I am 5 feet tall and according to Science Daily I should weigh no more than 125 pounds. That is something that I can understand. And next time I take the dog to the vet’s I will find out how much I weigh (come on admit it we all use the vet’s scale).

“It’s a very simple calculation that most of us can do in our heads,” he explained. For men and women, there is a baseline height and weight. For men, the baseline is 5-feet, 9-inches tall and a Maximum Weight Limit of 175 pounds, meaning that a 5-foot, 9-inch tall man should weigh no more than 175 pounds. For women, the baseline is 5-feet tall and a Maximum Weight Limit of 125 pounds.

“These are nice round numbers that people can easily remember: 5-feet, 9-inches tall, 175 pounds for man; and 5-feet tall, 125 pounds for a woman,” explained Fernandez.

From that starting point, you simply calculate how much taller or shorter you are, in inches. Then, if you are man, you add or subtract 5 pounds for every inch you are taller or shorter than 5 feet, 9 inches. So, if you are 5-feet, 11-inches tall, you are 2 inches taller than the baseline of 5 feet, 9 inches. You add 5 pounds for each of those 2 inches, 10 pounds, to the baseline Maximum Weight Limit of 175. So, your Maximum Weight Limit is 185 (175 pounds plus 10 pounds). Women add or subtract 4.5 pounds for each inch they differ from the baseline height of 5-feet tall.

– Science Daily 21 September 2009.

A potato chip (American English chips, British English crisps) is a thin slice of potato deep fried or baked until crispy depending on the company it originated from. Potato chips serve as an appetizer, side dish, or snack. Commercial varieties are packaged for sale, usually in bags. The simplest chips of this kind are just cooked and salted, but manufacturers can add a wide variety of flavoring (mostly made using herbs, spices, cheese, artificial additives or MSG). Chips are an important part of the snack food market in English-speaking countries and many other Western nations.

Back in the day when I was a starch-eating-type-of-girl I loved potato chips. Whenever I went grocery shopping I would usually pick up a bag of salt and vinegar or sour cream and onion. Occasionally, as a treat, I would buy ketchup chips.

I would get the normal grocery-store-sized-bag. Which, as you know, is like buying in bulk for a single person. But it was cheaper than getting individual potato chip bags. So I was saving money – yeah, me.

The problem was once I opened up that bag of chips I was obligated to eat them and fast. Otherwise they would go stale and I would waste money. So instead of wasting my hard earned dollars I was eating 16 servings of potato chips in 4 days. That is a lot of potato chip calories. Especially considering I didn’t slow down eating anything else.

I rarely eat potato chips these days so naturally now is the time I finally find the solution to the stale potato chip dilemma. I was speaking with an old friend and she told me to do the following:

After opening your bag and have a serving of potato chips. Close up the bag and toss the bag into a Ziploc bag and put that bag into your freezer. When you want a handful of chips you grab them from the freezer and they defrost in a minute or so. And the amazing thing is the frozen chips taste even better than the unfrozen serving of potato chips.

I asked her how long chips would stay fresh in the freezer and she didn’t have a clue. So when in doubt I always say 6 weeks. I may be wrong but it keeps my freezer rotating.

I wandered over to the Snack Food Association website (you just knew there had to be one) and read their 2009 State of the Industry Report that they had posted. According to the report:

A changing definition of affordability has brought about significant changes in shopper rituals.

· One quarter of consumers have actually reduced snacking frequency.
· Again, stretching products surfaces, with one-third of consumers trying to make their snack purchases last longer.
· And, about one-half of shoppers are spending less on snacks and/or purchasing whatever is on sale rather than their preferred brands.

I am definitely a consumer that has reduced my snacking food to next to nothing. And I have become obsessed with food waste. I shop at Big Lots so I am buying whatever was on sale in another country. Love me some chocolate covered licorice from Australia.

So try it. Freeze your potato chips and see if they really do last longer and taste better than fresh out of the bag.

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Chris and Roxanne