Why do they call them “Ready Salted” crisps instead of just “Salted”?

Would love aldi or marks or someone to do their own version classic multipack including cheese moments, scampi fries, but also roast beef and mustard from brannigans… anything else to add? I remember fish and crisps (no actual fish just shape)

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Mortal_Devil@reddit

Finiius Foggs garlic croutons!!!

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Downtown-Point-4459@reddit

Try Tesco roast beef & horseradish. Closest thing to brannigans.

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Nedonomicon@reddit

Absolutely , still not quite as eye watering but very close . I was considering trying to add some wasabi powder for the final kick

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Silver-Machine-3092@reddit

Oh, how I lament the passing of Brannigans. Don't think my sinuses have ever been truly clear since they disappeared.

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rescheduledmeeting@reddit

I also agree the tesco beef & horseradish are the closest I’ve found after years of searching. They aren’t anywhere near as good as the original but like you said they are the closest, so I still buy them. Just shows how good the actual Brannigans were. The potato was so thick with such an intense flavour.

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mowglee365@reddit

Mustard so intense, so thick!

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Downtown-Point-4459@reddit

I feel your pain brother. I miss brannigans so much. Perfect with a cold beer on a lazy Saturday evening. Sheer bliss

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meglingbubble@reddit

I was devastated when these were discontinued. I used to go into Farm Foods specifically to stock up one them. They were my favourites since I was about 6 :(

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mowglee365@reddit

Ooh will do!

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mrcoonut@reddit

These?

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mowglee365@reddit

Oh yes

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Popular-History1015@reddit

Aldi’s Space Raiders (Rocket Racers) are surprisingly good

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oldmanskank@reddit

Phileas Fogg extra hot tortilla chips

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3Cogs@reddit

I can remember Fangs and Bones.

Half a century ago now. Jeez...

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nibor@reddit

We want to be Smith Crisps

https://youtu.be/M4z1nEA39cI

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MisterrTickle@reddit

We want to be Smith's crisps, we want to be..

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thedoe42@reddit

singing potatoes "we want to be smiths crisps"

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Batalfie@reddit

Didn't golden wonder own Wotsits or were they both owned by smiths?

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HT2_i0@reddit

I've been out of the country for most of the last 15 years. Good god i miss the bags of scampi and prawn cocktail walkers

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No_Simple_87@reddit

I thought Wotsits were Golden Wonder originally?

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baildodger@reddit

Wotsits were Golden Wonder.

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Informal-Tour-8201@reddit

I gave up eating Golden Wonder because they shut our local factory after asset stripping it.

I was glad when Walkers started making Worst (and I enjoy the Aldi and Lidl Not-sits)

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AvatarIII@reddit

Squares too

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Fingers_9@reddit

Wheat Crunchies too? I remember them changing to a worse recipe at some point.

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Birdman_of_Upminster@reddit

Sorry, but the pedant in me has been awoken. Ready salted crisps existed before Salt 'n' Shake.

It's true that Smiths originally sold all of their crisps with a little twist of paper containing salt. These were just called 'Smith's Crisps' At some point, someone came up with the idea of selling them with the salt already added. These became 'Ready Salted' and the little twist of salt was discontinued - probably because it was an additional process that carried a cost.

When I was a kid, I heard many conversations along the lines of "Remember when you could add your own salt? You could have as much or as little as you wanted." Then, in the 1970's, the idea was reintroduced with a nice new sealed rectangular salt sachet and given the branding 'Salt 'n' Shake' in order to distinguish them from the by-then-ubiquitous 'Ready Salted'

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ThunderChild247@reddit

That’s right, but the pedant in me would love that same logic to apply to all flavours of crisps.

Ready Ketchup’d. Ready Cheese and Onion’d. Ready Prawn Cocktail’d.

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PKblaze@reddit

You still can.

