There's nothing sadder than when your favorite snack from childhood suddenly goes away.
The good news is that sometimes those foods come roaring back to store shelves.
Maybe you'll see your favorite discontinued food on this list of comeback stories.
Cookies and frosting — is there a more iconic duo? There likely isn't a '90s kid on this
earth that doesn't remember the rush of peeling back the plastic on a fresh pack of Dunkaroos
and awaiting the sugary satisfaction that came with swiping the circular cookies through a sea
of creamy frosting. The treat was introduced in 1992 and discontinued in the U.S. in 2012
after 20 years of sweetening American lives. Dunkaroo devotees — including stars such as
Kim Kardashian and Chrissy Teigen — have been advocating for a Dunkaroos comeback ever since.
Their prayers were answered in summer 2020, when the cookie and frosting combo came back to the
states. Although the honey graham cookies were originally paired with six different frostings,
the new iteration featured only the most requested flavor — rainbow sprinkles.
To celebrate its triumphant return to supermarket aisles, the snack also released a limited-edition
merch collection, featuring '90s-inspired threads such as a "camp shirt" and, of course,
a branded bucket hat. The products are now only available at a marked up rate across resale
sites like eBay, but it might be more worth your while to just grab a pack of Dunkaroos.
Cheetos and Doritos are venerable options when it comes to satisfying your craving for a snack
cloaked in strange, yet delicious orange cheese dust, but we can all agree that Cheez Balls are
the superior choice. Debuted by Planters in the early '70s, these seriously addictive spheres
gained popularity throughout the '90s before they were discontinued in the mid-2000s.
After years of fans clamoring for the return of the puffed corn snack
and even a Change.org petition, the balls bounced back in July of 2018 as a temporary release,
but soon became a supermarket staple due to their continued demand.
"Cheez Balls!"
The delicious love child of the company's Eggo waffles and a slew of cereals,
Kellogg's Eggo waffle cereal was first introduced in 2006 in two flavors:
Maple Homestyle and Cinnamon Toast. The breakfast hybrid graced kitchen tables for
years until it was pulled from shelves in 2012, seemingly never to be seen again. Then, in 2019,
one noble Twitter user begged the company to reproduce the cereal. Eggo seemingly
answered the tweeter's call to action on none other than National Waffle Day, tweeting:
"If this gets 10,000 RTs, we'll bring back Eggo cereal."
Kellogg's didn't disappoint, relaunching the beloved box that November. Walmart was the
only retailer to carry the cereal for the first few weeks before it was rolled out
to other stores across the nation. Along with bringing back the iconic Maple Homestyle flavor,
Eggo also introduced a Blueberry Waffle version for those craving a fruity kick.
Given how much America loves the Oreo cookie, it's no surprise that the popular treat
transformed into cereal form. The dessert-inspired breakfast hit shelves in 1998 and was produced in
collaboration between cereal-giant Post and Kraft Foods, the masterminds behind the OG
Oreo. The sweet cereal had a nearly decade-long stint in stores before it vanished in 2007.
According to Fortune, the cereal was brought back from its lengthy hiatus in the summer of 2017,
fitting right in with the '90s renaissance that seemed to sweep the nation through fashion and
food. Oreo O's were exclusively available at Walmart for the first few months of their launch
before spreading to retailers everywhere and continue to be available in-store and online.
The only thing better than straight up chocolate is chocolate cradling an array
of colorful candies, hence why the Wonder Ball became such a sought after treat when it came
onto the sweets scene in 2000. Originally modeled after the British Kinder Egg,
which encased a prize within its milk chocolate shell, the candy was first called the Magic Ball
and came with tiny toys that were often Disney or Pokemon themed. The Magic Ball didn’t have
long to live. It was considered a choking hazard and quickly discontinued in 1997.
The Wonder Ball wouldn’t last much longer, suffering a similar fate,
getting discontinued in the mid 2000’s. Currently owned by the Frankford Company, these
spherical treats appeared back in stores in 2016 with a special Minions theme in celebration of the
release of Despicable Me 2. Now the candy comes in myriad themes such as Shopkins, Super Mario,
and even dinosaurs, so you have a great excuse to buy as many boxes as you can get your hands on.
It's hard to imagine how M&Ms could get any better. They're the ideal size to eat by the
handful while catching the latest blockbuster movie and the slightly crispy shell hugging a
chunk of chocolate is candy perfection. Lo and behold, they could and did get better. Enter:
Crispy M&M's, which amped up the candy's crunch factor by adding a puffed rice center.
According to the Los Angeles Times, this iteration of M&M's was introduced in 1998
as a limited-edition item. A mere seven years later, however, Crispy M&M's were retired.
A slew of petitions, Facebook groups, and even phone calls ensued, begging the company to bring
back the beloved snack. To the delight of fans everywhere, Mars Chocolate began
producing the treat again in January of 2015 after nearly a decade-long period without it.
"Crispy M&M's are baaaaaack!"
Even more importantly, it's back for good and not
a limited-edition exclusive like its original run. Pretty sweet.
We're all aware that there's perhaps no greater rivalry than that between
Coke consumers and Pepsi people, but did you know that Surge was born out of the showdown between
the two brands? Pepsi already had a stake in the citrusy soda market with Mountain Dew,
so Coca-Cola challenged its competitor with the invention of Surge in 1997.
The bubbly beverage only stayed on shelves for six years, but has since reappeared in
small "surges," if you will, due to grown-up '90s kids craving a sip of sweet nostalgia.
In 2014, Amazon began selling 12-packs as an exclusive to Prime members,
while a handful of cans appeared at select East Coast convenience stores the next year.
