3 Reasons to Avoid Ritz Crackers
Wednesday January 27, 2010

80 calories

5
per serving

Ritz Replacements

Triscuit, Edamame, Nori Paper

under 100 calories, packaged, salty, worst

I'm locking my doors tonight in case the people from Nabsico try to take their revenge. Why, Snack-Girl, do you need to mess with an American icon?

Ritz crackers are as American as apple pie, the Simpsons, and Chevrolet (are they still in business?). I remember my parents buying boxes of them. Their lovely red box with the blue and yellow - and the crackers - yum!

At a certain point, my parents stopped buying them and started serving "Stoned Wheat" crackers. The name made me laugh and Ritz seemed to just disappear from the house.

What is wrong with Ritz?

High Fructose Corn Syrup is one of the ingredients. Why do you need sugar in a cracker? It seems totally unnecessary and just adds hidden calories to the food.
There is 5% of your daily allowance of saturated fat in each serving. Again, added fat in a cracker makes no sense. A cracker should be just flour, water, and salt. And saturated fat! Didn't they get the memo?
Zero fiber per serving - One of the benefits of eating bread or crackers is fiber. Don't look for any in a Ritz cracker.

This cracker will melt into pure sugar once it hits your digestive juices. Have you ever noticed that as you chew a Ritz that it starts to taste really sweet? Your saliva is already getting to work on breaking down the carbohydrates into sugar).

This is junk food. Nabisco uses white flour, corn syrup, and fat to destroy a perfectly healthy snack - a cracker.

There are SO many better choices out there than Ritz. I will be featuring more healthy crackers as I find them (yes, I am looking at you, Kashi).

Do you have a favorite cracker? What do you eat it with? Please share below.

Want to read about more snacks?
A Whole Food Snack of Salty Deliciousness and A Winner!
A Habit That May Be Costing You 500 Calories per Day
A Dip that Won't Kill You

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14 Comments:

At the moment I am loving Wheat Thins Fiber Selects Garden Vegetable. 15 Crackers have 4 g of fat and 5 g of fiber. New favorite snack is some of these with a wedge of Laughing Cow Light Cheese.

Gayle on January 27, 2010

These all have 20%-35% Fiber/Total Carb ratio:

Dr. Kracker
Ry Krisp
Wasa

Brian Hill on January 27, 2010

I love Triscuits. Especially the flavored ones like fire roasted tomato and cracked pepper. I know they aren't the healthiest in the world but not as bad as Ritz for sure!

Claire on January 27, 2010

I avoid all processed foods. Ritz crackers aren't any exception to that rule. In fact, I wouldn't endorse Kashi either. It's owned by Kellogg's and likes to hide the true content of sugar in its products by using different types. Then it doesn't have to list "sugar" as the first ingredient.

Candice on January 27, 2010

Well, there goes my love for Ritz. I feed them to my children but not anymore! I am trying to become more of a label reader. I am finding that a lot of the foods I love have HFCS! a real disappointment. Thank you for this.

Shaun on January 27, 2010

Back to Nature's Multigrain Flax Flatbread Crackers are my new fave. I love them with Tomato Soup.

Tracy on January 27, 2010

I don't care for crackers, but my family does. They like All-Bran crakers but that too has some corn syrup, just not the HFCS, but I still need better cracker for them.

It really is a a disgusting disgrace that the food industry knowingly makes products that are bad for their own customers' health. As a small business owner, I can't imagine producing and selling a dangerous product!

Katherine on January 27, 2010

I'm sad to learn this about Ritz, but really appreciate the info! In our household, we really enjoy: Stacy's whole wheat Pita chips, Dr. Kracker (good fiber and protein in the pumpkin seed cheddar) and Orbello's flat bread crackers with Rosemary (sometimes hard to find as its from Italy, but i see at World Market and Big Lots).

Frugal in Fort Worth on January 27, 2010

I am in love with Mary's Gone Crackers! Gluten-free, dairy-free, certified organic, no sugar, no transfat or hydrogenated oils. Delicious and crunchy.

Val on January 27, 2010

I have actually compared a few brands and I chose Triscuit's. My favorite is the garden herb with some cheese. They are made with very few ingredients, and I feel that is important. If someone feels my choice is bad please let me know, I would appreciate it.

Steve on January 29, 2010

im glad to see someone else likes marys gone crackers! they're amazing in health and taste. wasa is great too and they have a high fibe3r version. wheat thins dont use entirely whole wheat and they have msg so watch out. its true most crackers are junk food! better stick with carrots n celery for dipping

roo on January 29, 2010

Why do Ritz crackers have all those "evil" things you mention? To make them taste so good -- duh!!
You make some very valid points, but I'm not going to give up something that tastes that good when virtually all of the suggested alternatives are about as flavorful as cardboard.
I just won't scarf down as many of them as I used to before reading this!

CoffeeMan on January 29, 2010

You forgot, they can also be a bit addictive.But so can "All Bran" crackers they too are really good and all my kids love them. Ritz has come out with new flavors.At Christmas they had some dipped in chocolate..sooo good. Like pretzels dipped in chocolate.ok ok no I don't work for Nabisco, but try the "All Bran" they have to flavors and the ones in the brown box are really good. :)

Great blog you have!!!

Erika on January 29, 2010

I just bought a box bec they were on sale. After eating only whole wheat crackers for years, these taste just like cookies. When I need a quick little sugar fix, I grab a couple. My 3yo son won't eat them. He says, "they're not whole wheat and I don't like them." Way to go kiddo! I'm going to have my husband take them to work and put them on the lunch table.

Josey on February 1, 2010