Harper Hall
Remember when snack time was the highlight of your day? Back in the ’90s and early 2000s, our lunch boxes and kitchen cabinets were packed with colorful treats that have since vanished from store shelves. These discontinued foods weren’t just snacksâthey were childhood memories wrapped in bright packaging. Take a nostalgic trip down memory lane with these 11 forgotten favorites that made growing up extra special.
1. Butterfinger BB’s
Before Butterfinger Bites came along, we had these little round morsels of crunchy, peanut buttery goodness. Perfect for movie theaters, these bite-sized versions of the classic candy bar made snacking so much more fun! Nestlé knew what they were doing when they created these in 1992.
The spherical shape somehow made the chocolate-to-crunch ratio even better than the original bar. Plus, you could share themâthough most of us probably didn’t want to!
2. Crystal Pepsi
The early ’90s brought us this transparent oddity that looked like water but tasted like cola. Kids everywhere begged parents for this novelty drink that promised the same Pepsi flavor without the caramel coloring.
Launched with a Super Bowl commercial featuring Van Halen’s “Right Now,” Crystal Pepsi became an overnight sensation before fizzling out by 1994. Its brief existence left an impression strong enough that fans petitioned for its return decades later.
3. Orbitz Soda
Imagine drinking a lava lamp! Orbitz was the wild science experiment of beverages with colorful balls floating in a clear liquid. Each sip was an adventure as those tiny spheres bounced around your mouth. Kraft launched this weird wonder in 1997, and despite being marketed as a “texturally enhanced alternative beverage,” kids loved it for the sheer oddness.
The taste wasn’t the pointâit was all about watching those little orbs defy gravity in your bottle.
4. McDonald’s Szechuan Sauce
Long before Rick and Morty made it famous again, this tangy dipping sauce briefly graced McDonald’s menu as a promotion for Disney’s Mulan in 1998. The sweet-meets-spicy flavor was unlike anything in the typical fast food arsenal. What made this sauce legendary wasn’t just its taste but its scarcity.
After its limited run, it disappeared completely until the cartoon-inspired revival nearly two decades later caused actual riots at some locations!
5. Dunkaroos
Nothing said “I’m winning at lunch” like pulling out these cookies with their own frosting dip. Launched in 1990, these kangaroo-mascoted treats came in various flavors, but the vanilla cookies with rainbow sprinkle frosting reigned supreme. The ritual was everything: carefully rationing frosting across cookies or going rogue and eating it straight from the container.
Kids would trade almost anything for these at the lunch table. Though briefly discontinued in the U.S., their comeback hasn’t captured the same magic as the originals.
6. Cosmic Brownies (Original Recipe)
Today’s Cosmic Brownies are mere shadows of their glorious ancestors. The original recipe featured a denser, fudgier brownie base topped with that signature cosmic rainbow of candy-coated chocolate pieces. Those colorful toppings weren’t just decorationâthey had a distinct crunch and chocolate flavor that perfectly complemented the brownie below.
Little Debbie quietly changed the recipe sometime in the 2010s, leaving ’90s kids forever chasing that original cosmic experience.
7. Surge Soda
Before Monster and Red Bull dominated the caffeine scene, Surge was fueling playground hyperactivity nationwide. This citrus soda with its electric green color promised to “feed the rush” of ’90s kids everywhere. Launched in 1996 to compete with Mountain Dew, Surge developed an almost instant cult following. Its discontinuation in 2003 sparked one of the most successful consumer revival campaigns ever.
The aggressive citrus flavor and ridiculous caffeine content made this the ultimate forbidden fruit of sodas.
8. Planters Cheez Balls
Remember those perfectly spherical, unnaturally orange cheese puffs that came in the iconic blue canister? Planters Cheez Balls were the sophisticated cousin to regular cheese puffsâsomehow lighter, crunchier, and more intensely cheesy. The distinctive blue can became a staple at birthday parties throughout the ’80s and ’90s. When they disappeared in 2006, a generation mourned the loss of orange-dusted fingertips.
Their brief comeback in 2018 proved that nothing beats the original formula that defined our snacking youth.
9. Odwalla Bars
Before protein bars took over the health food aisle, Odwalla Bars were the rare nutritious snack that kids actually enjoyed. These dense, chewy fruit and nut bars somehow made healthy eating exciting with flavors like Banana Nut and Super Protein. Parents loved them for the natural ingredients while kids just thought they were getting dessert.
When Coca-Cola shut down the entire Odwalla brand in 2020, these bars disappeared forever, taking with them a rare bridge between nutrition and kid-approved taste.
10. Fruit String
Fruit String was a chewy, colorful fruit snack that brought pure joy to lunchboxes in the â90s and early 2000s. Packaged like a playful ribbon, kids could peel, twist, or stretch it before eatingâmaking snack time feel more like a game. Made with fruity flavors and a taffy-like texture, Fruit String wasn’t just tastyâit was fun to play with too.
Whether you tied it in knots or shared strands with a friend, it was one of those childhood treats you didnât just eatâyou experienced.
11. Hi-C Ecto Cooler
This radioactive-green citrus punch transcended its Ghostbusters movie tie-in to become a lunchbox legend. The tangy orange-flavored drink with its distinctive Slimer character on the box was so popular it stayed on shelves long after the movie promotion ended.
Launched in 1987, Ecto Cooler survived until 2001, proving its staying power beyond typical promotional beverages. That vibrant color wasn’t just for showâit would temporarily turn your tongue green, which was basically a status symbol in elementary school cafeterias nationwide.
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