Foods That You Remember From The 1970's

I meet your Doo Dads and raise you Bugles!

Watergate salad.

Marathon Bars

Carnation Breakfast Bars

Swiss Cheese Crackers

My mom's breast milk (born in 79)

R6's mom's breasts (met her in 1980)

Carnation Instant Breakfast powder.

Fluffernutter, which now sounds like something that happens on a gay porn set.

Space Food Sticks

Weird tasting and odd texture but I loved the Peanut Butter flavored ones.

And, I don't know if I knew it at the time, but Astronauts actually took these (or a version of them) to space with them. They were marketed as a between-meal-energy-snack - likely the first of it's kind - as opposed to a regular candy-cookie snack product. I don't remember any of that about them, I just remember how I liked how weird+good they were. Discontinued by the early 80s.

Aspen soda. Loved that stuff!

Does anyone remember Toffifay. I think it was introduced in 1979. I remember buying it in the summer of 1979. I liked it.

Loved Bugles and Doo Dads!

Choc-O-Diles (chocolate covered Twinkies) were big in my house, too.

Nabisco marshmallow sandwiches. I wish they would bring these back! If anyone has a recipe, LMK!

doo dads were delicious! I also liked that cheese that came in a can. And Yoo-Hoo chocolate drink - which is still around but people say it isn't as good. Wink soda, Fanta.

The cheese that comes in the can , easy cheese is still available. Smokey bacon (myfavorite) on sociables crackers with a geeen olive on top.

R16 Oh, cool, I wasn't sure. This particular one I remember was called Snack Mate, I think - from Nabisco. It probably was invented in the 60s but it's one of those things I associate with being a kid in the 60s and 70s.

Ads for Snack Mate

Onion dip made with Lipton's onion soup mix. It was a staple at every holiday at our house in the '70s.

In the South, most households had a pot roast on Sunday. I remember my mother putting one in the oven before we'd leave for church and then we'd eat it for lunch when we got home. Every Sunday for 18 years.

R14- Those look GOOD. Sunshine sold a soft beige cookie with a pink or white marshmallow on top sprinkled with coconut- they were so good. These definitely remind me of those. I too wish they would bring these or the Sunshine variety back.

Cheeseburgers

Dust

Ho-Hos, Ding Dongs, Ring Dings, and Yodels.

Drakes Coffee Cakes- what a treat that was when I would find that in my lunch bag in elementary school in 1975.

in college I got drunk and at an entire box of Doo Dads...then of course got sick for hours, it was years before I could even look at a box and to this day can't even think of eating them

Sau-Sea shrimp cocktail sold in "fancy" glass jars

Jello 1-2-3

Tomato aspic in a can

Nestea Iced Tea Mix, which I would drink while eating the Drake's Coffee Cake in r25.

R28- I remember my brother buying that in the late spring of 1978 and I enjoyed it too. The fact that it contained plenty of sugar helped.

I remember when Kraft cheese was sold in glass jars (maybe it still is?) that you were supposed to save and use for juice glasses later.

*Had a pop-off cap, rather than a screw top, so you could use it as a glass.

Pizza Spins

Lou Grant) How many more glasses will I need?

Mary Richards) Oh I'd say about five or six

Lou) Oh I can't eat that much jelly

TV dinners. I felt very special whenever my mom relented to keep me from nagging. I loved the mashed potatoes and the apple pie:

R26- You ate a whole box of Doo Dads in college- you rebel you. When I was 12 years old I could finish the whole box of Doo Dads and it didn’t make me sick.

By the 1970s, r34, my mother was so sick (emphysema, pill addiction, depression), she took to her bed and my father filled the freezer with TV dinners. And my mother, by that point, had absorbed the gospel according to St. Julia Child, so it was disappointing. No more Quiche. No more Coquilles St. Jacques. No more Mousse au Chocolat. Just TV dinners, frozen pizza, and iceberg lettuce (w/Catalina dressing).

r36- my mother is Chinese, so I was inundated with (now I see in circumspect) amazing Chinese food. However growing up in Chicago, I desperately wanted to be white and those dinners were the epitome of Americaness.

Remember Bubble Yum, complete with Red dye #40?

Doodads are Nabisco's answer to Chex Mix owned by General Mills.

Good way to profit off the other guy's marketing.

Tums in assorted flavors

Speaking of Doo-Dads

Back in the good times we got to eat road side Turtle Doo-Doo at the holidays.

Now we get dirt with extra sewer water.

Rolaids

Mylanta liquid

R38- I think Doo Dads were around way before Chex Mix.

My favorite pizza in the 1970’s was Ellios Frozen Pizza.

My favorite pizza in the 1970s was the real, original Ray's Pizza at the corner of Sixth Avenue and 11th Street. There was another good one at 73rd and Amsterdam, just as you got out of the 72nd Street IRT. I don't remember its name, but it was the more usual NY slice. Pizza was so good, I never got it with any toppings.

I used to love the Pu Pu platters that were so popular in the 70s. My parents used to take me to Trader Vic's as a kid and we would always get a Pu Pu platter as an appetizer.

OMG r44 - My favorite pizza of ALL TIME. Nothing come close.

Chef boyyardee box cheese pizze

Tang. Somehow it seemed like the whole space program hung on the balance of us consuming as much Tang as possible.

Rumaki, every New Year’s Eve we had rumaki, those wonderful marinated chicken livers surrounding a waterchestnut wrapped in a piece of bacon stabbed with a toothpick and broiled in the oven. I’ve been a vegetarian for four decades, but it would kill to go back in time and experience that once again.

[quote][R38]- I think Doo Dads were around way before Chex Mix.

Chex mix as a packaged product - yes.

Chex mix as a homemade mix using Chex cereal - not by a longshot.

General Mills' food labs cranked out their surprisingly nutritious cake like Breakfast Bars. Not to be confused with the Carnation kind. These were a staple in my tiny studio apartment's kitchen, away on my first job after school.

Appian Way pizza mix in a box

Strawberry Fribble and Friendly's FABULOUS sundaes. I liked their meals too. It was unpretentious American food- but good.

R27- I remember my mother had those in the house. She bought those in the refrigerated section at the A&P. Then we would use the glass jar as a juice glass for years afterwards.

