When Gordon was in the service – this was before we moved to Texas and I learned to make proper Texmex cuisine – I made Lipton soup fajitas. I don’t remember what flavor it was, since it’s been years, I think Spicy Fiesta or Red Pepper or some silliness like that, but basically it was a mix that gave you an approximation of tortilla soup, a South-Western staple.
I would get my chicken, slice it into long slices, dip it in the mix, and sauté in a bit in the pan, and make fajitas with it. Gordon and the kids loved it. Except abruptly, my go to soup vanished from the store shelves. I finally asked people in the commissary and they looked it up for me and told me it was discontinued.
I felt bitterly betrayed. I liked the soup. I bought the soup. How dare they discontinue it? (Obviously, this is all about me.)
I have experienced other discontinued disasters. Viennetta Ice Cream cake was the best ice-cream ever. Light vanilla ice-cream with very thin layers of chocolate. So delicious. Sadly it vanished before I turned twenty. A1 used to make a sweet flavor of steak sauce, which I can no longer find. There were packets of yellow rice flavoring I used to buy with actual saffron in it. No longer available. Every time it feels a little like betrayal.
Yesterday was our 25 year anniversary. We stayed home, ordered in, and watched Invincible. Amazing show. Delta variant is raging through Texas. Kid 1’s boyfriend is sick and isolating in the garage apartment. We are monitoring him with an oximeter. He is miserable. Kid 1 has had her first shot, and Gordon and I are fully vaccinated. Kid 2 had her first shot and her boyfriend is getting his first.
We happened to live next a massive outdoor outlet mall. 250 stores, 1,000,000 sq. ft of space, the largest or second largest, depending on whom you ask, retail store in US. It is a bastion of consumerism, which is not necessarily a good thing. We get traffic from everywhere.
A few weeks ago I’ve found out that Maurices outlet in that mall has been discontinued. It fell victim to COVID. It was my go to T-shirt store. Yes, I can buy clothes online, but I am a plus sized woman and I like to try things on. Yankee Candle followed suit. It was about the only place you could get Yankee candles dirt cheap, because normally they are expensive as hell. The only two stores which caused me to brave the insanity of that parking lot are out of business.
It’s not just the stores. A few of the favorite restaurants closed and never reopened. A massage spa that was just about the only decent place to get a deep tissue massage when your back completely gives out on you is out of business. Massage was not a luxury for me. More like a hail Mary because despite my best efforts, I sit a lot.
People lost jobs. People are losing housing.
They are talking another lock down again, so I bought an extra thing of paper towels, toilet paper, and sanitary products. Just in case they get discontinued. My Perestroika Russianness was triggered. Food and goods shortages, I am on it.
Well, this post got heavy in a hurry. Normally I aim for upbeat, but I guess today is not that day. I decided not have the pandemic in Dina’s world. Because I have that power.
Let’s talk about discontinued things. What do you wish they would bring back and what substitutes did you find that were better than the old thing?
Seconding Vionettena. That was our go to fancy dessert.
Pizza d’Amore had The Best pizza ever. Been gone since the 80s.
Jimmy Dean’s omelettes.
Waldenbooks, Borders, Dress Barn.
I feel so seen. I can’t believe there’s a website. My husband mourns Habitant pea soup, and I can’t find the equivalent of Hanes cotton crew socks, not even at Vermont Country store. Sigh. . .
hello everyone
I found the ice cream cake Ilona was mentioning at Kroger in Centerville Ohio. Just after my booster for DPT (I am an early childhood educator) and right before my birthday. YEAH!!
Sara
The order of the jars in the top photo is wrong. The second pink/red jar should be the first one. Every time I see this it gives me anxiety.
3 of my favorite thrift shops are gone due to covid. Here in Baltimore, one Salvation Army, a consignment store and a Value Village thrift have closed their doors and the ones that remain have upped their prices for merchandise that seems to be diminishing in quality. I guess once the attic has been cleaned out and new replacement items are becoming harder to find, people are looking at keeping what they have.
So this may have been mentioned already because the thread is so looooong I didn’t read them all but…Good Humor started bringing back the Vienetta in January of this year after it was discontinued here in the States in the 90’s. I live in Fort Worth Texas and it says it is available at my local Kroger grocery store. Several of them in fact. So I know your an HEB grocery fan but maybe check out the local Kroger there for your sweet treat.
My spouse is allergic to milk, soy, treenuts, other nuts, coconut, peanuts…
Ice cream was the thing he loved the most in the before times. [Eight years ago, he could eat all that, which is terrifying to think about because what if the trend continues?].
