips, but O-Ke-Doke popcorn and Kruncher’s Original chips. The cost of the snacks are lower because distribution costs are low, I’d imagine. Another fun tidbit, I read the ingredients in most of Jays chips and for the most part, it’s natural. For the Sour Cream and Cheddar flavor I crave, there are other ‘scientific’ ingredients, but none of them include partially hydrogenated oils or high fructose corn syrup.

Now, the next time you bulk up your snacks for that football game, TV viewing or game night, pay homage to your hometown, pick up some Jays and save some pennies.

About these ads