Taco Bell has cleverly created south o’ the border, fun versions of America’s favorite noshes — potato skins, nachos and Buffalo wings — each with a distinctive Taco Bell touch.

By “Taco Bell touch,” I mean it’s pretty amazing how many hundreds of items the Bell can make with different combinations of the same old seven ingredients. Taco Bell’s research-and-development team should go on Food Network’s “Chopped” show. As long as there’s ground beef, nachos, cheese, diced potatoes, tacos, tortillas and more cheese in the basket … the Taco Bell chefs will win every time.

“I was very impressed by the way you put cheese on top of cheese — genius!”

Taco Bell is like Olive Garden: Everything on the menu tastes pretty much the same. There’s nothing wrong with that, especially at Taco Bell, where you get the most for the least. Taco Bell is the cheapest fill-up in town.

Here’s the Loaded Potato Griller blueprint: crispy potato pieces covered with warm nacho-cheese sauce, bacon bits and cool reduced-fat sour cream, wrapped in a flour tortilla and grilled up crispy on the outside … and gooey and delicious on the inside. Presto! You’ve got a loaded potato skin tucked in a handy tortilla that makes it easy to eat on the run or behind the wheel.

Total calories: 470. Fat grams: 22. Sodium: 1,120 mg. Carbs: 55 g. Dietary fiber: 4 g Protein: 13 g. Manufacturer’s suggested retail price: 99 cents.

Who doesn’t love loaded potato skins? And these are loaded, all right. Taco Bell can call this an “appetizer,” and they’re small like a bubble-gum cigar and they’re only a measly buck, but each Loaded Potato Griller packs 470 calories and 22 fat grams.

So the temptation may be to order four Grillers and slug ’em down with a small Diet Pepsi, but you’re shoveling more calories and fat than you’d expect for $5.

The problem is … who doesn’t love loaded potato skins? And who can stop with them? When that tray comes for the whole table at Friday’s, I’m thinking, “Just slide them in front of me and put 60 seconds on the clock, Mr. Game Show Host.”

The flour tortilla is grilled and crispy, which provides the feel and texture of a potato skin. The innards are all there — potato, bacon, cheese and sour cream. It’s extremely tasty, bordering on addictive. For 99 cents, you can afford all the hits you want. These are a mouthful of flavor.

Here’s a snapshot of the less-interesting Grillers in the trio: The Spicy buffalo Chicken Griller is filled with white-meat chicken chunks, Taco Bell’s proprietary Lava Sauce and reduced-fat sour cream. Sorry, imitation is not the sincerest form of Buffalo wings. Lava Sauce isn’t a bull’s-eye for the familiar Buffalo-wing taste.

The Beefy Nacho Griller is fine on its own, jammed with seasoned ground beef, nacho cheese sauce and crispy red chips … but c’mon, Taco Bell, this is just a mini version of your regular beef burrito. Sure do like the price, though.

If there’s one trend in drive-thru cuisine that you can count on for 2013, it’s cheap food in bulk. McDonald’s reportedly plans to regain its sales momentum by promoting and expanding its value menu, and as McDonald’s goes, so goes the rest of the fast-food industry.

Taco Bell already was a monster for low-priced grub. That SUV packed with an entire junior varsity basketball team isn’t in the Taco Bell drive-thru by accident. If Grillers prove a winner, you can bet on Taco Bell rolling out the same exact thing again — only this time with Doritos chips in the mix.