Discontinued Foods You Miss

[DeLurker]

I thought Quisp cereal was discontinued, but I saw it in a grocery store (Publix) this summer.

[ariel]

Mr A would love to find Bar None chocolate bars.  

https://www.google.com/search?q=bar+none+chocolate+bar&safe=off&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjUq427iM7VAhUl6YMKHRQhAKMQsAQILw&biw=1097&bih=531

[callie lee 29]

Mr. A is not alone!

[voiceover]

Wow, just found this thread!!  

I need your help: 

Ever since Country Crock margarine changed their recipe, I have lived a life, sans-butter substitute.  I tried all their new versions -- all awful!, I searched online for "Tastes like original Country Crock" -- nothing.

Anyone out there a fan, or know of a fan, who found a taste-alike substitute?  I would be forever indebted.

And p.s.: A great big "Up Yours" to the braintrust who thought this flavor change was a good idea.

[BooksRule]

I've seen mentions here and there about 'space food sticks' (1970s?), but I kept remembering that that type of food was also available as brownie-shaped 'space food'.  I now realize that I was mixing up two products.  What I loved to eat were Carnation Breakfast Squares.  Those were really good.

[Anela]

I can't remember when if I mentioned this, but specifically whole wheat tortillas from 1994. I can't remember the name on the packet, though. I usually don't like whole wheat tortillas, but these were lovely, and when combined with refried beans, tasted cheesy. I wonder if they had nutritional yeast in them. 

[HoboClayton]

Frito brand chili cheese dip.

[MargeGunderson]

It's been a while since they've been mentioned, so I'm going to bring them up: Planters Cheese Balls.

[WendyCR72]

2 hours ago, MargeGunderson said:

It's been a while since they've been mentioned, so I'm going to bring them up: Planters Cheese Balls.

YES! Why in the world was this discontinued?!

[DeLurker]

I've never had them.  I don't know to be glad since I don't know what I missed or gypped because I missed out on something awesome.

[Bastet]

I thought they tasted far more like the inside of the can they came in than anything resembling cheese (or even cheez), so I don't think you missed anything, but they do seem to have an enthusiastic group of mourners.

[voiceover]

On 9/3/2017 at 10:07 AM, BooksRule said:

I've seen mentions here and there about 'space food sticks' (1970s?), but I kept remembering that that type of food was also available as brownie-shaped 'space food'.  I now realize that I was mixing up two products.  What I loved to eat were Carnation Breakfast Squares.  Those were really good.

 

Holy crap!!   I haven't thought about these in years decades!! And now that I read your post, I can remember what they tasted like!!  A little dry, and even the chocolate ;my favorite) had a mild nutty flavor.

*tears up*

I see no one could help me with my Country Crock issue.

[BooksRule]

Quote

 

Ever since Country Crock margarine changed their recipe, I have lived a life, sans-butter substitute.  I tried all their new versions -- all awful!, I searched online for "Tastes like original Country Crock" -- nothing.

Anyone out there a fan, or know of a fan, who found a taste-alike substitute?  I would be forever indebted.

 

I don't know about a taste-alike alternative, but I usually alternate between Country Crock, Move Over Butter and I Can't Believe It's Not Butter, depending on what's available in the light versions and if one is on sale.  To me, ICBINB has more of a butter-like taste (but it's more expensive), but I don't know if the others taste like CC or not.

[Qoass]

Between rising prices and talk about transfats, I abandoned margarine and returned to butter.

[larapu2000]

4 hours ago, Qoass said:

Between rising prices and talk about transfats, I abandoned margarine and returned to butter.

The FDA banned trans fats last year, with an off the shelf date by June 2018.  However, most food companies have been 0 TF for the most part, especially if they sell in California and NY State.  Most margarine and shortening manufacturers had 0 TF options available in 2011, when California law went into effect.  

This might be the issue with Country Crock-in changing their formula to 0 TF, the taste and flavor may have been altered.  It's not a simple matter of subbing fat for fat.  Hydrogenated vegetable oil behaves very differently than palm oil, high oleic soybean oil, canola oil, etc, so it's actually very likely this caused the issue with the taste.

