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15 Bizarre Supermarket Products from the ’70s That Are No Longer Seen Today

April 4, 2024 By Catherine Reed Leave a Comment

Bizarre Supermarket Products from the '70s That Are No Longer Seen Today

The 1970s were a vibrant time of innovation and experimentation, not just in cultural arenas like music and fashion but also in the more mundane context of supermarket aisles. This era introduced consumers to an array of bizarre supermarket products, many of which have since faded into obscurity. From space-themed snacks to peculiar convenience foods, the ’70s were a time when the grocery shopping experience was anything but ordinary. Let’s dive into a nostalgic journey and explore 15 of these oddities, shedding light on their brief moments in the sun and their eventual disappearance from our shelves.

1. Fizzies Drink Tablets

Fizzies Drink Tablets

Fizzies offered a fun, novel way to create a carbonated drink by dropping a flavored tablet into water. While the concept was popular among kids in the ’70s, concerns over artificial ingredients and the rise of ready-to-drink sodas and flavored waters led to Fizzies’ decline

2. TV Dinners in Foil Trays

TV Dinners in Foil Trays

The ’70s solidified the TV dinner’s place in American culture, with foil trays partitioned to separate the main course from the sides. These convenient meals catered to the era’s busy lifestyles and the growing trend of meals in front of the television. However, with the rise of microwave cooking and growing health consciousness, the classic foil-tray TV dinner has become a nostalgic artifact, replaced by healthier and microwave-friendly options.

3. Celery Flavored Jell-O

Celery Flavored Jell-O

The ’70s witnessed a Jell-O flavor experimentation phase, introducing savory options like celery-flavored Jell-O. Intended for use in salads and aspics, this unusual flavor catered to the era’s adventurous culinary spirit. However, as culinary trends shifted towards fresher, less processed foods, such savory Jell-O flavors vanished from the shelves, leaving many to question their existence in the first place.

4. Tang

Tang

The powdered orange-flavored drink mix Tang is synonymous with ’70s beverage culture, partly due to its association with NASA’s space missions. Although Tang is still available today, its prominence and the fascination surrounding it have significantly dwindled as consumers have turned towards fresher, less processed juice options.

5. Breakfast Squares

Breakfast Squares

General Mills’ Breakfast Squares were touted as a complete breakfast in bar form, offering busy ’70s consumers a quick and convenient meal option. Despite their initial appeal, changing breakfast habits and the rise of more health-conscious bar options led to the disappearance of Breakfast Squares from supermarket shelves.

6. Tab Cola

Tab Cola

Tab, the diet soda of the ’70s, catered to calorie-conscious consumers with its distinctive pink can and unique taste. Despite its initial success, Tab’s popularity waned with the introduction of Diet Coke and growing concerns over its artificial sweetener, leading to its gradual disappearance from the market.

7. Canned Hamburgers

Canned Hamburgers

In the 1970s, food companies introduced one of the more unusual convenience foods: canned hamburgers. These fully cooked hamburgers were sealed in cans, much like traditional canned meats, providing a quick meal option that only required reheating. The concept of a canned hamburger was a novelty that played into the era’s fascination with convenience foods and the burgeoning fast-food culture. Despite the practicality it offered in terms of shelf-stability and ease of preparation, the idea of a hamburger coming out of a can was met with mixed reactions.

8. Cereal Box Prizes

Cereal Box Prizes

In the world of bizarre supermarket products, few were as fun as these additions to a breakfast staple. The thrill of finding a toy or a collectible inside a cereal box was a quintessential part of ’70s breakfast culture. However, concerns over safety and changing marketing strategies have made such surprises rare, transforming cereal box prizes into a cherished memory of a simpler time.

9. Shake ‘n Bake

Shake 'n Bake

Shake ‘n Bake offered families a simple way to prepare breaded chicken or pork without frying. Its popularity soared in the ’70s, thanks to its convenience and the iconic advertising slogan. While still available, Shake ‘n Bake’s prominence has faded as home cooks have become more health-conscious and interested in diverse, global cuisines.

10. Fondue

Fondue

Fondue sets became the centerpiece of social gatherings in the ’70s, embodying the era’s communal and experimental dining spirit. Although fondue has seen periodic revivals, the popularity of fondue sets as a supermarket staple has not returned, as modern dining trends have shifted towards more individualized and quick meal solutions.