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yammaniow726@reddit

Thats my take on it, either got 0 little wraps or 6:)

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Mynameismikek@reddit

I believe originally they didn't even come with the sachet; you provided your own salt. Eventually someone started selling "already salted" crisps.

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llynglas@reddit

I loved those packages. And sometimes you got 2 or 3 in a bag and felt like a king, and sometimes (very rarely) no bag and you felt like less than a king.....

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poshjosh1999@reddit

You can still get them. Relive the nostalgia and buy a packet!

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APiousCultist@reddit

You can get them, but they're objectively awful. Half the crisps undersalted and half oversalted (depending on their position in bag). There's a reason they have a machine do it now.

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terryjuicelawson@reddit

I feel like they need to add flavour when the crisps are freshly cooked or warm too, so it sticks.

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llynglas@reddit

Honestly, the variation was a huge part of the appeal.

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Complete_Fix2563@reddit

Its like making your own pop with syrup

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availablelighter@reddit

Or putting salt on your chips (or fries)

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APiousCultist@reddit

I feel like I either got 'horribly bland' or 'unpleasantly salty'. I'm surprised there's people that like the inconsistency. I always figured it was a product that survived off of pure novelty.

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front-wipers-unite@reddit

Look at you, you peasant, eating your crisps with no salt

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mikiew88@reddit

Spudos do a big box of potatoes with "add your own flavours". (as seen on Dragons Den, no links etc)

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Wise_Case@reddit

Because I once got crisps called salted, and they had no salt on them, but a little packet of salt you had to pour into the bag, then shake yourself. These other crisps are already salted

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Katharinemaddison@reddit

Because they come pre salted. Which was once an innovation.

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D1789@reddit

Crisps used to be sold with salt separate within the pocket in a little sachet, or you salted at home.

“Ready Salted” just meant the salt was already on the crisps.

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BirdieStitching@reddit

They still still salt n shake in most supermarkets

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NeverEat_Pears@reddit

Salt and shake used to be the industry standard, however. Now it isn't.

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stiffupperwillie@reddit

This sentence needs another still

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JustAnOrdinaryGirl92@reddit

Still they still still still n still in most stillmarkets

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turtleship_2006@reddit

James while John had had had had had had had had had had had a better effect on the teacher

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Bojangle_your_wangle@reddit

This cracked me up, thanks for sharing!

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stiffupperwillie@reddit

Ugh... still?!

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Heavy-Locksmith-3767@reddit

If we distill it we can get pure still

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BirdieStitching@reddit

I'm not correcting it you all gave me a much needed laugh

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Shitelark@reddit

Ride that salty rollercoaster.

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Tough-Whereas1205@reddit

That sounds like a euphemism.

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mrcoonut@reddit

I remember as a kid I got a packet in Spain that had a sachet of tomato sauce in them. Just plain crisps and sauce.

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Supersoniccyborg@reddit

Ready salted crisps were around way before “salt & shake” Adding the bag of salt was a way to let you add salt or not.

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D1789@reddit

Nope. In the UK, Golden Wonder introduced ready salted crisps in the 60s. Before that, crisps were plain and salt was separate or not included.

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Purple_ash8@reddit

Ah.

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Hallelujah33@reddit

Sounds a bit whimsical

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LJ161@reddit

My 6yo says 'already salted' and I'm not going to correct her cause it makes more sense

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srddave@reddit (OP)

Agree!

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Appropriate-Bad-9379@reddit

My late partner was a barman and he used to say to customers ( who asked about what flavour crisps were available)- “ we have ready salted or plain “ ( meant the same in our neck of the woods). Used to amuse us that they’d pause to consider their choice!

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no-puedo-encontrar@reddit

Fair point to everyone on the salt and shake vs ready salted but why is it not called ‘Already salted’? That’s the real plot twister here

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Nedonomicon@reddit

Because in the before times you added the salt yourself

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pockets3d@reddit

Ready salted not ready vinrgared

Add your own vinegar. Life changing

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ProofUnderstanding41@reddit

You used to get a wee packet of salt in a bag of plain crisps

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tomtomclubthumb@reddit

Because you don't have to salt them yourself. I think Smiths crisps are the only ones that still come with the little packet of salt to do it yourself.