Chipos! Must be the dried potato granules.

These were super-salty but soooo good!

Yes I always wanted to do your dad, OP.

Otter Pops!

Seven Up candy bars...

the box of Doo Dads was in addition to half a bottle of vodka, it didn't mix well

The square, swimming in oil Ledo pizza (MD burbs, during college)

Banquet TV Dinners you bitches!

R21, we still have those in Argentina, they are one of my fave childhood staples

Doo Dads...Toasted peanuts, pretzels, rice squares, wheat squares and cheese Tid-Bit Crackers

Fish sticks and tartar sauce. Went to Catholic school and I'm pretty sure that's what the cafeteria had on Fridays.

Brach candy. The supermarket had a stand with a striped awning and all the candy laid out under it in such a jaunty fashion. Caramel creams were the first thing I ever stole.

Nabisco Chocolate Chip Snaps, Zots and Fizzies.

Chips Ahoy cookies. I swear they were better back then.

I was a kid back then so I remember eating King Vitamin cereal. Was the only “junk” cereal allowed in our house. I really wanted Honeycomb or Apple Jacks!

I have such lovely memories of eating Rumaki in restaurants as a child R49.

Lentil loaf, mung bean soup, corn fritters, cheese enchiladas, homemade whole wheat donuts - very fond of those

Tofu and peppers -blech

Sorbet between courses at restaurants.

Wow, R60! I haven't thought about Ledo pizza in many years. Used to love it back in the day -- rectangular pizza cut in squares with a slice of pepperoni in the center of each square.

Tab diet cola. It tasted awful.

Tab is the official carbonated soft drink of Datalounge.

Nestlé brand packaged split-pea soup. Just add boiling water and stir. It was really good.

Morton's had a frozen donut line in the 70s that was like crack. My favorites were the little cinnamon sugar donuts that I would put in the toaster oven and they would get crispy on the outside and soft and airy on the inside. I'm drooling just thinking about them.

My brother and I used to sneak/steal my Mom's "diet" foods that were so popular in the seventies. They were so good that you'd most likely gain weight eating them. Ayds, Fresca and Figurines. Sorry, Mom!

Mom would also give us our weekly allowances just before announcing that she'd make Nestle Toll House cookies upon awakening from her one day off nap. Jim and I would quickly book it down to Safeway so that we could replace the chocolate chips we'd already eaten.

Ayds

We ate a package of Bugles this week. My partner likes them.

But R1 is so limited she doesn't perceive the reason that the OP's "Doo Dads" overwhelms just about everything.

Plus Doo Dads died a long time ago. Bugles (burp) are still being manufactured.

Fresca is the alternative (to Tab) official carbonated soft drink of Datalounge.

Tetley Tea

Still made, bought-out by British company.

Tab in winter, Fresca in summer, Totinos Pizza Rolls on Friday night and Hostess products during the week.

Spinach Soufflé Crepes

R76 I don't know what's worse, hearing stuff like "Thank goodness for Ayds" or the blatant fat shaming that would have driven the proudest fat sob to anorexia. Yikes!

Enough of these nostalgic food threads!

We did '80s and '90s. This is the '70s. What could be next? '60s or '00s?

We did the 90s? Where? That's the one I have major input on.

Here you go, R85. Put your contributions here.

Hydrox, the poor man's Oreos.

Za-RexJackie Gleason

I had Swanson's TV dinners when my parents went out on a Saturday night and I stayed home with my grandad and watched Jackie Geason. Oh wait maybe that was the 60s.

Just ZaRex. Had nothing to do with Gleason, I mistyped. It was a Boston thing.

My mother would sprinkle this stuff on her ice cream- as if she was saving calories with her dietetic powder sprinkled on her HIGH calorie ice cream

ALBA 77

Sizzlean

Sealtest Ice Cream

I ate Vienna Sausages all the time as a little kid in the 70s. Do they still make those?

Burger King 1974

I liked Burger King better than McDonalds because the Whopper seemed bigger than the Big Mac and they would give us kids a crown. I doubt it made me a King more like a QUEEN 🤴

Underwood Deviled Ham

These early versions of it look downright SATANIC

Well the devil is...satan.

I remember that Burger King jingle - my friends and I used to sing it. lol. I notice in the ad someone puts onions on the burger with bare hands.

I'm waiting for the "foods you remember from your past life in 1333" thread. I imagine boar was on the menu. I remember Hydrox cookies, Tab, Sanka, and dried peas in a bag - or were they lentils or something. I was just a kid. Our pantry had mothballs in it. My mother hung a cork board on the door and there was a picture of my father in his military outfit. I remember how coke used to look back then. I want to say they came in glass bottles but maybe I'm hallucinating.

Reggie

You taste pretty good!

OMG! Reggie bars, holy shit.

[quote] I ate Vienna Sausages all the time as a little kid in the 70s. Do they still make those?

Yes, as far as I know.

Five Skive

D’oh! Make that Five Alive.

Life Savers Fancy Fruits

These were so much better than regular Life Savers

The pear flavor was good.

Tang and Olvatine.

Fondue.

La Choy canned "Chinese" food. Seemed exotic to me as a child. Tasted like wilted veggies in soy sauce. Just looked it up and I see they are still selling it. Why? Who is still buying this? I'll bet not Chinese people.

LA CHOY MAKES CHINESE FOOD TASTE AMERICAN!!

OH I forgot, they're swingers.

Most of this stuff dates back beyond the 70s like dip made from onion soup mix and pot roast. If anything, spinach dip was coming in and Sunday dinner was going out. Fresca and Tab had been a round for awhile and Diet Pepsi was outselling Tab, although both tasted awful.

Spinach salad with bacon was a thing. Tacos were going mainstream, along with nachos and Doritos. Chinese food expanded to include Sichuan and not just vaguely Cantonese stuff. Fondue peaked and fell. Diquila sunrises, Long Island ice tea, Black Russians, White Russians. Lite Beer.

Italian Swiss Colony Wine

Taco-flavored Doritos. Nacho cheese came out later and was explosively popular. The taco-flavored Doritos disappeared from the scene.

However, they're (taco-flavored Doritos) delicious. They're still available. I think.

