Take a Trip Back to the ’90s: Snacks We Seriously Miss (and a Few That Are Still Around!)
If you grew up in the 1990s like me, you know it was a time of epic fun and unforgettable moments. We were riding the wave of AOL internet, chilling with the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, learning life lessons from Saved by the Bell, and racking up headshots on GoldenEye with the Nintendo 64. But let’s be real, one of the best parts of being a kid in the ’90s was the snacks!
Oh, the choices! If you could just convince your parents to buy them, the ’90s snack aisle was a treasure trove of deliciousness. Today, we’re taking a nostalgic stroll down memory lane, unwrapping some of those iconic ’90s snack foods that we really wish would make a comeback. And guess what? A few of them are still out there, just waiting for you!
Before we start our delicious journey, be sure to subscribe to the Weird History Food Channel (they’re awesome!) and let us know in the comments below what other forgotten foods you’d love to hear about.
Alright, somebody throw on some Oasis! 🎶
Nestle’s Push-Up Pops (The Flintstones Edition!)
Released right at the start of the ’90s, these were pure joy in a cardboard tube! Imagine sherbet, but you push it up with a built-in plunger-like stick. And the best part? They were “Yaba Daba Delicious” because they came bedazzled with our favorite Flintstones characters!
Though they seemed to vanish by the end of the decade, Nestle just stopped using the Flintstones pictures. You can still find push-up pops in your freezer aisle today, just without Fred’s smiling face. A little less magic, but still tasty!
Hubba Bubba Bubble Tape
This was a total sensation in the ’90s! Hubba Bubba Bubble Tape was a long, flat piece of gum rolled up in a case. It wasn’t just the fun of having “6 feet of bubblegum for you, not them” (meaning, it was for us kids, not the grown-ups!). That catchy slogan practically screamed, “This gum will make your parents sigh!” And guess what? It totally worked! At its peak, the company was making a million packages a week. Talk about popular!
Fruit Roll-Ups (Nickelodeon Style!)
Fruit leather might sound fancy and old, but General Mills made it famous with Fruit Roll-Ups in 1983. These were basically fruit-flavored corn syrup, dried into flat circles on cellophane. You could find them in every grocery store.
But for a super cool time between 1994 and 1996, General Mills teamed up with Nickelodeon! Fruit Roll-Ups featured characters from shows like Doug, Rocko’s Modern Life, and Aaahh!!! Real Monsters. They even had a special “slimy grimy green” flavor to celebrate Nickelodeon’s famous green slime. Eating one was like munching on a piece of Shrek’s skin… and we loved it!
Push Pops (The Candy Version!)
Made by the same company that usually makes baseball cards with hard, tasteless gum (Topps!), Push Pops were a different kind of push-up. These hard candies came in a plastic tube with a plunger. You’d push the candy up as you licked it, just like the sherbet version. While they didn’t have Fred Flintstone’s face, they were a ’90s kid staple. Good news for fans: you can still find Push Pops in many classic flavors today!
Squeezits
These were the ultimate hyperactive kid’s drink from General Mills. Squeezits were juice-like drinks in plastic bottles you had to squeeze to drink! While they started in the ’80s, the ’90s made them famous with wild commercials. Kids would chase down terrified, talking Squeezit bottles to drink their yummy insides. The slogan, “Squeeze the fun out of it,” probably sounded like a scary prophecy to those poor little bottles!
Squeezits came in fun flavors like Chucklin’ Cherry and Rockin’ Red Puncher. But sadly, the “big squeeze” ended when they were stopped in 2001.
Shark Bites
Also from the makers of Fruit Roll-Ups, Shark Bites were gummy snacks that swam onto shelves in 1988. What made them special? “Special pieces!” Some bags had rare shapes like great white sharks, shark teeth, or tiger sharks. It was like a little gamble with every bag, and we loved it! The company even made “Berry Bears” for girls, because, you know, girls apparently didn’t like sharks (they were wrong!). Shark Bites are still around, but be warned: their flavors are very different now.
Hubba Bubba Ouch Bubble Gum
This gum was designed to look like Band-Aid boxes – perfect for that weird kid in class who actually liked to eat Band-Aids (you know who you are!). Each stick of gum was even wrapped in paper like a Band-Aid. It was sugar-free and came in flavors like grape and watermelon. If these were your jam, I’m sorry to say this bizarre gum was discontinued in the late 2000s.