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stairway2000@reddit

Becasue they used to come with a little bag of salt that we put on ourselves. Now they're alREADY salted instead.

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doctorsmagic@reddit

You can still buy salt n shake if you want the classic 'unready' experience

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MelodicPreparation93@reddit

I always find the salt packets to not have enough in them for my taste so definitely prefer the pre salted!

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miscfiles@reddit

Speaking as someone who's been diagnosed with hypertension... check your BP.

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NapoleonWard@reddit

Wait, I've got hypertension and regularly stage two. What's the link to salt?

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Dimac99@reddit

Salt is a recognised cause of hypertension, though obviously not the only one. I'm surprised your doctor hasn't discussed this with you. Even if yours has a different underlying cause, reducing your salt intake would almost certainly be advisable. Definitely talk it over with your doctor if you're unsure.

It's very difficult to stick to the recommended maximum salt intake because food producers add so much of it to so many things, so dietary changes alone can make a huge difference to many people's blood pressure. I've seen a single ready meal alone containing over 70% of the daily recommended level, it's insane. Even products like bread, table sauces and tinned goods like baked beans can contain huge amounts, but they have so much added sugar as well that they don't actually taste salty.

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miscfiles@reddit

Exactly what this guy said. Medication can certainly help to control your BP, but if you're caning the salt you're making it an uphill struggle. I still eat more than the recommended amount, but I try to keep it low.

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Informal-Tour-8201@reddit

When I was growing up, my granny said that salt hardens the arteries.

Old wives' tales stick in the brain

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miscfiles@reddit

My grandmother used to pour a free-flowing salt pot over her food for what seemed like about 30 seconds. She'd also pour a little (not that little) pile of extra salt on the side of the plate for dipping purposes. I've no idea how she lived until the age of 89.

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Informal-Tour-8201@reddit

My granny also boiled vegetables until you could eat them with a straw, so...

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miscfiles@reddit

Same! Boil all the flavour out and then replace it with salt. I'll never understand it!

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Mr_Reaper__@reddit

I think the problem was more that 90% of the salt ended up stuck on the inside of the packaging and not on the crisps.

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Professional_Base708@reddit

Or half a packet of salty crisps and then ones with almost no salt (even after shaking)

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No-Pack-5775@reddit

The ready salted*

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PeterG92@reddit

The ones where you get a double packet though are heaven

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turbo_dude@reddit

They even used to do other flavours of “salt and shake” style for a while.

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Norman-Wisdom@reddit

I never realised that was a nostalgic thing. I thought it was a 'new' trend in the 90s. I was always really jealous of people that got salt n shake in their packed lunch. Even though I hate salted crisps.

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Thisoneissfwihope@reddit

For a while they did ‘flavour n shake’. They were god tier crisps at my primary school.

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Thisoneissfwihope@reddit

It’s a really great lesson in the power of salt. The crisps taste terrible before you add the salt.

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AliceRose000@reddit

My hidden shame is that I actually prefer the salt and shake without the salt. Probably one of my top three crisps lol

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theevildjinn@reddit

They should rebrand them as "Æthelred".

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prx_23@reddit

Got your advertising sorted:

Æthelreds: Don't be a Cnut

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JamesTiberious@reddit

The correct answer

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badgerandcheese@reddit

Crisps used to have a blue salt sachet

I didn't know this as a kid

I found the sachet at some big old random party my mum took me to

I LOUDLY proclaimed to the whole room that we're now rich and have won the lottery

Because I thought the blue salt sachet was a winning lottery gold ticket thing

I can still hear the silence and the awkward pause and the "no, son, it's just a salt".

Then the piercing laugh of about 30 people.

Laughing.

I hate blue salt sachets.