Have you tried some of the olive oil spreads if going to straight butter isn't an option?

[ariel]

I remember William Shatner & his then wife Marcy had a commercial for some sort of a margarine product in the 1970's 

[GreekGeek]

7 hours ago, ariel said:

I remember William Shatner & his then wife Marcy had a commercial for some sort of a margarine product in the 1970's 

It doesn't feature the ex-Mrs. Shatner, but here is one commercial touting the health benefits of margarine: 

[ariel]

That's the commercial.  I wonder where Marcy is?  Maybe by then he had dumped her for someone younger?

Edited September 12, 2017 by ariel

[Qoass]

According to IMDB, they divorced in 1996. She was the second of his four wives.

[ariel]

Wasn't one of this wives (not Marcy) found dead at the bottom of his pool?

[Qoass]

That was number three.

[chessiegal]

Have a friend who was principal of school Shatner visited for some reason or other. He said as long as the cameras were rolling, he was all rainbows and unicorns. As soon as the cameras stopped filming, he was a real asshole.

[WendyCR72]

Neither of these were at all healthy but damn, they were good! I miss the Philadelphia Cheesecake Bars and the Toll House Candy Bars that were out all too briefly!

[annzeepark914]

Mrs. Grass's low sodium onion soup mix.  It made the best onion dip.  And Greenwood's pickled beets.  I grew up eating those pickled beets and they were so good - much better than homemade.  The company went out of business ;>(

[Miss Chevious]

I miss two products made by Oscar Meyer. One was called Sandwich Spread and it came plastic wrapped, shaped like a large capsule. The other was packaged the same way but it was their Braunschweiger liverwurst.

It's been at least ten years since I saw the Sandwich Spread in the stores. I was buying the liverwurst as recently as a year and a half ago, but now all the grocery stores in my area stopped carrying it. 

I ate what I called L & L's (liverwurst and lettuce) or Sandwich Spread sandwiches practically everyday from first grade all the way through high school (except for Fridays which was PB & J day). Of course this was a long time ago.

But I still miss those products even to this day.

[Qoass]

I love liverwurst although I only buy it about once a year. My store has the Braunschweiger in the refrigerator deli section with the hot dogs but I prefer to get a chunk at the meat counter. I sure hope it doesn't disappear from supermarkets. I stopped at my local deli last year for a sandwich and they'd stopped offering it. I asked why it was still on the wall menu and they admitted that they really liked the way it was painted and didn't want to fix it to delete liverwurst.

[2727]

Not discontinued exactly, but I've never found any reformulated, "improved" product to be better than the original. Recent examples are Walmart's store brand of chopped salad kits, the meatloaf at Bob Evans, and mini tacos from Schwan's. I don't think it's just me being stuck in a rut, either -- the new versions are demonstrably worse. Whoever the company taste testers are, they have very different palates from mine.

[JTMacc99]

I'm with you @Qoass. Liverwurst is about a once a year item for me. I like it when I have it. And then I go back to your basic lean ham and chicken for my sandwiches. 

It's up there with cooking corned beef on St Patrick's Day. I have it that day, remember that I really like it, and then don't make it again for a whole year.

3 minutes ago, 2727 said:

I've never found any reformulated, "improved" product to be better than the original.

I have to believe that at some point this actually happened and didn't register with me. It's much easier to remember the ones they messed up for me than made better.

[mansonlamps]

On 9/18/2017 at 6:28 PM, Miss Chevious said:

I miss two products made by Oscar Meyer. One was called Sandwich Spread and it came plastic wrapped, shaped like a large capsule. The other was packaged the same way but it was their Braunschweiger liverwurst.

It's been at least ten years since I saw the Sandwich Spread in the stores. I was buying the liverwurst as recently as a year and a half ago, but now all the grocery stores in my area stopped carrying it. 

I ate what I called L & L's (liverwurst and lettuce) or Sandwich Spread sandwiches practically everyday from first grade all the way through high school (except for Fridays which was PB & J day). Of course this was a long time ago.

But I still miss those products even to this day.

My local supermarkets still sell the Oscar Mayer liverwurst and I still love it, too.  But I can't imagine my nieces or nephews even entertaining the idea of eating it, so it's only a matter of time.  Like when my grandparents ate head cheese and loved it, no way was that going into my mouth.

