Flashback snacks

I get stoked about little things. I like to find joy in small things in every day life. So when we go grocery shopping at eleven at night and I’m already loopy from working double shifts every day that week, I get very excited and start dropping unnecessary items in the cart. And I don’t know why being that tired made me revert back to being a little kid, but we made it home with these essentials from my past:



Fish sticks: your childhood was not complete without “breaded minced fish.” I can’t remember the last time I’ve consumed a fish stick, but I can certainly tell you the next time will be in the near future. Potentially this afternoon.

Fruit by the Foot: it was bad enough going down the fruit snack section and seeing all the old time favorites, namely Scooby Doo fruit snacks, Fruit Roll-ups, and Gushers. But Fruit by the Foot won. The last time I had one of these little gems was probably years and years ago, sitting in the cafeteria at lunch in elementary school. Welcome back to my life, Fruit by the Foot.

Nesquik: I love chocolate milk, but it gets so damn expensive. So for whatever reason, when I walked by Nesquik this time around, I couldn’t let it go. I seriously walked past it, went to the next aisle, and then had to backtrack for it because I didn’t feel right leaving without it. Then I had a glass the next day and rediscovered why it’s so much better to just buy regular chocolate milk; that sludgy powder at the bottom and those weird swirls it made as it settled brought me way back. Totally worth it. And you bet your ass I’m going to finish off that whole thing, too.

Oreos: ‘Nuff said. I’m eating a pack as I type this.

Oats & Honey granola bars: these granola bars and I have had a tumultuous past. Flashback to third grade, when we would be put through hours of grueling standardized tests (know as the CSAP to us Coloradoans) and get crappy snacks in between to hold us over. We were given these chewy oat and honey granola bars, and I would usually end up with about five of them because NOBODY else liked them. Either I was the freak who loved the hell out of those delicious bars, or everyone else was just dumb. Those things were awesome then, and I only hoped they still were. Flashback to the past eleven years since third grade when I could never, ever, find those granola bars anywhere. The only thing I could ever find was the crunchy version of them, and those dry counterparts just aren’t the same. Flash to a few days ago at the grocery store, when my eyes finally settled on the box, jaded because I assumed they were just the crunchy ones yet again. But upon closer inspection, the box said “chewy.” Chewy. The box said chewy!!!! The only words sweeter than that are “big pack,” and that’s right there on that box, too. Reunited, and it feels so good.

All of those things remind me of being a little kid. And I was determined to scoop up all of them and take them home with me. When we got home and I unloaded those awesome snacks, I was just about as happy as I was when I was a kid, too. Simpler times, my friends. Simpler times.

So that’s what little things I’m stoked on today. What snacks did you enjoy from your youth? Do you still enjoy them? Or are they long lost treasures?