Lunchbox Favorites: A Throwback

August 19, 2008 12:30 pm     Posted in Body, Other Stories  K - NYU g+ page

scv2.jpgDodgeball. Track and field day. Recess… There was a time when these words were what made us tick, when all that mattered was whether you could feasibly be cast as your favorite Disney princess. That, of course, along with what was packed in your lunchbox.


By K

Hot lunch was only cool on pizza and chicken nugget days in my hometown, with macaroni and cheese in as close a third as possible. So rather than stash our hot lunch tickets in our Lisa Frank pencil cases, the obvious choice was hardly your choice at all. Your parents packed it, and you ate it, so they thought. But we all know better. Lunch was a trading game.

Long before we were coveting Gucci bags and Tory Burch flats, ladies, there was a time where the following items were the only accessories of importance. Below are my top five snack foods from childhood lunches, most of which I had to argue my parents for, or trade for:

1) Little Debbie ANYTHING. Zebra Cakes, Swiss Cake Rolls, lots of cake-age going on. These were the crème-de-la-crème of snacking and what made suffering through yet another PB&J worthwhile.

2) Snack bags of Doritos/Fritos/insert chip of choice here. Whose parents ACTUALLY let them eat chips at lunchtime? The cool kids, obviously. The rest of us dealt with pretzels and carrot sticks… but the cool parents (who likely turned into the parents buying alcohol for their childrens’ parties in high school) always came through with the chips.

3) Dunkaroos. Any snack food that let me choose how much frosting goes on each cookie was automatically badass.

4) Twinkies. Something about the cream filling just sold everyone on these—in retrospect, we could’ve done better. But at the time, it definitely trumped an apple or fruit snacks.

5) Homemade cookies. No-bake, chocolate chip, peanut butter, anything with the exception of oatmeal raisin, which basically is just a waste of a cookie anyway. My friends would always just ogle my Ziploc baggie chock-full of deliciousness, newly dissatisfied with their Chips Ahoy. And it was awesome.

Anything that didn’t make the cut? Let us know!

17 Comments on "Lunchbox Favorites: A Throwback"

  1. april says:
    Tue, 19th Aug 20088:44 am 

    what about those ritz cracker cheese/pb sandwhiches?? or the cheese and cracker thing with the red stick???? or how about the fruit roll ups or the fruit by the foot? lunchables as well!!! elf fudge cookies?!? BUGLES?!?!

  2. J - NYU says:
    Tue, 19th Aug 20089:58 am 

    BUGLES. My mom would NEVER buy that sh*t for me.

    Cheese crackers with the red stick…priceless. And oh so full of chemicals.

  3. Lauren, University o says:
    Tue, 19th Aug 200810:03 am 

    Bugles were the best cuz you would put them on your fingers like nails….

    Just me?

    Also, who can forget Swiss Cake Rolls? OMG i want to get them now.

  4. Jessica says:
    Tue, 19th Aug 200810:18 am 

    I seriously just cracked up after I read about Bugles. I'd forgotten about those little guys.

    BUGLES! haha

  5. Olua - Washington College says:
    Tue, 19th Aug 20081:59 pm 

    When I was a kid, I used to eat the Dunkaroos by themselves and then lick the frosting out of the little cup.

    I also wrapped fruit by the foot around my thumb as an excuse to suck on it.

  6. Marisa - high school senior says:
    Tue, 19th Aug 20082:03 pm 

    Oh man, I loved Dunkaroos. And Fruit by the Foot. And Hostess Cupcakes with the filling in the middle.

    Now I’m hungry.

  7. lauren says:
    Tue, 19th Aug 20082:41 pm 

    fruit roll ups! we used to wrap them around our finger like a lollipop? strange

  8. Christine says:
    Tue, 19th Aug 20084:04 pm 

    Finally! Someone else who thinks that oatmeal raisin cookies are worthless!

    Bugles were the shit. I love those things. I loved HoHos like no other. I couldn't do the Twinkies.

    Although I have to say that I had chips as part of my lunch but my parents never bought me alcohol. Ever. Not that I ever asked.

  9. Cali says:
    Wed, 20th Aug 20081:01 am 

    Dude Lunchables were the SHIT at my school. If you had the make your own pizza one or the nacho one…you were a GOD!

  10. Leah says:
    Wed, 20th Aug 20084:45 am 

    Fruit snacks were one of my favourite things to eat. Or Sodalicious, those were the best.

  11. giz says:
    Wed, 20th Aug 20088:59 pm 

    Oh man, I just remembered my ultimate fave lower school dessert: Mini cookies crumbled into a pudding cup.

    Damn those were good times.

  12. Brittany says:
    Wed, 20th Aug 200810:55 pm 

    I remember eating koala yummies and fruit string things when I was in elementary school. Mmmmm those were the good old days.

  13. Jordan says:
    Tue, 26th Aug 20081:23 pm 

    Is it totally weird that I bought a whole box of Dunkaroos for my dorm this semester?

    They're soo good at midnight when the dining hall is closed and I need something to boost me up.

  14. Coco says:
    Thu, 2nd Oct 20083:24 pm 

    Teddy Grahams.

  15. amy says:
    Thu, 6th Nov 20087:58 pm 

    i'm 22 and went food shopping the other day and bought myself dunkaroos. i love them. my parents would NEVER get them for me as a kid.. so i felt so excited, and a bit badass as i took them off the shelf and put them into my shopping cart. I'm eating the cinnamon cookie/vanilla icing ones now and i forgot totally about the chocolate icingones. those r so good i am going to buy those next. :-)

  16. Ruth says:
    Tue, 12th Jul 20115:49 pm 

    I was the kid with the plain ham samwiches unfortunately

  17. Rohit says:
    Tue, 17th Jul 201211:12 pm 

    This is why my friends from then are obese. Thanks for my tuna sandwiches mom. I don't care about the bad breath.

Tell us what you're thinking...