A Review Of Packaged Keto Snacks (And What I Eat Instead)

I’ve been keto since 2017 and recently I’ve been noticing more and more “keto” labeled snacks pop up on standard grocery store aisles. I usually ignore these offerings because in my past experiences, they were not actually keto.

However, a family member brought to my attention that these days, not all of these snacks are cash grabs that don’t even do the due diligence of living up to their label.

So today I’m reviewing a bunch of keto snacks and then telling you what I eat instead 🙂 aka whole foods. They’re not all as easy as grabbing something from a package, but they are simple and cheaper solutions. So let’s get into it.

What Is Keto?

For those not familiar, keto is a low carb way of eating. One reason to do this is because by reducing the number of carbs you eat, the body enters a state of ketosis, which is a metabolic state when your body becomes very efficient at burning fat and converting it into energy instead of carbs.

Doing so also keeps your blood sugar from spiking and causing an insulin response. If you’re interested in learning more, I’d suggest looking at the FAQ in /r/keto. In addition, I greatly enjoyed these books on the subject:

1. Good Calories, Bad Calories: Fats, Carbs, and the Controversial Science of Diet and Health by Gary Taubes
2. Why We Get Fat: And What to Do About It by Gary Taubes
3. Pure, White, and Deadly: How Sugar Is Killing Us and What We Can Do to Stop It by John Yudkin
4. The Calorie Myth: How to Eat More, Exercise Less, Lose Weight, and Live Better by Jonathan Bailor
5. Fat Chance: Beating the Odds Against Sugar, Processed Food, Obesity, and Disease by Robert H. Lustig

Keto Eating

I have the goal of eating 20 grams of net carbs (carbs minus fiber) a day. So with the above explanation and that goal, an actual keto snack would need to be low carb and not produce a large spike in blood sugar. Some fake sugars, such as the often used maltodextrin, can raise your blood sugar even more than actual sugar. The amount actual sugar raises your blood sugar is represented by “100” and several fake sugars often used in packaged keto snacks have a higher response than that.

Glycemic Index of Fake Sugars

– Maltodextrin: 110
– Dextrose: 100
– Maltitol: 52
– Hydrogenated Starch Hydrolysate: 39
– Xylitol: 13
– Isomalt: 9
– Sorbitol: 9
– Lactilol: 6
– Mannitol: 0
– Sucralose: 0
– Erythritol: 0

So when a snack claims to be keto, but has one of these fake sugars at the top of the list that spikes blood sugar, they’re full of shit 🙂 . Less sneaky snacks claiming to be keto just straight up put sugar in it and don’t expect people to read the label. It’s keto in name only so watch out 🙂 .

I’m a label reading fiend if I’m buying something packaged these days, and I’m happy to report that all of the items I’m reviewing today don’t fall into that sneaky trap. So let’s see what the world of packaged keto snacks has to offer these days and my review of them.

A Review Of Packaged Keto Snacks

SuperFat Macadamia Almond Nut Butter 

Cost: $3.39 per packet

This nut butter has great flavor. However, if you try it, make sure to take the “knead well” instructions to heart. I squeezed that packet like a stress ball for about a minute before opening it. The one time I didn’t, the nut butter was super dry and chalky and the oil in it was separate in the package, which was a bit of a mess. So knead away!

The other big thing to talk about is the price: WOWZA! I know Macadamia Nuts are an expensive nut, but the thought of paying over $3 for 1 tiny packet of nut butter when I can buy an entire container of peanut butter for that same price is a dealbreaker for me.

SuperFat Brownie Mix 

Cost: $14.99

As you can see below, these were too sweet for me (but I’m not a sweets person so fair warning there). My Mom (who loves sweets) says they weren’t that sweet – so who knows who you can believe 🙂 ?

The brownies also fell apart and became more of a “brownie crumble” so it didn’t really hit that brownie replacement sweet spot I was hoping for.

NuttZo Keto Crunchy Nut Butter

Cost: $11.99

This nut butter is actually delicious, but basically $12 for 12oz is too rich for my blood. This was a nice treat, but I’m going to stick to my similar tasting $3 peanut butters.

