14 Grocery Store Favorites From the 1970s That Are Gone Today

Shopping for food in the middle of the 20th century was a visual adventure filled with bright cardboard boxes and innovative mechanical packaging. Before modern health food trends and organic labels took over the aisles, families filled their metal carts with processed treats that promised a taste of the future. The shelves were packed with freeze dried astronaut snacks, colorful fruit spreads, and powdered beverages that utilized the latest food science of the era. Youths would run down the aisles to grab their favorite sugary cereals and heavy foil wrapped candy bars. Looking back at these older products helps us understand how our daily eating habits and grocery marketing have changed over the decades. It reveals a time when novelty and processed convenience were the ultimate prizes.

1. Space Food Sticks

Developed for the national aerospace program, these chewy snacks were marketed to children as the ultimate food of the future. The product was designed to be a nutritionally balanced rod that could fit inside a space helmet for a quick boost of energy. On the grocery shelves, they came in sweet flavors like chocolate, peanut butter, and caramel. The texture was soft, dense, and slightly rubbery, sliding out of a foil wrapper like industrial clay. Youths loved them because they felt connected to the space race and lunar landings happening in the news. As dietary trends shifted toward more natural, less processed snacks over the next decade, these futuristic rods quietly vanished from shelves.

2. Kraft Koogle Spread

Making a classic peanut butter sandwich in the early part of the decade often involved a fun twist of sweet flavor profiles. A major dairy brand launched a line of spreadable nut jars in chocolate, banana, vanilla, and cinnamon varieties. The mascot was a cartoon jar with giant googly eyes, and the advertising promised the paste would not stick to the roof of your mouth. It had a texture that sat somewhere between a soft frosting and a creamy butter, making it a massive hit for after-school snacks. Parents were often divided on the product: some saw it as a fun treat, while others saw it as a sugar overload. It was pulled from production before the end of the decade arrived.

3. Marathon Candy Bars

Getting your money’s worth of chocolate often meant reaching for a braided caramel twist that measured a full eight inches long. The back of the red wrapper featured a printed ruler to prove exactly how much candy you were getting for your spare pocket coins. Because the caramel was so thick and chewy, it took a child a very long time to eat a single bar during a recess break. It was an engineering marvel of the candy world that required a lot of jaw muscle and patience to consume. The manufacturer eventually discontinued the product because the complicated braided machinery was too expensive to maintain at the factory. It remains one of the most missed candy items of the entire era.

4. Jell-O 1-2-3

Creating a fancy dessert for a neighborhood dinner party often felt like a magic trick of kitchen chemistry. You would mix a single paper packet of powder with boiling water, whip the liquid with an egg beater, and pour it into a glass bowl. As it chilled in the refrigerator, the liquid would miraculously separate into three distinct layers of color and texture. The bottom was a standard clear gelatin, the middle was a soft mousse, and the top was a light and fluffy foam. It required absolutely no extra steps or kitchen skills to achieve the elegant visual effect. Families loved how it made a cheap weeknight supper feel special. It faded from the shelves as households moved away from heavy gelatin.

5. Space Cereal Quisp

Breakfast aisles were a battlefield for attention, and one of the most popular contenders was a smiling green alien in a propeller hat. The product consisted of baked corn pieces shaped like miniature flying saucers that stayed incredibly crunchy when you added cold milk to the bowl. The box was covered in bright comic book art that captured the imagination of youths who were obsessed with rockets and robots. It competed directly with a rival cereal featuring a pickaxe-wielding miner, and fans would vote for their favorite mascot on the back of the box. Limited shelf space and changing marketing trends eventually pushed the smiling alien out of standard stores, making it a rare and difficult find today.

6. Hunt Snack Packs

Pudding was a staple of the daily school lunchbox, but it did not come in the soft plastic cups we see on shelves today. Instead, the sweet chocolate or vanilla custard was sealed inside a sharp-edged metal tin with a pull tab ring on the top lid. You had to pull the metal ring back with a steady thumb, being very careful not to slice your finger on the jagged edge. Students would use a plastic spoon to scrape every last drop of the custard from the metal cylinder. The taste often had a slightly metallic tang from the interior lining of the tin. When plastic alternatives arrived, these heavy metal cans were abandoned because they were too expensive and dangerous for small children to open alone.

