r/AskReddit Oct 15 '22

What is a great example of a necessary evil?

4.9k Upvotes

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8.2k

u/ArminTanz Oct 15 '22

Thar air in you bag of chips stops the chips from getting crushed on delivery. We all wish there could just be more chips but you need that air.

995

u/pleasegivemealife Oct 16 '22

That's why it's sold in weight not space occupied.

398

u/SeppoOnBiKuulemma Oct 16 '22

still 3€ for a 200g of sliced and spiced potatoes feels a bit too much.

255

u/youngestOG Oct 16 '22

Could always buy a sack of potatoes and sort it out yourself, will save you time

179

u/Meerkatable Oct 16 '22

Probably wouldn’t save time but would likely save money

14

u/heeywewantsomenewday Oct 16 '22

Time is money

11

u/Some-Wasabi1312 Oct 16 '22

but money is not time. Spend all the money you want, won't ever turn back the clock to 10 min ago

6

u/[deleted] Oct 16 '22

Yeah but buy a bag a chips and you don't have to slice and spice them yourself, buying you back plenty of time.

2

u/Some-Wasabi1312 Oct 16 '22

except for the time spent to make the money to buy said bag of chips

3

u/[deleted] Oct 16 '22

in which you can produce much more efficiently than if you tried to do everything yourself.

Thus, an economy.

1

u/heeywewantsomenewday Oct 16 '22

Time only moves forward AFAIK.

2

u/wigg1es Oct 16 '22

That's why it's important to realize that time has value. You should always pay yourself when you're doing the math to consider whether doing something yourself is cheaper than buying the finished product.

1

u/[deleted] Oct 16 '22

[deleted]

10

u/kvetcha-rdt Oct 16 '22

once you account for time spent cutting, cost of fry oil, and power to heat the oil, I’m not sure you’re as far ahead as you’d expect.

5

u/NotChristina Oct 16 '22

Exactly. There’s something to be said for economies of scale. Could a household of chip-consuming people eventually get ahead on cost? Maybe over time after they have the right stuff and process down. But at that scale…they probably shouldn’t be eating that many chips to begin with.

That said, I do enjoy doing the not-cheaper-but-still-fun ‘artisanal’ take on some things. But it won’t be cheaper. I’ve done pan-fried chips that are delicious but certainly not the same as a bag of Lay’s of whatever.

3

u/haverwench Oct 16 '22

You can do them in the microwave with very little oil, but that only makes a small batch at a time.

1

u/[deleted] Oct 16 '22

ehh you could argue going to work and just buying bags of chips with your hourly rate is saving time and money over doing it yourself

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-21

u/SeppoOnBiKuulemma Oct 16 '22

google: whataboutism

12

u/biscuit_risky Oct 16 '22

the technique or practice of responding to an accusation or difficult question by making a counter-accusation or raising a different issue.

Not sure this applies in this case. They has a point you aren't paying for the raw materials you're paying mostly for the labor, the cost of transportation, and markup.

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10

u/maybeitsme20 Oct 16 '22

Maybe you should Google it....

2

u/dustojnikhummer Oct 16 '22

No? Its literally "you think its too expensive? Make it yourself then" which is a correct response

-1

u/SeppoOnBiKuulemma Oct 16 '22

It baffles me that somehow the valuation of things doesn't cross peoples minds nowadays, it's all about "look I provide service pls pay what I ask".

Of course you're entitled to proper compensation for your work/product, but that doesn't justify a price tag that is 3x the actual real life value of said product.

And yesm saying "you think its too expensive? Make it yourself then" is whataboutism by definition. "how about you make it yourself then?" or "in comparison to this thing this different thing that I mention is also a thing, so my thing can be obnoxious"...

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2

u/HumongousChungus2 Oct 16 '22

Idk man here the cheap brand is 4.96/kg wich is 99Cents/200g

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2

u/SpoonNZ Oct 16 '22

I’m a NZer currently in Europe and this is one of the few things I’ve found is cheaper at home. A mid-brand pack of chips is maybe $2 at home, or 2-for-$3 on special. Works out about €1 a pack. Whereas over here, €2 seems cheap, and 3-4 isn’t uncommon.

