Childhood Junk Food

JUNK FOOD, two words that hold their own against such important childhood legends like toys, video games, and cartoons. No matter what the occasion, junk food provided many awesome memories for me as a child. From the attractive packing, to the goodness that awaited inside; junk food was a kid must that helped shape our unforgettable childhoods.
I have made a list of general junk food items I enjoyed as a kid. No, not every thing I treasured as a child is on this list, just a few of the many favorites. So let's not waste anymore time, here they are....

Even though this may not be considered junk food, any chance I get to proclaim my love for Ecto Cooler...I will take. Ecto Cooler has to go down as one of the best drinks ever in my book. I downed boxes upon boxes of Slimer's home brewed juice in my childhood days, only to be disturbed by the fact that it doesn't exist anymore. If only Slimer had any idea that we have to face this injustice, I believe that we would have Ghostbusters on speed dial.

What can I say about this snack, it was great! Dunkaroos featured cookies on one side of the tray and icing dip on the other. It allowed us to evenly distribute the icing per cookie, or go all out and scoop the icing with one cookie; leaving all the other cookies...well icingless (that should be a word). No matter how I chose to eat them, Dunkaroos were fun, not my favorite cookie by any means, but fun.

As a child, I often wondered if there was any kid who didn't like fruit snacks, especially fruit snacks with gooey sugary centers. I loved these things, although I didn't get them that much. I usually received character themed fruit snacks instead (not that I'm complaining), leaving gushers for more high end junk food times, like birthday parties. These stick to your teeth snacks were among my favorite fruit snack varieties as a child.

Man o man, how many of these babies did I eat back in the day? If you were anything like me and my friends, you may have had challenges to see who could eat their war heads without making a face. I quickly developed a strategy that proves to work to this day (I will sell it to you for $5...any takers?).

Oh boy, even to this day I get excited when I see a package of fruit stripe gum. Even the zebra on the front pack knows how good his gum is, by giving us that over confident yet deserved smile. This was by far my favorite sugary gum as a kid, providing many empty tattoo wrappers and a desire to chew as many pieces at one time as possible. No other gum compared to this, prove me wrong...

Okay, Okay...even though it's not as good as Fruit Stripe, six feet of gum is pure insanity. SIX FEET of gum??? Who comes up with this stuff, better yet, who cares...it was good! I can rest easy at night, knowing that I at many times in my life I had six feet of bubble gum in my stomach...we are a blessed country I tell you.

These bad boys take me all the way back to kindergarten, when I would take them for snack time. Not only did Handi-Snacks provide tasty treats, it gave you that little red stick you could use after eating, for any evil plot you may have dreamed up while eating processed cheese and saltine crackers (or bread sticks if you were lucky). Like Dunkaroos, Handi-Snacks gave you the option to eat as little or as much cheese per cracker that you wanted. We were learning freedom at such a young age, yet we never knew.

Does anyone remember these from back in the day? Even though I am pretty sure this is an updated version, I can remember eating Fred Flintstone push ups when I was in diapers! Okay, maybe not that early...but you get the picture. These sherbet flavored ice cream treats were some of my favorite frozen goodies of my childhood. Yes, there was many good choices out there (mostly from Popsicle), but these featured Fred Flintstone! Regardless, I liked them, so they are staying on my list!

To close this article up, I am going to throw good ol' Doritos up here. I know, I know, we all eat them today, but can't you remember liking them as a kid? I sure do, and they seemed to be hard to come by too. Maybe it was that classic bag that holds my interest, but when I think about childhood junk food...Doritos is...well, not on the top of my list, but they are just as important as the next snack.
There you have it folks, just a few of my favorite junk food items as a kid. It is funny, how most of these items you can still buy today. Maybe it's because they are all legends around the junk food world, or maybe it's because companies continue to reap profits from them. No matter, they were good, and they are worthy of this small amount of spot light I can provide for them. I would have liked to put more, but maybe we can save that for a part II or something. I am sure you all have your favorites, so let's hear about them in the comments section! Thanks for reading, until next time...


Thanks to those who I borrowed pictures from, you helped make this article possible!