Remember that specific taste from childhood—a particular candy bar, a weirdly wonderful dessert, a savory snack mix—that seems to have vanished without a trace? For many Boomers, these supermarket staples weren’t just snacks; they were part of a ritual—lunchboxes, Saturday mornings, road trips, and after-school hangs.
However, market trends shift, companies change hands, and sometimes even wildly popular items are pulled for perplexing reasons. Decades later, the question still echoes in grocery aisles and online forums: “Why did they stop making that?”
Join us as we unwrap the stories behind 10 discontinued favorites that a generation wishes would stage a comeback.
Jell-O 1-2-3
Launched in 1969, Jell-O 1-2-3 was a dessert mix that magically separated into three layers as it chilled: a jiggly bottom, a creamy top, and a mousse-like middle. The product was marketed as a single powdered mix, requiring no additional ingredients beyond the preparation steps.
It looked like a science experiment and tasted like, well, Jell-O, with flavors including Strawberry, Raspberry, Orange, Cherry, and Lime. Kids loved it for its texture; parents loved how easy it was to make. However, due to declining demand, the gelatin product gradually disappeared from shelves in the mid-80s, and by 1996, it was no longer available. Whether it was too weird or too processed, no one’s managed to recreate it (including Kraft’s archived recipe attempts) quite the same since.
Marathon Bar
Remember the long, twisty caramel rope covered in chocolate? Mars debuted the Marathon Bar in 1973 with a literal ruler printed on the wrapper. This 8-inch braided caramel bar was chewy and sticky and felt like it took an hour to eat.
However, by 1981, it had disappeared in the U.S. (although the UK’s still-existing Curly Wurly, which predates the Marathon Bar, is its closest relative). Why did it vanish? Market preferences and texture challenges (such as chewy caramel being difficult to eat) notwithstanding, fans are still asking for it back.
Whip ‘n Chill
A staple of its time, Whip ‘n Chill was sort of like pudding’s fluffier cousin — it was light and sweet and came in flavors like chocolate and vanilla. It debuted in the late 1960s and remained on shelves until the 1980s, after which it dwindled in popularity, making it a rare find today. For Boomers who remember it as an easy-to-find treat, its near-disappearance from the regular shopping experience places it firmly in the category of lamented favorites.
Perhaps the reason for its decline was that customers found the dessert less appealing as health-conscious trends emerged, with consumer preferences shifting away from artificial ingredients. But for folks of the era, the pudding’s airy texture hit the spot. Whipped dessert mixes today are just not the same…
PB Max
This was a sleeper hit from Mars in the late 1980s: a whole-grain cookie base, thick peanut butter filling, and milk chocolate coating, accompanied by crunchy cookie pieces. It sold well and generated over $50 million in revenue during its run. People loved it. Then, poof, PB Max was discontinued in 1994.
The Mars family allegedly just wasn’t big on peanut butter. That’s right: the company killed a profitable product because the execs didn’t like the taste. Fans are still bitter with online petitions, social media discussions, and Reddit threads expressing longing for its return (while peanut-butter lovers remain deprived).
Doo Dads
Before Chex Mix took over, there was Doo Dads—a salty mix of cereal squares, nuts, pretzels, cheese-flavored Tid-Bit crackers, and seasoning that was a blend of Worcestershire sauce, butter, garlic salt that somehow always worked. Nabisco ran it strong through the ’70s and ’80s.
Then Chex Mix exploded and market saturation of snack mixes in the 1990s, which is when Doo Dads faded in existence. People still remember the distinct flavor, which is bold, tangy, and savory. No commercial remakes or DIY attempts have quite nailed it since, partly because Nabisco discontinued the Tid-Bit crackers in 2000—a signature component—alongside Doo Dads.
Buitoni Instant Pizzas
Pop them in the toaster and wait for the burn. Popular in the 1980s, Buitoni’s Toaster Pizzas were small, round frozen snacks that cooked crispy on the outside with molten cheese inside. They were similar to Hot Pockets, but thinner and far more dangerous.
They vanished in the early ’90s, perhaps due to shifting safety standards (think scalding cheese), but what is more likely is that the corporate strategy changed under Nestlé ownership. Whatever may be the case, if you remember them, you know—nothing hits quite like them. Petitions and fan campaigns, including a dedicated Facebook page, suggest that demand persisted long after discontinuation.
Carnation Breakfast Bars
These were protein bars before protein bars were a thing. Carnation Breakfast Bars emerged in the 1970s as a quick, on-the-go meal replacement. They were dense, chocolatey, and full of vitamins you could taste, and they had a cult following to boot. When Nestlé discontinued them in the ’90s, fans didn’t forget. Online petitions, knock-off recipes, and even eBay listings have kept the craving alive.
Nestlé Alpine White with Almonds
White chocolate doesn’t get much love, but Nestlé’s Alpine bar made its case. Introduced in 1986, it combined creamy white chocolate with crunchy almonds (as noted by the Candy Wrapper Museum, which lists the ingredients as Sugar, Cocoa Butter, Milk, Almonds, and Vanillin).
Smooth, sweet, and just fancy enough to feel special, it was quietly discontinued by the mid-1990s, and while a few imitators have tried to bring it back (Hershey released a “White with Whole Almonds” bar that reportedly tastes “exactly like the Nestle Alpine White bars” from the late ’80s and early ’90s), none have stuck the landing.
Sunshine Lemon Coolers
Tiny, powdered-sugar-dusted lemon cookies that melted in your mouth—and covered your shirt in sugar. These sweet and tangy little guys were deceptively unforgettable yet straightforward.
Sunshine Biscuits produced them through the 1970s, 1980s, and early 1990s before they faded from shelves. They were among the many products that were discontinued when Sunshine Biscuits was purchased by and merged with Keebler. Attempts at recreations exist (including knock-offs and copycat recipes), but for those who grew up with them, nothing quite compares.
7 Up Candy Bar
No, not the soda. This bar, first introduced in the 1930s by the Trudeau Candy Company, featured seven distinct flavor pockets or “pillows,” as the company called them, inside one chocolate bar—each filled with something different, such as caramel, fudge, Brazil nut, buttercream, cherry cream, orange jelly, or coconut.
It was like a Whitman’s Sampler, but in bar form. Production ended in 1979, partly due to its complicated design and legal squabbles over the name. Rising production costs were another reason for its discontinuation. Nevertheless, 7 Up Candy Bar remains a lost legend of candy innovation.