13 Foods That Were Discontinued In 2022

As the saying goes, the only things guaranteed in life are death and taxes. Beyond that, nothing is built to last, and that includes some of our most beloved food and beverage items at our local restaurants, grocery stores, and fast food chains. While we wish we could bottle up our favorite foods and keep them with us forever, eventually all good things must come to an end. 2022 was no exception, and we had to face the music and bid adieu to several beloved items whether we were ready or not.

From nostalgic ice cream treats to breakfast sandwiches and everything in between, companies pull menu items on a regular basis when it is not selling well, or to simplify menu offerings. While some things can come and go without creating a buzz, other changes create viral media moments that stop everyone in their tracks. Petitions emerge online and fans take to social media to voice their disappointment in companies discontinuing a favorite cookie, sandwich, or beverage. And while some consumers are very clear about what discontinued items they wish would return, in the end, some foods are now simply a thing of the past. Let's look back at 2022 and revisit several food and beverage items that are now discontinued.

The McRib Sandwich first appeared on McDonald's menus in the United States in the early 1980s and has been a recurring limited-time offering ever since. The on-again-off-again sandwich was also a polarizing one, with McDonald's fans split on the McRib from the beginning. Reddit reactions vary from "disgusting" to "I love the McRib." Still, we can all agree that when McDonald's decides to bring it back, it is going to be talked about.

That brings us to 2022 when McDonald's announced that the McRib would once again appear on menus. This time, however, it was being marketed as a farewell tour, implying that this could be the last opportunity to order the sandwich. McDonald's probably needs to try harder to convince its diehard fans, because this is not the first time the fast food chain has claimed the McRib was going away for good. Whether we ever see the McRib return once again is yet to be seen, but if history is any indicator, we would not be surprised if several years down the road the McRib finds itself yet again on one of these roundups of discontinued foods.

While some discontinued food items receive a farewell tour like the McRib Sandwich or copious amounts of media coverage like the Choco Taco, in the case of Chili's Original Chicken Crispers, the classic dish went out more like a whisper. After several months of the Chicken Crispers coming and going, Chili's sealed the deal with a Tweet in October of 2022 confirming that the dish was a thing of the past.

Fan reaction was immediate and passionate, with sentiments like "worst day of my life" and "doomsday" used to describe how people felt about the Chicken Crispers vanishing off the menu at Chili's (via Today). So far, a Change.org petition to get the crispers back on the menu has amassed over 1,100 signatures out of the 1,500 it is seeking to gain. However, it is important to note that Chili's does continue to offer Chicken Crispers, as they reminded us all in a Tweet posted in December. While the Crispy and Honey Chipotle varieties are still available, though, it is the Original that elicits a sense of comfort and nostalgia fans want to return to their local Chili's. But, according to The Dallas Morning News, the Original flavor was simply not popular, so it may be that the reactions we see online are simply the very vocal, very passionate, but still very small minority.

It is one thing to see a particular menu item vanish from your favorite restaurant or fast food chain, but it is another thing entirely to see a product that is part of your weekly grocery list vanish. Fans of the now-retired Coca-Cola brand Honest Tea had plenty to be upset about in 2022, when it was announced that it would be pulled from store shelves completely. Since then, Coca-Cola replaced the discontinued beverage with a new option called Just Ice Tea.

In an interview with Mashed, Honest Tea Founder Seth Goldman noted that he recognized the void that Honest Tea left with not only fans, but with the suppliers, and that the hope is that Just Ice Tea would fill that void. But with a beverage that was founded in 1998 (via USA Today), it may take more than a replacement product for customers to feel like they have a new go-to beverage to shop for when hitting up the grocery store.

Remember SnackWell's? They were a low-fat cookie brand that was once quite popular, but has since been discontinued entirely. A quick visit to SnackWell's website will tell you all that you need to know regarding the whereabouts of the once-popular cookie brand. Reactions of the brand disappearing appear to be mixed. One Redditor noted that they felt somewhat sad to see the cookies discontinued as they were a childhood staple, but others were quick to point out the damage caused by the brand in the 1990s and 2000s. The Takeout reported on how SnackWell's labeled itself as a low-fat cookie, playing a part in the fad diet craze at the time and adding to the narrative that "low fat" was equal to "healthy."

As for what SnackWell's does next, you needn't look further than its website once more. The company urges its fans to try Skinnygirl snacks, which market themselves as having less sugar -– yet another health trend, this time of the 2020s.

Be careful what you wish for because it could cost you dearly. At least, that seems to have been the case with the Wendy's menu in 2022, which saw the return of previously-discontinued items, the Pretzel Bacon Pub line of sandwiches, which includes a cheeseburger and chicken sandwich. However, in order to accommodate the return of the Pretzel Bacon Pub sandwiches, Wendy's had to make room by discontinuing a different set of items.

As a result, the Big Bacon Cheddar Cheeseburger was discontinued in 2022 and swapped out for the Pretzel Bacon Pub sandwiches. Wendy's hoped that the change would bring back customers who missed the Pretzel Bacon Pub lineup, which included Pub Fries, according to The Street. Oddly enough, the reason the Pretzel Bacon Pub lineup was discontinued in the first place was to make room for the Big Bacon Cheddar Cheeseburger, which debuted in 2021 along with a Chicken Sandwich menu item. Time will tell if Wendy's decides to do another switcheroo next year, but for now, fans of the Big Bacon Cheddar Cheeseburger will have to make do with the returning lineup of sandwiches.

The only thing as good as the perfect fast food sandwich are the sauces that come with them. Sauces and flavorings can become popular in their own right, like the Chick-fil-A sauce that you can buy in grocery stores, and McDonald's Szechuan Sauce. So, it is totally understandable that if these sauces were to, say, vanish into thin air, fans would be a little more than upset.

If you happened to be one of the Wendy's regulars who loved their Hot Honey Dipping Sauce, then we have some bad news. The sauce was discontinued in 2022, thus ending its relatively new Hot Honey Chicken Sandwich, which debuted at the start of the year (via Thrillist). It is worth pointing out that as of December 2022 the Hot Honey Sauce is still listed on Wendy's menu, though according to Thrillist, Wendy's did confirm that the sauce would be slowly phased out, and locations would not be restocked once they were out. So, consider this your final warning to enjoy the Honey Dipping Sauce at your local Wendy's while you still can.