10 Classic Foods Gen X Loved That Practically Vanished

Years later, each generation looks back on the unique experiences that brought them together. For boomers, this might be drive-in movie theaters or Beatlemania. For millennials, it's long-gone tech like flip phones and MSN Messenger. Gen X might fondly regard spending quarters in arcades or hanging out in video stores. Meanwhile, among all these various fads and forgotten pieces of pop culture, people had to eat. As such, each generation also has nostalgic memories of certain snacks — like certain snacks foods that Gen X used to love, but have now practically vanished from memory.

Gen Xers were born through the 1960s and 1980, growing into teenagers and young adults through the late 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s. Every snack below was introduced and adored in these decades. So if you're wondering what happened to treats like canned puddings, Carnation Breakfast Bars, and Screaming Yellow Zonkers: You've come to the right place.

Carnation Breakfast Bars first hit stores in 1975; quickly becoming a huge hit. Thanks to their convenience and their sweet chocolatey flavor, the bars and their bright-yellow packaging wound up a breakfast staple throughout the 1970s and 1980s. In fact, some people loved them so much they couldn't stop eating them. "My worst addiction back in 1979," one Facebook user posted in a Gen X group about the bars. "It still haunts me to this day."

Even now, avid fans continue discussing the bars in Gen X threads on Reddit. The peanut butter flavor was a particularly popular option, but Carnation also offered choices such as Chocolate Chip and Granola Cinnamon. Some avid eaters even claim their parents had to hide the bars to keep them from disappearing out of the pantry. Sadly for Gen X, Carnation Breakfast Bars were discontinued in the late 1990s and haven't reappeared since.

If you craved a cold pudding snack in the late 1960s and early 1970s, there's a good chance you'd hit the fridge to hunt down one of Bird's Eye's Cool 'n Creamy Cups. The cups were sold in cans and stored in the freezer, just like ice cream. In fact, alongside the convenience and range of flavors, the similarity to ice cream was Bird's Eye's key selling point for the frozen cups.

Obviously, many loved the pudding cups' flavor. However, one of the most important elements Gen Xers remember about Cool 'n Creamy was the fun artwork on the product's printed ads. If that's you, we have good news: You can snap up a 1972 print ad for the cups on eBay for less than $10. The bad news? The cups themselves are no longer around, having been discontinued in the early 1970s.

Canned pudding was all the rage a few decades ago. As well as Bird's Eye's Cool 'n Creamy Cups, many Gen Xers have fond memories of eating Hunt's Pudding straight from a can. In fact, some swear that the metal can actually made the artificially-flavored pudding taste even better. Hunt's Pudding was a school lunch must-have, and if you didn't have one, you were probably jealous of anyone that did (and maybe even bribed them into trading).

Hunt's Pudding is still around, but today — like most brands — the puddings are sold in plastic packaging instead of metal cans. The switch happened at some point in the 1980s, and it was likely for the best. After all, pliable plastic is less dangerous than sharp metal. A few people remember cutting their tongues on the lids, or accidentally breaking the metal pulley and tragically rendering the pudding inaccessible.

If you love cereal and love Chex Mix, then you probably loved Doo Dads. The product, introduced by Nabisco in the 1970s, was a blend of both of these popular snacks: Peanuts, pretzels, cheese crackers (called Tid Bits), and rice and wheat squares combined for the ultimate snack attack.

Many Gen Xers have fond memories of arriving home from school, cracking open their box of Doo Dads, and chowing down in front of the television. There was no other snack quite like it, and the mix was loved by kids and adults alike. 

Doo Dads disappointingly disappeared from shelves in the 1990s, but many people miss them every day. There's similar offerings like Chex Mix, of course, but many maintain to this day that the alternative just isn't the same. In fact, some claim no other snack has ever lived up to the Gen X greatness of Doo Dads.