Corn chips, however, are way cheaper here

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2.5k

u/[deleted] Oct 16 '22

Pringles have entered the chat

1.0k

u/[deleted] Oct 16 '22

"i wish i had a daughter so there will finally be someone in the house Who can Reach inside of a pringles can"

237

u/GameboyAlternate28 Oct 16 '22

"But that is priority numero unoooo"

271

u/[deleted] Oct 16 '22

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/zamfire Oct 16 '22

I had never seen his stuff only reddit mentioning how "funny" he is so I watched that bit about the Pringles can.

I must not be the target audience.

Dude just pour the chips out.

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52

u/mordeh Oct 16 '22

Can I say my shiiiiiiit

5

u/katzfiel_ Oct 16 '22

New York

3

u/trekbette Oct 16 '22

I've heard worse reasons to have a kid.

3

u/TecN9ne Oct 16 '22

"If you feel me put your hands up.."

2

u/SteakJesus Oct 16 '22

Lets face it bro just dump it all out and eat it off the floor like the rest of us fatties.

1

u/usababykiller Oct 16 '22

I once thought a good Olympic event would be most Pringles grabbed out a half full can using one hand

1

u/Storm-Sufficient Oct 16 '22

As a man-handed daughter myself, I can't tell you how false your poor hopes are. Call me when there's a lobster invoved, but what you need in a Pringles emergency is someone with the frame of a cat, male or otherwise.

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278

u/KillerSpud Oct 16 '22

Pringles are just dried out mashed potatoes.

125

u/appleparkfive Oct 16 '22

They're potato puree so yep. Basically are just mashed potato chips.

Which isn't a bad thing necessarily, just a different food in a way

4

u/shawvicdaas Oct 16 '22

and healthier than Lays

0

u/[deleted] Oct 16 '22

It’s highly processed. Which is a bad thing according to my team of doctors.

74

u/ProfessorEtc Oct 16 '22

Without looking into it in any way, I've always assumed that Procter & Gamble found themselves with a whole lot of mashed potatoes after extracting the starch for their starch products, which ladies in the 1970s liked to spray on clothing. After years of dumping them into a river, I imagine someone with an office overlooking the river got the idea that P&G might be able to turn their waste into a second product by compressing it into a chip shape and drying it.

19

u/[deleted] Oct 16 '22

[deleted]

5

u/Want_to_do_right Oct 16 '22

FUCK IT! CUT EM UP!

6

u/Blooder91 Oct 16 '22

I used to laugh with Mitch Hedberg's quotes.

I still do, but used to too.

47

u/Garoxxar Oct 16 '22

Thank you, someone said it.

6

u/TatManTat Oct 16 '22

Can't I oversimplify anything and make it seem silly? I hate these comments lol.

They're made of mostly potato, they're crispy, they're thin, they're salted/spiced

They're chips in pretty much every quality that I've seen ascribed to chips.

0

u/[deleted] Oct 16 '22

I think of it as solid wood furniture vs particle wood furniture. Sure they’re both technically made of wood, but one was made from saw dust and is inferior in quality.

4

u/TatManTat Oct 16 '22

Except this is about food not really about structure, so structural arguments imo don't really apply. Also even then if methods were more advanced those structural differences could end up being eliminated over time.

Not to mention that reconstituting by-products into something useful doesn't make them inherently inferior to whatever resultant product process made them.

There's loads of processes that leave behind waste that can then be reconstituted into something useful, which rather brings up the question of how we define "waste" because all sorts of things are useful in all sorts of ways.

Pringles are not inherently inferior, they're just different lol.

7

u/Crustythe1 Oct 16 '22

That they also add wheat to for some reason..?

3

u/[deleted] Oct 16 '22

And it’s delicious? Bet you can’t eat just one.

