Why Storing Potato Chips In The Freezer Is The Best Idea
Store bags of opened potato chips in the freezer to extend their shelf life and enhance the crunch factor.
Who doesn’t love potato chips? And while it is hard to go wrong with the classic Lays, the good news is that snack fans now have a ton of flavors to choose from. However, if you are one of the few who does not finish their bag quickly, you often find stale potato chips.
Thankfully, there are some solid potato chip storing ideas to help you get the best shelf life possible out of your open bag. The ideal location to store your potato chips is in a pantry. Otherwise, choose a spot that is cool, dry, and away from direct sunlight.
You can use one of those fancy chip clips if you want. However, the kicker is that they don’t fully seal destructive air out of the bag. Use a sealable plastic bag or air-tight container to ensure your potato chips get the ultimate protection from those pesky elements.
Taking these extra steps is more important than most people think. The Daily Meal notes, “Did you know the air within a closed chip bag is actually nitrogen gas? Once exposed to external oxygen, the oils used to crisp your favorite snack begin to degrade which in turn, affects the overall flavor of the product.”
So … if that is the case, wouldn’t it make sense to find a way to block out all air? Yes, it would! Of course, one of the packaging options previously discussed could work.
But what if we said there was an even better way to store those delicious potato chips? Consider popping that opened bag of potato chips into the freezer to ensure the peak of freshness and the longest shelf life. Now, we know what you’re thinking … why in the world should we store chips in the freezer?
That is because “Storing them in the freezer not only extends their shelf life but makes them a tad crispier.” And that crunch is why we purchase chips in the first place. However, there is an even better reason to (gently) stash that open bag in the freezer.
In general, potato chips have a decent shelf life, which is good news. When a bag is unopened, it will remain fresh for roughly three weeks past the “sell-by” date, which is good news. But once opened, the story changes.
An open bag of potato chips may have a solid one or two weeks shelf life. Of course, the exact timeframe depends on how well you resealed things after you snuck that late-night handful. It could be significantly less.
So keeping them in the freezer makes some serious sense. A better crunch and a longer shelf life are hard to beat. But the kicker is that there needs to be plenty of room in the freezer to keep those delicious potato chips from getting squished.
On the next grocery trip, swing down the chip aisle and snag a bag. Then give the freezer storage trick a go and see what happens. What do you have to lose?
