12 Packed School Lunch Items Gen X Kids Remember

Some Gen Xers look back on elementary and middle school lunch periods fondly. Perhaps they were a welcome respite from the boredom of classroom learning, a time to have fun with their friends, or a chance to trade lunch box treats. For others, it was a dreaded period of forced socialization (or isolation), or the moment they realized what horrors awaited them in their lunch bag. Whichever category you fell into, you probably have strong memories of opening your lunch box or brown paper bag at the cafeteria table and determining your mealtime destiny. 

And let's talk about those lunch boxes for a second. Many of us had a beloved plastic or metal lunchbox featuring our favorite pop culture icons, from Strawberry Shortcake, Rainbow Brite, Smurfs, and the Care Bears to She-Ra, G.I. Joe, Transformers, and Star Wars characters. As for what was in the box, some Gen X kids got thoughtfully packed lunches of homemade PB&J sandwiches, Twinkies, fresh fruit, and a cute note from their mom or dad. 

Others got Chaos Lunches, or an array of mismatched Tupperware containers holding whatever was leftover from dinner the night before. If you're a member of Gen X (born between 1965 and 1980), you may have radically different memories of your packed lunch (or school lunches through the years) than someone who was born even five years later or earlier than you. Take a look at these 12 packed school lunch items Gen X kids remember, and compare them to what was in your lunch box.

The luckiest kids in school would open their lunch boxes to find Hunt's Snack Pack, a cute little tin can fruit cocktail, gelatin, or pudding. You may have recently revisited the nostalgia of Snack Pack's retro packaging in an episode of "Stranger Things." Hunt's launched Snack Packs in 1968, and although the company claimed the lid was child-safe, it seems like a lot of people have memories of cutting their tongue while licking the lid. Maybe that's why Hunt's switched to plastic containers in 1984.

Getting a package of Handi-Snacks in your lunchbox was elite. The visceral joy of removing the red plastic stick and spreading the gooey cheese product on your cracker was unparalleled. This iconic cracker snack was developed by Kraft in 1980 and one of its earliest taglines was "Can something this wholesome be so much fun?" And our answer to that is a resounding "yes."

While some parents included fresh fruit in their children's lunch boxes, others resorted to fruit-like substitutes such as Fruit Roll-Ups, a delightfully '90s snack you can still enjoy today. If you got Fruit Roll-Ups, Gushers, or Fruit by the Foot, other kids would immediately descend upon you, asking to trade for their less exciting fruity offerings. If you were unlucky enough to get a little carton of Sun-Maid Raisins, you would be one of the kids begging to trade.

Lunchables were the busy parent's solution to the problem of school lunch fatigue. No longer did they have to spread condiments or preserves on slices of white bread and press them together while sighing softly. There was no need to measure out handfuls of chips or cookies or cut up carrots or apples. Instead, they could just plop one of these kid-pleasers into a lunch box or bag. Lunchables, launched in 1988, originally only included crackers, cheese, and bologna. The many different types of Lunchables available today would not come along until later.

With all of the elevated culinary offerings available to us as adults, we still sometimes crave a cheap two- or three-ingredient Wonder Bread sandwich. In the '70s and '80s, the most common sandwiches Gen Xers got in their lunch boxes were peanut butter and grape jelly, bologna, cheese, and mayo, or just plain old cheese and butter. Some kids got fancier options like tuna fish or chicken salad, but no one was getting BLTs or croque monsieurs.

Most kids could look forward to getting a bag of chips in their lunch box, or their favorite flavor of Pringles or Corn Nuts. Pringles, which launched in 1968, and all-American Corn Nuts, which became a brand name in 1964, retained immense popularity that spanned generations. Chances are, your parents (or grandparents, depending on how old you are) had one of these items in their lunch.

Hostess and Little Debbie cakes were another elite school lunch treat. Kids traded them like they were preparing to do business at the stock market. The best Little Debbie snacks and Hostess cakes (or the ones Gen Xers probably have the fondest memories of) are Oatmeal Creme Pies, Chocodiles and Twinkies, Zingers, Swiss Rolls, Ding Dongs, Ho Hos, Nutty Bars, Fruit Pies, Zebra Cakes, and CupCakes (which are the oldest American snack cake still available in stores).

Kudos bars, which launched in 1986, reached the height of their popularity in the 1990s and were a staple '90s sleepover snack. These chocolate-covered granola bars were somehow marketed as a healthier alternative to other lunch box treats. They came in three flavors — Nutty Fudge, Chocolate Chip, and Peanut Butter — and were clearly just a slightly oaty vehicle for maximum chocolate delivery. Less health-conscious parents just threw a bag of Oreos, Chips Ahoy!, or Nutter Butters into the lunch box.

Like the character lunch box, the character thermos was another way to show your friends (and enemies) how cool you were. These colorful metal and plastic containers featured pop culture icons of the time, and the one you aligned yourself with said A LOT about you to the other kids in your school. While some thermoses held milk or chocolate milk, others had vegetable soup or the Holy Grail of thermos offerings: mac and cheese.

If you weren't given 50 cents to buy a tiny carton of milk, your lunch box probably included a drink. Most of the single-serve beverage options for Gen X youth were full of sugar but somehow marketed as healthy. The most popular choices were nostalgic, neon green Hi-C Ecto Coolers, Capri-Suns, Little Hug Fruit Barrels, Kool-Aid, and Juicy Juice. Bonus points if you got the straw in the box without squirting yourself (or everyone else at the table).

Ever find yourself wondering what happened to Shark Bites fruit snacks? Shark Bites, which launched in 1988, are another nostalgic treat probably best remembered by younger Gen Xers. While most kids who grew up in the '70s and '80s got fruit snacks in their lunch every once in a while, Shark Bites were on a different level. Never since has the unique flavor profile and slightly chalky texture of the original '80s Shark Bites been accurately replicated.

Kids with health-conscious parents who cared about preventing nutritional deficiencies like scurvy got fresh fruits or veggies in their lunch boxes. They might have found a sandwich bag or small Tupperware containing baby carrots, sliced apples, or a carefully segmented orange — or just a slightly brown banana tossed on the top of their other lunch items.