OWYN Protein Shakes

Cost: $2.77 each

These are pretty great because they taste like dessert, but only have 5g net carbs and even 25g of protein to help with my “gainz.” I loved the Cookies and Creamless flavor as well as the Smooth Vanilla, but didn’t enjoy the Strawberry Banana for a reason I can’t put my finger on 🙂 .

And then of course, paying almost $3 for a 12oz drink is a little steep especially compared to one scoop of my beloved Isopure Zero Vanilla Protein Powder that also has 25g of protein costing $1.45. I put that with some unsweetened vanilla almond milk and have myself a very similar drink with no carbs and a lower cost.

Granolo Keto Granola

Cost: $11.97

Neither I nor my sweets-loving Mom enjoyed eating this granola on its own – we both found it too ‘fake sugar sweet.’ However, we both greatly enjoyed its flavor if we used it as cereal in a bowl of unsweetened vanilla almond milk.

The price for this isn’t completely wild, but I did find the fact that one serving is 1/3 of a cup and has 6g net carbs a bit high for such a small serving. However, making keto granola at all is a feat since it’s usually loaded with regular sugar so I’ll give them a pass 🙂 .

Just The Cheese Bars

Cost: $2.19 per packet

So this lives up to its name and tastes like “just cheese” for sure. However, I didn’t love eating it – it tasted like it was lacking flavor, which was strange because I eat regular cheese by itself all the time and don’t have that problem.

I did learn in my research after trying this that they have other flavors, which is cool. But generally, I would prefer to just eat regular cheese. It’s tastier and not $2 per snack unless you like some really fancy cheese 😉 .

Savoritz Everything Keto Crackers

Cost: $2.99 each at Aldi

These almond crackers from Aldi’s are delicious, but understandably a little carb heavy at 4g per 10 crackers. The whole bag has 40 crackers and I had to resist eating them in one sitting so I’m classifying these as “deliciously dangerous.”

Fat Snaxs Keto Crackers

Cost: $5.99 per bag

These are also very good. It seems like you can’t go wrong with almond crackers these days. The only thing that makes me seriously hesitate is the price. $6 for a 2oz bag that will disappear in one sitting is some serious lifestyle inflation for me 😉 .

Savoritz Parmesan Crisps

Cost: $2.99 at Aldi

These are good, but a little dry so I wasn’t tempted to eat the whole bag…but maybe that’s a plus 🙂 ?

Munk Granola Bars

Cost: $2.83 each

I tried the Dark Chocolate Cocoa and Peanut Butter Dark Chocolate flavors and they were both yummy. The peanut butter one in particular wasn’t overly sweet, which I enjoyed, and also was not super peanut butter-y, which is what usually happens with things labeled with peanut butter. I do love peanut butter, but I have my limit 🙂 .

One thing to note however is that these bars include allulose, which doesn’t provoke an insulin response like some of the fake sugars I mentioned above, but has been known to have an unfortunate side effect that I like to avoid: constant, urgent bathroom trips 🙂 . It basically has a laxative effect – You’re welcome for that knowledge 🙂 .

However, I was surprised that that outcome didn’t happen to me after eating either of these bars. Maybe they have a lower amount of allulose than other things I’ve tried or they’ve figure out how to counteract that unfortunate side effect. Regardless, I just wanted to mention it in case you have that kind of reaction. #TheMoreYouKnow 🙂 .

Kevin’s Cauli Mac & Cheese

Cost: $6

You might be thinking “Mac n Cheese isn’t a snack – that’s a whole damn meal!” Well, sadly, that is not the case with this frozen Cauli Mac & Cheese. Don’t get me wrong, it is delicious, but the whole container has 22.5g net carbs and the label is trying to tell me that the tiny bowl the entire box produced was 4.5 servings…uh oh. That’s a small bowl and therefore a snack 🙂 .

I also maintain that $6 for a small snack is too much, especially since a steamer bag of broccoli paired with a lot of shredded cheese would cost much less (I also talk about that mini recipe below 😉 ).

High Key Mini Cookies

Cost: $4.99 per bag

As you can see, I really liked these Double Chocolate Brownie cookies. However, since I’m not a sweets person, I could only eat about 1/2 the bag at a time, which aligns with the serving size for once so I’ll take that as a win.