Anyway, in the long series of ice creams that were discontinued, the highlight was a Talenti chocolate sorbet. No substitute found. Every time we lose one of these ice creams, I wonder why. This stuff is so good that I, who consume a gallon of milk a week and could have any dairy-filled ice cream I could find, love it. Every time I see the Ben and Jerry’s Milk and Cookies allergen-safe ice cream, I stock up and I’m just fatalistically waiting for it to disappear. There’s an oatmilk skyr now that I also watch with paranoia.
We also have a truly massive quantity of sunflower butter because of the two months where no stores near us (or Amazon) carried any. The worst was a month period where no oatmilk or pea milk could be found for love or money in the Twin Cities.
For myself, every time I pass the Siggi’s yogurt in the aisle, I look sadly for the yogurt with mango. Or the mango with Oui’s yogurt (now dairy-free instead). There’s a style of sanitary pads that is now gone and I hate the remaining shapes so much I switched to tampons.
All of these are luxuries. It’s not a real scarcity that I have I ‘have’ to have a certain skyr, but you’re right. I do feel betrayed. And bereaved.
Bernstein’s Herb Garden French Salad Dressing–no longer at any store in my small city. Nothing else is close and there’s not even a knock off recipe on line.
Happy Anniversary!
I took part of my last sabbatical in Germany and fell in love with a delicious strawberry rhubarb herbal tea. The name? “Pure Lust”.
No kidding!
Of course there is nothing to equal it in the states so my friend from Germany used to send me two boxes every Christmas.
I have been rationing it but soon I will be without Pure Lust in my life.
Sadness.
Reese’s Bites. They were perfect movie theater snacks.
Wagamama discontinued their Itame noodle dish. It’s not in any of their cook books and recipes posted online don’t quite make the mark.
torengos, it was a salsa chip that was similar to pringles in that it was stackable but came in a triangle container. My family loved them
Dang it! I wish you hadn’t said that A1 used to have a different flavor. I wish I had never known that. LOL!
I have a funny foot, too narrow for a B width, too wide for an A. I found a company that made a “slim fit” that were expensive as hell but they fit. Discontinued. Don’t get me started on McCormick Onion Gravy Mix. I now mix Brown Gravy Mix with dehydrated onion flakes, but Not The Same! Congrats on the 25th! We are speeding toward 38 on December.
Petco makes this AMAZING breathe mint for dogs. I love it, they love it – it’s my favorite. It’s Well & Good Fresh Breath Dog Tablets.
Well and Good is PetCo‘s brand.
They periodically stop making it and you can’t find it anywhere, and then they just start making it again. This is been a roller coaster of emotions for me. If I see it in the stores I buy everything I can see, I have 10 dogs I need my mints.
The worst are “discontinued” doctors and other services. You get used to one person who knows you and all your painful bits for many years, and suddenly they are gone and replacement will never have same experience and same understanding of your history.
I have to wear orthopedic, custom made shoes. They cost close to $2,000 (I can only afford one pair a year) and there is only one person in our state that I trust with my feet.
He is retiring.
Believe me, this is far more terrifying then tshirt shop closure.
I miss the Greek restaurant that we ate at through my entire first pregnancy, curried chicken salad from a particular store, and so many curly hair products that I loved that got discontinued.
Campbells use to sell a starter Thai soup mix that was fabulous. They discontinued it. Sigh. It was one that my whole family liked.
I like Del Monte Ketchup. I bought it for years. Now I can only buy it on-line from Amazon or Walmart at four to five times the price I used to pay.
Also, I buy Scott single ply 1000 tissue toilet paper……I think they changed their “recipe” for making it during covid, but I can’t be sure because I have no pre 2020 rolls. But it looks and feels different…. and wrong. I’m a woman with simple but inflexible tastes which makes life difficult sometimes. Why, yes, I do have a little OCD.
There are more. Sometimes, they just change a product to the point where it bears no resemblance to the original item. Don’t get me started on mini chocolate donuts in the 60’s ????
First comment…I am long limbed and have about given up shopping in regular stores because stores don’t carry tall tops and rarely long pants. Therefore, I found an online retailer that is affordable and customizes all of their clothing: Eshakti. Love, love, love their clothes from classic to trendy.
Second comment: this item is not discontinued but just doesn’t taste the same…NuttyBars…I think the fake sugar wave ruined them…sigh… there is no replacement!
Not COVID related…..just missed
My Mom always used Lawry’s garlic salt on roasted potatoes….can’t get that in Vancouver BC anymore….
Loved Cross and Blackwell’s Rosemary Redcurrant Sauce (yes it also had mint) for lamb……don’t even think they make it anymore.