I was always jealous of my best friend because they had Charles Chips delivered to their house and we didn’t and it just seemed so special seeing that truck pull into their driveway. I coveted those chips, but I don’t even know if I ever got to even try them. We were a pretty hardcore Utz’s chips and Wege pretzel family. My class in second grade even took a tour of the Utz potato chip factory. I broke my leg at the start of May and couldn’t go on the trip and have felt like I missed out on something special by not going. I did meet the class in a local park later that day and they had brought me some freshly made potato chips and they all signed my cast, but it’s a bittersweet memory not seeing those vats of oil and the chips being lowered into it.

The worst were those Laura Scudders wavy potato chips. I lived somewhere (forgot where) and there were no Frito Lay products. WTF?

[quote]Most of this stuff dates back beyond the 70s like dip made from onion soup mix and pot roast.

The thread is called Foods That You Remember From The 1970's - not foods that were invented in the 1970's.

All these Ding Dongs, HoHos’s and Lil’ Debbie stuff, where my Norteasterns at and our beloved Tasykakes? Especially the Butterscotch Krimpets and Peanut ButterKandy Cakes!

R12 Still available all over Europe. Not expensive, maybe a bit over EUR1 a box.

Toblerone, my parents always brought it back from trips and I thought it could only be bought in airports, like that Stuckey’s Pecan Log Rolls that you could only get in their roadside stores.

As I was born in 1976 there is not much I remember from the '70s but I remember these.

Corn Diggers, when did I eat corn diggers?

Little Debbies were so sweet and had that sickly sweet smell, they made me barf.

Mmmmmmm R118 Mr. Salty! I love pretzels so much! I could go for some right now.

Nabisco French Onion crackers, Nabisco Twigs, space sticks, Tang

I loved the raspberry ones.

We're secretly replacing _____ with Folger's crystals

Koogle

R125 I loooooved Koogle, but like most things in my house growing up we could only get it if there was a coupon for it, so not very often. If you are looking for a very upscale, updated version, try the Peanut Butter & Company line of goods, but they don’t come cheap and heavens knows I could never get mom to buy it these days even with a coupon.

My mother LOVED potted meat food product on saltines. WTF was even in that stuff? Scrapings off the slaughterhouse floor?

Quisp. The most gay as all hell cereal I knew of at the time.

This is probably earlier from the 70's, too, but I don.'t think anyone has mentioned Chicken In A Biscuit. I loved all these weird foods with their savory, salty tastes. Probably put some of that canned cheese on one of these and washed it down with a soda like Squirt, or Mello Yello.

R92, Yes, they still make Vienna sausages. Everyone in my family except my mom referred to them as "monkey dicks" much to her dismay.

[quote]Quisp. The most gay as all hell cereal I knew of at the time.

Quisp. Quentin Quisp.

Chock Full O Nuts- Pound cake and Date nut bread with cream cheese.

This is mostly poor people's food.

Frogurt- the guy was ahead of his time. Basically the Pinkberry of his day:

Dammit, here's the photo:

Lik M Aid Fun Dip.

I decided to cut out the middleman, and ate powdered Kool Aid with the sticks, ate the whole mini jar, and my throat completely closed up from it.

Yum Yum cookies

Yum Yum cookies were delicious. There were also the A&P (I think) version called Yes Yes.

The Kraft cheese spreads in the glass jars are still made, but I only ever see them in stores around the holidays. Old English, Pimento, Roka Blue, etc.

Sara Lee frozen cheesecake, the original one. Not the "French" one, not the strawberry one. These were really good.

Ooh Sara Lee. Taco doritos were revolting. I remember a friend had them, I bit into one, and instantly made a face. They tasted like your dog farted on them.

Frujen Glädje ice cream and sorbets.

R139- Nobody doesn't like SARA LEE.

r142 Up until my early 30sh, I really thought the jingle went "Nobody DOES IT like Sara Lee."

R143- Thank you for your comment Liza M.

I think someone upthread mentioned the Chun King Chow Mein. My mom would make this in the 70s too, complete with the gelatinous goop.

Before Haagen Dasz and Ben & Jerry's appeared in the 1980's in the 1970's the premium ice cream in my neck of the woods was-

SCHRAFFT'S

[r68] Who knew Joe Biden use to model for cereal boxes.

Snack Pack pudding IN A CAN

NOt really from the 70's, but I ate it in the 70s - Junket.:

Also (Boston only): Hoodsies, Necco Wafers.

Almond cookies. My mom would buy a pink box in a specialty Chinese foods store. Also, Botan Rice candies. They had an outer plastic wrap on each candy which you removed, and an inner "wrapper" you didn't remove, made of rice which melted in your mouth.

my dad's cock.

Burger Chef

Jiffy Pop popcorn

Riunite

Moon Pies

We didn't have Burger Chef in CA; maybe that was an East coast thing? We had this instead.

Sugar Daddy

Viennetta

Chum Gum

Bomb Pops

I of course remember Bomb pops, especially having them on the 4th of July weekend, but it sparked another memory that took a bit to hunt down. The Screwballs, with the plastic cone containing icy goodness, but with bubble gum in the bottom. I’m sure I have not thought of these since the 1970s, but they were great fun and I remember how cold, and at times refreshing, they would be to hold and the excitement of getting to the gum, especially when you were like four years old.

Heyday bars

R139- Sara Lee frozen Layer Cakes were pretty good too.

Bombe Alaska

When it says Libby's Libby's Libby's on your label label label, you will like it on your table table table.

OMG!

Cousin Oliver selling Libby's Libby's Libby's!

The gum that goes Squirt!!! We used to call it cum gum.

Scottish themed Sandy's, a Midwest burger chain started by disgruntled McDonald's franchisees, had a fabulous double decker slaw burger called the Big Scot. Sandy's was gobbled up by Hardee's which merged with Carl's Jr. which now eschews cabbage entirely, dammit.

Pepperidge Fahm remembahs!

Fruit Float. I was addicted to the stuff...why'd they stop making it?

We are the Freakiest, We are the Freakiest, and this is the Freaky Tree. We never miss a meal, ‘cuz we love our cereal!

FREAKIES!^^^

Freshen Up gum, the gum that goes squirt, love that squirt! I didn’t know the gum was loaded.

