Jack Link’s Original Tender Strips Beef Jerky I found at Walmart while rounding up similar products for review-writing. I’ve since tested a jumbo-sized 13.5 ounce (383 grams) bag, and deem this product as quite a good snack food. Its smoked beef strips are not overly long (at around four inches each), and they’re not too chewy. Yet they burst with that classic smokehouse beef flavor. This is a low-carb snack food as well. But don’t go crazy eating it, as it still contains considerable sodium and fat as well as nitrites. But for a easy-to-eat snack food to take to work or on a long trip, Jack Link’s original tender strips beef jerky fills the bill. It will not make you sleepy as higher-carbohydrate snacks can.
Benefits And Features
- Party-goers may actually enjoy this particular beef jerky at party buffets, perhaps because it’s so much easier to consume than other more popular meat snacks.
- As the title implies, these beef jerky strips are quite tender and easy to chew, which qualifies this as a quick snack food.
- Also, the strips are quite uniform in size and shape, resembling perfectly cooked, but not overcooked bacon strips.
- The color of the tender strips matches other less-tender beef jerky products I’ve sampled.
- This jerky is less sweet than some other perhaps more popular beef jerkies. Indeed, the sugar content per serving is only one gram, that makes this snack a low-sugar food.
- Since these beef pieces are thinner than your typical beef jerky, this food requires less effort to chew up and swallow. While I prefer the chewier jerkies, sometimes it’s handy to enjoy an easy-to-swallow snack. While regular beef jerky encourages us to eat more slowly in general, which is a good thing, this product works best in those low-time situations, where slow eating is not an option.
- This beef jerky is mildly spiced and hickory-smoked, which gives it a flavor that closely resemble beef sticks, as they are processed in largely the same fashion. But this product is even milder than some of the mildest Slim Jim beef snack sticks. Nice for those who prefer lower spice.
- The smoke flavor however, is quite prominent, which I like actually.
- This product is USDA-inspected and approved.
- This snack is a cinch to find in just about any larger grocery store or convenience center.
- No bone fragments in this snack to crack your teeth. Jack Link does a top-notch job of getting rid of all that unwanted material from the tender strips.
- With this meat being so tender, I find less of it getting stuck in my teeth. So I need not floss after each jerky-eating session.
- It has a pleasant, subtle aroma that mirrors the actual taste closely. So smelling these soft, spiced beef pieces indeed moves the mouth to watering, as the scent portends the awesome taste experience to come.
- No problems resealing the resealable bag were encountered. Sometimes, the zipper part separates from the bag sides, creating a hole that totally nullifies the freshness-retaining effects of this zipper. But not here. All bag components worked well.
Disadvantages
- The label instructs that this product be refrigerated after opening, and used within three days. So this would not be a good snack for soldiers or construction workers to take with them on long-duration hot jobs.
- Store-brands of beef jerky like Jack Link’s is a highly processed snack food with a large list of undesirable food additives, including dextrose, monosodium glutamate, and sodium nitrite.
- It’s also somewhat high in total sodium at 370 milligrams per serving. This sodium amount qualifies this product as an once-in-a-while-only treat, though its deliciously satisfying beef and spice flavors might entice you to eat it more than occasionally. But if you’re working in hot environments, eating this a few times throughout your workday would help replenish your body salt and satisfy your appetite too.
- This beef jerky is a moderate-fat food with 9 grams of fat per serving, and four of those grams is saturated fat. It seems that in order to make the strips tender, the manufacturer had to trade away some of the health benefits of beef jerky. Nothing’s ever free, is it.
- They have a slimy, oily feel to them and this grease, or whatever it is, easily transfers to the fingers when handling the beef strips. So this beef jerky is a bit messier than others I’ve tried.
Ingredients
Beef, water, soy protein concentrate, dextrose. Less than 2% of spices, salt, brown sugar, dried beef stock, hydrolyzed corn/soy/wheat proteins, maltodextrin, monosodium glutamate, flavoring, smoke flavor, sodium erythorbate, and sodium nitrite. Treated with a solution of potassium sorbate to ensure freshness. Contains: wheat and soy.
Nutrition Facts
- Serving size: 5 strips, 1 ounce, 28 grams. Servings per container: about 13.5.
- Amount per serving: Calories: 120. Calories from fat: 80.
- Total fat: 9 grams, 14% DV.
- Saturated fat: 4 grams, 19% DV.
- Trans fat: 0 grams.
- Cholesterol: 30 milligrams, 10% DV.
- Sodium: 370 milligrams, 16% DV.
- Total carbohydrate: 2 grams, 1% DV.
- Dietary fiber: 0 grams, 0% DV.
- Sugars: 1 gram.
- Protein: 8 grams.
- Vitamin A: 0% DV.
- Calcium: 0% DV.
- Vitamin C: 0% DV.
- Iron: 8% DV.
Product Rating
I’d recommend Jack Link’s Original Tender Strips Beef Jerky given its mostly healthy nutritional figures and especially because this snack is notably less sweet. While it’s got about nine times the fat that other non-tender jerky snacks have, I’d nonetheless rate this prepared meat product at 90 out of 100.
Where To Buy Jack Link’s Original Tender Strips Beef Jerky
Look for this beef jerky in larger grocery outlets. I found mine at Walmart. It comes in a blue, red, and black bag with black, yellow, and white text. The bag has a little window on the bottom portion of the front so that you can see the beef jerky inside.
References
Updates
- 2014-09-21: Added a picture.