And to the dismay of soda purists everywhere, Surge only took a frosty form the following
years — with turns as a slushy and an Icee from Burger King and Valero Corner Stores,
respectively — until 2018 when the burger chain brought back the drink in its original form.
Now, Surge can be found in convenience stores across the country.
So what are you waiting for? Embrace the urge for Surge!
The only thing better than regular French toast? French toast in the form
of tiny cereal pieces jam-packed with sugary, cinnamony goodness.
French Toast Crunch is essentially Cinnamon Toast Crunch's cooler sister and first debuted
on supermarket shelves in the mid-'90s before it was discontinued in 2006. Cereal groupies took to
Twitter and other online platforms to protest the product's absence. One user even lamented:
"I just haven't been the same person ever since they discontinued French Toast Crunch."
America's breakfast dreams came through in winter of 2014 when General Mills announced
that they would be adding French Toast Crunch back to their permanent lineup of cereals,
with nationwide distribution rolling out the coming January. Let all '90s kids
rejoice and give a shout out to General Mills for bringing a favorite breakfast back to the table.
Crystal Pepsi is right at home with the stretchy chokers, bucket hats, and other relics of the '90s
that have once again become en vogue in recent years. The caffeine-free, cult-favorite beverage
was originally produced in 1992 and was only available for one short year before fizzling out.
"Crystal is certainly not a flash in the pan. It's a brand people look for,
it's a brand they ask for and they're buying it again and again."
The reason for the massive Pepsi fail remains up for debate, but some might attribute it to
the confusion around what the bubbly beverage was supposed to taste like, with the package reading
"clear cola" as well as "citrus taste." Not the most palate-pleasing combination.
Despite its short shelf life, plenty of soda drinkers thirsty for nostalgia campaigned for
the drink's return — and it did, for limited-time releases in 2015, 2016, and 2017. Don't get too
excited, though, Pepsi made it clear that the 2017 run was your last chance to get your hands
on a bottle of the translucent pop when it toured alongside '90s artists like Busta Rhymes during
the year's baseball season. We're totally buggin' that we can't get one more sip of the sweet stuff.
"The clear choice for Pepsi, the consumer and our customers."
Not to be confused with the popular Red Vines or Twizzlers,
Red Ropes hearken back to the sweet old days of penny candy stores and wood-paneled station
wagons. The licorice was first introduced in the '60s and was displayed in plexiglass
cases atop convenient store counters that the clerk had to unlock themselves.
"Would you like some red rope licorice?"
As the times changed, the confection was sold in standard plastic packaging through
the mid-'90s before getting discontinued as a stand-alone product after its decades-long run.
Fans of the candy weren't entirely out of luck, though, because Red Ropes continues to be sold
as part of a mixed candy bag. Lo and behold, after a slew of letters from
candy lovers and retailers urged the American Licorice Company to sell the
sweet separately again, they listened and began cranking it out by the bag in 2019.
The star of your lunchbox, the most coveted after school treat, and the
literal manifestation of heaven in dessert form, it's hard to believe Hostess would have
any reason to take our beloved Twinkies away from us. But alas,
the end of the iconic sponge cake came along with a wave of healthy eating that washed
the treat right out of American pantries in 2012, when the company declared bankruptcy.
According to The Washington Post,
Hostess Brands made an epic comeback in 2016 as a publicly listed company,
set to reclaim the market that abandoned them with a new assessed value of $2.3 billion. That's a far
cry from the dessert's humble two-for-a-nickel roots when it was first introduced in 1930.
Once the Great Depression hit, the Twinkie as we know it was born as its
original banana filling was substituted for vanilla as bananas became rationed
during World War II. There's an urban legend that Twinkies will last forever,
the cake's chemical complexity giving it an unusually long shelf life.
"Silly customer! You cannot hurt the twinkie!"
Although we aren't sure how much that story rings true,
we do hope we'll see Twinkies sitting proudly in stores near chocolate
cupcakes and miniature powdered donuts for the rest of our days.
Crystal Pepsi isn't the only transparent '90s beverage to make a comeback.
Clearly Canadian was a sought-after sip during the time, so it's no surprise that fans of the
fruit-flavored sparkling water were raging with excitement when the company announced that the
drink would make a triumphant return in the spring of 2015 after being discontinued for six years.
It was too good to be true, though, for fans who pre-ordered cases of the bubbly beverage
back in May were still waiting for their orders to arrive the following February — all 25,000
of them. The company explained that there were unexpected shipping delays,
but the promised bottles still didn't arrive to thirsty patrons until 2017
when World Market began stocking Clearly Canadian in its stores and online.
What would the latest '90s craze be without bringing back yet another sugary breakfast treat?
Pop-Tarts Cereal first hit the market in 1994, decades after the original toaster
pastry debuted in the '60s. However, the breakfast gods were cruel and pulled this
frosted cereal from store shelves just a year after its sugary debut. Despite the scrumptious
and varied array of flavors that the original treat is available in, the new cereal features
two of the tart's most iconic varieties: Brown Sugar Cinnamon and Frosted Strawberry.
With a crunchy exterior perfect for soaking up milk and a sweet center stuffed generously
with filling, it's no wonder Kellogg's made the decision to relaunch this '90s favorite.
Despite the breakfast's widespread appeal, the cereal is available exclusively at Walmart,
so pull on your parachute pants, grab your Discman,
and head to your nearest store for a frosted taste of the '90s.
Check out one of our newest videos right here! Plus,
even more Mashed videos about your favorite foods are coming soon.
Subscribe to our YouTube channel and hit the bell so you don't miss a single one.