Have another nutter peanut butter sandwich cookie.

R12, I have seen Toffikay in Dollar Tree.

C.W. Post Cereal

Alan Hale's Lobster Barrel

Clove chewing gum. It has returned. Cracker Barrel sells it.

Kraft's chicken and noodle dinner. One of my favorites!

Burger King introduced the Yumbo hot ham and cheese sandwich in the 70s. I took a hiatus from burgers for a short time. I couldn't pass up this Yumbo 1988 commercial with Chris Meloni:

Who knew we'd be able to see him naked in Oz, front and back.

Fiddle Faddle!

My husband’s favorite drink in the 70s

I had never heard of this, so looked it up. It's still available online at Amazon, but is pretty expensive, r182. Reviews are quite favorable.

It's basically fruit punch. Like other Canada Dry drinks it was bottled by local distributors.

I like fruit punch (haven't had it in decades); not sure how i'd feel about carbonated fruit punch.

My brother's friend had a very limited diet as a kid. The ONLY thing he drank was Hawaiian Punch. I would sometimes tag along with my brother to his friend's house and I would get to drink some Hawaiian Punch. In those days ca. 1974 they were sold in large cans that you had to open with that triangular opener on both sides. That stuff to me was SCRUMPTIOUS.

RC Cola was big in the ‘70s, to the point that it was known as the third soda. Something went wrong along the way and it lost its place. I don’t even know if it still exists.

R187- I really liked the tv commercials for RC Cola in the mid to late 1970's

R183, Thanks for the link. We found 2-liter bottles at a Wegmans in Buffalo a few years ago but I don’t remember the price. It is basically carbonated fruit punch. I’m a Diet Coke drinker so too sweet for me.

[quote] RC Cola was big in the ‘70s, to the point that it was known as the third soda. Something went wrong along the way and it lost its place. I don’t even know if it still exists.

Coke and Pepsi became an oligopoly and stores had to provide X amount of shelf space, etc. Now, Coke has squeezed out Pepsi to a large degree.

There's a vending machine at my office that sells RC Cola, A&W Root Beer, and Peach Nehi.

I lived in Buffalo for 10 years. Good ol' Wegmans! I miss it.

Weight watchers

Mostly, anything on this page that I could find at our beachside ice-cream truck on hot summer weekend afternoons! My favorite I craved the most was the ice-cream bar with the solid chocolate bar in the middle, but unlike the one shown here I thought it was marketed by Hood and I remember it by the name "Chippty Chocolately Bar." Good stuff!

YES, R66 and R91! Actually, so many '70s comfort foods, and commercials for '70s foods, that were iconic to me but that I actually forgot ever existed until being reminded of them here, brought back a lot of fun kid memories.

Wink Grapefruit beverage from Canada Dry, in its weird bottle

Wink ad

Cherry Lifesavers with Suzanne Somers

"They're like...coming home to San Bruno"

Never had Wink, but did enjoy Squirt grapefruit soda. If you can find it, Hansen’s grapefruit (non-diet) soda is very good.

Speaking of Life Savers, pretty much all through the 70s at Christmas we would get those faux books of Life Savers in our stockings, which were always a treat. There was a roll that had a pineapple or pina colada flavored one that didn’t seem available anywhere else.

[quote]Drakes Coffee Cakes- what a treat that was when I would find that in my lunch bag in elementary school in 1975.

I bought a box last year because I had never tried them before and they were dry and crumbly. I’m guessing they were better back then?

This ginger ale has been produced for decades and is only made in one small brewery in South Carolina. It has a strong ginger and pepper-like taste to it. I love it ice cold. Locations where it is sold are limited in SC. Some people, who know about it, will buy it for holiday gifts. It can be ordered online. If you are into a great, old fashioned ginger ale taste, perhaps try it. Blenheim Ginger Ale:

Upthread was a post for Charles Chips. We ate the chips and pretzels as kids on Long Island and like the poster above, I learned years later that friends of thought my family was rich because we had the chips and pretzels delivered.

BTW - you can buy a can of Charles Chips or pretzels... I've done it a few times and had them shipped to family as a goof. I buy them through The Vermont Country Store.

The chips are good, I've no idea if they taste the same as chips sold in the 70s.

be.a.sweety in Cleveland is a candy wholesaler and also sells lots of difficult to find nostalgia stuff retail, including Charles Chips, although only the candy is available online.

Freakies Cereal! Freakies tasted like Cap'n Crunch, King Vitamin, Quisp etc. The Same corn cereal with sugar that cut the fuck out of your mouth unless you let it soften in the milk.

Sunshine Cookies:

Vienna Fingers (Long oval vanilla sandwich cookies with cream in the middle)

Golden Raisin Biscuits

Toy Cookies

R186---Hawaiian Punch (or the big handle jug of store brand red punch) was used for fancy birthday party punch with the following:

Punchbowl

Hawaiian Punch

Seven Up (or other lemon lime soda)

Rainbow Sherbet floating on top!

Now THAT"S an 8 year old's party punch!

This commercial is from the 60s and I'm not sure how long Shake a Puddin was around but I still WANTED IT in the 70s!

Jello 1-2-3!

Loved Charles Chips as a little boy. My grandparents always got them and made sure that they had a couple of cans available whenever my brother and I came to visit them in their Germantown home in Philadelphia.

I miss Scooter Pies too. Did anyone mention those?

I couldn't find a photo from the 1970's but this was my FAVORITE snack in 1974 and I would eat these on a Saturday night while watching the night time Price Is Right with Dennis James.

I was so jealous when my parents drove to Hershey Pennsylvania and stayed at a hotel there. They told me the whole town smelled like chocolate ( MUCH better than the smell in New Jersey in the 1970's on the NJ Turnpike) and they put some chocolate on their bed each night in the hotel.

The whole thing reminded me of my FAVORITE movie as a kid in the 1970's- Willie Wonka And The Chocolate Factory.

Relish trays. Every holiday would entail setting out several relish trays. The 70’s version of the crudité. Green olives with pimento, radishes, celery sticks, pickled watermelon rind and other finger nibbles were presented on fancy platters with silver tongs that nobody used.

