How to Read Snack Labels: Biscuits, Namkeen and Chips
The number on the front of the packet is usually not the number for the packet. Learning to read the per 100 g column takes about ten minutes and it changes what you put in the trolley for the rest of your life.
Here is the trick that catches almost everyone. A family pack of chips declares 160 kcal per serving, which sounds reasonable. Then you look for the serving size and it says 30 g, and the packet weighs 90 g, and you have never once in your life eaten a third of a packet of chips.
That is the whole game. Serving sizes on snack packets are frequently smaller than anything a human eats in one sitting, and every number on the label is quietly scaled to that fiction.
Before you start
- Ignore the front of the pack. Claims live there. Facts live on the back.
- Compare per 100 g, never per serving. It is the only column that lets you compare two different packets fairly.
- Multiply up to the real packet. Serving size times servings per pack equals what you will actually eat.
- Salt is often listed as sodium. Sodium in grams times 2.5 gives you salt in grams.
- Adults should aim for under about 5 g of salt a day, which is roughly 2 g of sodium, from everything combined.
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The four numbers that matter
You do not need to read the whole panel. Four lines tell you almost everything.
Energy per 100 g. This is your comparison number. Most biscuits land around 450 to 500 kcal per 100 g. Namkeen and mixture usually sit near 500 to 550. Fried chips are commonly 520 to 560. That grouping is not a coincidence: once something is fried or built on flour, fat and sugar, the per 100 g figure lands in a narrow band, and the real difference between packets is how much of it you eat.
Total sugars per 100 g. A rough working rule used widely on food labels is that 5 g or less per 100 g is low and more than about 22 g per 100 g is high. Cream biscuits and many “digestive” or “energy” biscuits sit well into the high band.
Sodium or salt per 100 g. Roughly 0.1 g of sodium per 100 g or less counts as low, which is 0.3 g of salt, while above about 0.6 g of sodium per 100 g is high, which is 1.5 g of salt. Mind which of the two the packet is quoting. Namkeen, masala chips and packet snacks routinely exceed that. If your household is already watching blood pressure, this is the line to read first, and the wider sodium maths is worked through in packet masala labels.
The first three ingredients. Ingredients are listed by weight, largest first. If sugar, palm oil, maida or vanaspati appear in the first three, you know what the product mostly is, whatever the front says.
Serving-size tricks, spelled out
Three patterns cover most of what you will meet in a shop.
The serving nobody eats
A 30 g serving of chips is roughly ten crisps. A 25 g serving of namkeen is a small handful, not the bowl you tip out for cricket. When the label’s serving is obviously smaller than the real unit of consumption, multiply. A 90 g packet at 160 kcal per 30 g serving is about 480 kcal, which is a meal.
The pack that is secretly two servings
Look for “servings per pack: 2” on single bars, small cartons and medium biscuit packs. The bar in your hand is one object, and the label has split it in half.
The claim that only removes one thing
“Baked, not fried” can still be 450 kcal per 100 g. “No cholesterol” is meaningless on a plant-oil snack, which never had any. “Made with real atta” says nothing about how much atta. “Sugar-free” on a biscuit says nothing about the maida and fat. Each claim is usually true, narrowly, and tells you almost nothing about the whole product.
Every claim on the front is chosen. Every number on the back is required. Read the required ones.
How to compare two packets while standing in the shop
- Turn both packets over. Find the nutrition panel and locate the per 100 g column. If a packet only gives per serving, note the serving size in grams, because you will need to scale it.
- Compare energy per 100 g first. If one is 470 and the other 540, you already know which is denser, regardless of what the front promises.
- Compare sodium per 100 g next. Above roughly 0.6 g sodium per 100 g is high. If the label gives salt instead, divide by 2.5 to get sodium, or just compare salt to salt.
- Compare sugars per 100 g. Above about 22 g per 100 g is high. For biscuits this is usually the deciding line between two similar packets.
- Now scale to the real packet. Multiply per 100 g energy by the packet weight divided by 100. A 90 g packet at 540 kcal per 100 g is roughly 490 kcal for the packet.
- Check the first three ingredients and put back whichever packet leads with sugar or vanaspati if the two are otherwise close.
The whole sequence takes under a minute once you have done it twice. You are not trying to find a healthy packet of chips, because there is not one. You are choosing between two real options and knowing what you chose.
