My kids will never understand the struggle of 90s snacks.
By @paigeok2 · Nostalgia
I was at the grocery store and saw these pre-packaged, organic, crust-off, unicorn-shaped sandwiches for kids. My mom would've laughed me out of the kitchen if I asked for something like that.
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It was some fancy refrigerated thing for like ten bucks. Ten bucks for two little sandwiches that are already made and cut. It got me thinking about what we had growing up. You got home from school, you were on your own. You wanted a snack, you made a snack. If you were lucky, there were Totino's Pizza Rolls in the freezer, and you had to cook them in the toaster oven yourself and burn your mouth on them. That was a top-tier snack. Lunch at school was a status game. If you had Dunkaroos, Gushers, or one of those Handi-Snacks with the red plastic stick, you were a king for a day. People would trade you anything for it. Otherwise it was a smashed PB&J with the cheapest jelly, maybe a bruised apple, and a warm Capri Sun you had to stab with that flimsy straw. My mother did the grocery shopping once a week. You got what she bought. There was no, 'oh, I don't like that brand of cheese stick'. You got the store-brand cheese stick and you were happy to have it. Whining just meant you got nothing at all. You ate what was put in front of you for dinner, period. There was no 'kid's menu' at home. Now I see parents running around trying to find the one specific brand of cracker their kid will eat. Or cutting food into cartoon shapes. I guess it's nice that they have options. But it feels like they're missing something. You learned to be grateful for what you got. And you learned how to operate a toaster oven without burning the house down. Seems useful.
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