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Weird, Rare, Forgotten & Discontinued Food Products

Herr Cloaca said:
Twenty years ago there was some fat free "ice cream" you could get in Tesco in three flavours, then it disappeared.
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It was suppressed by the Lard Information Council, they had a lot of power back in those days.

VIZADS004__89091.jpg
 
ramonmercado said:
I remember a concentrated liquid coffee coming in such a bottle, camp coffee.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camp_Coffee
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I seen to recall this still being available in supermarkets recently, however upon just looking it appears what I recall as 'Camp Coffee' is now owned by the Bushells brand here and the original is only available through specialist British shops and Amazon etc. Or maybe we just called this stuff 'Camp Coffee' in much the way that vacuum cleaners are referred to as 'Hoovers'? I don't know, it's early and I need a coffee.
 
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Stormkhan said:
Camp Coffee was considered a rare treat in our family. My mum used to make it on cold Sunday mornings for us, putting a spoonful in hot milk. It's the chickory that makes it different from 'real coffee'.
I miss Cresta fizzy pop drinks. The brand mascot a 'cool' polar bear with wrap-around sunglasses, I think it used to have the most unusual flavours, such as 'bubble gum' etc.
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Dad used to make iced coffee for us as a treat using Camp. It's not weird, just from a past era. We had a gas powered fridge back then as well.
 
Yithian said:
I shall start the ball bowling.

McDonald's Hula Burger (1963-1963)

View attachment 63696

This features a slice of grilled pineapple and American cheese on a bun.

It was 'created' by Ray Kroc, owner and some time CEO of McDonald's, who despite his fantastic name (sounds very aquatic), was clearly cursed with a streak of insanity.
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Looks really nice.

Welsh Rarebit with pineapple is great.*

* I have the non-dairy cheese version.


Camp Coffee was a staple in the 1970's.
People would use it to add flavour to desserts.
 
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Stormkhan said:
Can you still get instant lemon tea powder?
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The Polish shop in town does it. As well as the best selection of fruit/herb teas I've ever seen. Good prices too. Sat here now with a big teapot full of forest fruit tea.

They do the fruit teas as an instant powder too, with added vitC. I tried the raspberry once. Very sweet and artificial. I'll stick to me dried real fruits n herbs .
 
Dick Turpin said:
Sure can. I had a cup this morning. I find it a nice alternative to the traditional cuppa.

I was also a big fan of lemon sherbets too - haven't seen them in years though.
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Herr Cloaca said:
Twenty years ago there was some fat free "ice cream" you could get in Tesco in three flavours, then it disappeared.
Click to expand...


Lemon sherberts are still sold at many places, I've got some aldi ones that are cheap and good.

Fat free ice cream is everywhere at the moment too....Halo brand for a start.... A whole tub is only 350 calories!!! Irish cream flavour....mmmm
 
I don't "do" milk, so I'd have it as a crunchy ice cream topping..... That maple bacon cereal... I'd love to try that!!
 
https://thetab.com/uk/2020/11/13/so...conic-british-snacks-were-discontinued-181839

Some good ones on the above link , I miss the SnowFlake, Cadburys Snaps ( a knock off version is sold in aldi and BnM stores though as I buy these) and the little Cadbury "Magical Elves" with popping candy in them . I'm fact I'm sure that Cadburys have discontinued their " marvelous creations" choccy bars with the mad mix of popping candy and jelly beans in it. Im.sure I've seen them in BnM so stock up time. BnM and Home Bargains are good for rare/weird/discontinued foods n snacks in general.
 
Ascalon said:
I remember, not so long ago, there was a concentrated, instant tea liquid available in Irish supermarkets. It was not from any of the recognised tea brands, and I always wondered, who bought the stuff.

A quick search does not reveal the one I recall, it was in tall, narrow, square section bottle.
Ring a bell for anyone?
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In the US, Lipton switched their tea bottles to a square shape around 10 years ago. When it first came in the square bottles I was downing some of the green tea (pictured at right) at work one morning and a co-worker thought I was drinking olive oil straight from the bottle, since in the US olive oil is often sold in square bottles.

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Discontinued? Old English Spangles. Loved ‘em.

Also, back in the mid- to late Eighties, somebody produced a delicious breakfast cereal that soon vanished: lt resembled a muesli Polo, i.e. a ring of compressed granola about 1” in diameter. They were delicious. l used to eat them as a treat, straight out of the packet, instead of biscuits. l think Waitrose stocked them. *sigh*

maximus otter
 
Dick Turpin said:
Sure can. I had a cup this morning. I find it a nice alternative to the traditional cuppa.

