Beloved Grocery Store Items You Can't Buy Anymore

We all have them-- beloved grocery must-haves that end up in our shopping cart every time we go to the store. And we all know the pain of discovering on what should be a typical shopping trip that one of our adored snack mainstays has disappeared from store shelves. In 2022 alone, the lives of Choco Tacos, Honest Tea, and SnackWell's were ended (may they rest in peace). Of course, many grocery store products' tenures were brought to an abrupt close before that, and while some, like Dunkaroos and Surge, eventually returned to stores to the happiness of foodies everywhere, most did not get such a happy ending.

But just because these grocery products are gone doesn't mean they are forgotten. Today, let's peruse the grocery aisles of yesteryear. From a chocolate drink that put Yoo-hoo to shame to a product Pillsbury seems to be trying to make its fans forget about, here are some of the discontinued grocery products that continue to live on in our hearts.

Read more: The Most Iconic Food Mascots Of All Time, Ranked From Worst To Best

Kudos Bars

Once upon a time, not so long ago, Mars coated some granola in chocolate and christened the new product a Kudos bar. They were marketed as a healthier candy bar, though just how "healthy" they were was up for debate. However, while these treats were nutritionally dubious, fans have fond memories of their sweet flavor.

Depending on how old you are, you may remember this product in one of two of its major life cycles. These treats debuted in the 1980s in three flavors: nutty fudge, chocolate chip, and peanut butter. However, Kudos bars got a makeover in 2011 when their thick chocolate coating was replaced with a light chocolate drizzle. At that same time, Mars also started to sell versions of the treat that were infused with popular candies. So if you once swore you ate a chocolate granola bar with M&Ms inside of it, trust us, it wasn't a fever dream — just a Kudos bar.

But alas, as with many other delicious treats, Kudos' life was cut tragically short in 2017. The company never explicitly spilled the chocolate-covered beans on why they ended Kudos bars' run. However, it's generally theorized that the public fell out of love with fake health snacks and started buying actual good-for-you food. As a result, Kudos Bars' sales likely suffered and so, with tears in its eyes, Mars killed them off.

Crazy Cow Cereal

The cereal graveyard is filled with the names of short-lived brands. But among the carnage, one name has quite a few flowers from foodies on its tombstone. The name of the cereal that is so dearly missed? Crazy Cow.

Created by General Mills in the '70s, Crazy Cow cereal was corn pops flavored with either strawberry or chocolate powder. But what made this cereal so beloved was that it would infuse a bowl of plain old milk with either creamy strawberry or rich chocolate flavor. Marketed as the perfect addition to a balanced breakfast of 2 slices of toast, juice, and even more milk to sip on (they were crazy about their calcium in the '70s), one wistful cereal lover on In the 70s reported this treat was like "eating a bowl of cereal and enjoying a milk drink all in one."

Crazy Cow was crazy popular. After it was released, the stuff flew off the store shelves — it was hard for General Mills to keep up with demand. However, it wasn't sold for long, and no one's quite sure why.

Smucker's Uncrustables Microwavable Grilled Cheese Sandwich

Who here among us has not enjoyed those defrostable delights that have powered so many school field trip lunch breaks: the Smucker's Uncrustables PB&J? However, few have the ability to claim they have lain teeth into the brand's microwavable grilled cheese.

What were they like? Think of a regular PB&J Uncrustable and replace the PB&J with gobs of cheese, and you'll be pretty close. Sounds amazing, right? According to foodies, these grab-and-go snacks were, in fact, the stuff of pre-made food legends. One Influenster user reported Smucker's grilled cheese was "the most deliciously cheesy snack I have ever eaten." A cheese lover who started a petition to bring the snack back on Change.org stated the product was "one of the greatest microwave snacks in the history of our nation."

However, despite their die-hard following, the cause and time of death for these cheesy snacks is hard to track down. Some report that these snacks disappeared around 2014. Cruelly, Smucker's never explained why. We can only guess that despite the grilled cheese's diehard following, Smucker's thought it wise to just focus on the jelly and peanut butter creations that started it all.

