I Want Candy
A few days ago I had my first Pop-Tart in what must have been 15 years. Let me just say that the experience left me horribly dissatisfied. This spurred an hour-long conversation with my co-workers about all of the amazing junk food that originated in the 80′s. To my constant disapproval, my mom was all about healthy everything so I felt deprived for oh…an entire decade. That didn’t curtail any of my excitement, though when I came across all of the treats I craved as a kid. I just love all of the simple graphics, bright colors and processed goodness.
Which foods most represent the 80′s to you?
97 comments
OMG!!!!! I’m the first comment. So awesome. And I love candy!!
Hehehe…so fun! What about the peanut butter brand with the jelly in stripes all around the inside of the jar?? Fruit roll-ups. Hubba bubba gum. Orange Julius. So 80′s! Oh and anything in the food court of the galleria where they filmed Fast Times… Go valley girls!
blast from the past! I totally wanted to eat all these foods growing up but I also had health nut parents, which I suppose I’m somewhat thankful for now.. living abroad I don’t even SEE these foods in the stores so it’s good to see some things from home
OMG I haven’t seen funstripe in FOREVER! I miss those! I dont even think i liked them that much-but for some reason I couldn’t stop wanting it! Soo bad…theres at least 4 up there that I’ve had in the last month haha! such a candy junky! I’m pretty sure I had lunchables, Capri Sun, and Gushers everyday of my first semester in college! haha they worked out for those late night study sessions! …this isn’t too old school…but remember those Orbits drinks-they were in an episode of Clueless!
Would you believe if I said I never had Otter Pops before? Fun Dip represents the 80s to me and those pizza lunchables…I was the most popular one at the lunch table with those things! Fun post!!
my sister and i would sit and chew a pack of fruitstripes in one day- although they were always hard and we agreed they had a somewhat waxy taste.
btw- am i the only one who morns the loss of the tab energy drink?!
Haha… it’s got to be peanut butter. I must’ve eaten it twice a day for the first ten years of my life. Great trip down memory lane though
Fruit Stripe gum for SURE! “Yikes, stripes, Fruit Stripe gum.” Ha – remember that little jingle. The gum tasted soooo good, but got rock hard in about two minutes!
Great round-up… I could add Little Debbie Oatmeal Cremes, Fun Dip, Milk Duds… My teeth are hurting a little thinking abt it all!
You’ve got me craving some Cookie Crisp! I’ll definitely be on a search for some Razzles this afternoon on my lunch break. They epitomize the 80s for me!
I think you hit the nail on the head with all your choices but I will add Kool-Aid, Frankenberry Cereal [I liked it way better than Count Chocula], Mr. T Cereal, Captain Crunch Peanut Butter Cereal, someone else mentioned Fun Dip and I was OBSESSED with Fruit Roll Ups… literally my mom would get them home, cherry flavor always, and I would eat the whole box and then leave the empty box in the cabinet so she’d think they were still there. Oh and Oreo cookies my father and I loved those! Oh, I keep thinking of more… Bubbalicious Bubble Gum in Cherry/Strawberry/Watermelon flavors and last but not least I don’t know the brand but they had Dr. Pepper bubble gum, that had a liquid center that gushed when you chewed it up, SOOO tasty!
I’ve since strayed away from this stuff, eating it only once in a blue moon – I haven’t even browsed the gum section at the check out, unless it’s for sugar free, I might have to grab a pack of tasty bubble gum this weekend.
THANKS FOR THE MEMORIES!!!
side note: The Abba Zabba made me laugh I’ve never had one but I always think of Dave Chappelle when I see it.
fundip and doritos! haha i love this post. so funny.
fundip and doritos! oh and those fake cigarettes i could only get at the pool bc my mom wouldn’t see.
i love this post. so funny.
Pretty much EVERYTHING you’ve pictured reminds me of my childhood (though, like you, I wasn’t allowed to eat it that often). Kudos, for sure! I used to love them! And am I the only one who remembers Dinosaur Diner cereal?