I was also a big fan of lemon sherbets too - haven't seen them in years though.
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We've as local retro sweetshop, where the owner (a distant member of the Maynards family) also makes her own sweets such as honeycomb/cinder toffee, toffee apples etc.
 
Stormkhan said:
We've as local retro sweetshop, where the owner (a distant member of the Maynards family) also makes her own sweets such as honeycomb/cinder toffee, toffee apples etc.
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A good place to find 70's sweets, biscuits and cakes etc is the QD (quality discount) Stores in the UK. I worked a Christmas season in one and it was like going back in time.
 
Yithian said:
I shall start the ball bowling.

McDonald's Hula Burger (1963-1963)

View attachment 63696

This features a slice of grilled pineapple and American cheese on a bun.

It was 'created' by Ray Kroc, owner and some time CEO of McDonald's, who despite his fantastic name (sounds very aquatic), was clearly cursed with a streak of insanity.
Click to expand...
That is horrendous. Not just weird.
 
I don't recall ever seeing Tab or Fresca in the UK.
 
A memory from my childhood is Fizzies: tablets you dropped into water (like Alka-Seltzer) to make a carbonated drink. Never tasted too good, but kids wanted it anyway. Discontinued after various bannings of artificial sweeteners (sugar would have made the tablets enormous) it has been unsuccessfully relaunched several times since.
 

Norfolk beach walker finds crisp packet from 1960s.​



Old crisp packet, faded with age, with 5D, ready salted and Golden Wonder brand visible

The Golden Wonder crisp packet is almost certainly from the late 1960s


Crisp packets and sweet wrappers dating back as far as the 1960s have been found on a Norfolk beach.
Chris Turner, from Clifton, Bedfordshire, came across the decades-old litter while staying at his holiday home at Scratby, near Great Yarmouth.
They include pre-decimalisation packets of Golden Wonder crisps, marked with a price of 5d, and 2d Spangles sweets.
"I think the recent high tides at Hemsby have shifted everything to the surface," said Mr Turner.
"It's only about a mile away, so the plastic could have come from there.
"I couldn't believe how old they were; I'm not a big eco-warrior but I think the plastic in the seas is dreadful and the amount of litter generally along the beach is awful.
"I was always told not to drop litter."
Plastic kills fish and other sea creatures and takes hundreds of years to break down into less harmful materials.
It is estimated there are 171 trillion pieces of plastic in the world's oceans.
A blue empty packet of ready salted crispi, crisps with gift stars; a yellow empty packet of cheese and onion crispi, crisps with gift stars; an empty orange packet of fruit flavour spangles

Mr Turner could not find any information on Crispi while confectionery giant Mars has been asked by the BBC to try to date this packet of Spangles
All the packets were found in Norfolk were in remarkable condition, with labelling and wording clearly visible, and were on top of the sand.
Mr Turner, who shared images of his finds on a local Facebook page, said it provided some nostalgia for snacks of yesteryear while providing evidence of just how long it takes for plastic to decompose.
"When I saw them I thought 'I'm picking that up' - just out of curiosity, really," added Mr Turner, who discovered them during three separate walks with his dog.
Scratby beach

Mr Turner regular spends his weekends at Scratby in Norfolk
No use-by dates were visible, so Mr Turner searched online for some clues as to their age.
Tayto Group, which now owns Golden Wonder, confirmed the packet was almost certainly from the late 1960s and said it had made changes in recent years to reduce plastic packaging.

The Smiths Horror Bags bacon flavour corn and potato claws were available for about five years in the 1970s and were reportedly criticised at the time for being potentially disturbing for children.
Mystery surrounds the provenance of the two empty packets of Crispi and the fruit flavour Spangles could potentially date from the 1960s or early 70s.
Packet of Smiths Horror Bags Claws, bacon flavour, with a cartoon image of a Dracula type figure

The empty Horror Bags packet could be finding its way on to an auction site
The chance finds could pay dividends for Mr Turner who will continue to keep an eye out for vintage litter on the beach.
"The last one I found - Horror Bags - I contacted a group online and was told 'actually, it's really valuable'," he said.
"I've had a look and some have gone for over £100 on eBay because they're collectable.
"So I know what I'll be doing with that very soon."

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-norfolk-65428452
 
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