11. Toastettes

Toastettes

Toastettes were Nabisco’s answer to the toaster pastry craze, offering a quick, warm breakfast or snack option straight from the toaster. Despite their convenience, Toastettes couldn’t keep up with the competition and changing breakfast habits, leading to their eventual discontinuation and making them a forgotten relic of ’70s breakfast tables.

12. Fryin’ Magic and Bakin’ Magic

Fryin' Magic and Bakin' Magic

The ’70s saw the rise of Fryin’ Magic and Bakin’ Magic, two seasoned coating mixes designed to make meal preparation easier and more flavorful. Fryin’ Magic promised to turn any piece of meat into a crispy, fried delight, while Bakin’ Magic was tailored for those who preferred their meals baked. These products tapped into the convenience food trend of the era, offering home cooks a simple way to add zest to their dishes with minimal effort. However, as culinary trends shifted towards fresher, less processed ingredients and more diverse flavors, the popularity of these mixes waned.

13. Chiffon Margarine

Chiffon Margarine

Chiffon Margarine, advertised for being “so like butter it’s magic,” was a hit for its light, fluffy texture and buttery taste. Despite its popularity, shifts towards natural and unprocessed fats led to a decline in margarine’s popularity, with Chiffon becoming a nostalgic footnote in culinary history.

14. Space Food Sticks

Space Food Sticks

Amid the space race fervor, Space Food Sticks emerged as a terrestrial taste of astronaut life. These chewy, nutrient-packed snacks were designed to mimic the food consumed by astronauts, offering kids and adults alike a glimpse into space travel’s culinary side. Despite their initial popularity fueled by space obsession, the decline in space race excitement led to the disappearance of Space Food Sticks, relegating them to the annals of quirky food history.

15. Jell-O 1-2-3

Jell-O 1-2-3

Jell-O 1-2-3 was a dessert marvel that separated into three layers upon setting: a creamy top, a mousse middle, and a clear Jell-O bottom. This visually striking dessert captured the imaginations of the ’70s households but eventually fell out of favor as dessert preferences evolved towards more natural and less artificially flavored options.

These Bizarre Supermarket Products from the ’70s Represent the Era

These Bizarre Supermarket Products from the '70s Represent the Era

These bizarre supermarket products from the ’70s are a testament to the era’s innovative spirit and willingness to experiment. While many of these items have vanished or become less prominent, they remain a fascinating glimpse into the past, highlighting how much our culinary tastes and cultural trends have evolved over the decades.

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Catherine Reed
Catherine Reed

Catherine is a tech-savvy writer who has focused on the personal finance space for more than eight years. She has a Bachelor’s in Information Technology and enjoys showcasing how tech can simplify everyday personal finance tasks like budgeting, spending tracking, and planning for the future. Additionally, she’s explored the ins and outs of the world of side hustles and loves to share what she’s learned along the way. When she’s not working, you can find her relaxing at home in the Pacific Northwest with her two cats or enjoying a cup of coffee at her neighborhood cafe.

Filed Under: Groceries, ShareMe Tagged With: 1970s, bizarre supermarket products, grocery shopping, innovation, nostalgia, odd foods, strange products

Our Favorite Small Ways to Save Money

November 5, 2023 By MelissaB 3 Comments

Small Ways to Save Money

Even though inflation has tapered off a bit in the last year its long term impact is still being felt in households across the economy. We’re no different. Although we have improved our financial position over the last five years, we still aren’t where we want to be financially, so we continue to be cautious with our finances and not spend more than we need to. Lately, we’ve utilized small ways to save money that help us continue to improve our financial standing.

Let me clarify that we’re not saving a lot of money from any of these strategies, but, overall, they improve our finances.

Small Ways to Save Money

We try to save money in every aspect of our lives.

Discounts on Gas

We have a few ways we try to save money on gas.  Some of these work better than others.

Use a Grocery Store Rewards Card

Our local grocery store gives us points for our purchases. We can then redeem those points for an amount off gas. Last month, I redeemed enough points to get $1.00 per gallon off gas, bringing my per gallon price to $3.49 instead of $4.49.