Chocolate Soldier

The greater snacking world has seen many unsung heroes. Take the Hydrox cookie, which was doing the whole Oreo concept before Oreo came along and uprooted it. A similar fate befell Chocolate Soldier.

Described as "The Hydrox of the drink world!" by one Reddit user and "similar to Yoo-hoo but world's better" by another, this bygone grocery store treat's history is as elusive as the product is beloved. Packaged in glass bottles, the drink was produced by the Monarch Beverage Company from 1966 to 1988. However, some chocolate lovers claim that they were able to find these drinks at Dollar General in the early 2000s — something we at Mashed can vouch for as we ourselves have fond memories of chugging back these drinks during that specific time frame.

The reason for Chocolate Soldier's discontinuation, like the product's life, is a mystery. Some credit the drink's untimely end to losing sales to its competitor, Yoo-hoo.

Bagel-fuls

Peanut butter should be mixed with jelly and bagels should be eaten with cream cheese. These are simple facts of the greater snacking universe. That's why we had to add potentially the best thing to come out of Kraft's product line to this list: prepackaged bagels that came stuffed to the brim with cream cheese called Bagel-fuls.

Often cited as tasting like a savory Twinkie, Bagel-fuls debuted in 2008. These bagel treats came in flavors like original, whole grain, chives, strawberry, blueberry, or cinnamon. With no food assembly required, all foodies had to do to prepare these pre-packaged refrigerated treats was take them for a spin in the microwave or toaster. A spin in the microwave made Bagel-fuls a warm and gooey snack with a uniquely chewy texture. In fact, they might have been a little too warm sometimes.

While several users on Reddit were baffled about why Kraft discontinued these tasty ready-to-eat breakfasts, one pointed out that a lot of people likely burned their mouths thanks to the freshly warmed (and often piping hot) cream cheese. Were they still worth eating despite the burn risk? We say yes, though obviously, Kraft didn't agree.

Pop-Tarts Snak-Stix

Speaking of ill-fated grab-and-go breakfasts, we present the break-and-eat Pop-Tarts snacks of the future (circa 2002): Pop-Tarts Snak-Stix. Introduced as an easy snack for the modern 2002 teen on the go, these treats were quite literally skinny Pop-Tarts sticks. There were three sticks per package that foodies would snap apart when they were in need of a snack.

Pop-Tarts Snak-Stix came in three different flavors: cookies & creme, caramel chocolate, and double chocolate. The treats were well received, with one reviewer even naming the caramel Snak-Stix as one of their top five favorite Pop-Tart flavors.

However, after appearing in some questionable commercials involving a child running through school halls while being chased by a monkey riding a goat and sponsoring the 2002 Top Ten American Idols Live! Tour, Pop-Tarts Snak Stix were taken off the shelves sometime around 2006. Pop-Tarts, a brand known for quietly ending the lives of beloved products, never explained why. Later, however, it did come out with Pop-Tarts Bites, which are arguably the slightly smaller and no-breaking-involved version of the same snack concept.

Pizza Spins

Introduced in 1968, Pizza Spins were quite literally pizza in crunchable chip form. Shaped like round mini pizzas complete with tiny slices, these savory treats were made with parmesan cheese, tomatoes, and pepper. And people were obsessed with them. So much so that Pizza Spins actually were given the 1969 Putman Food Award -- an award so old we can't find anything about it online other than the fact this snack won it, but hey, it's still a prize title.

Despite their dedication to pushing the boundaries of all things pizza flavored, Pizza Spins stopped being sold in 1975. Though General Mills didn't address why, it may be because the pizza-flavor trend that Pizza Spins was riding had come to an end and General Mills decided to cut its losses. However, fans miss them enough to keep annoying the company about bringing them back. Check out We Miss Pizza Spins on Facebook to join the movement.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Hostess Pies

One year. One movie. Four turtles. A dessert that has become the stuff of grocery store legend. This is the story of the infamous Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Hostess pies.

