Throwback Thursday: The best 90s lunchbox snacks

Lifestyle and Travel Editor - Audience·NZ Herald·

20 Dec, 2017 10:17 PM5 mins to read

How many of these snacks do you remember from the 90s? Photos / Youtube, Pinterest, Countdown, Tasman Bay

When you look at what we used to pack into our lunchboxes, just how did an entire generation of kids actually survive the 90s?

With snacks that would see parents of today pulled aside and reprimanded over the levels or sugar, sodium and all round allergens, the 90s was a veritable feast of ignorant bliss where lunchboxes were concerned.

From DunkAroos to Roll Ups and LeSnaks, a 90s school lunch wasn't complete without some little packet of badness wedged in next to your Marmite sammies and a stack of Mum's Anzac biscuits.

This week we've rounded up the best processed treats that once made your lunchbox the envy of the school playground. How many do you remember?

Fruit for Yonks

Fruit for Yonks were like edible yo-yos: Super fun to get your grubby little hands all over.

After covering them in as many germs as possible you could eat these till your heart's content, or as the cool 90s branding would suggest, "for yonks".

Poppa Jacks

As penguins are to Bluebird, creepy clowns are to Poppa Jacks. These salty treats turned your lunch box into a total circus, right?

And their high sodium content definitely didn't deter Kiwi kids from getting stuck into them.

DunkAroos

What wasn't fun about these little snack packs? Dunking your delicious kangaroo biscuits in chocolaty, refined sugary goop was considered a perfectly acceptable lunch time snack. Those were the days.

Roll-Ups

Similar to Fruit for Yonks, Roll-Ups also encouraged germy consumption. Everyone knew they tasted best wrapped around your finger and slowly licked at throughout the day.

If you didn't make "witches' fingers" with your Roll-Ups, were you really a child of the 90s at all?

Tiny Teddies

Rainbow in the Sky was a 90s anthem and Tiny Teddies gave DunAkroos a real run for their money in the animal shaped cookie market.

Best shared with mates, one was always careful about who was allocated which Tiny Teddy character. Giving the wrong friend the "grumpy" teddy was a sure fire way to get yourself cut from their birthday party list.

Le Snaks

Taking cheese and crackers for your lunchbox to the next level. Photo / winc.com.au

Making cheese and crackers futuristic and fancy, Le Snaks are still going strong as far as we're concerned, often making an appearance in office vending machines.

CC's corn chips

In the 90s a catch phrase or slogan didn't need to mean a whole bunch, as CC's can attest: "Only CC's ees tasting like thees".

And the chips were delicious so we could forgive them for that faux pas.

Pizza Singles

Pizza singles were a regular in any school tuck shop pie warmer.

There were only two ways to enjoy a pizza single, burnt to a crisp in the warmer, or a soggy microwaved mess.

Pizza Pockets

Always blow on the Pizza Pocket. Photo / mccain.com.au

These piping hot cheesy discs were a great lunch box item, but also a great afternoon snack.

The pizza was encased in white breaded goodness and if you didn't burn your taste buds off at least once, can you really say you lived in the 90s?

Tuck shop pies

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Mince & cheese pie!!! XD #MinceAndCheesePie

A post shared by Jason (@jas0el) on Jun 4, 2015 at 12:16am PDT

Packed full of fat, gluten and salt, these meaty bad boys were a totally acceptable tuck shop lunch item that cost a mere $1.

You knew it was a good pie when, before you'd even got back to your seat with your treat, the grease had soaked through the paper bag.

Juicies and Moosies

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This brings back some childhood memories! #yum #cold #juicies

A post shared by Thomas Goodman (@tonka.tommy) on Oct 1, 2014 at 7:18pm PDT

Cutting these in half with a dirty craft knife to share with a mate was the real taste of Kiwi summer.

Cool Sips

Cool Sips were New Zealand's answer to Capri-sun juice pouches and were devilishly hard to consume.

Containing 40 per cent fruit juice, these sugar bombs were probably why you felt like you'd lost your mind after playtime.

Chesdale Cheese Slices

What was your favourite Chesdale cheese slice flavour? Photo / countdown.co.nz

These rubbery slices of deliciousness where a real hit in the 90s. Making fun shapes out of you Chesdale slices before eating them was a must.

Dry noodles

Parents of 2017, look away now. In the 90s taking a dry packet of noodles to school and eating it raw was not only acceptable, it was cool.

It was all fun and games until one friend ruined it with the urban legend that the noodles would expand in your stomach and soak up all the water in your body.

Raro eaten out of the packet

Raro. Photo / Newzealandsnackfood.net.au

If this wasn't watered down to an inch of its life at school camp, you were sneaking sachets out of the house to share with your friends.

Not an eyelid was batted as you and all your mates licked your fingers and dipped them into the packet to enjoy.

Swiss Maid Dairy Food

Well before we were into natural Greek or coconut yoghurt, Swiss Maid Dairy Food was where it was at. The Calci-Yum of the 90s, this was considered a healthy dairy treat for your lunchbox.