Product Review: Aldi liveGfree Gluten Free Sea Salt Multiseed Snack Crackers

Product: Aldi liveGfree Gluten Free Sea Salt Multiseed Snack Crackers – $1.49

So, I haven’t been into Aldi since I went there on Mother’s Day and stocked up on ALL THE GLUTEN FREE ITEMS that I could get my hands on and that I truly needed.  I had so many mixes that I really didn’t need to add to the growing collection in my pantry.  But, man…it sure was nice for Celiac Awareness Month (May, in case you didn’t know) for Aldi to bring out a gluten-free line of products to test on the market.  From the way it sounded, people were gobbling these products up.  My store had run out of the gluten-free wraps (dang it!) by the time I had gotten there.

Now, with only a couple products remaining from my original haul…I have since heard that the gluten-free products are nigh on impossible to find now.  I truly hope that Aldi didn’t do away with this line permanently.  I was really looking forward to a restock…since less than $30 got me a whole lot of food.  And rather good food too.

Which leads me to this installment of the next Aldi liveGfree product that came into the rotation.  Snack time at work is a very important time and I take my snacks very seriously.  On weeks where I am without the fresh fruit and veggies from my bin, I turn to my pantry.  Such is the case this week and the next product that happened to be up were the Aldi liveGfree Gluten Free Sea Salt Multiseed Snack Crackers.  From the packaging, they closely resemble Crunchmaster crackers in both size and appearance.

So, I tore into the bag last night and loaded up a little container with a serving of the crackers.  And as snack time rolled around today, I was all set to revel in my Crunchmaster-wannabe crackers.  I expected them to taste every bit like a Crunchmaster cracker.

Boy…were my taste buds surprised.

For one thing…the Aldi liveGfree Gluten Free Sea Salt Multiseed Snack Crackers are less about the salt…and lean more on the sweet.  Yes…these crackers are sweet.  More of the sesame seed shines through over any seasoning or any other seed incorporated.  So, while I was anticipating a salty, savory bite, what I ended up getting was something that tasted of sweetened sesame seeds. And that’s okay…just not what I expected.  I do appreciate that, while these are a Sea Salt flavor, they aren’t overly salty.  I’m not sure I’m 100% sold on eating them on their own.  With the abundant sweetness, I sort of feel like it needs a creamy, spicy kick of hummus to tame it.  I definitely prefer Crunchmaster over these, but at more than half the price, these are a great deal.

Sort of on the fence, as it were.  I did find the more I ate them…the more they grew on me…

So…since I can’t figure out how I feel about the taste, let’s talk about ingredients and delve into those nutritionals, shall we?

The Aldi liveGfree Gluten Free Sea Salt Multiseed Snack Crackers are made from brown rice flour, long grain white rice flour, brown sugar, sesame seeds, long grain brown rice flour, corn starch, vegetable oil (corn and/or canola and/or sunflower), flax seed, quinoa seeds, millet, sea salt, oat fiber, and natural flavor.  They are certified gluten-free and are cholesterol free.

As for the nutrition information, a serving of the Aldi liveGfree Gluten Free Sea Salt Mulitseed Snack Crackers is 1 ounce, or about 13 crackers.  This serving will provide you with 130 calories and 5 grams of fat.  A serving also dishes up 120 mg sodium and 3 grams of sugar.  In addition, you will be taking in 1 gram of fiber and 2 grams of protein.  These crackers are definitely not made to make you feel full.  So, remember to stick to that serving size and know that you will feel hungry soon after your snack.

While I honestly believe these crackers would be better served with some sort of fantastic dip, like a hummus, they aren’t bad on their own.  They just seem to need something that would help balance out the sweetness and that sesame seed flavor that just permeates each bite.  They aren’t bad…but I would buy Crunchmaster first before coming back to these.  I applaud the effort for a snack cracker by Aldi and would definitely encourage them to keep this line around.

I hope they are listening!