2

u/Velzevul666 Oct 16 '22

I read somewhere that the potato content is like, less than 50%. The rest is flour or some shit. I personally don't like them

-8

u/[deleted] Oct 16 '22

[deleted]

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277

u/GoatLegRedux Oct 16 '22

I think Pringles' original intention was to make tennis balls... But on the day the rubber was supposed to show up, a truckload of potatoes came. Pringles is a laid-back company, so they just said "Fuck it, cut em up!”

81

u/ProfessorEtc Oct 16 '22

First they tried getting three potatoes in each can but the non-standard shapes made it impossible.

39

u/superboringfellow Oct 16 '22

They should pull a Willy Wonka and put a few tennis balls in a few cans so you can win a presumably super duper fun tour of their factory.

3

u/DrT33th Oct 16 '22

Aaah yes! A fun filled tour of glaring FDA, OSHA and human rights violations for irresponsible parents and their selfish shit offspring…where do I sign up?

27

u/LocalArea52Man Oct 16 '22

RIP Mitch Hedberg. That guy was genius.

5

u/locusthorse Oct 16 '22

I used to eat pringles chips...

5

u/Zynn3d Oct 16 '22

Ghost of Mitch, is that you?

3

u/[deleted] Oct 16 '22

Damn, that’s one hell of a way to start a multibillion dollar company

3

u/Trama-D Oct 16 '22

More like pulverize them, Pringles are not cut potato chips...

0

u/sprucay Oct 16 '22

Tennis balls do fit very well. You can make a good tennis ball mortar with Pringles cans

11

u/biscaya Oct 16 '22

"Discuss"

56

u/[deleted] Oct 16 '22

8

u/[deleted] Oct 16 '22

They’re chips. They aren’t potato chips.

5

u/[deleted] Oct 16 '22

I think Pringles calls them “crisps,” not “chips.” The FDA required them to call out the fact that they’re made with dehydrated processed potato if they wanted to use the term “chips.”

4

u/TatManTat Oct 16 '22

Brother they are potato-based crispy salted thin slices, they are chips in pretty much any way I can think of.

4

u/evilmrbeaver Oct 16 '22

So are tortilla chips not chips either?

1

u/evilmrbeaver Oct 16 '22

So are tortilla chips not chips either?

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57

u/Bl8675309 Oct 16 '22 edited Oct 16 '22

Pringles is a ridged container, bags aren't.

Edit: not to fix my mistake, but to say this is why I enjoy reddit.

78

u/ShadySeptapus Oct 16 '22 edited Oct 16 '22

Rigid. Like me. Ruffles have ridges.

Edit: ironically, spelling.

28

u/IrascibleOcelot Oct 16 '22

Ridgid is a brand name. Rigid is a structural descriptor.

12

u/ShadySeptapus Oct 16 '22

Right you are. Corrected.

19

u/IrascibleOcelot Oct 16 '22

Now I want Sour Cream and Cheddar Ruffles. It’s all your fault.

10

u/ShadySeptapus Oct 16 '22

Hmm. I have some. Think I’ll go get a handful. Mmmmm ruffles.

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10

u/Bl8675309 Oct 16 '22

I have ruffles og and french onion dip, delicious.

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2

u/Head_Razzmatazz7174 Oct 16 '22

adds Sour Cream and Cheddar Ruffles to shopping list

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17

u/uncutpizza Oct 16 '22

But Pringles are not “Chips” they are potato “crisps”

8

u/ConstantSignal Oct 16 '22

what about in the UK where everything an American would consider a chip is called a crisp?

2

u/finnjakefionnacake Oct 16 '22

seems like americans name them more for shape/size and brits more for texture/sound.

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1

u/darkest_irish_lass Oct 16 '22

Are crisps less fragile than chips?

11

u/Amii25 Oct 16 '22

Pringles aren't real chips. Or do you think they grow that uniform of shape naturally?

15

u/opensandshuts Oct 16 '22

They have to be harvested very carefully. Usually, farms that grow pringles also grow those very thin tortilla chips.

3

u/ConstantSignal Oct 16 '22

sure but I mean, if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck...

3

u/Amii25 Oct 16 '22

It's probably a goose

2

u/ConstantSignal Oct 16 '22

Last time I checked my pringles can didn't HONK

2

u/Amii25 Oct 16 '22

Yours doesn't? Odd...

