13 Foods From The '90s We Need To Bring Back

While it may feel like it was just yesterday to some of us, the start of the '90s brought about an electric decade of pop culture, colorful fashion, and, of course, magical snacks. It was no doubt a pivotal time for millennials, and even Gen-Z caught the end of the decade and carried the torch into the early 2000s. Needless to say, there are a variety of childhood snacks that haunt our memories from over 30 years ago. (Sorry if we're making you feel old.)

Questionable ingredients and outlandish product concepts aside, a lot of these snacks are sorely missed. The select few that have made a brief reappearance over the years fueled a sense of nostalgia, but what if they made a more permanent comeback? This walk down memory lane aims to not only stir up snack flashbacks from the long-term memory of readers, but to voice our desire for these snacks to return to the market. It's time to shake up those memory banks and cater to your inner child with these foods from the '90s that need to be brought back. 

Before there was Nike's "Just do it," there was Squeezit's "Just squeeze it" slogan that beckoned you to crack open a cold one –– a cold fruit drink, that is. On hot summer days, nothing beat twisting the top off of a Squeezit and sipping on the icy, sickly sweet "juice." If nothing else, these fruit drinks could be easily recognized with their unique twist-and-tear-off tops, squeezable design, and the cheery variety of rainbow of liquids offered. Squeezit came onto the scene in 1985 with "unbreakable" plastic bottles perfect for throwing into a lunchbox before heading to school. These bottles were eventually redesigned to feature characters related to the flavors, like Smarty Arty Orange and Silly Billy Strawberry.

The '90s were prime time for Squeezit Fruit Drinks, but the drink didn't make it past the turn of the century. General Mills, the parent brand behind the company, decided to close up shop and thus, Squeezeit's chapter came to a close in 2001. There was a glimmer of hope when Squeezits reappeared for a short time in 2006, but they were ultimately discontinued the following year.

Remember when you arrived at school lunch eager to see what today's pre-packed menu had to offer in your lunchbox? One of the most exciting snacks of the day was brightly hued spherical fruit snacks that came in a variety of flavors like Island Explosion, Strawberry Slam, Watermelon Burst, Crazy Berries, and Berry-Berry Banana. Kellogg's Yogos involved yogurt-covered "fruit flavored bits" offering a creamy texture that coated your mouth with an artificial berry aftertaste, and it was absolutely delicious.

The snack's run was relatively short-lived as it was shuttered in 2010. The demise of the snack could be equated to a number of possible factors, like high amounts of sugar (a whopping 15 grams per serving) and money for production costs. Whatever the reason might've been, there hasn't been another yogurt fruit snack able to achieve what Yogos did for consumers. And while fans are pleading for the company to yield Yogos once more, Kellogg's has stated via social media that the snack isn't going to be making a comeback in the foreseeable future.

Gripz Snacks were "mighty tiny" renditions of other popular baked snacks like Cheez-Its and Chips Ahoy cookies. While small, these bite-sized renditions of Cheez-Its were spot on with their cheesy flavor and orange hue, and the buttery-sweet vibes you got from Gripz Chips Ahoy made it hard to believe you were eating a bunch of downsized cookies. Even the Gripz packaging design was purposeful, as it was made to be portable and easily opened with a rip-away corner. Given the smaller snack size, one pouch could range between 120 to 150 calories. 

There's good news and some bad news. Starting with the good news — the Gripz are back, believe it or not, and have been back for a minute. While there has been some confusion among customers if it was truly still around, the brand is once again available online. Bad news: Expect either a difficult time tracking down some flavors (namely, Chips Deluxe) or ludicrous prices like this 24-count box going for over $28 on Amazon –– $1.18 per bag is kind of a lot to pay for Gripz, y'all.

When you think of beverages that contain tiny, chewy pearls, the first thing that comes to mind is bubble tea, right? But there was another spherical beverage the '90s offered consumers –– the Orbitz. Tiny multicolored gel droplets hovered in a mix of sweetened, fruit-flavored, gellan gum-laden water, complete with outer space branding. The drink that supposedly came straight from "Planet Orbitz" had its own unique taste and texture with flavors like pineapple banana cherry coconut and vanilla orange. However, according to some accounts, Orbitz didn't exactly nail its flavors, and ended up with drinks more reminiscent of cough syrup than flavored natural spring water.

In the end, Orbitz had a pretty short run. The drink was introduced to the market in 1996 by Clearly Canadian and subsequently pulled from the market in 1999 due to lackluster performance.  Even though its initial appearance was brief, it still was enough time to create a fan following. And as the saying goes, if at first, you don't succeed, try, try again ... and it might be high time to try Orbitz again.

It's a fruit snack but it's also a ... string? The '90s was a time of out-of-the-box ideas, and the Fruit String Things were no different. Among the gummy gushers, rollups, and stackers, it's not shocking that Betty Crocker decided to launch this simplified string snack in 1994. Depending on the box you got, the Fruit String Thing could be laid out in a design or rolled up for you to create your own artistic interpretation ... or consumption, if such was your preference. Because it was formulated to be malleable, General Mills stated that the snack "could also be twisted, braided, tied in knots, or played with in any number of ways" before eating. Parents were surely thrilled with the sticky residue kids left behind on cars and furniture after gobbling up Fruit String Things. 

Fruit String Things did not stand the test of time the same way General Mills and Betty Crocker's other fruit snack products did, as it was put on the high shelf for good in the early 2000s. While there are some candies out today like Haribo's Sour S'ghetti or red licorice laces, they don't have the elaborate presentation or distinct fruity taste Fruit String Thing did.

General Mills was a, if not the, kingpin behind some of the most popular snacks of the '90s–– particularly of the fruit snack variety. Scooby Snack fruit snacks were one of the most popular options available within General Mills' subsidiary company, Betty Crocker. Each gummy resembled cartoon characters from the show, including Shaggy, Scooby, Velma, Fred, and Daphne. And, yes, each gummy's color coordinated with the character's outfit from the show –– a nice detail on Betty Crocker's part. Arguably the best gummy of the pack was the bright blue Scooby Doo, with a slightly creamy berry taste to it.

No good thing lasts forever, though, and after a long run with the iconic bright blue formulation, General Mills announced in 2015 that it was doing away with the original formula. This was in an effort to eliminate artificial flavors and colors in favor of healthier alternatives. While the change was made with consumer health in mind, needless to say, the overall taste of Scooby-Doo! Gummies were changed forever, and the legendary blue gummy retired. Even with petitions from fans to revert back to the old ways (despite potentially unhealthy ingredients in the original recipe), it's unlikely that Betty Crocker will change course.