R129: I loved Chicken in a Biscuit crackers. They still sell them. Maybe a year ago, feeling nostalgic, I bought a box. They taste pretty much the same-but god they’re salty!

La Choy - shit tasting

Cheese waffies.

Old El Paso taco kit

I've never had it, but was envious of the kids who did- Shake n' Bake:

R215 I have not been able to find cheese waffles at the local supermarkets for months now.

Souse (head cheese)

r216, i could swear i never saw the Ortega taco kits 'til the 80s.

Cactus Cooler orange-pineapple soda!!

R220- I could not find a photo of the Old El Paso kit from the 1970's so I just posted the contemporary version.

God, Americans are so lame with these boxed, dry cereals, i.e., human dog food. My family ate them, too, so not judging.

Anyway, maybe twice a year, my mom would buy these variety packs in little boxes, which was exciting for us kids. There was a wax paper pkg. within the box and you could pour milk in there and eat out of the box if you wanted to.

Gotcha r222. I was still in my first decade of life and we didn't eat pre-packaged food, so it probably wasn't within my sphere of food knowledge.

r223 I hate cereal (except the occasional oatmeal - and that's verrry occasionally, like maybe once or twice a year). My parents didn't allow us to have refined sugar-filled products like cereals. It was either Wheatina, scrambled/poached eggs or peanut butter on toast for normal breakfasts. Sundays were big breakfasts with homemade banana pancakes or omelettes, fruit, homemade sausage.

R223- I think they were called Snack Packages. I loved those as a kid in the 1970's but my mother only allowed us to have that as a treat when we were on vacation.

R223- You are not American?

R224-When I was a kid we only ate dinner out maybe once every six weeks and my mother prepared all of the dinners by scratch. My parents had been to California and had eaten Mexican food and enjoyed it so my mother bought this and we ate tacos/Mexican food for the first time. In 1975 it was impossible to find Mexican restaurants in the Northeast. Sushi was also unheard of in the Northeast but I do remember Benihana's ( we never ate there) but I don't think they served sushi there in 1979.

R224 my mother thought cream of wheat was too overly refined so she would mix cream of wheat with wheatina. Either cereal was fine in my opinion, but I hated the combination of textures together.

If we are going to talk about 1970s cereals, we need to mention the ubiquitous Euell Gibbons Grape Nuts cereal commercials. “Tastes like wild hickory nuts!” I loved it even as a child, I was weird.

Actually, IMO, Grape Nuts are really good with a nice, malty flavor. The key is to soak them for at least 15 minutes (in your milk or soy milk or whatever) before eating. I know there are some raisin-haters on DL, but GNs are good with raisins.

R201- Yes. Drakes has been sold several times since the 1970's and their products and Hostess are both really bad nowadays- which is a shame that both brands have been ruined.

R214 Ha! Your post reminded of the time my mate's bf brought LaChoy soy sauce home. Upon tasting it, he declared it tasted "as if it were fermented in a garbage bag".

r226 that was us too (although we lived in SoCal). We were extremely poor so had a HUGE garden, our chickens for eggs, a goat for milk and raised pigs for meat. Everything was from scratch, so we didn't even get the go out to dinner option more than 3 times a year if that. We ate Mexican once a week in the form of make your own bean burritos with a ton of veggies and the occasional enchilada.

r227 Cream of Wheat was the devil in our house and not allowed. I wasn't fond of Wheatina, but if you put a pad of butter and a little maple syrup, it made it palatable enough. And we made our own breakfasts as the parents wouldn't get up out of bed until about an hour after we left on our long bus ride to school.

Wtf is whitina?

R233-He means Wheatina.

R229 I’ve loved Grape Nuts since I was a little child. I had a bowl this morning with almond milk and frozen blueberries on top.

Wtf is Wheatina?

Wheatina is a healthy, delightful warm breakfast cereal.

But if you mix it with cream of wheat it might as well be sand.

Er wheatena

Oh dear

R236- Where do you live that you've never heard of Wheatina?

Oh dear- I'm oh dearing my self

It's spelled Wheatena NOT Wheatina

R239 I live on the planet Sextron.

i misspelled it, sorry.

I didn't like the crunchiness of Grape Nuts, but Grape Nuts Flakes were awesome.

I guess we need to keep going and discuss Weetabix and Muesuli?

Don't forget Little Mikey.

R244 I ❤️Weetabix

Never had Weetabix, thought that was more of a UK thing. The first time I tried Muesli was in the late 80s/early 90s and it's just...okay. Nothing to write home about.

Not to turn this into a cereal thread but they used to have BRAN Chex, which I absolutely LOVED. I think that might have come out in the 70s. That morphed into Multi-Bran Chex and now it's just gone. I miss it so much. Really the only cold cereal I've ever liked.

Muesli isn't just one brand of something; it's not like "Cheerios." It's just that one company decided to try to package and sell it. Muesli can be really delicious.

Bran Chex was one of the only cold cereals we were allowed.

r248, if your comment about Muesli is directed at me, I'm well aware that it's a TYPE of cereal that many different companies make.

R61: Banquet is still around. I've got thee of their products in my freezer right now. They are brown and serve breakfast sausage, breaded chicken breast patties and a whole box of battered chicken product.

R250- My mother used to buy Familia which was a brand of Muesli. I enjoyed it cold with milk.

I'm going to treat myself to some Grape Nuts when I head to the grocery store next. I had completely forgotten about them and switched to steel cut oats for the last few years. Thanks for the reminder, DLers! They are dee-lish!

R253- Half the fun of eating Grape Nut is the crunchiness of the cereal.

r252 - must be good stuff...just looked it up on Google shopping and it seems to average about 10 bucks a box

Grape Nuts are pretty dense and heavy. Yes, they're expensive, but you can't really judge by the physical size / dimensions of the box. I'd look at the weight of what you're buying. I tried the store brand (Safeway) of Grape Nuts, which were cheaper and not as good as GNs.

r256 I was talking about Muesli being 10 bucks a box. No clue how much Grape Nuts are. That was SUCH a 70s food; recall that all the women (and men) watching their weight would eat this for breakfast religiously.

R257- and Special K. It too was advertised as a pseudo health cereal.

