I consider myself to be quite nostalgic. And a lot of that nostalgia is, surprise surprise, all about food and snacks. Back in the ’90s, food was focused on fun — not health, necessarily. But while it’s generally a good thing that kids are learning about nutrition at a much earlier age, it means they may miss out on their own sugar-filled moments of bliss.
Just think about all of the things that have vanished since our youth. I know I’ve talked about them a lot (too much, if we’re being honest) but the Burger King Kids Club is no longer. What happened to Kid Vid and Snaps? Such important characters from my childhood remain solely in my brain. And remember when cereal actually had a prize inside?
It was a good motive to grab a box at the grocery store. These days, it’s all word finds and healthy eating facts — again, a positive.
As a mom to a toddler, I’m learning firsthand that kids can be picky eaters. So I get why marketing teams tried to entice kids to eat something by making it colorful, entertaining, or nutritionally vacant.
But, it’s still a surprise that ’90s kids ate products like this on a daily basis and managed to survive.
Gushers
Back in elementary school, Gushers were the coolest snack around. And since they were technically called “Fruit Gushers,” it was a good way for parents to probably think they were a healthy choice.
But oh, they were not.
While not the most terrible snack that’ll enter this list, Gushers consist of sugar, fructose, corn syrup, and a very small amount of actual fruit juice. You can still find them in stores, but they’ll never taste as good as they did back in your school cafeteria.
Lunchables
Lunchables are still wonderful — and readily available at the store — but have you actually thought about what they contain? Even though deli meat is kind of a must-have in your house (especially with kids) nothing about Lunchables screams “fresh!”
Still, back as a kid, it felt good to be in control of your lunch.
BeFoodSmart broke down a Bologna + American Cracker Stacker with Juice Lunchables to reveal that it contained 67 ingredients. That’s kind of a big deal. The bologna contained corn syrup, along with sweeteners and preservatives. The crackers contained a ton of flour and sugar. Some kids ate these daily.
Shark Bites
[fm_youtube url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MxUEdR4SNBY"]Good news, ladies and gentleman — according to Walmart’s website, they still carry these. But they’ll never be as good as in the ’90s when it was a thrill to get a Great White Shark in the mix.
The best part about fruit snacks is that there was always that element of surprise in your lunch box.
The bad part is, they were typically filled with sugar. Shark Bites contained 80 calories overall, and 14 grams of sugar. The only vitamin present in these is Vitamin C.
Oatmeal Swirlers
[fm_youtube url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FeEfCnlbZkg"]The best way to get kids to eat oatmeal was to make it fun — and that’s where Oatmeal Swirlers came in. Debuting in 1989, the commercials made it seem so simple to play a game of tic-tac-toe in your breakfast bowl.
In real life, childhood hands aren’t as sturdy — so, oatmeal art looked more like a big red clump of disappointment.
But hey, it still tasted good. Even though the exact nutrition facts are lost in the void, let’s just say this was way less healthy than actual oatmeal.
Dunkaroos
Dunkaroos were a product that combined two of our favorite things — cookies and frosting. But yet again, they created them with the idea that kids can have control. You could frost that cookie to your heart’s content.
Even Prince was a fan of the snack.
But, let’s be honest here — cookies and frosting isn’t exactly the healthiest thing to munch on. The chocolate version is said to contain both cooked corn (huh?) and corn syrup. And it’s not surprising, but Dunkaroos contain 13 grams of sugar. And that’s just for one package! When Dunkaroos were in the house, it was easy to go overboard.
SqueezIt
[fm_youtube url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-y5vMyHBBa8"]Back in elementary school, I remember that there were two contenders for coolest lunchtime drink: SqueezIts and Kool-Aid Bursts. SqueezIts — which I personally preferred — had a fun face on them.
Kool-Aid Bursts were more or less portable Kool-Aids in a similar plastic bottle.
These days, you’ll see more bottled water or milk in a lunch box, because they’re more nutritionally balanced. But those aren’t half as fun. If you really want to know, it looks like there were 23.6 grams of sugar in just one SqueezIt, which is intense for a beverage.
Fla-Vor-Ice Freeze Pops
They still sell these almost everywhere, but when you have to freeze them yourself, they’re not as satisfying. It’s much better to hang out with a neighborhood friend and see her freezer stocked to the brim.
“What color do you want?” was a wonderful question to be asked.
It’s a shame these are filled with high fructose corn syrup. In fact, it’s the second ingredient next to water.
Fruit Roll-Ups
[fm_youtube url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bwotYEeMpls"]Fruit By The Foot was better, but for a long time, Fruit Roll-Ups dominated every ’90s pantry.