Use a Credit Card With Cash back Rewards

One of our credit cards is giving 5% cash back on gas purchases for April through June, so whenever my husband and I fill up, we always use that card, so we get some cash back that we can redeem later.

Using Cash Back Gas App

We haven’t used these as much, but there are least two good cash back app that work for gas stations.  Upside is the number 1 in this space, followed by TruNow. The both work on the same model, you buy gas and scan the receipt, then you get credited for the purchase – usually pennies on the dollar.  Of these Upside is probably the better choice – they’re actively expanding their offerings and improving the app incrementally.   You can find them here.

Combining Errands & Staying Home

Not everyone has the luxury to stay home more, but we do because we both work from home. We try to limit our trips, but when we do make them, we try to combine errands so we’re not driving around multiple times per day or even per week.

Strategically Using Cash Back Credit Cards

I alluded to this above, but we strategically use our cash back credit cards to maximize the money we get back. We have three credit cards, all of which offer cash back. Every quarter, we opt-in for the cash back bonuses and utilize those categories for those purchases.

For instance, our Discover card offers 5% cash back for gas purchases from April through June, so we only use that card for gas. We use our other credit card that offers 2% cash back on all purchases for everything else.

Just as importantly, we also choose not to activate certain 5% cash back bonuses. For instance, one card is offering 5% cash back for dining out. We didn’t activate that one because we never dine out, and I certainly wouldn’t start dining out just to get 5% cash back.

Shopping Clearance Sales

I always like to browse the clearance section, but that’s more important now than ever.  The trick to doing this is finding out when the store posts the clearance sales.  Usually the good deals get taken fast.

Grocery Store Clearance

Recently, I have found some excellent grocery store clearance items. A week after Easter, I found a one-pound package of diced him on clearance for 49 cents. Yes, please! I bought two and used them as the meat in some soup recipes that I made.

Whenever I find clearance meat, I buy it and stick it in the freezer for later use. I also do the same with clearance dry goods, as long as they’re foods I know that we’ll eat.

Clearance Clothing

Small Ways to Save Money
Obligatory stock art showing a woman super happy with her clothes purchase after she used the methods in this article.

A few weeks ago, my daughters and I went to Kohl’s to shop the clearance winter clothes racks. We bought our clothes for next winter at a steep discount. We’ve packed them away and will take them out in a few months when the weather starts to change. To sweeten the deal, we received Kohl’s cash, which we redeemed to buy winter boots that were on clearance.

Incidentally, if you want a seriously good example of how to get discounts on clothing, read Lauren Bowling’s article on how she regularly gets 60% to 80% off designer clothing.

Canceled Excess Subscriptions

With two teens in the house and one pre-teen, we have a lot of streaming services. Most of these aren’t expensive–$5 to $10 a month. However, when you have several of them, the price adds up. I polled the kids to see what streaming services they use, and I cut the rest. That saved us $20 per month, or $240 a year. While this amount isn’t huge, why pay the money when the services weren’t even being used? That’s silly.

Waiting to Make Major Purchases

One of the biggest ways we’re saving money in this current economic climate is to avoid making major purchases. Our minivan is 18 years old and has 230,000 miles on it.  We’d like to replace it, but new minivans are out of our price range, and used ones now cost almost as much as new ones. In addition, we don’t want to take out a car loan since the interest rates are increasing. Instead, we are waiting to buy a replacement vehicle.

That means we spent $1,500 recently repairing the van. My kids are constantly embarrassed about driving such an old minivan. (To be fair, I understand their feelings. The paint is peeling off, and the hubcaps are off. One passenger side door no longer opens.) However, we’ve decided, for now, that holding on to our current vehicle is the prudent option. Besides, driving around in such an old vehicle is character-building for the kids.

Saving on a Rental Car

Small Ways to Save Money
More obligatory stock art.

We took a family vacation this month, so we opted to rent a car and saved two ways.

Use Our Costco Card

First, we used our Costco card to save more than 25% on the cost of the rental vehicle. We only book rental cars through the Costco travel section because the discount is enormous.  Incidentally, if you don’t have a Costco membership, I recommend getting one.  If you have a bigger family like mine the economics pan out. You can get it here.

