Fond Memories and Firm Friends - some history with Ready Salted Chipsticks

You know, now I think of it Ready Salted Chipsticks were really in decline from the early 2000s. I really should have started my campaign then. Prevention is better than a cure after all.

 

Why do I remember this? I recall that sometime around the time I moved to Leeds in 2003 that they stopped doing the half and half bags (remember where you got five Ready Salted Chipsticks and five salt and vinegar in a multibag? Kept everyone happy.)

It was also about then that they became hard to source anywhere other than some random newsagents (thanks for trying guys!) and the Co-op. God bless you Co-op, you held out the longest, but I do wonder if you gave up before Walkers discontinued them.

 

This leads me to reveal the way that my friends found out how much I loved Ready Salted Chipsticks. Any time that I was in the vicinity of a Co-op, I would pop in and buy somewhere between three and fifteen bags of Ready Salted Chipsticks. One instance this was just before a movie night round a friends flat, so when I walked in with my tasty snacks (approx. ten bags this time), they mistakenly thought that I had brought a bag for everyone. I stopped mid-step, hesitated; I was wondering how to politely refute this, whist still being able to keep all my Ready Salted Chipsticks and not be judged for being a greedy slob as they watched me eat the entire ten bags during the course of one film. Unfortunately though my face gave some of this train of thought away. It settled itself in an expression that was a mixture of appalled, horrified and conflicted, which did not go unnoticed by the seven or so people in the room. I had to explain how hard they were to come by, and how infrequently I was able to secure such a score. Thankfully I have very forgiving (though not forgetful) friends and the judgement was replaced by a sense of awe of how I could manage to scarf ten bags to myself without batting an eyelid, with the added bonus that no one ever asked me to share again.

 

Since then my wonderful friends have always thought of me when in Co-op, supplemented Christmas and birthday presents with numerous packets of Ready Salted Chipsticks, and once even bought me one of the forty-two bag boxes that you used to be able to get on Amazon. They lasted about a week and a half. Yum.

 

Despite the fact that I know as soon as they come back I am going to buy an entire shop’s worth, and roll in them until I am satisfied, reading this back does make we wonder… If they had been readily available would I be the size of a house by now?