Food
10 Childhood Cereals That You Completely Forgot About! (Part 1)
Good old cereal. When you walk down the cereal aisle as an adult it is nowhere near as exciting as it was when you were a child. Is that because you have changed or the cereals have? Or both? Here is the first part of our list on childhood cereals you completely forgot about.
10. Banana Frosted Flakes
From 1981 to 1984 there were Banana Frosted Flakes. Can you even imagine? Is this something you had eaten or something you are hearing about now for the first time? Bananas! Wow. What an idea! This idea may sound a little funny but if you think about it hard enough you may realize that you have actually cut slices of bananas into your cereal before or seen someone else do it. Banana is a morning food. So is cereal. It only makes sense that they go together! The box for this cereal was also warm and sunny and very inspirational. The box gave off good morning vibes to say the least. It portrayed the trusty and familiar Tony the Tiger holding a big bunch of bananas and wearing a straw hat. Did you know that if you have just one banana it is called a finger? Many is a bunch and one is a finger. Hmmm… Bet you you didin’t know that! So now you know there were Banana Frosted Flakes and that one banana is called a finger! If this version of the cereal was brought back would you give it a go?
9. Count Chocula
When we think of friendly cartoon vampires today we think about Adam Sandler voicing the vampire/hotel owner/father in the Hotel Transylvania movies. Back in the day when this film franchise had not yet been created, when children thought about vampires they thought about two things: Count von Count from Sesame Street and Count Chocula. Count Chocula cereal was first released in March of 1971. Sesame Street first aired in 1969. They both began around the same time and each offered children a vampire that was unlike any frightening Halloween version of a vampire. These vampires were kind and sweet. In fact, Count Chocula was literally sweet, as his cereal was chocolatey and even had marshmallow bits! Count Chocula cereal was actually part of a whole line of cereals called Monster Cereals. This line was created by General Mills and also featured Franken Berry, a friendly Frankenstein monster. As well as Boo Berry, featuring you guessed it, a friendly Ghost monster. These monster mascots have a decidedly Tim Burton-esque design to them, being more charming, than scary. Clearly this charm worked as all three of these Monster cereals are still produced today, albeit on a seasonal basis, so go-ahead and re-live sugar-y, monster-y goodness!
8. Dino Pebbles
The Flintstones were incredible. They were one of the first animated TV families to be brought into homes across America via the television. It was also the first animated series to hold a prime time slot. The show first aired in 1960 and only ran for six years. In those six years one hundred and sixty six episodes of magic happened and now many many people will remember the Flintstones, the Rubbles, and the Great Gazoo. To celebrate this famous television program there were cereals. There were actually many version and varieties to choose from over the years, such as: Cocoa Pebbles, Fruity Pebbles, and Bamm-Bamm Pebbles to name a few. Dino Pebbles were launched in the 80s. So they were retro then. What does that make them now? Ancient? Dino Pebbles ran for about ten years and then slowly drifted from the market as the cartoon did from programing. When we look back at this cereal we are also looking back at a TV show, its characters, and the impact it had on our lives. Did any of you run home from school to watch the Flintstones? Would you watch it over lunch? Saturday morning? When you watched it was the floor made of lava during the commercials? Dino Pebbles bring back an array of emotions and memories. This cereal is also fun because it features Dino, the family dog from the cartoon sitcom. He was happy, loving, and big and purple, kind of like Barney. Maybe Dino was the inspiration for Barney?
7. Strawberry Shortcake
This next one is on the list of Childhood Cereals You Completely Forgot About because of the smell. Remember the artificial strawberry smell of the Strawberry Shortcake cereal? If you can’t you can probably imagine it. This cereal was a General Mills product and was first brought into the market in 1982. It featured the cutest little Strawberry Shortcake mascot. Did you know Strawberry Shortcake the cartoon character was first designed for greeting cards! She was created in 1977 by the American Greeting Corporation. In 1979 she was made into a toy doll because she was so popular. The beloved character then made it into cereal. Everything that was popular in those times had a brief period on a cereal box. Who are we kidding? If a character meant anything at all it had to have been on a cereal box. Cereal boxes were the best way to communicate with kids back then. They were the best way to give them both an edible product and a toy. It was a win-win. The child got something yummy and fun out of it and the company gets the recurring revenue because the kid wants to buy more of the product so they can collect all the toys. Those were the easy days. The good-old days. Weren’t they? They were for cereal and for the promotion of characters, that’s for sure! Today we have so many popular characters that do not make it onto a cereal box. How sad that is. Think of everything we are missing out on. Can you imagine… What would it be like today and for adults? For the adults there would be like John Snow from Game of Thrones or June from the Handmaid Tales. Now, THOSE would be interesting boxes of cereal and even more interesting games on the back of the boxes!
6. C3PO’s
“Two crunches in every double O” said the commercial as the classic Star Wars theme played in the background. Two crunches! Why is that? Well, this cereal put too traditional O’s together to create two Os, which looked a lot like a figure eight. C3PO’s were a Kellogg’s brand that obviously celebrated and advertised the C-3PO droid from Star Wars. The cereal was released in 1984 after the premier of the third Star Wars film from the original trilogy. These were super fun boxes to get if you were a cereal eater and a Star Wars fan because you not only had the very satisfying “two crunches in every double O”, but you also had the chance of finding some collectables! Some boxes had plastic rebel rockets in them. Others had sticker or trading cards. Some of the boxes even had masks on the back that you could cut out and wear. This was back in the day when children were not afraid to do some crafts and actually paid attention to their boxes of cereal. This is all pre video game fun and boy is it missed. Wouldn’t you rather all of the current children spending their Saturday mornings cutting out cool masks from the back of their cereal boxes? Rather than hooking up to the video games? This may be an over generalization but the facts are the facts: cereal boxes are not as cool for children as they once were. C3PO’s had it all! They had the yummy and familiar cereal taste that is enhanced and made even better than it had been before. They had the recognizable characters. They had fun surprises in the boxes AND they had cool boxes. We miss you C3PO’s and we only wish you or products like you were being released now as Star Wars is being revamped. Hear that Kellogg’s? Bring this back please!