R258 Same for their Product 19 variety. I rather liked that one; more malty than Special K. I no longer eat cereals regularly, only as a treat.

Grape Nuts are horrible, I thought they were just for old people who were constipated.

The town I grew up in was next to a town that manufactured Jello - so on some days - depending on the wind - the air smelled like cherry, lime, orange, etc.

R260- Cherry, lime, orange that smells a HELL OF A LOT better than the smell that wafted thru the closed windows on my father's Oldsmobile driving on the New Jersey Turnpike in the 1970's.

Ha, r261, I lived near both a bakery and a candy factory. I hated Butterscotch Tuesdays. Still can't eat the stuff.

R262 Never did care for butterscotch myself.

Butterscotch was always the candy equivalent of mystery meat: just what is it?

r262 - I really feel for you. Butterscotch makes me want to throw up. I can't imagine having to smell that once a week.

Horrors all of you denigrating butterscotch, as I mentioned above the Butterscotch Krimpets from Tasty Kakes we’re like manna from heaven!

BUTTERSCOTCH RULES!!!!!!!!!

Those Krimpets haven't been in New England for a few years- but they were awesome.

I love Butterscotch/Caramel/ all that shit.

Fuck the haters. Get fucked.

R266 More for you then mate! I actually bought those after reading posters rave here about them. It may very well have been one of your posts that got me to try them. Not much flavour really, just terribly sweet, although I understand they're not quite the same as the original product.

Not crapping al over your yum R267, simply don't appreciate them as you do. Enjoy!

R263, Is hot. I can feel it.

My man panties (manties) are dripping with butterscotch for this beast

R269 Cheers mate!

Pussy Noodle

R271 What in the holy fuck? I like it though!

Oh my god- this motherrfucker is from England or Australia.I love being Called MATE!

This dude is hot as balls.

I love you, Mate!

So hot

R273 Lots of love to you as well.

R274- Stop being so polite. Where my bitch at?

I am cyberlly in love with someone from Connecticut, but I don't know where he at.

We can ALL lick the butterscotch, mate.

I am here with the butterscotch. Where you all at?

Butterscotch is a mixture of brown sugar and butter.

These wafer cookies. My Kroger doesn't carry them. I was partial to the pink ones. Maybe it was my destiny.

I loved Brach's Milk Maid Royals. I could eat them by the dozens. My favorite was raspberry.

Several people have mentioned Charlie Chips.

They certainly were a part of my childhood. I could inhale a tin of their chips, no problem. Their pretzels and cookies were good too!

Anyway, Charlie Chips are still around and available online.

How the hell is butterscotch - butter and brown sugar - so objectionable, considering the tastes of DL.

I love butterscotch.

I rarely eat hard candies, but if I do, my preferred flavor is butterscotch.

it's just too sweet. i'm the type who likes bittersweet dark chocolate. i hate white chocolate too.

Lemon Heads

Lorna Dunes

Stella Doro Dietetic Egg Biscuits- My grandmother would always have these ate her house. They were dry and kind of tasteless but I 7 or 8 year old self liked them.

They stopped making these a long time ago. Does anyone remember them?

r284 i STILL like Lorna Dunes! But I haven't had them in probably 2 years or so.

My mother was into what was then called “health food.” She made breads from “the Tassahara Bread Book” which was probably some hippy commune place in California. I had a babysitter that corrupted me with fruity pebbles and pop tarts and it was a deep dark secret I kept, like an alcoholic drinking vodka surreptitiously. My mother Prost likely had some sort of eating disorder, fats were the enemy and she would buy skim milk and this disgusting product called lite n lively ice milk. The package had a photo of a skinny lady in a black leotard doing the splits. That model died of osteoporosis years ago, I’m sure.

R285 I don't remember those dietetic egg biscuits, but growing up we seemingly always had Stella D'Oro cookies in our cookie jar, specifically the "Lady Stella" assortment. Flower-shaped cookies with pink icing, star shaped ones with multi-colored sprinkles, circular chocolate ones with those same sprinkles...it was a pretty good variety. They were OK, not great, but good...I think that's why my mom bought them, because we wouldn't devour them as quickly. If she'd ever bought a package of Oreos or Chips Ahoy, they'd be gone in 2 days.

We also often had those golden raisin biscuits somebody mentioned above. As a kid, I didn't really even consider those to be cookies. Those things would last a really long time in the cookie jar. I'd only eat those out of sugar desperation...although I bet as an adult I'd like them a lot more now.

Does anyone remember a frozen slush dessert from the 1970’s that was packaged in a blue plastic cube? It may have been from Bird’s Eye. I’ve searched the web and can’t find images of it, or even the name.

What was it with the chocolate drinks in the 70s? Nestle Quik and Yoo-Hoo were the most popular. And don't forget Strawberry Quik!

Ahhh strawberry quick! I am not sure why we were allowed that given that we weren’t even allowed white rice and had to wait until the 80s to be allowed Yoo-hoo. But we definitely were allowed strawberry quick, which had a very distinctive smell.

Strawberry Quik was more disappointing than it looked. Artifical strawberry stuff has a way of betraying it's basis in coal derivatives.

....

My mother would make Hamburger Helper for dinner. I liked it as a 9 year old. My father on the other hand could not stand it because it reminded him of the SLOP he was forced to eat in the Navy.

Those Stella D'Oro egg biscuits tasted like old dust. I was a fat kid, and if I couldn't stomach them, you can imagine how bad they must have been.

I loved butterscoth sundaes

R296- You type FAT

Remember Jello Puddin in Butterscotch flavor?

R297 I don't recall saying I loved them every day...

R298 Of course it still exists.

Fans of butterscotch / caramel: try Mrs. Richardson's butterscotch / caramel sauce. Supposed to be for ice cream, but you could use it on whatever or just eat a spoonful.

Really good, not too expensive.

my teeth hurts just looking at that r301

^^teeth HURT

So how is butterscotch different than caramel, given they're essentially the same thing?

R304, butterscotch has brown sugar; caramel has white sugar.

More than chocolate, they are foods that often are better in concept than in practice.

R306- THIS is better in concept than in practice -

Ahhhh r307, you just jogged my memory: WRAPPLES!!!

