Discontinued Foods From the '70s & '80s GenXers Miss the Most

Does anyone miss New Coke? Anyone? Bueller?

Man, breakfast used to be so exciting. When we were kids, my older brother Eddy and I would beg Mom at the grocery store for whichever cereal we’d been salivating over during commercial breaks, and she’d promptly reject the Frosted Marshmallow Sugar Bomb cereal and toss a box of plain Cheerios or Wheaties in the cart instead. We just dumped spoonfuls of sugar on top of the cardboard-flavored cereals anyway, bless her heart. On the occasion we’d begged her successfully, she’d buy us Golden Grahams, Honeycomb, or if we were really lucky, Cookie Crisp.

Then my bro started to get brave and he’d sneak a box of Trix or Froot Loops in the cart. Even I wasn’t aware of the deception until I heard Mom exclaim, in mild exasperation to the grocery clerk ringing up our food, “Where did THAT come from? I didn’t put that… Eddy! Did you…” She’d turn to the poor employee who’s looking at us as if to ask “Am I ringing this up or not?” and she’d sigh, “Oh go ahead…we’ll get it”.

The thrill of finding the mystery toy inside was simply too much for me to handle in those days. I’d stick my (probably unwashed) hand deep into the full bag in the hopes of claiming the prize for myself, until the day Eddy discovered my excavation attempt. Disgusted and annoyed that I’d been cheating him of finding the toys, he started hiding the cereal from me after that. I guess he forgot he was the one who showed me how to climb up onto the counters to reach the highest cupboards.

I mean, who wouldn’t want to be the first one to get the Rebel Rocket and Bazooka gum? There’s gold in them there hills

The cereals I desired the most were the ones based on pop culture. People love to mention that E. T. the Extraterrestrial had the most successful product placement in movie history, with sales of Reese’s Pieces soaring after the film came out, but it was the E. T. cereal that got my attention. In the ‘80s, there was a new cereal based on characters from TV shows, movies, and toys, like, every week.

All this nostalgia for kids’ cereals that no longer exist got me thinking, so I asked Threads “Hey Gen X, what’s a food from our childhood years that they don’t make anymore?” Here are the Top 5 most common answers from over 2,000 responses.

5. Sizzle Lean

I remember the slogan from their commercials becoming a popular catchphrase (“Move over bacon, now there’s something meatier!”), usually when you needed someone to move their ass out of your way. The kids appear to be hogging the bleachers but you see space? Simply say “Move over, bacon…” as you plop your ass in the space they promptly provide for you.

Curious why a “leaner bacon” product wouldn’t still be on the market, I did some reading and discovered it was partly due to its claims of being a healthier alternative to bacon. It might’ve had less fat than the real deal but it still contained 37% fat. So basically people felt bamboozled by the inaccurate use of “lean”.

4. Hi-C Ecto Cooler

This citrusy, neon green kid’s beverage came out to promote the cartoon series The Real Ghostbusters in the mid-’80s. Naturally, they made Slimer the mascot. So many GenXers and Millennials have a sentimental fondness for anything Ghostbusters that they try recreating the recipe at home and even make weird concoctions in homage to its greatness.

And what exactly am I supposed to spread this toxic sludge “spread” onto…

3. Koogle Peanut Butter Spreads

Speaking of “spreads”, this is one that I don’t remember, but my husband does. It was a peanut butter product marketed to children in the ‘70s that came in a few flavors: banana, cinnamon, chocolate, and vanilla. The internet tells me Kraft stopped making it in the mid-’70s, when I was a baby, which is why I don’t remember it, but apparently Koogle was so beloved there’s even a Bring Back Koogle Facebook page.

2. Carnation Breakfast Bars

I remember these being the first time I noticed a snack bar was marketed as a healthy breakfast (they might not have really been the first—please save your “Actually…”). It’s like the execs at Nestle realized the hippies were onto something with their granola bars and decided to capitalize on the fact that fewer moms were cooking 4-course breakfasts at 6 am. What’s faster than a pre-wrapped bar when you’re on the go? Nothing. Except maybe a muffin but those are messier and just don’t pack well. They get smooshed.

I don’t know what size pockets Nestle expected us to have in order to carry that pint of milk for our hip pocket meal

And the number 1 most popular, most missed food is…

1. JELL-O Pudding Pops

This is exactly the food I first thought of when I typed out my Threads poll, so it came as no surprise I wasn’t alone. My husband does a funny impression of Bill Cosby from the commercials, and when I’m done laughing I get resentful that the man who created Fat Albert and Heathcliff Huxtable turned out to be a serial rapist. Anywho, I also loved frozen pudding on a stick back in the day and was shocked when I noticed them missing in stores a few years ago. I wanted my son to share in this childhood memory but alas, it was not to be. I was a health nut for a good decade so I would’ve been unaware when they were officially off the market.

If you miss these treats like the rest of us, you can try making them homemade. The internet is full of pudding pop recipes that (hopefully) recapture their creamy deliciousness.

Some people also mentioned its sister product, the gelatin pops. More honorable mentions include Tato Skins, Chocodiles, Quackers, the McDLT, and the Reggie Bar.

There were a few foods mentioned that are still on the market. I suspect people sometimes mistakenly believe a product was discontinued just because the stores near their home no longer carry them. Tang and Steak-Umms are 2 examples.

If you could bring back only 1 discontinued food, what would it be?