7. Libbyland TV Dinners

Frozen meals were a high-tech convenience for busy parents, but one specific brand decided to market the concept directly to children. These meals featured cartoon mascots and came in fun varieties like the Sundown Supper or the Pirate Picnic. The aluminum tray was divided into several compartments holding hot dogs, fried chicken, corn, and a side of sweet chocolate pudding. The cardboard box could be propped up on the table to reveal puzzles and games to play while you ate your dinner in front of the television set. It even included a packet of crystals that turned your glass of regular milk into chocolate milk. It was a complete sensory event that made eating a frozen tray feel like a party.

8. Buc Wheats Cereal

Finding a breakfast option that appealed to both parents and children was a difficult task in the middle of the decade. This product took standard flakes and glazed them in a sweet coating of maple syrup. It hit a perfect sweet spot between a healthy, whole-grain option and a sugary dessert treat for the morning. Adults could eat it without feeling any shame, and youths loved the sweet crunch it offered in the bowl. It was a very simple and effective recipe that relied on pure maple flavor rather than neon dyes and marshmallow shapes. It maintained a very loyal following for several years before the manufacturer decided to pull the plug. Fans still petition for the sweet maple flakes to return.

9. Danish Go-Rounds

Toaster pastries were a massive morning trend, and one brand decided to innovate the shape by creating a flat pastry rolled into a spiral. It looked a bit like a cinnamon roll that had been flattened by a steamroller, filled with fruit jelly, and covered in white icing. You would slide the spiral into the toaster slots, and the heating coils would melt the icing and warm the fruit interior. Biting into the hot crust released a burst of sweet berry flavor that made morning commutes much more exciting for youths. The spiral shape was fun to untwist and eat one layer at a time on the walk to the school bus stop. It was eventually abandoned in favor of the standard rectangular pastry we use today.

10. Funny Face Drinks

Stirring a powdered packet into a pitcher of cold tap water was the standard way to prepare a sweet afternoon beverage. These packets competed directly with older brands by creating a cast of cartoon fruit characters with exaggerated expressions. Flavors like Goofy Grape and Jolly Olly Orange were printed on the front of the paper envelopes. Youths would beg their parents to buy the packets at the supermarket so they could collect the different character faces. It was a cheap and fast way to hydrate a yard full of neighborhood children on a hot summer afternoon. When artificial dyes and sweeteners came under heavy public scrutiny, the brand struggled to maintain its footing and vanished from the store aisles.

11. Figurines Diet Bars

Before the massive modern protein bar industry took over the wellness aisles, these crispy wafers were the go-to choice for calorie-counting adults. Made by a major flour company, the bars were marketed as a sweet meal replacement that did not taste like heavy cardboard. They featured a crispy rice interior covered in a thin layer of sweet chocolate or vanilla coating. Eating two bars was supposed to replace a standard lunch while keeping you feeling full until the evening meal. They were a very early and successful attempt to combine convenience with personal weight management goals. They were pulled from the shelves as the public moved toward liquid shakes and more natural, whole-food dieting trends.

12. Mug-O-Lunch Cups

Preparing a hot lunch for a single person was made simple with the arrival of individual dry pasta pouches. You would dump the contents of the paper packet into a ceramic mug, add boiling water from the kettle, and stir. After sitting on the counter for five minutes, the powder would dissolve into a thick cheese or beef gravy sauce with soft noodles. It was a very popular option for latchkey children who came home to an empty house after school and needed a warm meal without using the stove. It was a precursor to modern instant noodle cups and microwavable bowls. It was a very cheap and convenient system that utilized the thermal heat of a standard mug to cook the pasta.

13. Gerber Singles

Market research over the decade suggested that adults who lived alone were buying miniature jars of baby food for quick meals. To capitalize on this trend, a major baby food manufacturer created a line of small glass jars containing pureed beef, fruits, and vegetables for adults. It was marketed as a fast and healthy option for office workers who did not have time to prepare a full lunch. The concept was a massive failure because people felt embarrassed to be seen eating mushy food out of a glass jar at their office desks. Consumers preferred solid food that required chewing to a paste. The product was pulled from shelves after a very short, unsuccessful run.

14. Aspen Apple Soda

Clear beverages were a major marketing push as the decade came to a close, and one soda giant decided to launch a crisp apple-flavored drink. It was advertised as a crystal-clear beverage with a snap of real fruit flavor, offering an alternative to standard colas and lemon-lime sodas. It gathered a very loyal following among teenagers who appreciated its light, refreshing carbonation. It was often served in glass bottles at neighborhood pizza parlors and skating rinks. Despite the initial success, the parent company decided to rebrand the fruit line in the next decade. The clear apple soda was dropped from production, leaving fans to miss the crisp and bubbly orchard flavor.

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• Grocery History
• retro snacks
• vintage food
• discontinued products
• supermarkets