In 1991, a year after the Turtles appeared on the big screen for the first time, the marketing team worked with Hostess to release cowabunga-worthy vanilla pudding-filled snack pies. What made these treats distinctively TMNT, however, was that their exterior was turtle green. But what should have been just your run-of-the-mill marketing scheme became a foodie favorite. According to Reddit users, these pies were truly something special.

One user described them as, "effectively a sweet empanada filled with vanilla pudding and covered in a green glaze." Another likened them to a Boston creme pie. So despite being discontinued the same year they debuted, people have not forgotten about them.

There have been petitions urging Hostess to bring TMNT pies back and an entire "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" episode discussing how incredibly valuable these snacks are. Hostess, are you listening to the people?

Kissables

So far, most of the products on this list were likely discontinued due to losing out to their competitors. But Kissables destroyed themselves rather than falling victim to rival products.

Tiny Hershey's kisses covered in a hard crunchy shell, Kissables were all the rage when they appeared in the candy section in 2005. Some fans claimed Kissables, at their peak, were superior to M&M's. Allegedly this was because there was more chocolate than candy coating in these snacks than in their Mars-made competitor. But alas, Kissables could not rule hard candy forever. Hershey's changed the recipe, removing the cocoa butter, which resulted in an inferior product.

Needless to say, Kissables' numbers tanked due to their new and worsened flavor, and in 2009, Hershey's kissed them goodbye. Still, many fans long for the original recipe to one day return to the candy aisle to reclaim their former crunchy chocolate glory.

RavioliOs

The end of RavioliOs is a story of saucey, saucey rivalry. But let's start at the beginning. Originally, there were two brands in charge of providing the hungry children and busy adults of the world with mini ravioli. One was Chef Boyarde's blandly named Mini Ravioli, and the other, which was often thought of as the superior heat-and-eat baby ravioli option, was Campbell's RavioliOs. Reportedly, while Mini Ravioli were bland and just a sad recreation of the glorious Italian original, RaviliOs were packed with tasty meat and had tomato sauce flavorful enough to make a grown Italian man cry.

However, despite being the worse of the two options, Chef Boyarde eventually came out on top. The company's Mini Ravioli is still available, while RaviolOs are no more, which is a shame. As one foodie on YouTube expressed on behalf of their RavioliO-loving brethren, "Hey Campbell's, BRING BACK MY RAVIOLIOS!!!"

Pillsbury Pizza Minis

You can make your own mini pizzas with Grands biscuits, and Pillsbury even sells canned pizza crust to make a pizza fit for a pizza party, but the brand used to sell an even better pizza product: Pillsbury Pizza Minis.

Information about these discontinued mini entrees is suspiciously limited. We only know that Pillsbury Pizza Minis were pre-assembled mini pizzas that you could pop into the oven, heat up, and enjoy. The snacks appear to have come in two flavors: pepperoni and bacon and three cheese.

When typing this bygone product's name into Google, "discontinued" will show up as the number one suggested search. One Twitter user, upon finding out about the product's discontinuation, posted a gif in response indicating they no longer wished to live in a world without Pillsbury Pizza Minis. A TikToker commenter revealed they left the U.S. to live in England only to return to America and find out the product was no longer sold, which devastated them. Sadly, it doesn't appear that the company is planning on bringing these back

Frank 'N Stuff

The literary canon has Frankenstein, but the foodie world has something much better: Frank 'N Stuff. These legendary monsters were hot dogs stuffed to the brim with either chili or cheese. Produced by Hormel, the children of the '80s could not get enough of these monster-shaped dogs.

"They tasted way better than they had any right to," reported one user on Reddit. "My dad ended up buying two packs a week (one chili, one cheese) for months straight," reported another. One even recounted (pretty horrifyingly, actually) how they would bite off one end of these hot dogs and then sip the gooey middle out. But while the world loved Frank 'N Stuff, Frank 'N Stuff did not love the world. After being cooked, the insides would burn the inside of your mouth at levels one traumatized foodie equated to hot lava. Perhaps that's why Hormel discontinued the product in 1995. But while you can still buy hot dogs that are stuffed with cheese, it's truly not the same.

Read the original article on Mashed.