Great Value Original Beef Jerky I came across at Walmart while rounding up other beef snack products for review. I’ve since tasted a jumbo-sized 6.2 ounce 176 grams bag, and think this beef jerky is really good, especially given its somewhat cheaper price. Its smoked beef strips are long, thick, and chewy, while bursting with that classic smokehouse beef flavor. This is a low-fat, low-carb snack food as well. But don’t go nuts eating it, as it still contains considerable sodium as well at nitrites. But for a easy-to-preserve snack food to take to work or on a long trip, this Great Value original beef jerky does the job well. It will not make you sleepy as more sugary snacks can, and it’s hard to eat rapidly. This gives your body the chance to realize that it’s filling up before overeating occurs. You have to work a trifleto fully consume this snack food.
Benefits, Pros, Advantages, and Features
- This jerky is not as sweet as the Sweet Baby Ray’s original beef jerky that I recently reviewed.
- Since these beef pieces are thicker and longer, this food requires more effort swallow.
- This beef jerky is mildly spiced and smoked, which makes its flavor closely resemble beef sticks, as they are processed in largely the same fashion. It tastes every bit as good as Jack Link’s original beef jerky.
- This form of preserved beef requires refrigeration only after you open it for the first time, and only then, if you want to keep it longer than several days. So it will keep at least a couple years in your pantry prior to the first opening.
- Beef jerky is well-known for its longevity under very hot conditions, as military soldiers make jerky part of their routine back pack food rations when heading into battle.
- This snack is easy to find in just about any store, service station, or other convenience center.
- No bone fragments in this snack to crack your teeth. Great Value does an excellent job of disposing all that unwanted material.
- Great value beef jerky has a pleasant, subtle aroma that duplicates the actual taste closely. So smelling this spiced beef indeed encourages the mouth to water, as the scent portends the awesome taste experience to come.
- This beef jerky is a low-fat food with just 1 gram of fat per serving, and zero of those grams is saturated fat. It’s also low carb, at 3 grams, and this smoked snack is high in protein at 14 grams per serving. It’s a low-fat, low-carb, high-protein taste treat.
- No problems resealing the resealable bag were encountered. Sometimes with some of these products, the zipper part separates from the bag sides, creating a hole that totally nullifies the freshness-retaining effects of this zipper. But not with this bag of Great Value beef jerky. All bag components functioned properly in my test bag.
Disadvantages, Cons, Problems, and Concerns
- This beef jerky leaves little stringy pieces stuck in the teeth quite often that require brushing or flosing to excise.
- People typically do not include beef jerky at party buffets, because it’s so much harder to chew than other more party-friendly foods. I’d love seeing some though, at the next party I attend.
- Store-brands of beef jerky like Great Value is a highly processed snack food with a large list of undesirable food additives, including sugar, monosodium glutamate, and sodium nitrite.
- It’s also somewhat high in total sodium at 620 milligrams per serving. This sodium amount qualifies this product as an once-in-a-while-only treat, though its deliciously satisfying spice, smoke, and beef flavors might induce you to eat it more often than is healthy. Yet if you’re working in hot environments, eating this a few times throughout your workday would help refurvish your body salt and quell your hunger too.
Ingredients
Beef, water, sugar. Less than 2% of salt, corn syrup solids, hydrolyzed corn and soy protein, dried soy sauce (wheat, soybean, salt), monosodium glutamate, flavoring, maltodextrin, spice, sodium erythorbate, sodium nitrite.
Allergy Warning: Contains: wheat and soy.
Nutrition Facts
- Serving size: 1 ounce, 28 grams. Servings per container: about 6.
- Amount per serving: Calories: 80. Calories from fat: 10.
- Total fat: 1 gram, 2% DV.
- Saturated fat: 0 grams, 0% DV.
- Trans fat: 0 grams.
- Polyunsaturated fat: 0 grams.
- Monounsaturated fat: 0 grams.
- Cholesterol: 20 milligrams, 7% DV.
- Sodium: 620 milligrams, 26% DV.
- Potassium: 150 milligrams, 4% DV.
- Total carbohydrate: 3 grams, 1% DV.
- Dietary fiber: 0 grams, 0% DV.
- Sugars: 3 grams.
- Protein: 14 grams.
- Vitamin A: 0% DV.
- Calcium: 0% DV.
- Folic acid: 0%.
- Vitamin C: 0% DV.
- Iron: 8% DV.
Product Rating
I’d recommend highly this Great Value Original Beef Jerky given its mostly healthy nutritional values, it’s somewhat cheaper cost, and it’s lower sweetness. I’d rate this snack food at 94 out of 100.
Where To Buy Great Value Original Beef Jerky
Look for this beef jerky exclusively at any Walmart grocery store or super center. It comes in a white bag with a brown strip across the front with the face of a cow within, and it has the blue and white text, that is seen on most every Great Value product label. The bag also has a little window on the front so that you can see the beef jerky inside.
References
Revision History
- : Moved this post to the Tom’s Diet Quest blog, added whitespace, adjusted ad placement, and tweaked the content.
- 2012-05-07: Originally published.