People that ate R307 and R308 on a regular basis ended up with these:

R309, we only ate those during Autumn, when quality apples were available, and not like now, when they're available readily.

R310- They would sell the Candy Apples at my local amusement park in the late spring and the summer.

My favorite flavor of soda was Root Beer and the best brand was Hires.

Paul Masson wine

I remember these not having much flavor, but maybe that’s because they always burned my tongue.

I had a habit as a kid of reading everything backwards and sometimes upside down, and I still think of doo dads as “spap oop”.

r314 for your beautiful body

Coco Wheats

r(217) Love me some Judy Graubart, but it was the butcher John Braden I wanted to play sausage party with.

R259- I have cold cereal once a week. I buy Arrowhead Mills Puffed Corn which has no sugar and no salt and is very low in calories. I also buy Puffed Kamut with no sugar and no salt. I eat them in Oat Milk which I buy at Trader Joe's.

Ellio’s Pizza meant two things at our house; Friday (payday) and that my parents were too drunk to cook. My brother and I would lay waste to one of these…they were total crap, but I loved them.

R320-Ellios Pizza was only good up until the late 1980's. It was sold to another company in 1988 and the quality SUCKED after that.

[quote]R38- I think Doo Dads were around way before Chex Mix.

Regardless of which came first, Doo Dads were superior in every way except longevity. Best snack ever!

[quote] General Mills’ food labs cranked out their surprisingly nutritious cake like Breakfast Bars. Not to be confused with the Carnation kind. These were a staple in my tiny studio apartment’s kitchen, away on my first job after school.

My mom used to get those for my breakfast all the time. She once bought a package of assorted flavors and while the cinnamon was great as expected and the vanilla only a little stale, the chocolate ones were like squares of concrete. We checked the box and it was over 18 months past its sell-by date. That really underscored the lesson of how important spices were in preserving food before the advent of refrigeration!

Chef Boyardee used to sell these frozen miniature cheese pizzas in packs of 4. They basically had the texture of an oven mitt, but they tasted great and were one of my favorite meals as a kid.

Were Steak Ums around in the 70s? I remember them from the 80s.

ChexMix was something you made yourself---it probably goes back to the 50s. The innovation of "Doo-Dads" was that it cam e packaged.

R324 If most Mom’s were like mine in the 70s, she would say that’s for rich people who don’t have time to make their own food and we’re not going to buy it. I’ll make you Chex mix myself and we’ll save money and it will be will what we want in it.

(r304) and butterscotch has ... lots a butter. Carmel doesn't have nearly as much

R322- Do you remember Buitoni. They sold frozen pizzas that had the crust on the outside and the tomato sauce and the cheese on the inside- they were designed for toasters. I would eat that for a snack when I got home from Junior High School in the late 1970's. My mother also bought Buitoni canned Cheese Ravioli- both were good.

I 💗 butterscotch

Butterscotch clouds, tangerine and a side order of ham.

[quote]If most Mom’s were like mine in the 70s, she would say that’s for rich people who don’t have time to make their own food and we’re not going to buy it. I’ll make you Chex mix myself and we’ll save money and it will be will what we want in it.

My mother never used the phrase "that's for rich people". She paid the few pennies more for the convenience of not having to make some inferior Chex mix shit and let us enjoy the real thing, because like is short.

*life

typing without my glasses

I haven't seen my late, lamented Sunshine Raisin Biscuits posted yet, Sunshine seems to have closed within the last decade. There IS a Garibaldi substitute made with currants, but it's not as good.

R331- Sunshine is no longer an independent company it was purchased by Keebler in 1996. The only item with their name that I still see on the shelves is Cheez- Its. Someone earlier mentioned Yum Yums. They were not sold in my area but in 1985 my brother came back from a trip and bought some in a supermarket and gave me some to try they were YUM YUM!

Keebler now sells something similar to Yum Yums- called Coconut Dreams. They are good but they are not as good as Yum Yums were.

My mother used to by Sunshine brands because they did not contain LARD unlike Nabisco products in the 1970's.

Scooter Pies…ate them so much that I came to hate them. Like Spam and bologna.

When John Gielgud was on Broadway in 1976, someone backstage turned him on to Screaming Yellow Zonkers. He was practically addicted to them. They ordered him a case of it. Visitors to his dressing room, were confronted, first by his personal dresser, then by a large bowl of Zonkers. I know whereof I speak. I was there.

Vortman's almond cookies shaped like windmills.

[quote]R322- Do you remember Buitoni. They sold frozen pizzas that had the crust on the outside and the tomato sauce and the cheese on the inside- they were designed for toasters.

Afraid I don't, though I've bought and enjoyed Buitoni pastas in more recent decades.

There was a Buitoni plant behind my grammar school.

Anyone remember those little Debbie nutty buddies? They were wafers layered with peanut butter and covered with chocolate. I can’t find them anywhere. Do they still sell them?

Yes, my parents still get Nutty Buddys, you can find them at Walmart and Amazon..

R338 I like them occasionally. (all wafers actually) There's even a decent knockoff at Aldi.

"Make sure you get orange juice and not orange drink" my mom used to always say back then.

R341 Good on your mum, sounds like she was looking out for your health. Much of today's fake juice is funnily enough often labelled as juice "cocktail". I suppose that makes it sound sophisticated, and suitable for adults.

In the 1970's would buy A&P Frozen Orange Juice Concentrate and my brothers and I would make the orange juice our selves in a big glass pitcher. That was kind of fun.

When I was a kid in the 1970's my favorite was Franco-American Spaghetti O's with Meatballs- YUM

r343 i loved limeade (from concentrate) which was primarily bought as a mixer for Mom's vodka. Limeade, along with tonic, became my "soft drinks" because we weren't allowed actual soft drinks.

I meant to say that my MOTHER would buy the A&P frozen orange juice from concentrate.

The ingredients are shown on this label from the Spaghetti O's With Meatballs. No high fructose corn syrup ( that's now an ingredient in ALL processed food) . The ingredients sound decent.

Sugar isn't any healthier than High Fructose Corn Syrup

R348- It certainly tastes better than High Fructose Corn Syrup.

It's the same thing

R350 There is a different mouth feel and sweetness, though not everyone is sensitive to it.