Halo Top

Cost: $6

Halo Top has been around for a while and I’ve enjoyed many of their flavors. My favorite are Chocolate and Vanilla Bean. However, the main sticking point for me is their price. $6 for a small pint of ice cream seems steep to me so I’ve only bought this on super sale, which seems rare these days. However, Halo Top recently came out with an even more specific “keto” line of ice creams that has like 1g less carbs than the regular low-carb ice cream so that’s something I guess 🙂 .

Benton’s Keto Cookies

Cost: $2.99 each at Aldi

This cookies are too good – the Snickerdoodle in particular, but the Chocolate Chip are also dangerous 🙂 . I usually eat a bag in one sitting because I can’t help myself and the relatively low price at Aldi doesn’t help stop me 🙂 .

What I Eat Instead

So I’ve obviously eaten all of the food above. However, in almost every case, it was because someone bought me those things as a gift or stocking stuffer. I enjoyed trying those new things for a special occasion, but based on the price and downsides to many of the above items, they’re not an option I consider in my day-to-day life.

Overall I try to eat whole foods as much as possible on keto. In 2017 when I first started eating this way, I quickly discovered that that was the only way I could survive because every packaged item in my pantry had hidden sugars (EVEN SOUP!) that quickly maxed out my carb count. So I started cooking and over the course of the year, taught myself how to cook and prepare food.

Doing so helped me make a necessary mindset shift for eating keto. It changed how I thought from “I can’t eat that” to “HOW can I eat that?” Carbs are often a delivery device in American cuisine, such as pasta with sauce on top or the bun on a burger. If I put that sauce on top of a vegetable (my usual go to is broccoli) or USE the burgers as a bun (#MindBlown) that’s almost just as good.

However, we’re here to talk about snacks, which I think should take little to no work. So here are the keto snacks I eat instead of the above packaged items:

• String Cheese: I personally prefer Twists that include 2 types of cheese. Hannaford has a great version of this here.
• Tomato + Mayo: It’s not weird ok! My grandma used to do this and it’s surprisingly delicious. Just use a knife to put a little bit of mayo on top of a tomato slice and add salt and/or pepper to taste

• Dark Chocolate: My favorites are Trader Joe’s 85% and Lindt 95%.
• Hardboiled Eggs: Just add salt! (However, given the current price of eggs, this might be labeled an expensive snack 🙂 )
• Egg Salad: Hardboiled eggs + mayo + mustard + salt/pepper all crushed up with a fork.

• Cream Cheese: Add Trader Joe’s Everything But The Bagel Seasoning on top of some cream cheese. It tastes very similar to an everything bagel with cream cheese. And yes I’ve tasted both in a row to make sure 🙂 .
• Peanut Butter: Make sure to check net carbs before buying a peanut butter because some have more than others, but I enjoy just eating a tbsp of peanut butter – out of the jar if it’s my personal jar 🙂 . No need for packets, extra packaging or extra cost.
• Cream Cheese + Peanut Butter: We’re getting into weird territory, but HEAR ME OUT! This is strangely delicious. I originally got the idea because these same ingredients are included in a lot of “fat bomb” recipes online so I just tried them together and I’ve never been the same 🙂 . Don’t knock it ’til you try it!
• Nuts: I love pecans myself and get them at a great value from Trader Joe’s. My Mom enjoys macadamia nuts, pistachios and salted pecans.
• Keto Coffee/Bulletproof Coffee: As yes, the bulletproof coffee you’ve heard so much about 🙂 . My version is just coffee + 1 tbsp heavy cream + 1 tbsp butter and a little bit of coconut oil if feeling wild 🙂 .
• Heavy Cream + Berries: Prefer blueberries, but also just drinking heavy cream is strangely decadent
• Broccoli Mac & Cheese: I put a shitton of shredded cheese on top of broccoli, microwave it (yes I love microwaves – don’t judge me) and dig in! Sometimes I add some heavy cream before heating if I want something more saucy than straight cheesy.

Conclusion

And those are my thoughts on these relatively new keto snacks and what I usually eat instead. It’s cool to have more options these days that aren’t blatant bait and switches, but overall I think I’ll keep to my whole foods and leave packaged snacks as a very rare purchase given their extra expense since I don’t personally believe they’re worth that cost. My taste buds and budget happen to align in this case 🙂 .

What are your favorite snacks?