When snacking, the tendency is to automatically reach for whatever tortilla or potato chip is within reach. Pity, since there is a whole scrumptious world of other options. So, just in time to have everyone over to watch the big game, here are a few ideas to put something else in the basket on the coffee table and also a few suggestions about dips they might pair with.

1. Lime Tortilla Chips - Light-years ahead of the plain kind. Tostitos makes the tastiest ones. There go very well with fruit salsa, usually mango or peach.
2. Sweet Potato Chips - Everyone from Pringles to Terra manufactures these, though I would swing toward the latter, since the Pringles also have cinnamon. They match nicely with corn salsa or bean dip.
3. Banana or Plantain Chips - Yes, I know they're not the same thing, but close enough for my purposes. Another standout with fruit salsa, though I also like them with guacamole.
4. Pretzel Chips - A nice combo of two great salty snacks, the chips and the pretzel. Try with spinach or onion dip.
5. Tabasco Cheez-Its - Don't put anything on these. You'll wind up devouring much of the box and you don't want anything to get in your way.

Naturally, I'm going to have nachos while watching the Super Bowl, but before the guests arrive, it's a good idea to set out what is basically "nachos light" because it doesn't have to be served hot: tortilla chips, salsa, guacamole and maybe a bean and cheese dip on which to snack all day.

I like to set out two different types of shovels chips: the giant restaurant-style white corn tortilla chips and the thick-cut yellow corn tortilla chips. While I have little issue with store-bought salsas our of a jar or "fresh" from the refrigerated section, there is absolutely no excuse for not making guacamole and a very naughty hot (temperature) and spicy cheese dip made with something that starts with "V," ends with "A," and rhymes with "melmeeta."

I'm an absolute sucker for novel junk-food packaging. Doritos X-13D stopped me dead in my tracks when I was at 7-Eleven the other night. The white panel read "This is the X-13D Flavor Experiment. Objective: Taste and name Doritos flavor X-13D." I felt as if it were my civic duty to name this flavor, so I purchased two bags. I also wanted to win a years supply of the orange-colored treats. Mmm...powdered cheese.

I munched on a few on the walk home. They tasted vaguely of something familiar. The front of the package has a line that reads, "All American Classic." After I thought about it for a while I figured out what X-13D tastes like, and it is indeed a classic. It also helps explain why beef tallow and pickle juice are among the ingredients.

I went to X-13D with the intention of entering my name for this experimental snack. The jet-black pages, creepy futuristic music and Flash animations including a 3-D rotating animation of the package that displays the name you've chosen led me to believe that is a Web site created by stoners for stoners. I imagine eight-year-olds kids typing "Monkey Poo" and such, laughing their heads off. Don't worry, that's not the name I chose for X-13D. Actually I never officially entered since I couldn't get the dang site to cooperate with my dinosaur of a PC. The contest ends July 14. Can't get X-13D where you live? Worry not, some genius is selling them on eBay for $9.99 a bag. I'm not sure if it's the large size or not. Either way, that's a ridiculous markup.

Layered dips - whether you go for a total of five, six or seven - are fantastic complements to a big bag of tortilla chips and are always crowd pleasers. There is always at least one element that will appeal to everyone's tastes and, more often than not, it is the combination of everything that makes the dip a real winner.

There are a couple of different ways to make this dip and each results in a different number of layers. The basic version of the dip will have four layers: refried beans, salsa, guacamole and sour cream. Additional layers of any of those ingredients, as well as cheese, black olives, green onions and even cooked ground beef can be added to increase the layering, with the most popular number being seven.

Baked chips, when compared to regular fried chips, lack a certain something. They don't have the flavor or texture of regular chips and this is especially true in the case of tortilla chips. Eating Well set out to taste test some healthier chips and noticed, when reading the labels, that not all fried chips are equally "bad" for you - and many had more fiber and less sodium than their flavorless baked counterparts, with only a few more grams of fat. Out of 20 different chips tested, they picked out their top choices.

• RW Garcia Stone Ground (140 cal., 4g fat/.5g saturated, 4g fiber per 1-oz serving) - This brand got the "smart choice" award from the reviewers, who described them as being "authentic" and having a "great corn flavor." As an added bonus, each serving only had 40mg of sodium, the lowest in the test group.
• Santitas White Corn (130 cal., 6g fat/1g saturated, 1g fiber per 1-oz serving) - Salty, corny and crunchy, these chips actually had less sodium than most of the chips in the taste test. They weren't high in the fiber department, though.

Frito Lay is releasing a new version of its popular Tostitos tortilla chips: Multigrain Tostitos. The new chips are made with four whole grains, including corn, oat, buckwheat and wheat, contain no trans fats and little saturated fat. When compared to the classic Restaurant Style Tostitos, which are made with whole, white corn, the Multigrain have 65mg of potassium and more dietary fiber, though they actually contain slightly less calcium. The fat and calorie counts are very similar.

A nuttier, multigrain taste will probably enable the new chips to compete with crackers as a dipable snack food, good for things like cheese spreads and hummus. The regular corn tortilla chips will still be tops for salsa, though, since there isn't enough nutritional benefit to be gained from making a switch to give up that classic taste.

Oh, the Super Bowl is a sports game! Well I never... slightly on the wrong track there then! ;-)

Try these - a pack of tortilla chips (yep, these are chips in the UK not crisps) mixed with grated cheese (a nice strong chedder is best), a tin a sweetcorn and some spicy salsa, quantities to taste. Heat in the oven until the cheese melts although be careful not to burn the chips. Serve with dips of sour cream and guacamole. And plenty of beer. Like you needed reminding of that!

[Photo Andrew Barrow]