Barq's Red Creme Soda, in glass bottles. It was a special treat when my parents would buy them, every couple of months or so. We were allowed to have one bottle of Coke a week. I usually drank mine on Friday nights.

The creme soda has a unique smell and taste. Now I am craving it. I haven't had one in years. Maybe Kroger stocks them in cans.

R352 - huh, I've never heard of that - sounds good!

Nestle released vanilla flavored Quik in the ‘70s. It was the most unnatural shade of yellow and left a chemical aftertaste but I found it peculiarly alluring. It was taken off the market in short order.

R354 They should have tried to pass it off as French Vanilla like Slim Fast did.

Banana "flavored" anything (which I find disgusting).

Also, I do like bananas, but I feel they have place in an ice cream sundae (i know, crucify me).

Incidentally, I love homemade banana bread.

Banana flavored Now or Laters were disgusting.

Peanut butter, banana and honey sandwiches

ah, yes r358. Our hippy parents didn't allow us to have store bought jam/jelly for our peanut butter sandwiches (and this, amazingly, was something we didn't make at home), but we were allowed honey with the peanut butter. I was never a fan of banana on pb sandwiches, so it was a pb/honey sandwich. my favorite!

Also, a rare treat when we went to the health food store was berry kefir. I loved milk and yogurt so much growing up and kefir was like manna from heaven but a rare treat because it was expensive (for us).

Oh gosh R359 fellow ACH. We had that nasty peanut butter with the peanut skin mixed in that my parents got at the food coop at home. (Yes antioxidants, whatever) And I was never allowed to opt out of the bananas (potassium) even though I hated them. And it was the thing ordered for us at the short lived vegetarian restaurant in town.

I must have been about three when yogurt came to our local grocery store (pre-coop) I have such a vivid memory of my parents coming home with one of every flavor from the store for a taste testing. I loved yogurt and also milk and was very excited to try kefir (still pre-coop so maybe four) when it came out. I took one sip and never tried it again. Maybe I’d like it now.

I don't recall my parent un-allowing any foods, when I grew up - 60s, early 70s. Not restricted on soda. But maybe that's why we didn't overdo it, it wasn't looked at as some kind of treat. We bought small individual bottles (they're bigger now), and drank a lot of water, too, since there were outdoor and indoor public water fountains literally everywhere.

I still make Watergate Salad, especially during the hot summer months. It's very refreshing on a hot day.

r360 I loooove kefir, but it can be a bit thick like a smoothie. In fact, it's a great addition if you're a smoothie fan, and has all those good gut probiotics.

My brother and I were only allowed to drink half a bottle of Coke every day, and we had to ask my mom for permission. We took turns pouring it into two green, plastic juice glasses to make sure we each got exactly half! This was when soda came in glass bottles in cardboard cartons, and they had to be returned to the supermarket to get the deposit back. I can still hear the bottles rattling in the cart.

This is making me hungry as hell!

My mom was a Dr. Pepper addict since long before I was born, so I was allowed to drink it daily and we always had it in the house. How I got through my childhood with all my teeth is a mystery.

Health Valley Granola Bars- Health Valley was making these WAY before the name was changed to Energy Bars.

My mother would buy these ca. 1978 and granola cereal and granola cookies.

Milky Way- That's not hard to remember but what's unusual about this commercial is the fact that the DAD and the son are both CHUNKY/DUMPY.

These confectionary companies and or the processed food companies would NEVER showcase overweight people eating their products in a television commercial. Only the FITTEST most athletic people would be shown consuming the food of FAT WHORES like me.

Even though it existed decades prior to the 70s, Kraft Macaroni & Cheese (blue and white box) will always remind me of the 70s.

It was my favorite lunch as a kid and it was the first thing I learned to "cook" all by myself.

I used to add a can of tuna and a can of peas to it.

It's been years since I've had it.

There was a little store near my school, every day after school my friend and I would stop in for Hostess cupcakes, or Drake's cupcakes, Devil Dogs, or those pie squares - usually washed it down with some "tonic" (soda). So did all the other kids. While it probably wasn't good for us, it didn't do any lasting harm. Probably made us docile and happy for a while. And we didn't get fat, still aren't fat.

We had a "little store", too.

When we were kids, and had a dollar bill, the old ladies at the register would always question if our parents are allowing us to spend a dollar on candy.

Ahh...the 1970s...

Did your parents send you with money and a a note to buy them cigarettes (and my to eternal shame, Ortho-Gyno creme) at the drug store? No amount of candy can assuage the shame.

R370 is from Massachusetts.

Mid Atlantic realness.

R228~~~

Ever eat pine cone? Many parts are edible!

R217---That butcher looks just like Artie from the Sopranos!

R300 I found butterscotch jello puddin at Safeway this AM. Go figure!

Birch beer was something I liked, as a kid. Didn't like root beer but loved birch beer.

In 1972 I would come back from my day camp Penguilly and mother would have Pistachio pudding in the refrigerator for me when I got home - YUM

Not again

Just watched this video and remembered this thread. Anyone remember any of these?

Cherry phosphate sodas at the fountain shop.

I don't remember what they were called, but there was a candy that came in a round plastic ball, one side was transparent and held the candy the other side was solid plastic and held a small toy that you had to put together yourself the toys were dinky but still fun to play with.

I had a grilled cheese in 1978 I remember.

Chick-o-Sticks

Was Cherry Mash known nationally? I remember it from the 70s though it's been around for 100 years and was my dad's favorite candy when he was a boy.

A dessert called "Something Different," a refrigerated gelatin thing that separated into layers, much like the dessert mentioned upthread "Jell-o 1-2-3."

Bonus tip on the subject of butterscotch: Try making butterscotch pudding and then adding a teaspoon of Kahlua to it when cooling...

flank steak marinated in Kraft Italian salad dressing

Sunshine Lemon Coolers! Those little lemon bits were so refreshing. There are a lot of copycat recipes, anyone try one?

Chicken In A Biscuit!!

Shake n’ Bake.

R391I miss the Shake n' Bake BBQ glaze. It was reformulated, or "New & Improved" as they're keen on calling it when they ruin things. It was poorly received, then disappeared from the market altogether.