Try this at home tonight
Take three packets out of your kitchen, any three. Write the per 100 g energy and sodium of each on a scrap of paper, then rank them. Most people find the rank does not match what they assumed, and the “healthy” one in the middle of the list is usually the surprise. Ten minutes, and the next trolley looks different.
What the common snacks look like in practice
| Snack | Per 100 g | A real portion |
|---|---|---|
| Fried potato chips | 520 to 560 kcal | 90 g packet, roughly 470 to 500 kcal |
| Namkeen or mixture | 500 to 550 kcal | Small bowl, 50 g, roughly 250 to 275 kcal |
| Cream biscuits | 470 to 500 kcal | 4 biscuits, roughly 200 to 260 kcal |
| Plain tea biscuits | 440 to 470 kcal | 4 biscuits, roughly 140 to 180 kcal |
| Roasted chana | 360 to 400 kcal | 30 g handful, roughly 110 to 120 kcal |
| Plain roasted makhana | 330 to 380 kcal | 20 g bowl, roughly 70 to 80 kcal |
Two things stand out. Roasted chana and makhana are lower per 100 g and, more importantly, they are bulky, so a satisfying portion weighs less. That is the real reason they work as snacks and it has nothing to do with any special property. For portions and roasting method, see desi snacks for weight loss and our makhana roasting guide.
The second thing is that plain biscuits are not far below cream biscuits per 100 g. The gap opens up because you eat fewer of them, not because the biscuit is virtuous.
Portion habits that beat willpower
Nobody eats from a packet in moderation, and a decade of trying has not changed that for anyone. So change the packet, not your resolve.
Buy the small packet even though the family pack is better value per rupee, because the family pack is only better value if you eat all of it, which is the problem. Decant a portion into a katori and put the packet away before you start, since an open packet next to you is an open invitation. Never eat straight from a packet while a screen is on, because attention is what tells you to stop. And keep snacks out of arm’s reach, put away in the kitchen instead of on the table where your hand goes by default.
None of this is willpower advice. It is just making the default portion smaller than your appetite.
If you take blood pressure medicine or have been told to limit salt, packet snacks are usually the largest hidden source in the house, and the per 100 g sodium line is the one to read before anything else. People with kidney disease often need to limit both sodium and potassium, and should follow the specific advice of their own dietitian rather than general label rules. If you have diabetes, do not use “sugar-free” biscuits as a free food: the flour and fat still affect blood sugar and your doctor is the right person to set your plan. Check allergen declarations carefully if anyone in the house reacts to peanuts, nuts, milk or wheat, and remember that “may contain” warnings matter for a genuine allergy. Children do not need calorie education or any comment about their bodies; simply stocking less of this at home is the whole intervention. Unintended weight loss needs a doctor rather than a diet.
Putting it together
Most people find that snacks are the second biggest lever after drinks, because both are calories eaten outside meals and outside awareness. Fix the fridge and fix the snack shelf, and the meals themselves often need far less surgery than you expected.
If you want to see how packet snacks compare with what you would eat outside, our guide to street food swaps runs the same honest numbers for gol gappay, samosa and bun kebab. The rest of the series is gathered at Desi Weight Loss.
Are baked chips actually better than fried?
Usually somewhat lower in fat and energy per 100 g, but still a dense snack, often 400 to 480 kcal per 100 g. Check the panel rather than trusting the word baked.
What does “per serving” mean if I eat the whole packet?
It means the label’s numbers apply to a fraction of what you ate. Multiply by the servings per pack to get your real total.
How do I convert sodium to salt?
Multiply sodium in grams by 2.5. So 0.8 g sodium is about 2 g of salt. The adult target is below about 5 g of salt daily, counting everything you eat.
Is “atta biscuit” or “digestive” biscuit a good choice?
Sometimes a little more fibre, but energy per 100 g is often close to a plain biscuit and some are high in sugar. Compare the panels of the two packets rather than the names.
Are multigrain or protein snacks worth the extra cost?
Read the panel before deciding. Many are similar in energy to the standard version with a small protein addition and a large price addition. Roasted chana is cheaper protein per rupee.
Why does my packet not have a per 100 g column?
Some imported or older packs only give per serving. Divide the per serving numbers by the serving size in grams and multiply by 100 to get there yourself.