• 2 minutes ago
Everyone had their favorite snack food growing up, and we all hoped it would show up in our lunch box come lunchtime at school. Of course, we grew out of liking a lot of them, but we unfortunately couldn't get our hands on some of them today if we tried. Despite how popular '80s and '90s nostalgia is, these snack foods all went the way of the dodo. Maybe it's for the best, because our memory will always be better than the real thing anyway. Let's take a look at some lunch box foods that we'll sadly never get to eat again.
Transcript
00:00Ah, remember the thrilling feeling of opening up your lunch and finding your favorite snack
00:04in there?
00:05That was a million times better than not getting picked last for kickball or having an early
00:09dismissal, right?
00:10Lunch was the best.
00:13I see you're drinking 1 percent.
00:15Is that because you think you're fat?
00:17But the joy of youth is fleeting, and you can never go back again, especially now that
00:22these lunchbox staples of your youth are officially extinct.
00:26Dunkaroos
00:28Betty Crocker's Dunkaroos were a 90s lunchbox essential.
00:32If you had a package of these cookies with dippable frosting, you pretty much had carte
00:36blanche to trade snacks with any kid in the lunchroom.
00:39A kangaroo could never steer you wrong.
00:42Dunkaroos were discontinued in the United States back in 2012, but if you're still fighting
00:47off the shakes from late-night Dunkaroo cravings, there is a way — Canada still has Dunkaroos
00:52on store shelves.
00:54In 2016, General Mills announced the Smuggleroos campaign to encourage millennials to ship
00:59the sugary snack across the border to U.S. fans, in order to boost interest in the fading
01:04brand.
01:05But while they might still be available in Canada, General Mills can no longer advertise
01:10these sugary snacks to kids under the Canadian Children's Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative.
01:15So, unless you start smuggling, these, too, may go the way of the dodo.
01:20Dunkaroos, Dunkaroos, you don't just eat your Dunkaroos.
01:24Hi-C Ecto Cooler
01:26Hi-C!
01:28Hi-C!
01:29It tastes so wonderfully!
01:31Any variety of Hi-C was a lunchbox favorite, but everyone wanted the one with Slimer on
01:36the box.
01:37Hi-C Ecto Cooler was a green, tangerine-flavored juice drink made for any kid who looked at
01:43Slimer and thought, yeah, I'd drink that.
01:45Despite Ghostbusters declining in popularity with kids, the drink stuck around until 2001,
01:51even though it was a promotional product for the animated series The Real Ghostbusters,
01:55which only ran until 1992.
01:58Ecto Cooler was a rare example of a promotional product being even more popular than the cartoon
02:03it was supposed to represent.
02:05The drink was brought back in boxes and cans for the summer of 2016 in honor of the Ghostbusters
02:11but was sent back to the grave again in December 2016, leaving 90s kids high and dry.
02:17Squeez-Its
02:18The 90s was the golden age of lunchbox juices, and Squeez-Its were king, plastic bottles
02:24shaped like cartoon characters that came in flavors like Chucklin Cherry, Mean Green Puncher,
02:29and Silly Billy Strawberry.
02:31And who could forget the color-changing Squeez-Its, which included a tablet that changed the color
02:35of the drink?
02:36Unfortunately, 2001 proved to be the death of many novelty drinks, and General Mills
02:41shut down production.
02:42Sorry, smarty-arty orange.
02:44We hardly knew you.
02:45I've seen you drinkin' Squeez-It, punk.
02:47I want answers!
02:48I haven't touched a drop in weeks, I swear.
02:51PB Crisps
02:52Released in 1992 and discontinued only a few short years later, PB Crisps were peanut-shaped
02:58graham crackers with a sugary coating on the outside with a tasty peanut butter cream inside.
03:04Planners also released Chocolate Crisps and PB&J Crisps, but those two variations were
03:09pretty rare even back during the brand's heyday.
03:12Over 20 years has passed, and nothing on the market available right now is similar to PB
03:17Crisps.
03:18What about Nutter Butters, you say?
03:21No!
03:22God!
03:24No!
03:25God!
03:25Please, no!
03:26No!
03:27No!
03:29No!
03:31So delicious
03:32Fruit snacks were always a safe bet, but there were hundreds of different varieties.
03:37You could have your snack shaped like sharks or Garfield, or, if you were boring, in the
03:41form of a roll of tape.
03:43Time to head on home!
03:44Send that to his son!
03:46As soon as my fruit by the foot is done!
03:49With So Delicious, you could have your fruit snack shaped like soda bottles and mugs.
03:53So Delicious originally came in cherry, cola, and root beer flavors.
03:58Betty Crocker later brought on Cool Spot, 7-Up's mascot of that same era, and flavors
04:02were changed to Red Punch, Grape, and 7-Up-inspired Lemon-Lime.
04:07Because the market was completely saturated, So Delicious practically faded away into the
04:11fruity abyss sometime in the mid-'90s.
04:14Hostess Ninja Turtles pies
04:16When heroes in a half-show are baking a surprise, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles pies!
04:21Released in 1991 to promote Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2, The Secret of the Ooze, these
04:26fried Hostess pies were, quote, "...fresh from the sewers, with a radioactive green
04:31crust and filled with," we quote again, "...vanilla pudding power."
04:36Like the Ninja Wrap, these pies didn't make it past the 90s, but nostalgic nuts want these
04:40bad boys back.
04:42Despite other brands bringing back beloved foods for movie tie-ins, Hostess hasn't re-released
04:47turtle pudding pies for any of the recent TMNT movies.
04:51That pretty much makes them worse than Krang.
04:54You thought you were going to have it all.
04:56Instead, you have Zip.