Simply Snackin’ Beef & Chicken Snacks Score High Marks For Taste & Protein, While Keeping Carbs Low

I have to admit I was more than a little flattered when Simply Snackin’ founder Sue Kramlich sent me a Twitter direct message last week, asking me if I’d be willing to review her company’s “delicious low carb protein snacks”?

I was also a bit concerned that she might have been reading my diary.

I cannot tell you how many times while on long car trips that I’ve stopped at rest stops with the hope of finding a good low carb ‘snack’ to hold me over for a couple more hours… only to flip over a dozen or more ‘protein’ bars and jerky bags, and find a nutrition label showing obscene quantities of processed carbs and added sugar.

The sad truth is I ate many of those products for years before I started my low carb journey in January 2018 at the age of 53, a journey that culminated with a loss of 85 pounds, and has rewarded me with a level of health and fitness I hadn’t enjoyed since the early 1980s.

I responded to Sue’s request by sending my address, and a few days later a package arrived, containing 10 Simply Snackin’ low carb protein snacks.

The assortment represented their entire line of individually packaged, one-ounce snacks. I was impressed by the packaging, but was most interested in checking out the nutrition labels.

The first one I happened to glance at was the “Italiano Chicken”, and I was immediately impressed. 11 grams of protein with 1 gram of fat and only 1 gram of carbs. That included a gram of added sugar, something that may rile those who have managed to entirely cut carbs from their diets, but I learned long ago that ‘perfection’ is not something I’m good at (as they say on the Low Carb MD podcast, “…we seek progress, not perfection”).

Reviewing the labels on all 10 packages, I learned that five of the flavors — Beef with Hemp Seeds, Signature Beef Bold Original, Chicken with Hemp Seeds, Italiano Chicken, and Black Bean Chicken — had just one gram of carbs apiece, while the other five flavors had more. I figured I’d start out with the five flavors with just one gram of carbs, and see how they tasted.

My 18-year-old daughter Katie was intrigued, and said she’d be happy to participate in a taste test, so we sat down together at the kitchen table and enthusiastically unwrapped the Beef with Hemp Seeds.

“Wow, it’s better than jerky,” said Katie with a big smile on her face. “It tastes great, and it’s easy to bite and chew. You can’t even compare this to convenience store jerky.” High praise from a long-time fan of beef jerky who frequently eats brands containing far more added sugar.

Katie’s enthusiasm only increased when we opened the Signature Beef. “The perfect amount of salt and beef flavor. Even more delicious than the one with hemp hearts. This will make jerky seem more like eating a tire… Real meat!”

As someone who has gotten used to sometimes compromising taste in an effort to keep my carb count low, I must say there was no sense of compromise here. The taste and consistency of these meat snacks was nothing short of superb.

My wife Connie was interested in what was going on in the kitchen, and it didn’t take much convincing to get her to agree to review the Italiano Chicken.

“This is very flavorful, without too much salt. It’s very satisfying… really, really good,” she said. “This would be perfect to bring on our mission trips where we are so desperate for a good source of protein.”

For a week each summer, my wife participates in the Appalachian Service Project with one of our kids, and she always makes a point of trying to stash some portable protein to help get through the week without becoming too depleted.

“These are delicious,” she added. “If I saw them in a store, I wouldn’t hesitate to purchase. They would easily replace many of the other snacks I might have selected in the past.”

The Black Bean Chicken and Chicken with Hemp were equally appealing. All three of us are big fans.

Because I really make an effort to keep my sugar intake low, I gave the other five flavors — Teriyaki Chicken, Orchard Beef, Northwoods Beef, Teriyaki Beef, and Chicken ‘N Cherries — to Katie and my son Tom. Judging by how fast they disappeared, I’d say the entire line scored a 10 out of 10 on the flavor front.

What about price? These delicious snacks are available in 20-packs for $36.80 with free shipping for a limited time. The 10-pack assortment I received can be purchased for $24.95. Discounts are available for larger quantities. Visit the Simply Snackin’ website for more information about pricing or nutrition.

Other than the value of the product that was shipped, I received no compensation for what is written above. I am a big fan of any company that provides delicious products that can work within a healthy low-carb diet, and I believe Simply Snackin’ is such a company.

P.S. Since many of those reading this are likely low-carb fans, I’d like to take this opportunity to tell you about a great new film “Fat Fiction”, that just became available on Amazon. Watch the trailer here, and if you like what you see, I urge you to watch it today on Amazon.