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Relevant_Natural3471@reddit

That's probably a cross-over from when Walkers used to put little blue sachets in the crisps where you could win money and stuff

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badgerandcheese@reddit

My childhood... SAVED!

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TimeToNukeTheWhales@reddit

Don't worry, lad. One day you will win the actual lottery and can gleefully throw a bunch of blue salt sachets at them for their cut.

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marcdk217@reddit

That's the origin story for a supervillain if ever I heard one.

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munichporto21@reddit

Because the packet is a ‘reddy’ colour?

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another_online_idiot@reddit

Plain crips used to be unsalted and some came with a little packet of salt you could then use to salt your own crisps. Nowadays they come "Ready Salted", in other words, the salt has already been sprinkled on the crisps.

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Agitated_Ad_361@reddit

Oh you must be very young.

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DeifniteProfessional@reddit

Also, this is just googleable

The ironic thing is, this will be the first result for such question in a year's time

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Shitelark@reddit

Also, this is just googleable.

Aren't most things. Takes the piss when you post something with a reference or quote in it and someone asks 'what does that mean' Then you see their reply 17 hours later and WTF, are they still waiting on an answer?

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jimmery@reddit

Aren't most things.

Pretty much anything is googleable, but that doesn't mean its the only or even the best source of answers.

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IAmLaureline@reddit

Nope, you, the other commentors, and me are all just OLD.

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Agitated_Ad_361@reddit

I’m sure they reissued salt n shake not long ago?

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JBEqualizer@reddit

I remember them coming out not long after my wife and I got together, and that was 2002. Unless they've released them again more recently, that was quite a while ago.

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Agitated_Ad_361@reddit

Actually yeh, it was a while since I was in Year 9, thinking about it. Ugh.

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unstoppabledot@reddit

Hah, grandpa.

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BuncleCar@reddit

In the 1950s there were tales of Smiths Crisps bags with only the blue paper salt thingies and no crisps. Sometimes I saw packets with two salts in but never any more. Kids make up stuff 😀

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AudioRebel@reddit

Why do all multipacks of various-flavoured crisps contain cheese & onion ones ? Even the 'meaty' multipacks have cheese & onion. Cheese & onion aren't meat ffs.

Not everyone likes cheese & onion flavoured crisps.

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idajon72@reddit

Because crisps used to come unsalted and contain a little bag of salt. Then walkers started adding the salt so the crisps were ‘ready salted’. It’s not rocket science.

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srddave@reddit (OP)

Wow what a condescending answer.

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Artistic_Data9398@reddit

Back in the day brits were so adverse to flavourings in food, that even our snacks were bland, pale and dry! Crisps were first popularized as a none salted snack. It was a HIT. The brits loved the taste of absolutely nothing and it flew off the shelves. Eventually they added salt packets inside to salt the crisps yourselves as a lot of people still preferred them without.

Eventually they moved to permanently salted 'ready salted' already salted for you. The name has just stuck around Britain as everywhere else called them salted.

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srddave@reddit (OP)

Salt on food may give people ideas!

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Informal-Tour-8201@reddit

My parents used to work (and met) in a Golden Wonder factory.

My brother and I had large cardboard drums with lids for our toys that used to carry crisps flavouring. Mine was smokey bacon - and I didn't keep soft toys or doll clothes in the drum because there was still a slight whiff of tastiness

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srddave@reddit (OP)

Was golden wonder a brand of crisps?

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Informal-Tour-8201@reddit

Still is.

Walkers are more popular round here because the Golden Wonder factory was updated, closed and asset stripped in the space of a few years in the 80s.

Highlander crisps started up nearby instead, but they seem to have disappeared as well.

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MissionSorbet2768@reddit

Fucking hell this made me feel old.

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srddave@reddit (OP)

I’m not young…just American!

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Kent_Doggy_Geezer@reddit

You used to get just plain crisps with a blue bag of salt. Then they did away with the blue bag, and added salt at the factory… hence ready salted!

