Discontinued Foods That Have Made A Comeback

There's nothing more nostalgic than noshing on a favorite snack from your childhood. From savoring spoonfuls of sugary cereal on lazy weekend mornings enjoying cartoons like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles to crunching and munching on chips and candy after you kick off your light-up sneakers after school each day, there's no doubt that the '80s, '90s, and early 2000s were an iconic era for funky and junky foods.

With the emphasis on eating clean in recent years, many of these beloved bites have disappeared from grocery store shelves in lieu of healthier options, but a select few of these memorable munchies have made a triumphant return to our kitchen pantries after being discontinued for a time. Fans of these old-school foods and beverages have campaigned for the restoration of their favorites though everything from impassioned Facebook comments to heartfelt online petitions and, in many cases, their efforts have been rewarded with a mouth-watering blast from the past. Check out these discontinued foods that have made a welcomed return into our lives and lunchboxes.

Cheese curls, Cheetos, and Doritos are all 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 when the company decided to gear their product line back toward nuts (via Eater).

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. To celebrate this milestone, Planters additionally released 350 canisters of Cheez Powder (think nutritional yeast for junk-foodies) to sprinkle liberally over any food you fancy, or even add extra to the Cheez Balls themselves — go ahead, we won't judge.

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 and even on screen, appearing in films and shows like Daddy Day Care and Friends, before it vanished in 2007 (everywhere but South Korea) to the chagrin of chocolate lovers everywhere. 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. If you're hoping that the cereal is a healthier way to get your Oreo fix, though, you're better off just keeping with the cookies — because one serving of O's has the same amount of sugar as three Oreos. Yikes!

It's hard to imagine how M&Ms could get any better. They're the ideal size and shape to eat by the handful while catching the latest blockbuster movie and the slightly crispy candy 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 LA Times, this iteration of M&M's was introduced in 1998 as a limited-edition item and the flavor was retired seven years later. 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 (a dark time indeed). Even more importantly, it's back for good and not a limited-edition exclusive like its original run. Pretty sweet.

The only thing better than regular French toast? French toast in the form of tiny cereal pieces jam-packed with sugary, cinnamony goodness. This breakfast must-have 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. "We've seen a lot of cereals come and go over the years, but one of the most frequent requests we see is to bring back French Toast Crunch — the little toast-shaped, maple-flavored bites of deliciousness packed into a cereal box," the company wrote. Let all '90s kids rejoice and give a shout out to General Mills for bringing a favorite breakfast back to the table.

Not to be confused with the popular Red Vines or *gasp* 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 were displayed in plexiglass cases atop convenient store counters that the clerk had to unlock themselves — so vintage! 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 (via WiscNews).

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 — which is better than nothing, but not enough to satisfy a die-hard devotee. Lo and behold, after a slew of letters from candy lovers and retailers urged the American Licorice Co. 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. 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.

What would the latest '90s craze be without bringing back yet another sugary breakfast treat? According to Business Insider, 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 will feature two of the tart's most iconic varieties: Brown Sugar Cinnamon and Frosted Strawberry, which is adorned with tiny rainbow sprinkles just like its original form (via Food & Wine).

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.