Pizza Lunchables
Oscar Mayer, the kings of bologna, gave us Lunchables in 1988, and they were a massive hit! They were a way to sell more bologna and help moms save time. Over 1.5 billion units sold in their first ten years, leading to many different kinds. The legendary Pizza Lunchables arrived in ’96. These little snack packs had a tiny crust, sweet tomato sauce, three slices of pepperoni, mozzarella cheese, and a cool red wand to spread the sauce. The wand is gone now, but Pizza Lunchables are still available today!
Warheads
These super-sour candies started in Taiwan in 1975 but came to the U.S. in 1993. Warheads were the ultimate schoolyard legend! Flavored with citric and malic acid, they had a strong sour taste that would make your face scrunch up. Most people spat them out after 5-10 seconds, but ’90s kids loved to have contests to see who could eat the most at once. Despite a warning about “temporary irritation” to sensitive tongues, we ate them anyway! If you were one of those brave kids, you’ll be happy to know Warheads are still around. Get back in fighting shape!
Kid Cuisine
Debuting in 1990, Kid Cuisine was a line of frozen dinners just for kids. You knew it was for kids because a cool penguin with sunglasses was on every box! The idea was like a McDonald’s Happy Meal combined with a TV dinner. These meals usually had kid-friendly foods like chicken nuggets and mac and cheese. As they got more popular, new meals like Pizza Painter and Rockin’ Roll Taco Roll-Ups came out. Today, you can still get a few kinds like popcorn chicken or mini corn dogs, always with a brownie, corn, and fries or mac and cheese. Perfect for recreating a weekday afternoon in the ’90s!
Fruit String Thing
Kids love to play with their food – it’s a rule of the universe! General Mills knew this and released Fruit String Thing, part of the same fruity-goo family as Fruit Roll-Ups and Shark Bites. This time, the fruit mixture was poured onto paper in ropey tangles and swirls. Kids could peel it off as one long string or in little pieces. Commercials even showed kids being super creative with how they ate it. They even came in shapes like rocket ships and bicycles. Sadly, this fun snack was stopped sometime in the mid-2000s.
Butterfinger BB’s
Nestle’s Butterfinger bar, with its flaky orange peanut butter filling, has been around since 1922! When something’s been popular for 70 years, you don’t change the main recipe, but you do try new things. So, in 1992, Nestle gave us Butterfinger BB’s. These were little marble-sized chocolate and peanut butter nuggets, probably created to answer the question: “What if Butterfingers were more of a choking hazard?” They had a good run but were stopped in 2006.
Doritos 3D
Nobody likes a flat Dorito, right? That’s what Doritos was thinking when Doritos 3D came out in 1998. These were puffed-up Doritos, like they had an allergic reaction to nacho cheese! They came in flavors like Zesty Ranch and Jalapeno Cheddar. The company stopped selling them almost everywhere in 2004, but good news for fans: in 2021, they brought the 3D version back in two flavors: Chili Cheese Nacho and Spicy Ranch!
Bug Pops
These popsicles with little gummy bugs inside were a tie-in to the Timon and Pumbaa cartoon (from Disney’s The Lion King, who love eating bugs!). Despite looking like popsicles that had fallen under the fridge, Bug Pops were a hit in 1995. They came in cherry and grape and usually had Timon and Pumbaa trading cards. But this product didn’t last long, disappearing from shelves in 1997.
Sprinkle Spangles Cereal
Dropping in the mid-1990s, Sprinkle Spangles cereal was star-shaped and covered in colorful sprinkles. Commercials featured a purple Genie named Sprinkle Genie (voiced by the funny Dom DeLuise!) who would grant kids’ wishes for sprinkles on their cereal with the catchphrase, “You wish it, I dish it!” But despite all the fun, the cereal was stopped in 1998.
Sonic the Hedgehog Pasta
Sonic the Hedgehog was a huge video game star by 1995, so he got the ultimate American honor: his own brand of canned spaghetti and meatballs! Franco-American, the makers of SpaghettiOs, created Sonic the Hedgehog Pasta. Commercials showed a kid plugging a can of pasta into his gaming system – a truly bizarre scene! Sonic went on to movie fame, but his pasta hit a wall in 2000.
So, what do you think? Were you a ’90s kid? And if so, were any of these treats among your favorites? Let us know in the comments below!