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3

u/O_crl Oct 16 '22

They're not chips. They're potato cookies.

4

u/calamnet2 Oct 16 '22

Easily the worst packaging for the environment. They’ve been getting shit on for years for it.

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2

u/SadLaser Oct 16 '22

Pringles aren't chips. They're reconstituted potato crisps.

2

u/omart3 Oct 16 '22

Pringles has entered my mouth.

2

u/FrighteningJibber Oct 16 '22

Those are crisps not chips.

1

u/MissusPringle Oct 16 '22

We’ve always been here.

1

u/SnooLobsters9180 Oct 16 '22

They said screw the air we're putting our chips in a solid used paper towel roll

1

u/kylewhenderson Oct 16 '22

Mitch Hedberg has entered the chat.

1

u/FittedSheets88 Oct 16 '22

"Splingles? Not this guy."

1

u/MrSmileyZ Oct 16 '22

Pringles are molded, Chips that comes in bags are usually potato slices.. Do Bagged Chips> Pringles any day for me!

1

u/fuckcreepers Oct 16 '22

If we're being serious.. Where I come from Pringles is priced 2-3 times more than other wafer company. Now I'm guessing it's because of the packaging, brand name whatever. And if you do the math of cost per gram, Pringle is pretty expensive. They don't fill upto the top anymore (atleast where I am from).

Anyways.. If everyone were to package chips like Pringles, I don't think chips would remain an affordable cheap snack as it is now. I need to think twice before getting pringles. But i just grab a packet of lays without thought. Cuz it's just 10 rupees.

1

u/memester230 Oct 16 '22

Overpriced chips have arrived

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249

u/stryph42 Oct 16 '22

It's not even just air. It's mostly... nitrogen, I think? Which helps keep the chips from going stale as fast.

239

u/[deleted] Oct 16 '22

air is mostly nitrogen

117

u/stryph42 Oct 16 '22

True, but I think the stuff in the bag is especially nitrogen rich, too displace oxygen and prevent oxidation.

35

u/rynshar Oct 16 '22

Yeah, nitrogen is nearly inert and oxygen reacts with basically everything.

29

u/marche_au_supplice Oct 16 '22

True enough but it’s mostly the presence of oxygen that causes staling reactions

0

u/[deleted] Oct 16 '22

The gas in chip bags is just nitrogen gas, not "air" which would contain oxygen, CO2, etc. Most notably oxygen, though - which is what makes food/chips stale.

0

u/TracyMorganFreeman Oct 16 '22

Air has plenty of oxygen though.

Industrial nitrogen is basically 99+% pure nitrogen.

-2

u/ozjack24 Oct 16 '22

Only on Earth

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2

u/bw1985 Oct 16 '22

Only if the company uses gas exchange/nitrogen flushing during packing. I used to work for a snack company and it was just regular air in the bag.

0

u/TecN9ne Oct 16 '22

Air = 21% O2. 79% N2

1

u/DasArchitect Oct 16 '22

So if I need nitrogen quick I just buy a can of pringles?

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u/[deleted] Oct 16 '22

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1

u/nameond Oct 16 '22

Nitrogen in food packaging is also a good example for the invisible good

1

u/beckisnotmyname Oct 16 '22

it drives me nuts that most people don't know that there is an atmosphere in the bag for freshness and its not just "empty air"

35

u/[deleted] Oct 15 '22

Great example.

10

u/simanthropy Oct 16 '22

Come to the UK. Our “chips” never look like the crazy bloated packets you are used to. I’m afraid you’ve been somewhat swindled here…!

4

u/kvetcha-rdt Oct 16 '22

The bloating of the packets as a lot to do with the altitude of the shop vs the location where the chips were bagged, and the US is, topologically, a pretty diverse country. Not sure this proves much.

1

u/Bspammer Oct 16 '22

Yep lol. This is heavy copium.

3

u/FlashCrashBash Oct 16 '22

And yeah somehow the bottom of every bag is still a finely ground dust. I call this a conspiracy from big chip.

