If there’s one product I have the utmost faith in, just based on personal experience, it would be cheese baked snack crackers. I’ve had them from a couple different places (Aldi and Dollar Tree) and both of them tasted at least pretty close to the national brand, while being far cheaper. So it is with this in mind that I sat down to a box of Cheesters Baked Snack Crackers, which is Meijer’s equivalent to the national brand.

First of all, before I begin, what kind of name is Cheesters? I could see if maybe it was a take-off of the national brand cheese curl (or puff), whose mascot is named Chester, but there are no references to that, and this is a totally different product altogether. Really, Meijer is just the worst when it comes to names. First, there’s Crystal Quencher, the name of their sparkling water brand, and now Cheesters? It’s almost like they’re trying to get their product names to go viral for sucking so bad.

Anyway, these actually do live up to the name – by being the worst example of a cheese baked snack cracker I’ve ever had in my life.

For starters, the cracker has way too much say in the taste. The name brand (and the better store brands) all basically lead with the cheese, with the cracker a distinct afterthought. But here, the cracker takes front and center – and tastes almost burnt despite there being no evidence of burning – with very little in the way of cheese. It’s just a salty cracker with a vague undercurrent of cheddar in the finish somewhere. It’s not just a bad cracker only when compared to the national brand – it would be just as bad on its own.

The texture does get some praise, since it looks and crunches like you would expect them to…at least they got something right. The $1.99 retail price (when not on sale), per 12.4 oz. box is okay, but not really worth it when you consider the quality of cracker we’re up against here. Very disappointing.

Overall: 3/10. It started with the name “Cheesters”, and still somehow managed to go downhill from there: this is the worst cheese flavored baked snack cracker I’ve ever had. There’s an abundance of salt, but it’s backed not by cheesy goodness, but rather the taste of a flat, lifeless cracker; it’s not until the finish that the cheddar makes itself known. These kinds of crackers are one of my weaknesses in life, but I had no problems putting these down after grabbing one or two; that should sadly say it all.