I love the montage! I have to say, Squeeze-Its remind me most of the 80s. Whenever we went to the grocery store as kids, my brother would throw a fit if my mom didn’t buy him Squeeze-Its (which was rare, leading to lots of memories…)
ooh i was just reminded of when my brother and i would have contests of who could stick the most gushers in our mouth. the good ol’ days.
oh and my boyfriend (23 years old) still cannot pass up buying pop rocks every single time we pass them anywhere.
Wait! About my last comment, I just realized the cereal was called Dinersaurs. Clever…
ha! so funny. i too, was deprived…although we occasionally had a kudos bar as a special treat! so funny to look at all these foods!
OMG, the memories just came rushing back to me. Holy Moly!
Oh man, I forgot about Squeeze It. I loved that stuff. Great post!
It’s not even 9 a.m. and I’m craving candy already. Thank you!
I loooooved dots as a kid. There was a candy store in our town, and any time my mom took my sister and me there, dots were the first thing we’d get!
Fruity Pebbles, Count Chocula, and Big League Chew…gotta love the big league chew!
Chicken in Biskit! My favorite guilty pleasure snack, ever. I’ve never met someone who wasn’t a little bit horrified watching me eat them.
Ho-Hos and Ding Dongs. This was an easy one.
Oh, and BUGLES. Preferably by the pool, wrapped in a towel, basking in the sunshine. Because I was 9 at the time, and I didn’t know what skin cancer was. So yeah, Bugles, too.
This is fantastic. Put a huge smile on my face, first thing in the morning!
thanks for that
oh no, horribly dissatisfied with a poptart. i still love those. don’t buy them often, but when i do its brown sugar and cinnamon. as a kid i loved lucky charms, hubba bubba grape bubble gum, tang, capri suns.
I was all about the Jolly Ranchers. Preferably watermelon!
-Jello Pudding Pops (and their cousin, the Jello sherbert pops)
-Combos
-MicroMagic hamburgers and milkshakes
-Bubbletape
There’s a candy store on the LES here in Manhattan that sells all sorts of old candy bars! I’m going to make a run there soon..
I remember going to the little store down the street and buying candy cigarettes. Isn’t that terrrible!!! I hate smokers too. I wish it was banned completely!
i TOTALLY forgot about squeeze-its, but i used to LOVE those! ring pops, too. what a throwback…!
i loved gushers; also loved bubble tape, the 7-up and dr. pepper gum with the ooze in the middle, zero candy bars, and rice krispie treat cereal. i wasn’t allowed to have very much of it very often, but when i did it was deelliicciiiouss.
Definitely strawberry fruit roll ups! I miss the 80s.
Since I was raised on brown rice and homemade granola…these items represented pure lust in the 80′s for me. I remember being at a sleepover and eating apple jacks for breakfast, and hot dogs filled with cheese for lunch – it was good day.
I was just having a conversation with my BF about candy we loved as a kid. For some reason I was completely obsessed with grape Now-N-Laters…just the grape ones, LOL.
I love USA for the large amount of junky food and non healthy snacks!! my 80′s remember is my “pane e burro” (bread&butter) that my grandmother gave us every afternoon and fruit ice lollies!
I’ve been munching on the mini oreos lately a lot myself! need to stop!
I shouldn’t want to eat all that junk at 8 in the morning, but your picture collage makes me want to divulge in all that candy and carbs! I’ll be craving poptarts and gushers all day now. Thanks a lot Emily!
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Kudos!!! I had one in my lunch everyday in elementary school. i forgot about those!! Fruit roll ups were also a favorite, along with tasty cakes. Yummm!
Was anyone else obsessed with Cry Baby sour bubble gum? They were like gold at my school! You could trade anything for Cry Babies! Hahahaha!
cookie crisp!!! i was in love with that cereal. we had to eat super healthy cereals — muslix,grape nuts, etc. — except on our birthdays, when we could eat any cereal we wanted. cookie crisp was ALWAYS my choice!