[Mittengirl]

Wishbone Blue Cheese Dressing - not discontinued, but no stores in my area carry it.  The closest store that carries it, according to the Wishbone website, is 106 miles away.  My local stores carry some of their other dressings, but not the blue cheese.  I find that odd, since blue cheese is not exactly an exotic or unusual flavor; I would think it would be one of the better selling ones.  I have tried both Trader Joe's and Kraft's versions and did not care for either.

[Snarklepuss]

8 hours ago, Mittengirl said:

Wishbone Blue Cheese Dressing - not discontinued, but no stores in my area carry it.  The closest store that carries it, according to the Wishbone website, is 106 miles away.  My local stores carry some of their other dressings, but not the blue cheese.  I find that odd, since blue cheese is not exactly an exotic or unusual flavor; I would think it would be one of the better selling ones.  I have tried both Trader Joe's and Kraft's versions and did not care for either.

You should write to the company to tell them as I've had similar things happen and found out it was some kind of ordering glitch and completely not intended, if you believe that!  Something seems odd about that so I wouldn't be surprised if it was some kind of error.  Have you ever tried Ken's blue cheese dressing?  I like it better than Wishbone, although I don't hate Wishbone. 

I generally don't like Kraft dressings but it depends.  I LOVE their "Green Goddess" dressing.  It was one of my favorites when I was a kid in the '60s and '70s but back then it was made by 7 Seas, which I think was bought out by Kraft.  It was discontinued decades ago but I'm pretty sure that The Vermont Country Store had something to do with persuading them to bring it back as they are into selling retro products and often persuade manufacturers to bring them back just so they can sell them.  Well, Green Goddess was such a hit that the company decided to put it on supermarket shelves again.  And the rest is history.

Speaking of hard to find products, I like Wishbone's Buffalo blue cheese dressing.  I see a lot of their blue cheese ranch dressing on the shelves, but rarely do I see the other one, which I like.  And I know they haven't discontinued it, and every now and then I do find it, but I thought it would be more easily available.  I know, I know, all I have to do is put a few drops of hot sauce into blue cheese dressing and it's the same thing, but sometimes I'm just lazy when I heat up frozen chicken, y'know?  I don't cook from scratch every night of the week!

One more thing and then I promise I'll shut up, LOL - I used to think that if I didn't find a product on the shelf in the store it meant they didn't carry it.  I have realized recently that it sometimes means they do stock it, but not enough to keep up with the demand so they're always out of it.  This happened last summer in my area with bottled iced tea.  I contacted the companies and they all told me they regularly stocked at all the stores in my area but the demand must be higher than the supply.  Well, this summer I had no problem finding Gold Peak and the other similar brands because the stores in my area must have realized that they should order a larger quantity to keep up with the demand.  Interesting, right?

[MsTree]

Many moons ago, instead of Nestle's Quik or Bosco, there was a thing called "Flavor Straws".  Depending on what flavor you bought, a few dips in your milk and you'd have instant chocolate or strawberry milk...and of course, drinking it all through the straw.

[DeLurker]

On 9/21/2014 at 7:46 PM, DeLurker said:

Frusen Glädjé - loved this stuff.

Reese's Cookie Cups

Saw the Reese's Cookie Cups on the drive from Houston to Florida!  

Haven't found them in the local grocer yet but I am hopeful!

[theredhead77]

On 9/25/2017 at 3:11 AM, MsTree said:

Many moons ago, instead of Nestle's Quik or Bosco, there was a thing called "Flavor Straws".  Depending on what flavor you bought, a few dips in your milk and you'd have instant chocolate or strawberry milk...and of course, drinking it all through the straw.

These?

[MsTree]

11 hours ago, theredhead77 said:

These?

Maybe, but they weren't called "magic" LOL.

[Mittengirl]

I tried those Magic Straws and I think the magic is if they can get you to buy them more than once.  I would stick to regular stir-ins.

 

I miss Wheat-Nuts.  They were something we used to get every year in our Christmas stocking.   They were salty and crunchy and curiously addictive.