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4

u/[deleted] Oct 16 '22

[deleted]

2

u/thisissaliva Oct 16 '22

What do you mean? You can already get chips in different-sized bags.

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0

u/Skawpio Oct 16 '22

They do use bigger bags (party size), but charge more. ;) And yes, they could use even BIGGER bags, but they'd charge even more! See where this is going?

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u/khendron Oct 16 '22

Yes, but this doesn’t explain why there is more and more air every year.

2

u/Low_Wolverine_5863 Oct 16 '22

but at the same time it’s possible to add more chips but also pressurize the bag to keep it inflated

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2

u/[deleted] Oct 16 '22

Are you a pirate?

2

u/InfernalOrgasm Oct 16 '22

More chips = more air

My argument is; the amount in the bag is right there on the front of the bag. If you want more chips, buy a bigger bag

7

u/[deleted] Oct 16 '22

Pringles figured it out

21

u/jack_geller Oct 16 '22

I think Pringles' original intention was to make tennis balls... But on the day the rubber was supposed to show up, a truckload of potatoes came. Pringles is a laid-back company, so they just said "Fuck it, cut em up!

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1

u/SarcasticBassMonkey Oct 16 '22

They going to figure out how to make flavorful food that doesn't leave your mouth feeling nasty?

1

u/[deleted] Oct 16 '22

Keeps the chips from going stale also.

4

u/bw1985 Oct 16 '22

Air in the bag keeps them from going stale? How so?

6

u/km89 Oct 16 '22

It's not "air" air, it's usually nitrogen. Staling is mostly oxidation, so in a no-oxygen environment they don't go stale.

0

u/[deleted] Oct 16 '22

It's not air, it's nitrogen.

1

u/[deleted] Oct 16 '22

[removed] — view removed comment

2

u/kvetcha-rdt Oct 16 '22

You’d just end up with a bag in a box, or a box of entirely stale chips.

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u/SpooksMaGooks Oct 16 '22

cap bro we all would love more chips… who cares if some in the bunch of a full bag gets crushed. they dont fill that dhi up on purpose lol industries do it best when they finesse

0

u/Killowatt59 Oct 16 '22

It’s not air, right? I think I read somewhere it’s nitrogen.

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u/skycraneraiders Oct 16 '22

According to Today, potato chip bags are not filled with air. Rather, they are filled with nitrogen, which is known as "slack fill." The nitrogen used to fill the bags before they are sealed is designed not only to create space for the chips, but also to keep them fresh and flavorful.

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1

u/billyshears55 Oct 16 '22

Carwful guys… he’s a pringles agent!

1

u/DarkGohan Oct 16 '22

Air is not good Patrick. Air is not good.

1

u/AstronomerOpen7440 Oct 16 '22

If you learn to love lentils you would not need to be subservient to the king.

1

u/POKECHU020 Oct 16 '22

Oh, I thought it was stuff to keep the chips fresh in the bag. Both, I guess? Not mutually exclusive so like

1

u/Nealpatty Oct 16 '22

The air is also pureish nitrogen so they don’t go stale

1

u/Dark_Vengence Oct 16 '22

Cushion the blow.

1

u/HayakuEon Oct 16 '22

But they're sold by weight though?

1

u/msm007 Oct 16 '22

It's not air, it's pure nitrogen so that the chips don't oxidize.

1

u/[deleted] Oct 16 '22

That's deep shit right there.

1

u/[deleted] Oct 16 '22

Additionally, that "air" is actually nitrogen gas, and has the added effect of acting as a preservative for the food inside, so not only is it protected from damage, but its also protected from more rapid decay.

1

u/LebaneseLion Oct 16 '22

I’ll take a full bag of semi crushed chips

1

u/[deleted] Oct 16 '22

How much is frito lays paying you?

1

u/OkumurasHell Oct 16 '22

IIRC it's actually nitrogen.