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srddave@reddit (OP)

Thanks for providing the shortest and most complete answer without being condescending. :)

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theshedonstokelane@reddit

Lidl black pepper and sea salt crisps are currently making me put on weight. I hate them. Think if I eat all of them I will save the world from devastation. Thats the kind of self sacrifice we need more of in the world.

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Accomplished_Law_945@reddit

Getting on enough to remember little paper twists of salt in packets of crisps. You had to find that twist amongst the crisps to salt them. Hated when they accidentally put two twists in the packet and bit into it to get a mouthful of salt!

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srddave@reddit (OP)

This is so interesting. Haha thanks for that memory

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RevolutionaryDebt200@reddit

As I understand it, when crisps were first available, they came plain but with a twisted piece of paper containing salt for you to sprinkle on them yourself (as recreated by Smiths Salt n Shake). Then they developed the technique for adding flavourings, starting with salt, hence (al)ready salted

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JohnCasey3306@reddit

Previously, crisps came unsalted with a little sachet of salt. These are [al]ready salted.

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SpaTowner@reddit

In the 80s almost all salted crisps came ready salted. Smith’s Salt and Shake were the only ones with a sachet of salt.

I was certainly eating ‘ready salted’ crisps from other brands in the 60s and 70s.

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Fast-Mix-8327@reddit

When I was a kid I used to think it was “reddy salted” because the packet was red. Simpler times

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SpaTowner@reddit

It was dark blue if you were in a Golden Wonder crisp distribution area, and it was the 70s.

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levinyl@reddit

Because we used to get little salt sachets in with the crisps so you could salt them yourself - Then they came out with READY SALTED meaning already salted....your welcome...

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GilaMonsterUK@reddit

Yeah, as a 'person of non-UK origin' I've always wondered this. Surely to be grammatically correct it really ought to be 'already salted'??? Why can't is just say 'salted'?? The 'ready' is a completely superfluous and unnecessary word!!!

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SpaTowner@reddit

There’s nothing grammatically wrong with ‘ready’ rather than ‘already’. ‘Ready’ exists in several adjective phrases such as ‘ready made’ or ‘ready mixed’.

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ddmf@reddit

"Buy these new things called crisps - already salted so you don't have to"

Overtime became ready salted.

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TheIncredibleBulge@reddit

When crisps were first invented they didn't have any flavour atall it was only later falvouring would be a thing so the proper parlance would be "already salted" shortend to "ready salted" to indicate there was no need to add the salt I think somewhere in the middle Smiths populrised the salt sachet

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Fit_Manufacturer4568@reddit

Because you used to get a little bag of salt in crisps. To put the salt on yourself.

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SensibleAltruist@reddit

I worked in a pub in London way back when and one of the regulars used to dump half a cellar of salt on his packet of chips. By the colour of his skin his blood pressure was through the roof!

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Bertie-Marigold@reddit

Because they're salted, ready for you to eat, distinct from what used to be the norm which was plain crisps with a separate packet of salt where you would add it yourself.

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DeinOnkelFred@reddit

I'm of that generation that got left outside on a rusty swing set, in the rain, with a bottle of Vimto, a wax straw and, if lucky, a bag of unsalted Taytos whilst my parents got fucking hammered at lunchtime.

I don't blame them. They were fine people. It was the 80s. Asbestos. Leaded petrol. Corporal punishment in school. Smoking in Church. Big hair. Fleck trousers. BMXs. Those piano-key leather ties. Tears for Fears. No salt. Strange times!

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scottyboy70@reddit

I feel it is because originally, salt used to come in a wee separate packet inside the crisp bag (like the Salt and Shake folk have mentioned). All crisps were “plain”, ie not even salted. Then some became salted and you didn’t need the wee packet, so they were (al)ready salted…

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bluetrainlinesss@reddit

Get ready....SALTED!

