13 Foods From The '90s That We Don't Miss

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If you grew up in the '70s, '80s, or even the '90s, there are likely so many snacks and foods from that decade that you're nostalgic for. The '90s in particular was packed with weird and wonderful foods.

Sadly, not every food from the '90s was memorable for the right reasons. From gum in a packet shaped like a pager (we don't know why either) to cereal with sprinkles and juice with floating gel spheres, there were some strange creations doing the rounds, that's for sure. For every one of the foods we miss from the decade, there are plenty of foods from the '90s that we wouldn't be sad if we never saw it again. Most of these have long since been discontinued, and you'll find Facebook pages and petitions dedicated to bringing some of them back. 

All of these foods have something in common, though — they're foods we don't miss. We've rounded up some of the long-gone foods from the '90s that we don't feel nostalgic for, from drinks to cereals and sweet and savory snacks.

Before bubble tea was a thing, there was Orbitz, because who doesn't want a drink that looks like a lava lamp? Most people, it turns out. The whole concept of Orbitz was doomed from the start. It was a clear, still fruity drink, with floating, gravity-defying gel balls that made it look really unappealing. It might have seemed like a novelty to kids, but Orbitz was never a best-seller, launching in 1997 and being discontinued just a year later in 1998.

The fruit "orbs" made of food dye, gelatin, and artificial flavoring probably played a huge part in the demise of this '90s drink. People began to look for healthier alternatives, seeking out snacks and drinks without artificial flavorings or colorings thought to contribute to the risk of food hypersensitivity and allergies. 

The bizarre flavors may also have led to the drink being discontinued. Adding pineapple, coconut, banana, and cherry to one flavor was never going to be a success, and the strange ad campaigns proclaiming Orbitz as "the drink with balls" weren't exactly popular either. We don't miss this soft drink, and we'd be surprised if anybody else does either.

Cheetos Cracker Trax were a paw-shaped snack that was part cracker, part chip, and they came in two flavors: spicy cheddar and cheesy cheddar. While many people loved them when they first hit shelves in the early '90s, the paws themselves were pretty plain, with cheese seasoning on the top, rather than incorporated into the cracker itself.

Cracker Trax were discontinued in the mid-2000s, but that same year, Cheetos launched Paws, a new cheesy snack in, you guessed it, the same paw shapes as the original crackers. Unlike the original crackers, these new snacks used corn instead of wheat, so they're more like a chip than a cracker. A review on Amazon compares Cheetos Paws to old Planter's Cheese Balls, more of a cheese puff style snack, while another reviewer criticized the snacks for their lighter than air texture that made them "almost intangible."

We don't miss these bright orange cheesy paw-shaped cracker snacks one bit. Even if we did, there are loads of excellent alternatives out there. We'd sooner run out and grab a bag of Cheez-Its to satisfy our cheesy cracker craving than wish for these to return.

Clear cola? That doesn't sound right, but Pepsi obviously thought removing both the color and the caffeine — and, some might say, the flavor — from this drink was a genius idea. 

Sadly, the company was wrong. Crystal Pepsi was one of the '90s biggest flops, and it didn't stick around for long. Introduced in 1992 as the world's first clear cola, it vanished two years later in 1994. Some people loved the clear drink, and we can't deny that the slogan, "You've never seen a taste like this," was both memorable and catchy. However, we're used to cola being a brown color, and taking out both the color and the caffeine was a bit of a shock.

The drink has had a couple of brief comebacks, once in 2016, and later in 2022, for its 30th-anniversary celebrations. The limited-edition release was actually part of a contest where Pepsi asked people to submit photos showing what they looked like in the '90s, with 300 winners receiving six bottles of Crystal Pepsi each. Today, there are several Facebook pages to bring back Crystal Pepsi, one with over 7,000 followers. You'll even find an Instagram account dedicated to the clear drink's revival.

So will we see Crystal Pepsi on store shelves again in future? We'll have to wait and see, but hopefully if it's re-released, Pepsi will improve the flavor first.

From bugs to slime, the '90s definitely was a unique time to be alive. Nickelodeon's Green Slime Icepops were "a deliciously goopy glob of frozen ooze" beloved by kids of the decade, but something we're more than happy to pass on as adults.

Available in a variety of flavors, from blue raspberry to watermelon and strawberry, these had a sour lemon and lime center that was admittedly quite delicious. Introduced in the late '90s, they were discontinued shortly afterwards. That wasn't the last we saw of slime-themed ice pops, though. In 2019, Walmart brought back a similar treat: Nickelodeon Slime ice cream cups and frozen bars. The ice cream cups featured vanilla ice cream with green "slime" swirls of icing, while the frozen bars came in creamy orange and lemon lime flavors. Fans of the original slime-y popsicles were probably delighted at this sort-of comeback. We're still not convinced that anybody really needs to eat food that involves slime in any form, though.

Remember Squeezit? If you grew up in the '90s, these colorful soft drinks in flavors like Chucklin' Cherry and Tropical Punch were sure to be packed in your lunchbox. Actually introduced in 1985, Squeezit stuck around until the early 2000s, and will always be an iconic part of the decade.

These fruity drinks came in a brightly colored, hourglass shaped plastic bottle, with a top you twisted and squeezed to remove. Squeezits weren't all bad. They didn't contain any artificial colors or flavors, and it's true that they did pack in real fruit juice, even if it was only 10%, with the rest of the drink made up of sugar and other ingredients. 

One of the reasons kids loved the Squeezit packaging so much was because an empty bottle doubled up as a makeshift squirt gun for water fights with friends and siblings. There are several Reddit posts where people reminisce about using the drink bottles as squirt guns.

With each bottle containing around 16 grams of sugar, as well as a preservative known as sodium benzoate, Squeezits may have been discontinued as healthier options came to market. Or it could simply be that the fruit drinks had lost popularity. Over the years there have been calls to bring back Squeezit, though most petitions out there seem to only have a handful of supporters. 

What looks kind of gross, is kind of gross, and divided folks in the '90s? Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TMNT) Pies. Was it their shiny bright green sugary pie crust that disturbed us most? Or their oozy "mutagen goo" vanilla pudding center? We can't decide, but we weren't shouting "Cowabunga!" over this "Fresh from the sewers" treat at all.

Not only did these little pies, which, yes, did resemble our heroes in a half shell look pretty unappealing, but they didn't taste all that amazing, either. The vanilla pudding center was dangerously sweet, and with the sugary pie shell, it was a bit much even if you had a sweet tooth. That might explain why TMNT Pies weren't around all that long, arriving on shelves in 1991 and vanishing for good in 1993. Some people clearly miss them though, with various petitions and social media pages begging Hostess for the pies to be resurrected.

The artificial colorings in TMNT pies may also have had something to do with the demise of this snack. However, it could just be that the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' popularity died down after the three movies in the '90s. Whatever the reason these treats vanished from shelves, we definitely don't miss them. We can't really see them making a comeback today, either. That would require the recipe to be reformulated in order to remove some of the sugar and artificial additives.