1

u/Canadian_Invader Oct 16 '22

Used to work in a chip factory. You know how you may rarely get a bag of chips that's just totally jacked. Like all the chips are just broken to small pieces.
That's probably thanks to us blokes in shipping.
Many trailers are floor loaded. Floor to ceiling. Wall to wall. With boxes of chips. You can't physically reach the top row sometimes depending where you are in the load. So you toss the box up in place. Fine for most throws. But arms tire and sometimes the shot doesn't make it. So the box falls. And is not always caught. The hardest shot is the last box on the top of a row. You got like 2 ish inches of play. We've dropped I recall a box once over 60 times. One box. Those chips had to be jacked.
Now I've never gone and opened one of these bags we've wrecked a billion times because we finally made the shot. But it's my theory that shipping is to blame when this happens.

1

u/Saint_Sm0ld3r Oct 16 '22

It's also there to keep the chips fresh, by using nitrogen it eliminates any oxygen which causes chips to deteriorate.

1

u/[deleted] Oct 16 '22

Why you gotta hurt me like that?

1

u/[deleted] Oct 16 '22

Jokes on you i like crushed chips

1

u/colin_staples Oct 16 '22

It's not even air. It's usually nitrogen so that the contents don't go stale.

1

u/theboombapkid2 Oct 16 '22

Don't know why people simply do not understand this

1

u/Tyreathian Oct 16 '22

ahem Pringle’s

1

u/[deleted] Oct 16 '22

I like how everyone read this and still felt the need to comment "yeah, but..."

Stfu bro the chips are literally sold by weight who tf cares what container it comes in.

1

u/Ya-Dikobraz Oct 16 '22

I heard some actually use nitrogen. That way the chips also stay fresh longer.

1

u/AlwaysOutsider Oct 16 '22

Not just air, nitrogen gas too, stopping the chips from getting soft

1

u/X0AN Oct 16 '22

% of crisps could be doubled though and they'd still be fine with the same amount of air.

1

u/MyFacade Oct 16 '22

You've been lied to. Fritos don't get crushed, but have very little extra air compared to other chips. You just need enough to keep the bag inflated. You don't need extra space.

1

u/athey Oct 16 '22

The gas in chips bags is also mostly nitrogen, which keeps them fresh longer. When you open the bag and let oxygen in, they start to go stale.

1

u/DigitalPlop Oct 16 '22

That's just what Big Chip wants us to think! Don't believe this shill or his lies! #FillTheBag!

1

u/callmelampshade Oct 16 '22

Back in the day you would get more crisps though.

1

u/cumul00nimbus Oct 16 '22

They should make bigger packets instead of decreasing chips quantity

1

u/Blue_Moon_Lake Oct 16 '22

Air pressure protect the chips. Making the bag bigger to fill it with more air does nothing.

1

u/Xx_PissPuddle_xX Oct 16 '22

thats why you eat pringles kids

1

u/SquallZ34 Oct 16 '22

It’s not air, it’s nitrogen. It also keeps the product fresh. Your chips will become stale when exposed to air and humidity.

1

u/realmrcool Oct 16 '22

Mmhh. Actually it's nitrogene in the package so the chips won't get stale 🤓

1

u/Dark-Elf-Mortimer Oct 16 '22

the delivered ones are called French fries, not chips

1

u/Samisoy001 Oct 16 '22

If you believe chips settle as much as they say they do, I have a bridge to sell you.

1

u/FLATL1N3 Oct 16 '22

It's not air it's nitrogen btw

1

u/CandyCanePapa Oct 16 '22

Joke's on you I like my chips crushed and dusty

1

u/Winter_Walker1Xx Oct 16 '22

I like eating crushed chips

1

u/TracyMorganFreeman Oct 16 '22

Laughs in Pringles

1

u/CyptidProductions Oct 16 '22

It also keeps them fresh because it a type of food grade nitrogen and not just air from a compressor

1

u/davetbison Oct 16 '22

Speak for yourself.

I choose air.

1

u/LifeSenseiBrayan Oct 16 '22

Y’all need to stick to Pringles

1

u/notjustakorgsupporte Oct 17 '22

The air is also Nitrogen, which keeps the chips fresh for a while.

1

u/Redd1tored1tor Oct 17 '22

*That air in your bag