5. Oreo O’s
This cereal was basically just like Cheerios but with Oreo flavored O’s. Oreo O’s were made by Post Cereals from Post Consumer Brands. It launched in 1997 and was discontinued globally 2007. That being said it is still available in one place and one place only… South Korea. Weird right? Though you cannot buy this cereal in North America you can buy the box off of eBay! So if you are suffering from withdrawal or are caught in the tight grip of nostalgia particularly badly then you can go ahead and purchase a box. The box will cost well over ten dollars and you will just have to trust you are not getting a rip off. The big question though with this cereal and its discontinuation is why? Why would a very good product and trusty brand name like Oreo stop making something that must have been profitable? Well, the answer is a political one. Back in the day Post Cereals and Kraft foods had a deal. This deal allowed them to co-brand. In 2007 this co-branding stopped. This means that Post Cereals owned the rights to producing the cereal itself, while Kraft owned the copyrights to the name Oreo. Therefore, neither or the companies could function and legally make and sell this product without the others help and consent. Even in the cereal game there are politics and right and wrongs. It is not all happy morning music and rainbows. That is just for our kid fantasies and, well, the commercials.
4. Bart Simpson Peanut Butter Chocolate Crunch
If you watched The Simpsons at one point in your life you ran to get to the television to see the couch bit. No? It was always different… or maybe it wasn’t. Maybe you would run to get to the TV and be disappointed because you’ve seen it before. Maybe you had to hang up the phone with your friend, cutting them off, or maybe you had to cut off your steady flow of pee and wipe super-fast to get out in time, forgetting to flush to toilet. If you watched The Simpsons you are also aware of Bart’s prank calls to Moe’s Tavern. You love Bart for his fun attitude and reckless behavior. You would have been one of the ones to eat the Bart Simpson cereal. It was a special edition cereal ran by Kellogg’s, so there was never any intention of it staying on the market. The last time they ran a special edition Simpson’s cereal was in 2003, when they sold Bart Simpson’s No ProbemO’s and Eat My Shorts cereals in the UK. The Bart Simpson Peanut Butter Crunch was only on the market for a year, between 2001 and 2002. It is missed and all eyes are on the shelves awaiting the next limited edition.
3. Cinnamon Mini Buns
One big, hot, steamy cinnamon bun with icing on the top is truly delicious. How about three or four mini cinnamon buns on a spoon bathing in milk? They are crispy and crunchy and cinnamon-y too! Kellogg’s Cinnamon Mini Buns brought the ever delightful classic, the cinnamon bun, into cereal bowls and we will never forget it. The bonus with having the cereal version as oppose to the actual bun version is the calories. When marketing this cereal Kellogg’s promised that “Eating 70 Cinnamon Buns Can Be Nutritious!” Taking today’s standards into consideration we know this is unlikely the truth. There is not a chance that the cereal resembled any of the nutritious competitors now on the market. But, back then the sugar content was probably less than most of the brands out there. They encouraged parents to by the product by saying the cereal was “Easy for your Kids to Swallow.” Cinnamon Mini Buns were first sold in 1991 and left very soon after in 1993.
2. French Toast Crunch
For those who were not eating Cinnamon Mini Buns but loved the taste of cinnamon, there was French Toast Crunch. It was like having tons and tons of cinnamon French toast in a bowl of cereal. Remember the picture on the box of the loaf being cut up and the slices being your cereal pieces! It was like you were eating loaves and loaves and loaves. This cereal does not need to be elaborated on because we all remember it like it was yesterday. It was just that good. So if you completely forgot about this cereal, now is the time for action. While it was discontinued in the US in 2006 it was brought back by popular demand in 2014. Get on out and grab yourself a box of French Toast Crunch and fill that bowl right to the top. Those tasty crunchy bites of cinnamon and syrupy goodness will take you back in time – sitting on the floor with your big bowl of cereal watching Saturday morning cartoons.
1. Pop Tarts Crunch
Okay. There is bad news and good news. The bad news is that this cereal was discontinued in 1995. But, you already knew that. You have already mourned that loss. You have already gone through all the stages of grief and come out the other side. Now, it is time for the good news. Did you know there are rumors is will return in 2019? Yes! There are rumors! They cannot be substantiated, but just the fact that there are solid rumors may be enough for some of us. Hope is key. If you hope for things hard enough they come true right…? Right? Anyway… Pop Tarts Crunch cereal was a real winner in the past and we cross our fingers it will be again. Pop Tarts Crunch came in two varieties: Sugar Cinnamon and Strawberry. Much like the actual Pop Tarts. The Tagline assure consumers that the cereal was “Pop Tarts for your spoon” and that they were “crunchy inside and out”. They only lasted a year on the market. If you do not remember these that is why. They launched in 1994 and were swiftly removed in 1995. Too bad. But, shall we review that good news again? They should be coming back! In 2019! So hope, hope, hope! And keep an eye out! You never know what will end up in your trusty cereal aisle.