Snacks From The 90’s
Remembering back to the days of elementary school and brown bag lunches, I found myself thinking of all the snacks that were traded for and the snacks that you hid and never wanted to eat. From candy to cookies there were a select few that could get everyone at your lunch table offering up their entire lunch. Here are the twenty-two most legit snack foods of the 90s that could make you the coolest kid in the lunchroom.
What elementary school kid could resist sugary taffy like candy that changed your tongue colors? If you had an Airhead in your lunch sack your day would be golden. We used to have competitions to see who could guess their white mystery flavor and who could turn their tongue a different color. Airheads were the one thing that anyone would trade for, but trades were few and far between because, well, nothing could compare.
Despite the fact that it was nearly impossible for kids to get the straw to correctly puncture the pouch (it always went straight through the back and out the other side making a huge mess), Capri Sun was the drink of all drinks. Juice, but who were they kidding, it was basically sugar. Definitely a teacher’s worst nightmare. Scratch that second worst nightmare; we haven’t got to Jolt cola yet.
Taking a classic caramel apple and making it even more unhealthy, but more accessible and compact, is the Caramel Apple Pop. This sucker would stick to the roof of your mouth and would leave bits of caramel stuck in your teeth, but for some reason we all loved it. You had to be careful because when the delicious caramel was gone it was inevitable that your tongue would get cut. The mixture between the caramel and the green apple flavor was worth the pain to indulge in this sugary sweet.
I still have no idea why it was so cool to have Corn Nuts. Maybe it was the name that sent elementary schoolers giggling or the fact that the spicy BBQ flavor was so hot that it left you crying. If you had a package of the ranch flavor you had it all (ranch flavor must have been the “in thing” in the 90s because there are more ranch flavors coming up on this list). They were quite hard to eat, but the flavor was where it was at.
Our second ranch flavored item on the list. While nacho cheese Doritos will always be a classic staple, for a brief time in the 90s cool ranch was the favorite flavor. Also known as cooler ranch (a marketing ploy we all fell for), the tangy flavor was the must have Dorito that came in the blue bag.
Whoever made pouches filled with cookies that could be dipped in frosting a “healthy” snack was a genius! This is definitely at the top of my list of things I wish were still around or at least, things I should have stock piled for the future. The mascot was a Kangaroo and the cookies were kangaroo shaped. While the ratio of frosting to cookies was disproportionate, it was still an amazing snack. Cookies and frosting, you can’t get any better than that.
The fruit snacks filled with yummy gooey slime, made in different tropical flavors is the ultimate fruit snack, Gushers. It was always so fun to fill your mouth with the entire package of Gushers and have the ooze pop out of all of them in one bite. It made for a sticky mess, but these fruit snacks were oh so fun to eat.
Fake cheese spread. Do I need to say more?
Jolt is the ultimate caffeinated cola. It was the energy drink before energy drinks were created and was actually banned at my elementary school. I can’t imagine what it was like for the teachers, but I’m sure they thought it was hell. We, on the other hand had a great time seeing how much we could drink. It later spawned other highly caffeinated drinks like the bright green colored, Surge. If you were lucky enough to have parents who would buy it for you, you would certainly be swarmed by the more unfortunate kids for a taste. It certainly was the drug of elementary schools.
The E.L. Fudge cookies shaped like the Keebler Elves and filled with chocolate fudge frosting were the favorite of most, but my favorites were the fudge stripes. I mostly remember the commercials of the elves living in a tree and pouring fudge over everything. Needless to say they were very yummy.
I came across a package of Koala Yummies in a 7-Eleven in Japan a few years ago and had a minor freak out (most likely looking like a crazy American), but coming across one of the coveted snack foods of my generation that’s all but disappeared in the US (and no the panda knock offs don’t count) warranted a freak out. These chocolate filled wafer bites deliousness can’t be described. So much so, it permits the use of the word deliousness.
If you didn’t have a kudos bar you may have well just bought a school lunch. These granola/cereal bars covered in chocolate and M&Ms were the talk of the lunchroom. They also came in peanut butter and chocolate chip flavors, but M&M was the best. They were granola bars that tasted like candy bars. You won’t understand until you’ve had one.
It’s a s’more in a bite sized cookie form. Graham cracker cookie topped with marshmallow and covered in chocolate fudge. They make your hands all chocolaty, but what a better reason to eat them faster!
Nutty Bars were more of a junior high lunchroom treat for me. Kids would buy full boxes of the peanut buttery treat and would buy the snack bar clean. I’m still not sure why they were such a hit, but everyone wanted them.
A sucker that you could save for later and eat all day. By pushing the bottom up with your finger the fruity sucker would pop out. (I’m finding it very difficult to describe this sucker without it sounding like a euphemism. Oh geez.) After you were finished with part of the candy you could just push the bottom to reveal more sugary goodness. It is much like the Push Up ice cream in candy form, but much easier to push. It always left my fingers sticky, but it was worth it.
I can’t help, but think of Billy Madison when Snack Packs are brought up. The plastic cups filled with pudding of all varieties were a staple in lunch bags. If you didn’t have a Snack Pack lunch was a miss for you. Better luck next time.
In the 90s there seemed to be a big stretch to make yogurt fun for kids. GoGurt and Trix yogurt were both good tries, but they were nowhere near the genius of Sprinkl’ins. The original consisted of sprinkles you could pour into your yogurt from a plastic canister lid, separated by a foil sheet, that would pull away to release the sprinkles. Later the canister was filled with chocolate chips or cookies pieces until the invention of the flavor crystals. These crystals were different colors and when poured into plain yogurt would change the color and the flavor. It was so fun! Now I can’t eat yogurt without thinking how lame it is without flavor crystals.
Who could forget the cartoon squeeze it bottles from the commercials? Or the commercials tag line, “Squeeze the fun out of it”? These were plastic bottles filled with Kool-Aid like juice that you, well, squeeze out the top. They were followed by a Hi-C knock off that just didn’t taste the same and were never really seen again. They are by far the best drink on this list. If only we could bring them back.
String Thing is much like Fruit Roll Ups, but it came in string/rope form and was shaped in different designs. We always tried to guess what shape they would come in before opening the package. Once we found out that they were sticky enough to make the designs on your face, the lunchroom couldn’t get enough.
Chocolate, honey, and cinnamon. My favorite bear shaped cookie treat was definitely chocolate. No one has been able to copy the delicious graham like cracker/cookie and they are still going strong. I still grab a bag or two at the grocery store. In the lunchroom we used to make little bear towns and then destroy them by eating off bear appendages (don’t even think you didn’t do this). Lucky for the little bears I eat them a little more humanely now.
The day I asked for a Twizzlers and it was not a pull and peel was a very sad day indeed. One day they just up and disappeared. Having a pull and peel was like having 10 licorice pieces combined. I don’t know why anyone would settle for just one after the invention of pull and peel. They were fun to play with and way better than regular licorice. They also made for a great bargaining tool at the lunch table because you could trade half and keep the rest for yourself.
How long could you have one in your mouth without making a face? Or after you had that mastered, how many could you fit in your mouth? Warheads were the ultimate challenge and every kid took it.
