The Microwave Meal '90s Kids Can Still Taste Had A Disappointing Revival

Food nostalgia is so powerful. It can start cravings that spark trends and make serious impacts on markets and pop culture. You know it when you feel it, which is why food nostalgia guides our approach to eating, yet is so hard to mimic. If a modern product promises to harken you back to days of yore, but it tastes like the bitter reminder that all things change, it's bound to fail. That's what happened during the attempted revival of a 1990s microwave meal for kids, made by Hormel.

Kid's Kitchen was a line of ready-to-microwave meals that were sold by Hormel as early as 1989 and into the '90s. It's hard to determine exactly when Hormel discontinued the products, but during its reign, eight different flavors were available to varying popularity. Beans & Wieners, Pizza Wedges, spaghetti, and several mac and cheese options made the line-up. Each Kid's Kitchen flavor was sold in plastic cups with colorful lids and labels. To this day, people hunt for a way to recreate the flavors of the classic Cheezy Mac 'n Cheese. Others remember the chicken noodle rings as being best. Still, some say that the purple top of the ravioli meant you were in for a consistently fire meal.

The meals and their fun, iconic '90s forms disappeared for a while, becoming just a memory for growing millennials. However, in 2011, Hormel introduced a new line of food for kids, and it bore similar hallmarks. First, its new Compleats Kids line was microwaveable. The flavors were similar to Kid's Kitchen items: beef ravioli, spaghetti and meat sauce, macaroni and beef, and chicken with pasta. As a product intended to be nutritionally balanced, Compleats was supposed to stand on its own, but the disappointing reviews rolled in. As one reviewer said over a decade ago, "The pasta and chicken variety ... well ... if you have a cat in the house, it may think that is his meal."

You may be surprised to hear that nearly 15 years after its release to little fanfare, Compleats is still available, though any references to it as a kids' product have largely disappeared. Compleats no longer aims to be nostalgia bait. In fact, with nearly 20 different flavors that range from turkey and dressing to Swedish meatballs, it's clear that Hormel has grown up from its focus on kids-only flavors. All the same, some fans on Reddit have found that the macaroni and cheese Compleats tastes similar to the Kid's Kitchen bowl of the '90s. "Taste wise it's not exactly the same but it's pretty damn close," one reviewer said.

As for Hormel's other flavors, opinion seems to vary, though another reviewer on Reddit has said, "They taste like depression & soul-crushing despair." Even those on r/preppers can't seem to balance the meals' supposed utility with their cost. One commenter, referencing the meals' shelf life, said, "I am not personally a fan. One year isn't that long and I don't like them enough to want to eat them regularly and rotate. Cost per calorie is high." There are those out there who consider the flavors comforting, and others who feel that these ready-to-cook meals are delicious, even if they don't look attractive.