I have a box of Otter Pops in the freezer right now.
I love them and they are the perfect treat on a hot day. Fun dip, Squeezits, and candy buttons bring back a lot of memories. 
Cool post.
Em, I love this post!!!! I was all about frozen Charleston Chews at the public pool when I was little. And I loved having Tab at my grandma’s house. My mom had a strict no-sugary-cereals rule, too, so Cap’n Crunch was my FAVE in college…such a rebel.
I forgot about SqueezIts! Totally SqueezIts and Pixy Stixs. I’m shaking just thinking about it.
I know this came out way before the 80s, but when I think of my childhood I remember Bazooka bubblegum, the horrible, hard pink bubblegum with the comics inside!! And also Airheads, but those were a bit later!
do you remember Dunk-a-Roos? SO good…
Fruit Gushers
Squeez-it
Pop-rocks!
Bugles, and my fave Dunkaroos!!!!
Oh my gosh, this brings me back! My mom was also into eating healthy, so we were deprived of ALL these yummy things! She was such a health nut that I did not taste bacon until I was 19. Do you remember Clearly Canadians? That was my favorite!
I love Otter Pops, they are by far my favorite!
I love poptarts, and snickers…and a whole load of oreos
My sisters and I were in love with Lick-m-aid-
And those tubes of sucker?
Oh my god the thought of it now disgusts me completely…
wow… the memories…
We only got to have non-sugar ceral at home. But when we went camping we could get the little boxes of ceral and we would eat all the sugary ceral first and leave the healthy raisin bran for the end. Gosh I miss those days!
pop rocks, gushers, lunchables, squeeze-its. add some pizza rolls and that would have been my perfect lunch as a kid!
As I was born in 1981, I was a full child of the 80s.
Ring Pops, Bottle Caps, Nerds, Fun Dip – all these candies are so 80′s to me and oddly enough, I still eat them on occasion.
I’m also partial to the cracker and cheese packs…I still eat those too haha. No wonder the cleanse worked so well on me!!
For some reason though, Cheerios is very 80′s to me still.
And what the hell…chicken crackers?
Otter Pops. Count Chocula. Pixie Stix. Ring Pops. That gum with the zebra. Teddy Grahams. Graham Crackers. Pop Rocks. Alpha Bits. Nerds. This list will never end!
Fruit Roll-Ups! Now I eat organic fruit leather. Same idea, but a little less fun.
Man, I hate the fact that I grew up in Eastern Europe at that time! I was pretty damn happy when I got Kinder Surprise eggs. Those were the ultimate bliss for me.
Oh my god! I spent an entire summer begging my mom to buy me some Squeeze-its. I never got one.
The otter pop love has endured in our house. D and I both eat them almost every night during the summer.
Fundip!
Fruit Roll-Ups!!!
Laffy Taffy!
I LOVE THIS POST!!
Fab post, for me its refreshers, chewits and hubba bubba!
In my house junk food was verboten. However, on Saturday nights, my parents always went out for dinner. My mother bought Lays potato chips and Haagen Dazs chocolate icecream. The babysitter used to french braid my hair. Those were my 80s.
Cadbury chocolate, the best!!
x
Charleston Chews are totally the best…I just ate one yesterday!
sweets and cakes are my weakness, and the reason why I’m fat! lol
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Can you believe that I never ate ANY of that stuff in the ’80s.’ My husband however says he LOVES pop rocks. He’s a candy kind of kid!
Does anyone remember Dunkaroos? Omg I randomly had a craving for them the other day, perfect time for your post!
I grew up with Lunchables. Man, lunches are so much sweeter as an adult! The Pixy Stix were awesome back in the day.
ahhhh, you took me on a trip down memory lane with this post! love it.
