Recently, my friends and I decided to create a snack locker to fuel our daily studies. Piling into Bernadette, (the name I have given my car) we took a trip to the new Costco to stock up on all the necessary goods. Thus began my childhood snack renaissance. Since aging out of elementary school, I had largely forgotten the delightful afternoon delicacies I used to consume on a daily basis. The snack locker has taken me on a trip down memory lane, so I am here today to relive some nostalgic childhood memories through my favorite snacks.
Goldfish
My mom was always very nutrition-conscious growing up. Although we were allowed to have snacks in the house, she always tried to choose the healthier option when available. Of all the cheddar-flavored crackers available at the grocery store, we always came home with the value-sized box of whole-grain goldfish. Each morning before school, I would pack a lunch of unsweetened Mott’s applesauce, a tortilla roll of ham and cheese, string cheese, and thirty-two grams of whole grain Goldfish. Ever the pragmatist, my mom used the kitchen balance to measure out the correct serving size of Goldfish, a habit which I continued. The nutritional information on the back of the Goldfish box will tell you that thirty grams are the serving size. My sneaky, Goldfish-loving self sneaked in an extra two grams. Every day at lunch I always ate my goldfish first, and I still use the same reusable cotton pouch to pack Goldfish in my lunch a decade later.
Fruit Roll-Ups
The “special occasion” snack of my childhood was Fruit Roll-Ups. My mom preferred that I ate real fruits as compared to the chemical concoction of preservatives in Fruit Roll-Ups, so whenever I spent a day at a friend’s house, my eyes filled with glee if they offered me one. Delightfully chewy and practically phosphorescent, a Fruit-Roll Up easily became the culinary highlight of my day.
String Cheese
I am sad to admit that there is no string cheese in my locker. I pondered purchasing a skin fridge off of Amazon, (a mini-fridge meant to store skincare products) however I soon realized that my locker was not outfitted with an outlet, and was therefore unfit to store a small army of cheese sticks. I could not make a blog post about my favorite childhood snacks and not include string cheese though. To bite or not to bite, that is the question. At my third-grade lunch table, I had lengthy debates over the proper way to eat string cheese (Biting string cheese is clearly the wrong way to eat STRING cheese). Either way, I enjoyed a string cheese regularly over the course of my elementary education, sometimes twice a day if I was craving one as an afternoon snack. Thank you string cheese for fostering my love of all things cheese-related.
Capri Sun
Nothing reminds me of birthday parties quite like a pouch of Capri Sun. With their ingeniously child friendly packaging, Capri Sun was a staple at any roller rink, bowling, or arcade outing. Like Fruit Roll-Ups, I didn’t have Capri Sun on a regular basis, therefore at any party, I arrived at, I made a beeline for the drink section. Fruit Punch and Pacific Cooler were my favorite flavors, and I wanted to claim my stake in them before they were all taken by the sticky hands of my fellow partygoers. Capri Suns were also an essential road trip beverage, packed into a small white and blue cooler that sat in between my sister and me on ventures across the US and consumed at pit stops in the middle of rural Indiana.
Smartfood Popcorn
To continue the theme of cheddar flavored snacks is the Smartfood White Cheddar Popcorn, which in my opinion, is the best popcorn on the market. Perfectly cheesy, with the right amount of crunch, Smartfood was the summer snack of my childhood. Whenever the playgroup friends got together at the pool, The bag of Smartfood was always the first snack to be opened and devoured in under 10 minutes. I remain a loyal and faithful consumer of this iconic product and intend to remain so for many years to come.
