If you're like most people, you most likely have leftover bags of chips hiding in your kitchen cabinets. After family movie nights , birthday parties or soccer practice, those half-eaten bags of chips get tossed back in the pantry and after a while, they can pile up. Once opened, chips tend to go stale pretty fast, so when you go to grab a midnight snack or an after-gym treat, all you find are lifeless chips instead of a salty, satisfying pick-me-up.
After a while, it feels like all you're doing is wasting money on snacks, but there's a simple solution to keep your chips fresher for longer, and it's one we hadn't thought about. This is definitely a trick we are trying right away!
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Why You Should Store Chips in the Freezer
The best way to keep those bags of chips nice and crispy is to store them in the freezer. You may have noticed that bags of chips say to “store in a cool, dry place,” and what place in your home is colder and darker than your freezer?
Once a bag of chips has been opened, exposure to moisture in the air makes them lose their texture and flavor. However, the freezer halts this breakdown process, preventing them from going stale.
We most recently saw this tip on creator Steph Gigliotti's TikTok, but there are lots of fans of frozen potato chips (and Doritos and Cheetos, especially Flamin Hot Cheetos) on TikTok .
There are lots of Redditors who are in favor of this idea, too, including one commenter who mentioned that Emeril has gone on record saying that he likes to keep his favorite Zapp's chips in the freezer, in case you were waiting for a celebrity chef endorsement. The topic has also come up on the Stacy's pita chips site and now the query has a permanent place in the FAQ section. If you look there you'll see this Q&A:
Q:Can I store the chips in the freezer?
A: Yes, storing chips in the freezer can prolong freshness.
Why Does This Work?
Most of the moisture is cooked out of chips when they're made, but the small amount of moisture that's left prevents the starches inside of them (remember- chips are made from potatoes) from breaking down and becoming soggy. Storing them in a sealed, airtight bag extends their life, and placing that bag in a freezer makes their shelf life even longer, but the chips don't freeze because the moisture content is so low. That means that the chips get cold, but they don't freeze.
So the next time you're craving a snack, just pull the bag from the freezer and dig in. They'll be fresh and crispy. And if you don't like chilly chips, put some chips in a bowl and let them warm up before digging in.
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