Opted Out of Rental Car Insurance

We also opted not to purchase the rental car insurance. I called our insurance, and they confirmed that our insurance would cover any problems except for the rental car company’s loss of use charge should the vehicle be in an accident and unusable. We added a $6 rider to cover loss of use.

I also paid with our credit card that provides secondary insurance for a rental car. If we need to use our car insurance on the rental, this credit card would cover our deductible.

Final Thoughts

Living in a time of high inflation is difficult. We’re blessed that we’re both employed and are in a comfortable enough financial position that we can weather this current economic struggle. Even so, we’re taking these small steps to save money, so we can continue to improve our financial position.

The reality is that inflation will subside in the future, but if you’re able to consistently adapt these habits, you should save a ton in the long run.

Read More

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MelissaB
MelissaB

Melissa is a writer and virtual assistant. She earned her Master’s from Southern Illinois University, and her Bachelor’s in English from the University of Michigan. When she’s not working, you can find her homeschooling her kids, reading a good book, or cooking. She resides in New York, where she loves the natural beauty of the area.

www.momsplans.com/

Filed Under: budget, Frugality, Married Money, Saving Tagged With: car rental, grocery shopping, inflation, rental car insurance, ways to save money

The Benefits of Buying Only Necessary Groceries Each Week

November 14, 2022 By MelissaB Leave a Comment

Benefits of Buying ONly the Groceries You Need

For the last few years, I have had a higher grocery budget, so I’ve stocked up on food. I do this for two reasons. First, we have food intolerances—specifically, we can’t eat gluten or dairy—so we need specific foods in the house. Second, I find having a stocked pantry makes mealtime easier. I never need to go out to eat because I have everything to make several meals, depending on what we’re hungry for. However, I recently watched a YouTube video that intrigued me. Based on this video, I’ve experimented with buying only necessary groceries each week for the last few weeks.

Steps I Took to Implement This Change

During the last few weeks, I’ve set a grocery budget of $140 per week for my family of four, which is much less than the $215 a week I typically spend.

I make a menu plan and grocery list the night before I go to the grocery store, so I know what meals I’ll cook during the week. I also try to choose recipes that will utilize ALL of an ingredient. For instance, I needed to buy green cabbage for a stir fry. But I only needed to use half the head of cabbage, so I picked another recipe that would use the other half of the cabbage later in the week, so I used ALL of the cabbage up that week.

Benefits of Buying Only Necessary Groceries Each Week

While I never thought I would enjoy shopping this way, I did realize several benefits of buying only necessary groceries each week.

I Saved Money

We saved a lot of money shopping this way. Over two weeks, we saved $150! This was in part because we were not stocking up on food. However, we also saved because I had limited food in the house, and we HAD to utilize the food we bought.

We Had Less Food Waste

Benefits of Buying Only the Groceries You Need

We typically have very little food waste, but shopping this way eliminated food waste. As I mentioned, I was mindful of finding recipes that would use up ALL of an ingredient. Previously, that other half of the green cabbage might have lingered in the refrigerator for a while. We would use it. . .eventually, but when we did, we might have to cut out some bad spots because we let it sit too long before using it.

Final Thoughts

This way of shopping enhanced how I shop and menu plan. Even better, the benefits of only buying necessary groceries each week were that we saved money and reduced food waste.

However, even though this strategy worked for me, I like to have a stock of food at home in case we can’t shop due to bad weather or limited supplies. From now on, I plan to stock up occasionally to resupply my pantry. Still, for the foreseeable future, I plan to buy only what I need and continue with this experiment to see what other benefits I realize.

Read More

Our Favorite Ways to Combat High Meat Prices

5 Tips to Save on Groceries This Year

Feed a Hungry Teenager without Breaking Your Grocery Budget

MelissaB
MelissaB

Melissa is a writer and virtual assistant. She earned her Master’s from Southern Illinois University, and her Bachelor’s in English from the University of Michigan. When she’s not working, you can find her homeschooling her kids, reading a good book, or cooking. She resides in New York, where she loves the natural beauty of the area.

www.momsplans.com/

Filed Under: budget, Frugality, Saving, Shopping Tagged With: frugal groceries, frugal grocery, groceries, grocery, grocery budget, grocery shopping

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