Once again, parents were likely duped into getting it because it’s “fruit.”
But the sticky faux-fruit sheet didn’t really do too much nutritionally — they just stuck to your teeth. One roll had 50 calories, but around 10 grams of sugar.
Surge
There’ve been so many great beverages that came out in the ’90s and are now no longer (RIP, Fruitopia) but Surge holds a special place in many people’s hearts.
Debuting in 1996, it was Coca-Cola’s response to Mountain Dew.
And it’s still so iconic that it’s made a few comebacks since initially being discontinued. But, you may want to know that too many of these might actually rot out your teeth. One can contains 56 grams of sugar, which is super ridiculous. At least now we know why it was popular for students pulling all-nighters.
TastyKakes
Peanut Butter Kandy Kakes? Butterscotch Krimpets? Enough said.
For many kids who lived in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, these prepackaged goodies were known as “dessert.”
Even if it’s been a while since you had one of these snacks, you can still imagine what it tastes like today. And that taste? Mostly chemicals and sugars. Most TastyKakes are between 200 and 350 calories. The famous Butterscotch Krimpets, which may be their most popular, contains 26 grams of sugar.
Nerds
Nerds come in a variety of different forms these days, but back then, you could get two different flavors in one box. Typical to small rock candy, they were one of the coolest snacks around in the ’90s.
They even had their own cereal at one point.
They were the perfect way to get a quick sugar fix — just as long as you made sure the tiny, easily-spillable pieces actually ended up in your mouth. One little tablespoon of Nerds is said to contain 14 grams of sugar. Surprising, but not too surprising.
Pixy Stix
Speaking of sugar, Pixy Stix should have been illegal.
But, they were extremely popular at school, probably because they were so powerful.
Pixy Stix actually have a long history behind them — they were initially created in the 1930s as a drink mix, but when the creators learned that kids were pretty much downing them as-is, they faced a total rebrand. ’90s kids were quick to catch on to how good they were, and since they contained sugar, even better. They also contain dextrose, citric acid, and both natural and artificial flavorings.
Cookie Crisp
Listen, the premise of Cookie Crisp was that it’s a cereal filled with mini cookies. And it was good back then, and it’s still good today. But it’s really not the best way to start your morning, because of the sugar content.
A serving size is one cup, which has 10.4 grams of sugar and 25.3 grams of carbohydrates. And, come on now. You’re not just eating a cup of this stuff.
You should still be eating your cookie crisp proudly, but maybe as a dessert instead of first thing in the morning.
Mickey’s Parade Ice Pops
Okay, so it may have been a little creepy that they were shaped like the characters (and the molds were pretty impressive) but most kids back then had at least one box of these in their freezer during their lifetime. And personally, I remember going through two or three pops per day back in the summertime.
They weren’t the healthiest, but something about Mickey made me feel like they were safe. A standard ice pop usually contains 7 grams of sugar, so that’s likely where these fell as well.
Since everyone had a favorite and least favorite, let’s just say Mickey disappeared the quickest, but there were a bunch of Donald’s laying around for others to enjoy.
Melody Pops
Fancy yourself a musician? Then you probably tried Melody Pops at some point. Created by Chupa Chups, these also function as a whistle, albeit a gross, sticky whistle that nobody ever kept.
So not only were these candies not very healthy, but they were also pretty annoying. Our poor parents.
But, here’s some good news if you’re feeling nostalgic. You can still buy Melody Pops on Amazon, if you can stomach the sugar, corn syrup, and citric acid.
Bubble Tape
[fm_youtube url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iF07mccxIWM"]It’s funny to realize now how Bubble Tape was the gum that wanted you to defy authority. All this time, I thought it was just a neat concept. As kids who didn’t know much about portion control, it was very easy to go through.
Bubble Tape is a lot different than it was back in the day, simply because it was acquired by Wrigley in 2003. If the nutrition facts stayed the same, it had about 2 grams of sugar per serving.
At the very least, it still has a cool container. We all know that was the real selling point.
Flintstones Push-Up Pop
You could usually find these right next to the Mickey Mouse pops in your freezer. For some reason, ’90s kids were all about popsicles.
These came in Yabba Dabba Doo Orange, Bedrock Berry, and the much-less-creatively named Lime Rock Lime.
Since there was a good chance that you were already downing a Flintstone multivitamin in the morning, it’s kind of crazy to see how much this classic cartoon influenced our food choices. Even though parents may be swayed by the fact that these contained Vitamin C, they’re still sherbet. Standard sherbet contains around 18 grams of sugar.