Smacks! I ate it for breakfast every day!
there was this cereal -forget the name- but it had little sugar balls and mini cones but basically they were icrecream cones – just that the icecream and cones were separate. i loved it!
Oh Big Leage Chew — how I loved that stuff!
After seeing the picture I immediately wanted to start an 80-trash-food-party, haha. Even nowadays I’m fascinated by american candy. Germans are rather unimaginative when it comes to candy…
You should watch the movie “Flakes” with Zooey Deschanel…you’ll crave freakies cereal after it.
all these just blasted me back to the days when my mother refused to let me have any of these! but i definitely snuck in some squeeze its (i thought they were so cool!) and zebra gum (hello you can make a tattoo out of the wrapper!)
oohhh! These are such sweet delights…Wish I’m still a kid without a baggage of worries to deal with.
I was just telling my boyfriend the other day how I would attack boxes of Cookie Crisp. And one of my friends had a bag,-not a pack -of Bazooka bubble gum the other day on her counter. I took that bag to the face.
Squeeze-It’s definitely remind me of being a kid in the 80′s. They are loaded with SO MUCH sugar that my mom would only buy it for me during the Summer, when I was the most physically active.
What a fun post! I totally remember all those foods!
The things that I remember eating the most as a kid were: Lunchables, Bagel Bites, String Thing, Fruit Roll Ups, Hi-C, and my all-time fav: Dunkaroos! I was just thinking about them the other day, and it’s a coincidence to see a candy/food of the 80s post! Great job!
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Fun Dip, Fruit Roll ups, and Dr. Pepper!!
I would ride my bike to the candy shop a few blocks from my house in Chicago when I was in grade/middle school for them. Great memories!
I don’t know about the 80′s, but I remember what I loved in the 90′s. I was less of a candy girl and more of a chocolate bar and potato chips gal.. I definitely can’t name one or two.. or even 10!
I would say kelloggs!!all the way
Thanks for the trip down memory lane! I especially had to LOL when I saw the “Chicken in a Biscuit” crackers. To this day, my husband (who grew up in Michigan) doesn’t believe they exist. Maybe they were just a West and East coast thing – ?
oooogle oggggle the ringpop and charleston chews!
It would be Lucky Charms for me!!! this post is making me want to run out and get candy lol
FUN DIP!, but I might not be able to refuse a S’mores pop-tart if someone offered it to me…
Flamin Hot Cheetos and Now and Laters where my childhood favorites.
Remember Dunkaroos? Think Teddy Graham like cookies but kangaroo style and you dunk them into frosting..
Tart n’ Tinys were my fav back in the 80′s. They were little pastel colored, cylinder shaped tarts that came in a box.. Too cute!
fruit stripes gum! got some in my stocking this year. i was shocked.
i love that you have Chicken in a Biscuit!
Used to love those with the funky cheese that squirts outta a can!
I feel sick. ; )
I used to love dunkaroos! And those cheese&breadsticks and gushers, and there was this cereal that looked like capn crunch but had a fruity center…great post!
Goodness. I completely forgot about Squeeze-Its! Or do you remember the Hi-C Slimer Ecto-Cooler orange drink?? Or Fun-Dip? Holy crap @kayla brought up dunkaroos! lol. Oh childhood.
No one mentioned warheads or was that more of a 90s candy? Either way they are delicious!
I was all about Dunk-a-roo’s for an indulgent treat at my friends’ houses (my mom was/is a health nut too). Those may have been more 90′s though…
OMG! I <3 lunchables I am from México so it wasn't so easy to get them but when the local groceries had them (I don't live that far away from the border) or when I went to the States I would have a fit so my mom would get them form me. I will also include the Capri Suns, they were so good. I still eat the Fruit Gushers now and then and now they have those Sour Patch Kids I can't have enough of them. I really like your blog! It is so pretty, neat and easy to get around like everything is in its right place, also I love the fact that you dress so stylish but in a real way, I mean your picks are what you could usually wear in a everyday life
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