Potato Chip Bags - Ziploc?

May 8, 2007 4:42 PM

[ObviousFilter?] Why haven't potato chip bags adopted Ziploc-type seals? Chip-clips are just "ok," and yet I see every other fresh product adopting the Ziploc-type seals. Is this a conspiracy to make my chips go stale (aka inedible) sooner?
posted by tdabbott to Food & Drink (15 answers total)

Would it really help? Part of the point of the chip-clips is that you fold the bag over a gazillion times to get all the air out. You could squeeze the air out of the chips bag first, and then zip-seal it -- however I wonder what the true benefit would be.

The same question could apply to cereal however!
posted by SirStan at 4:50 PM on May 8, 2007

no, it's a conspiracy to make you eat them faster and buy more chips. probably keeps their costs down, too.
posted by gnutron at 4:50 PM on May 8, 2007

so you eat the whole pack, obviously
posted by unSane at 4:52 PM on May 8, 2007

Why not buy a re-usable zip lock bag and pour your chips into it - that way achieving a win/win situation and reducing waste (if only to a minor degree - ie not requiring the addition of billions of zip locks for every chip bag).

Don't you think there is enough plastic going into disposable packaging already?
posted by strawberryviagra at 4:54 PM on May 8, 2007 [1 favorite]

I would have to guess that it's a cost thing. While candy has started doing this, a bag of reese's pieces (for instance) is less than half as wide as a bag of chips, but costs about the same as a bag of chips. So the incremental cost of adding the ziploc feature would be twice as much.
posted by frieze at 4:59 PM on May 8, 2007

Response by poster: starberryviagra - it seems to me the the addition of a Ziploc seal would significantly reduce the number of chip/nacho/pretzel bags thrown-away half eaten...
posted by tdabbott at 5:00 PM on May 8, 2007

Best answer:
It wouldn't matter. Chip bags are pumped up with pure nitrogen to retard staleness. Once you open it, the nitrogen escapes and the chips will be stale in some short period of time. Using a ziplock will slow this down, but not long enough to justify the expense.
posted by Pogo_Fuzzybutt at 5:08 PM on May 8, 2007 [1 favorite]

Potato chip bags can...close?
posted by jessenoonan at 5:41 PM on May 8, 2007 [4 favorites]

Clip-n-Seal. You'll never go back.
posted by staggernation at 5:43 PM on May 8, 2007

Cost is likely not a factor, baby carrots in 1 and 2 lb bags have the ziplock closure and full of carrots they are less than a $1. And they don't put it on for freshness either, the bag has got holes in it. It's strictly a carrot containment device.
posted by Mitheral at 6:47 PM on May 8, 2007

Conspiracy between chip manufacturers and clip manufacturers.
posted by anaelith at 7:20 PM on May 8, 2007

Ask MetaFilter: strictly a carrot containment device
posted by kindall at 7:30 PM on May 8, 2007

Aren't all chip bags a single serving?
posted by Gungho at 7:46 PM on May 8, 2007 [1 favorite]

Stale chips are inedible?
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 8:20 PM on May 8, 2007

It wouldn't be a surprise if the bag was already the most expensive component in a bag of chips, (leaving aside the cost of marketing, transport, etc.) Maybe some premium priced chips could get away with it and charge more for a new bag, but the Lays and store brands would lose market share. But how long do your opened bags of chips sit around anyways?
posted by Chuckles McLaughy du Haha, the depressed clown at 7:22 AM on May 9, 2007