Nobody Needs $13 Chips

and $99 collagen is unnecessary

Good morning everyone.

This weekend at Sprouts, a bag of chips caught my eye. It was a brand I’ve been hearing a lot about lately: Masa tortilla chips. I’d listened to a podcast with the founders, a nice couple on a noble mission to build a better chip. Not the computer kind, but the tortilla kind.

They’re different from other chips because they’re cooked in beef tallow—which, of course, we love to see. And since I haven’t eaten chips since 2019 thanks to my rational avoidance of seed oils, I was excited to rediscover the power of crunch.

But as I was checking out, I nearly dropped my cage-free eggs. A single bag of these corn tortilla chips—serving size of five—was thirteen dollars.

Don’t get me wrong: I’m all for investing in quality food and good supplements. But twenty-eight cents per chip hit different. My gob was completely and totally smacked. One of those moments in life where you stop and ask yourself: how did it come to this?

I ended up buying them for research, and thankfully my card didn’t get declined. I tried a dollar’s worth with my lunch the next day.

And honestly, I was disappointed.

I don’t know what I was expecting—some sort of out of body experience, maybe?—but all I got was a too-thick, under-salted chip that tasted like it was purchased at the checkout at Hobby Lobby.

(Running On Butter reached out to Masa for comment but received no response as of publication.)

I often hear people say that eating healthy is too expensive. That the budget doesn't allow for the luxury. And honestly, in this context, I don’t disagree. $13 chips are absurd—even by North Scottsdale standards.

In my large family, that’d be about a hundred dollars a month for four Taco Tuesdays. Add the avocados for guac and before you know it your annual chips-and-guac expenditure—$2,400—is giving: honey, we gotta refinance the house.

And Masa chips are just one example of many I’ve seen of recent that point to the elitism of perceived healthy living.

Alex Clark, a health podcaster I admire (and would absolutely take out on a date), often raves about her favorite collagen—which I’m sure is top-shelf. “I don’t want to hear any complaints about the price,” she quipped recently, as she adds it into her morning smoothie.

That collagen? Ninety-nine dollars. Plus shipping.

Then there’s Paul Saladino, whom I genuinely appreciate and would consider a Running On Butter founding father. He’s selling $56 honey and $28 coffee beans.

Another person we love here at ROB is Hannah Neeleman of Ballerina Farms. She’s got $67 protein and $39 electrolytes to her brand.

These people and the products they’re selling, I have zero doubt, are both very quality. I do not think they’re selling lies.

And I love to see them utilize the free market. They can sell what they want at whatever price they want. This is America, baby!

With that being true, I also want to give you permission to pass on these brands and products. They’re quality, yes. But don’t fall into the belief that the only thing standing between you and health is another “subscribe and save 10%” purchase.

Now, who wants the rest of my chips?