If you told us as kids in the 90s that one day we’d grow up and no longer spend our lazy Saturday mornings eating bowls of Cinnamon Toast Crunch parked in front of the TV watching reruns of Dexter’s Laboratory, we’d probably tell you to talk to the hand cause the face ain’t listening. Translation: we don’t want to hear it. Back then, the highlight of most days involved filling up the largest bowl we could find with our favorite sugary cereal and mindlessly following along as Dexter tried helplessly to keep his sister Dee Dee out of his beloved laboratory. Ah, the good old days.
It was a golden age of carefree bliss—and lots and lots of Lucky Charms. Whether your preferred cereal was Froot Loops, Trix (the fruit-shaped kind) or Frosted Flakes, we were pretty much spoilt for choice. But beyond the enduring breakfast table mainstays, there were even more 90s cereal options available than you probably remember.
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Pop-Tarts Crunch ring a bell? How about Major League Grand Slams? Mr. T Cereal? If those jogged your memory and have you feeling nostalgic for the days when life was as simple as pouring a bowl and hoping to find the mystery toy buried inside the box, then here are eight more discontinued breakfast cereals you completely forgot about until now.
Discontinued Cereals You Completely Forgot About
To be fair, “discontinued” is a pretty loose term these days as more and more brands look back to the past to find throwback products and breathe new life into them. Think: the growing “newstalgia” trend that helped bring back Slice Soda and Dunkaroos. If hacky sack and house phones can make a comeback, why can’t Betty Crocker Cinnamon Streusel Cereal? Unfortunately, some things are just ahead of their time.
Pour yourself a bowl of your favorite cereal and take a trip down memory lane with us to rediscover these eight discontinued breakfast cereals.
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1. Sprinkle Spangles
Speaking of Dunakroos, if you ever wondered what they’d taste like in cereal form, Sprinkle Spangles is pretty much it. Star-shaped pieces covered in rainbow sprinkles made to taste like a sugar cookie? Talk about every kid’s dream breakfast.
The sugary-sweet cereal was first launched in 1993, but it was pulled from shelves after less than a year due to lackluster sales. Primarily, the intense sugar cookie-inspired flavor wasn’t a hit with everyone (mostly parents), and the added rainbow sprinkles were almost guaranteed to tear up the roof of your mouth. Not the most ideal way to start the morning, but unsurprisingly, Sprinkle Spangles still has a dedicated fan base that continues to hope for its dazzling return.
2. Oreo O’s
Nothing quite goes together like Oreos and milk, which was the premise for Oreo O’s, one of the greatest inventions of the 90s hands down. You might remember the commercials of super cool-looking marshmallow bits line-dancing their way into a bowl of chocolatey, Oreo cookie-flavored rings as an announcer introduces them as “The Cream Team.” It was peak 90s marketing, but for all the gimmicks, Oreo O’s were actually good.
Luckily, they’ve never been formally discontinued, just constantly rebranded, with the most recent revamp being Oreo Puffs. Instead of crunchy Oreo-flavored rings, the new iteration features puffed rounds.
3. Urkel-Os
It’s impossible to talk about the 90s without mentioning the hit sitcomFamily Matters or its painfully nerdy main character, Steve Urkel. The show was such a success that Ralston Cereals tapped Urkel to be the face of Urkel-Os, an artificially flavored strawberry banana cereal.
Although the buzzy cereal was a hot item when it debuted in 1991, as the show’s popularity waned, sales declined, leading to its unfortunate discontinuation sometime in 1993. In the endlessly endearing words of Steve himself, “Did I do that?”
4. French Toast Crunch
Although we can’t say we crave actual French toast for breakfast every single day, French Toast Crunch is an entirely different story. This near-perfect cereal was a personal favorite of yours truly growing up in the 90s, and honestly, we might have to try and hunt down a box. Unlike its flavor-blasted cousin Cinnamon Toast Crunch, French Toast Crunch was shaped into little pieces of toast and almost glazed with buttery maple goodness. It also miraculously stayed crunchy longer than most cereals, making it almost impossible to eat only one bowl.
Unfortunately, it was discontinued in the U.S. in 2006, but due to immense fan demand, General Mills decided to bring it back to shelves in 2014.
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5. Cinnamon Mini Buns
Given the choice, we’d start every day with a cinnamon bun, but we’ll also settle for a giant bowl of Cinnamon Mini Buns cereal. Made to mimic the iconic taste of everyone’s favorite pastry, this beloved breakfast cereal featured pieces that also looked just like mini cinnamon rolls, complete with the signature swirl.
After launching in 1991 and receiving rave reviews from fans, Kellogg’s discontinued the cereal in 2000 but then rebranded it as Mini Swirlz in 2005. The cereal was discontinued again in 2009, only to make yet another comeback as Cinnabon cereal.
6. Hidden Treasures
Despite its name sounding more like a secondhand store than a cereal, Hidden Treasures had quite a following in its heyday. It was the equivalent of doing a treasure hunt, except instead of looking for gold doubloons, you were trying to find the elusive pieces of sweetened corn cereal that actually contained fruit filling. You could luck up and bite into a burst of grape, cherry or orange, or chomp down on nothing but a hollow shell.
It was unfortunately discontinued in 1995 after only being on shelves for less than two years.
7. Dino Pebbles
As much as we love Fruity Pebbles, they’re no comparison to Dino Pebbles. First introduced in 1990, this tasty addition to the cereal aisle featured vanilla-flavored rice cereal with colorful dinosaur-shaped marshmallows. It was equal parts fun and delicious, making it a favorite among cereal fans even today.
Unfortunately, after just a few years, Dino Pebbles were pulled from shelves and haven’t been seen since. On the bright side, Malt-O-Meal carries its own version of Dino Pebbles called Dyno-Bites that you can find at most major grocery stores.
8. Cracker Jack Cereal
Technically, Cracker Jack Cereal was first introduced in 1983, but it stuck around for almost a decade before it was inevitably discontinued in 1991.
Much like the snack it was named after, Cracker Jack Cereal was a caramel-coated corn puff, complete with a prize in every box. With so much going for it, you’d think we’d still see it on shelves today, but perhaps it was just ahead of its time. Here’s hoping this one’s on the list of cereals to bring back from the dead.
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