Many kids in the 1960s and 1970s loved "The Pink Panther Show," an animated comedy all about The Pink Panther (of course). Post Consumer Brands was a sponsor of the show, and decided to cash in on its early 1970s popularity by launching a themed cereal: Pink Panther Flakes. This was a smart move — many kids at the time loved the cereal, partly for the taste (reported as very sweet and sugary) and partly because the flakes turned milk in the bowl pink.

The Pink Panther Flakes only lasted for a short time before slinking off into the sunset sometime in 1974. However, many look back at the cartoon-based cereal with fond memories. If you were a fan, you can still buy Pink Panther Flakes on eBay — well, the box anyway. Right now, a box complete with the promotional spy kit toy runs for around $50.

Screaming Yellow Zonkers sounds like a brightly colored candy, or cartoon monsters, or maybe even an alternative rock band. However, they weren't any of those things: Screaming Yellow Zonkers were actually a type of crispy, glazed popcorn. The product hit the market in the late 1960s thanks to Lincoln Snacks, and its sweet flavor, butter-yellow color, and fun packaging made this popcorn an instant hit.

Many remember receiving Screaming Yellow Zonkers as treats for special occasions. They also loved the black, yellow, and blue boxes, which usually featured  humorous sayings and came packed with collectible toys. Some note that even seeing a picture of the iconic packaging zaps them right back to the buttery flavor of Screaming Yellow Zonkers. Despite comparisons to Fiddle Faddle, there's sadly no way to taste these daffodil dynamos today — the unique popcorn snack disappeared from grocery shelves for good in 2007.

We've already discussed canned and frozen puddings, but both those beloved desserts had some competition. Enter Jell-O Pudding Pops. The treat (promoted by now-disgraced actor Bill Cosby in the 1980s) is exactly what it sounds like: A pudding in popsicle form. Many people adored the whole range of flavors, including Chocolate, Vanilla, and Chocolate & Vanilla Swirl.

Jell-O Pudding Pops aren't available for purchase anymore, having been discontinued at some point in the 1990s. However, many Gen Xers wish the pops would make a well-deserved comeback, with Reddit users claiming the Jell-O Pudding Pops are their own "Roman Empire" (meaning they think about them regularly). Some devotees even claim they can still taste the frozen pudding if they really try. Go ahead and close your eyes. Is it all flooding back? If not, don't panic, because it's super easy to make your own pudding pops from scratch.

Nabisco was behind the beloved Doo Dads, but the snack mix wasn't their only Gen X hit. The company also produced Suddenly S'mores, which many claim was their favorite childhood food.

The sweet treat was basically microwavable s'mores, meaning you could eat the campfire classic anytime you wanted. Hang on — surely there's already a way to craft s'mores at home? Yes, it's true: You can make s'mores without a campfire. However, Nabisco probably didn't want people to think about that at the time.

People loved the experience of heating up the Suddenly S'mores in the microwave, and many remember pressing their face to the glass while they waited for the marshmallows to heat. Some didn't even wait that long and ate the snack raw; straight from the packet. Suddenly S'mores were launched in the late 1980s, but only lasted a minute before their discontinuation around 1992.

Some might remember Peanut Butter Boppers, but these nutty logs weren't Gen X's only beloved peanut butter snack. Another food that many remember enjoying is the snack staple Koogle Peanut Spread, which came in fun flavors such as Banana, Cinnamon, and Chocolate.

The Kraft-manufactured spread was also loved for its fun mascot and googly-eyed packaging. The spread was meant to be enjoyed on crackers or bread, but plenty chose to spoon it into their mouths straight from the jar. Others would apply it to a sandwich with fruit jelly. To this day, some maintain that Koogle Peanut Spread is even better than Nutella.

Koogle Peanut Spread disappeared from grocery stores in the late 1970s, but some aren't prepared to let go of all hope for a return. In fact, there's a Facebook group of nearly 240 members who desperately want Kraft to bring Koogle Peanut Spread back.