Ah, the ‘80s. A time when you could drink neon juice, eat radioactive-looking snacks, and no one batted an eye. Before wellness trends and gluten-shaming, we were raised on sugar, dye #5, and advertising lies that tasted amazing. These were the snacks that ruled our lunchboxes, bribed our friendships, and defined an era before food came with guilt—and calorie counts on the label.
Here’s a roundup of the most unforgettable ‘80s snacks that have tragically gone the way of Saturday morning cartoons and Trapper Keepers. Some may have had brief revivals, but none have reclaimed their original, chaotic glory.
Ecto Cooler
Status: Missing, presumed slimed.
Hi-C’s Ecto Cooler was more than a citrus-flavored drink—it was a rite of passage. Introduced in 1989 to ride the slime wave of The Real Ghostbusters, this green sugar bomb was basically Ghostbusters in a juice box. It outlasted the cartoon, the toys, even the movies for a while.
Rumor has it Hi-C sold over $100 million worth of Ecto Cooler during its heyday, and when they pulled the plug in the early 2000s, grown adults shed actual tears (probably sugar-induced). Since then, it’s made a few comeback attempts—limited editions for the Ghostbusters reboots—but it’s mostly scalped on eBay for ridiculous prices. And we’re still buying it.
Jell-O Pudding Pops
Status: Gone. But never forgotten.
In the ‘80s, pudding was a full-on lifestyle. Jell-O Pudding Pops were the frozen gold standard—vanilla, chocolate, or the holy swirl. They sold $300 million in their first three years, with commercials starring Bill Cosby long before he was… well, let’s just say canceled isn’t strong enough a word.
Why did they vanish? Word is, the recipe changed when Popsicle took over production. Fans say it was never the same. So, in true Gen X fashion, we quietly ghosted them and kept the memory intact.
Bonkers
Status: Flattened by falling fruit.
Bonkers was the weird candy of the ‘80s. Chewy, fruity, and packed with bizarre commercials featuring a woman being pelted with giant fruit. These candies were wild—fruit on the inside, fruit on the outside, and an energy that screamed, “You’re not old enough for cocaine, so here’s this.”
Flavors included strawberry, grape, orange, and the GOAT: watermelon—green outside, red inside. Perfect symmetry. Production ended in the ‘90s when people realized fruit falling from the sky wasn’t a sustainable marketing strategy. We disagree.
Tato Skins
Status: De-skinned and disgraced.
Keebler’s Tato Skins were like a loaded baked potato in chip form, complete with cheddar & bacon, sour cream & chives, and a bit of self-loathing. Made with actual potato skins, they were crunchy, greasy, and amazing.
Today, there’s a sad imposter wearing the TGI Fridays logo, but if you grew up eating real Tato Skins out of a foil bag during your Atari breaks, you know the difference.
Disney Character Popsicles
Status: Vanished into the vault.
Mickey Mouse bars still exist, but back in the day, we had grape Donalds and orange Goofys on a stick. These popsicles were shaped like the actual characters, not just a vague blob with candy eyes.
No one knows why these were discontinued—probably corporate greed, or a villain like Cruella getting into product management. Either way, bring back grape Donald. We said what we said.
Quackers
Status: Drowned in nostalgia.
Goldfish may have swum their way into the hearts of Gen Z, but we had Quackers—duck-shaped crackers with the same cheesy zing and a superior vibe. Nabisco tried to compete with Pepperidge Farm and honestly? They nailed it.
There was even a sour cream & onion version that slapped. But by the late ‘80s, they were gone, leaving a duck-shaped hole in our hearts and our snack cabinets.
Hostess Pudding Pies
Status: Vanished under the weight of saturated fat.
Hostess still sells Fruit Pies, but back in the Reagan years, they served up pudding-filled versions—chocolate or vanilla—like it was some kind of delicious rebellion.
Each pie probably had 20 grams of fat and a week’s worth of sugar, but they were glorious. So what if your fingers were greasy and you needed a nap afterward? That’s the snack equivalent of love.
Giggles Cookies
Status: Smiled too hard, disappeared.
Before Oreo ruled the cookie aisle like a tyrant, there were competitors like Giggles. Two cookies (vanilla or chocolate) stuffed with chocolate and vanilla creme—and a creepy smile stamped on the front.
They were unnerving but delicious. Think of them as the Pennywise of sandwich cookies. Their disappearance in the early ’90s remains one of the great snack tragedies.
Slice
Status: Sliced from shelves.
Pepsi’s answer to Sprite was Slice, launched in 1984 with 10% real fruit juice—and a slick marketing campaign that somehow convinced us that soda was healthy.
Mandarin Orange, Cherry Cola, Apple Slice—yes, that was real—and more hit shelves like a fruit explosion. Then Pepsi pulled the juice, changed the formula, and by the early 2000s, Slice had been replaced by Sierra Mist (which has also been replaced by Starry. Rinse and repeat).
Kudos Bars
Status: 50% granola, 50% candy, 100% gone.
Made by Mars, Kudos bars were the halfway house between health and hedonism. Chocolate chip, peanut butter, fudge—these weren’t healthy, but your parents bought them thinking they were better than a Snickers. (They were basically Snickers.)
They disappeared in the 2010s, probably due to the granola bar aisle going full “organic kale flaxseed.” We miss the days when our granola bars had M&Ms and no shame.
Final Thought:
Food in the ‘80s didn’t pretend to be healthy. It didn’t hide behind “natural” labels or weigh down your soul with guilt. It was loud, it was sweet, and it was unapologetically weird—just like we were. Today’s snacks are fine, but they’ll never hit the same as eating pudding on a stick or sipping ghost slime in your lunchroom.
We don’t want health. We want Bonkers.