So sad”……the flavours of youth gone.
that’s just the worst. I used to love this yogurt, (I’m a woman of simple pleasures) it was made by muller (quaker dairy/pepsi) and the flavor was amazing, it was peach passion fruit. It was so good I ate them at least 3 times a week for two years. Then out of nowhere and without any warning they were just gone. I was so upset I couldn’t find it anywhere. then I found out they wouldn’t be available anymore. It still exists, just not in the states.
So if you can buy it where ever you’re from, get a peach passion fruit muller yogurt and eat it for me please? I really miss that yogurt ????
Valentina salsa is in short supply!! (On knees head back screaming). I love it.
Other then that I can roll with a lot.
But in regards to your Perestroika Russianness, I have a food hoarding problem. I subconsciously buy more then needed then stop eating to preserve. I strikes up my eating disorder causing me to skip meals. I tell my kids no when I should say yes. I have gotten better at recognizing the pattern but this pandemic has hit me hard.
Being in Florida where no one cares and mask are optional. I for one am glad you have decided to to write it into Dina’s stories.
I’m glad you feel you can write out your struggles to you reader. Needing to talk about them and having no one is hard. So you write I will read????
Discontinuation of an item often used has caused 2 years of continuous moaning from my entire extended family. It was Van Camps New Orleans Red Kidney Beans. This was a staple in my home growing up. It was simple and perfect. We would fry pork chops (not breaded), make rice and the beans. My family adores this meal. They discontinued them. We have tried every substitute we can find and even made homemade red beans. Just not the same. Van Camps received over 50 unhappy emails from my family alone. We still aren’t over it. ????
Someone may have mentioned this (sorry, there are a lot of comments ????), but Kroger sells Viennetta by Good Humor. Maybe the Kroger stores in Austin, or the towns to the south, carry it? ????????
Brun lipstick #428 lancome. It’s brown and the only shade that I’ve ever felt comfortable with. It’s the only shade I ever felt looked natural on me. I wrote Lancome a letter outlining my severe disappointment with them to get me hooked on a $50/tube lipstick only to discontinue the shade. For a while I could get it off ebay and from France. But those days are gone. I still feel betrayed.
Re your back: stretch. (Well, assuming no other structural or congenital issues, of course) I’ve always had back problems. Mitigated by chiropractors, massage, Pilates and Gyrotonics. After my son was born, it was excruciating. My masseuse, who is amazing, recommended a stretching DVD: Total Stretch for Beginners with Tamilee (Amazon). I didn’t see her for 18 months. It’s very gentle and if your body will tolerate the movements, I highly recommend. I started doing every night before bed, kind of amazing that it helped me. For $3.99, might be worth a shot, anyway. Sorry you’re experiencing that, it’s just so exhausting.
Well, not so much discontinued as modified. When Hershey took over the uk chocolate company Cadbury they changed the chocolate recipe on pretty much everything including my absolute favourites the Cadbury creme egg. Only available after Christmas until Easter. Yummy runny sugar fondant centre in a dairy milk chocolate shell. Best thing ever. I had a catering pack to myself one year, 48 just for me!
Not only has it been reduced in size but they changed the chocolate to basic so it’s awful! I haven’t bought chocolate from Cadbury since. Hershey said sales had reduced, something like 70% but that was ok! Do they not know how to run a business?? Last I heard (because they are dead to me so not up to date info) they were trying to sell Cadbury.
Boyds used to make a powdered eggnog/custard creme type drink. You mixed it with hot water like cocoa. I will always miss that stuff.
While I’m a bit late to the party, I really miss Swiss Miss Chocolate pudding and Philadelphia cream cheese onion dip.
I can’t find the pudding anywhere, but whole milk Jello cooked pudding is close enough.
And the only place on-line I’ve seen the chip dip is CANADA! WTAH? I really thought it was *made* in the U.S.
My mom always made no bake oatmeal cookies for everything. Family gatherings, school bake sales,weddings,funerals etc. Anyway, no matter what she had to use ‘Crystal Wedding Oats’. It had to be that specific brand. She would go to all the grocery and mom n pop store in the area to find them. Poof, one day they just disappeared. Couldn’t find them no where,even Amazon and Walmart didn’t have any in stock. My mom was furious (actually she still is when someone mentions her cookies) we even called the company. Turns out Quaker had either bought them out or had rebranded them. And swore that there Quaker 5 minute oats where the same thing. No, Quaker they’re not. They’re really not. So, so long wedding oats, your missed in Southern Kentucky.
I miss “Tennessee Pride TURKEY sausage patties”
There is still Viennetta ice cream here! I still love it! ????????
It’s not likely we’ll have another lockdown because more and more people are getting vaccinated in addition to wearing masks and social distancing.
In my area (Toronto), multiple Starbucks are closed. Their bottled and canned drinks are featured prominently in the grocery stores so people can still get their fix at home.