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OliB150@reddit

What annoys me is that we don’t say any other flavours are “ready salt and vinegared” or “ready prawn cocktailed”. We already have the name “salt and shake” for if people want the experience of doing it themselves, so I don’t see why we need to clarify that the more widespread to also clarify its status.

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MaudLynne@reddit

Discos briefly had their version of seasoning packets in them - flava bombs. They were amazingly, blow your head off salty. Good times.

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Healthy_Pilot_6358@reddit

That’s it….im going to start calling them ‘already salted’ from now on

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dudeyaaaas@reddit

Any other millennial feeling old that you knew why right now? Damn..

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martzgregpaul@reddit

Because you used to have to salt them yourself

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guitarisgod@reddit

Did you get a small packet of salt back then? Did they used to be called just 'not quite salted yet'? Jokes aside I'm genuinely very curious lmao

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MolassesInevitable53@reddit

Did they used to be called 'not quite salted yet'?

They were called crisps.

In the same way that, when all phones were landlines, we called them phones, not 'landlines' or 'house phones'.

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turbo_dude@reddit

“Give us a bell” because the ringing noise was made by a physical bell.

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guitarisgod@reddit

Yeah it was a joke lmao I'm aware that the concept of crisps existed pre-1990/2000 whatever

It was just a play on the concept of 'ready' salted

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MarcelRED147@reddit

pre-1990/2000 whatever

Lmao

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Shannoonuns@reddit

I swear you can still buy these, they're walkers salt & shake.

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Onetap1@reddit

They (Smith's, I think) used to come with salt in a little square bit of blue waxed paper, twisted shut, in the '60s. You'd rummage around in the bag to find the salt, tip it in, hold the packet shut and shake it. I think it was the UK equivalent routine of the Japanese tea ceremony.

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guitarisgod@reddit

Excellent

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tobych@reddit

"I think it was the UK equivalent routine of the Japanese tea ceremony." Insightful. Humans do love their little sacraments don't they.

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DameKumquat@reddit

Salt and shake was what they were called in the 80s. Smiths Crisps did them.

My dad says Back in the Day they were just called 'crisps' because there weren't other flavours.

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PeterG92@reddit

They still do them, I love them

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FYIgfhjhgfggh@reddit

There was a black and white vid knocking about a short while ago from possibly the 70s with an interviewer asking what people thought of the new flavoured crisps. Much cynicism.

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EpochRaine@reddit

Then they released cheese and onion. Game changer.

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Ophiochos@reddit

You got this little sachet of salt that you tore open, emptied into the packet, closed it, and shook. If you forgot to close it by turning over the top, you could lose a lot of crisps…

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WastedSapience@reddit

It was awfully unhygienic.

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bimmerscout@reddit

How so?

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WastedSapience@reddit

If you shook it too hard, it ended up everywhere.

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Shpander@reddit

You're not supposed to eat it once it's been on the floor!

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ian9outof10@reddit

Just checking, did you just…

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WastedSapience@reddit

(˶◕‿◕˶✿)

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ian9outof10@reddit

Superb

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Timely_Atmosphere735@reddit

Back in the 80’s Sainsbury’s used to sell red salted crisps, as in the salt was red.

So they were red ready salted, I used to love them as a kid, probably just for the novelty factor of having red on the crisps.

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Shannoonuns@reddit

Before I could read as a kid I lived in north London and we used to skip the "lt" sound in salted, so ready salted sounded more like "ready sor'id"

I then moved to Hertfordshire where they prounced every letter in salted, then i learnt how to read.

Because i couldn't read when I lived in north london i didn't realise that everyone there was actually also saying "ready salted", so for years I thought there used to be flavour of crisps called "ready sorted" that had been discontinued 🫣

I swear I was about 12 when I realised, and i had only moved 20 miles north 🥲

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Immediate_Profit_148@reddit

Cause they've been already slated?

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Shitelark@reddit

I'll slat you!

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scare_crowe94@reddit

Because they come pre salted.

Previously you’d pour the salt on yourself.

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