[mbaywife123]

7 hours ago, Mittengirl said:

I tried those Magic Straws and I think the magic is if they can get you to buy them more than once.  I would stick to regular stir-ins.

 

I miss Wheat-Nuts.  They were something we used to get every year in our Christmas stocking.   They were salty and crunchy and curiously addictive.

I had forgotten about Wheat-Nuts. They were always in our stockings as well as the original fruit roll ups that were bigger than a dinner plate! Also miss the individualy wrapped Kraft cheese "kisses".

Is anyone still able to find the ice cream/cocoa nut white snowballs complete with plastic holly sprig candle holder and red candle for each snowball?

[ariel]

My husband is still pining for Bar None candy bars.

[GreekGeek]

20 hours ago, mbaywife123 said:

 

Is anyone still able to find the ice cream/cocoa nut white snowballs complete with plastic holly sprig candle holder and red candle for each snowball?

I never heard of these. Who makes/made them?

I did find instructions here on how to make your own.

Edited December 28, 2017 by GreekGeek

[General Days]

On 12/26/2017 at 5:41 PM, Mittengirl said:

I miss Wheat-Nuts.  They were something we used to get every year in our Christmas stocking.   They were salty and crunchy and curiously addictive.

 

On 12/27/2017 at 1:17 AM, mbaywife123 said:

I had forgotten about Wheat-Nuts. They were always in our stockings as well as the original fruit roll ups that were bigger than a dinner plate! Also miss the individualy wrapped Kraft cheese "kisses".

Wheat-nuts are now produced by a different company: http://nadanut.com/

[DeLurker]

On 12/25/2017 at 0:31 PM, DeLurker said:

Saw the Reese's Cookie Cups on the drive from Houston to Florida!  

Haven't found them in the local grocer yet but I am hopeful!

Sadly these are Reese's with crunched up cookies in them and not the whole cookie wafer like before.  Not nearly as satisfying.

[UYI]

I was reading the discussion from this thread on the last Howard Johnson's restaurant in Lake George, NY.

It finally closed for good last October, under very sad, disturbing, gross circumstances, shortly after this became public:

https://www.eater.com/2017/10/12/16465854/howard-johnsons-jon-la-rock-sexual-abuse

[GreekGeek]

Sad, gross, and disturbing indeed--what an awful end to what was once a great American tradition.

[chessiegal]

A friend was telling me she remembers pudding cake mixes at the grocery store in chocolate and lemon flavors and doesn't see them anymore. When I got home I had an email from ATK that included a recipe for lemon pudding cake. (Twilight Zone?).

[callie lee 29]

Tell your friend that unless Betty Crocker changed the recipe the past couple of years, the Supermoist mixes have pudding in them. They still had it in 2015/16.

And last week's X-Files dealt with this exact same thing!! 

[chessiegal]

It's not that the cakes have pudding in them, it's that when you make them, it comes out with pudding on the bottom and cake on top - 2 layers.

[callie lee 29]

I have never heard of that and it sounds amazing!!!

[chessiegal]

"Despite the ease of a single batter to produce two texturally distinct layers, lemon pudding cake is a very unpredictable undertaking. With an understanding of the underlying processes that cause this characteristic separation, we were able to produce a more flavorful and better-textured version that bakes up correctly time and again."

I'd link to the recipe but you need to be an ATK member to view it.

[Qoass]

Oh, heck, you don't need a mix to make pudding cake. Just google Hot Fudge Sundae cake and pick a recipe. It will tell you to dump hot, hot water over the top and you'll be sure you did it wrong but trust:  you'll come out with heaven! I made my first one out of a Betty Crocker cookbook when I had just quit smoking and was looking for something to occupy my hands. I was so shocked when it came out of the oven and I discovered that it was the cake my mom used to make all the time when I was a kid. It really kicked off my baking hobby. The lemon one can be a pain because you have to deal with egg whites and yolks separately but the chocolate one can be made right in the pan and put in either the oven or a microwave and now there are single serve versions you can make in a mug. Do it!

[auntlada]

I think this must be the stuff my mom makes that we just call "the chocolate stuff." It's really good. I should probably get her recipe sometime.