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?
Lancôme “Limelight” liquid eyeliner – it was the perfect yellow/green color to highlight the yellow/green in my eyes.
And there was also a MAC lipstick I adored that was discontinued, but I can’t remember the name of the color…
I remember that cake. It was my grandparents’ go-to dessert.
Now I am sad.
I miss my good shampoo. I miss Coke cans with the tab opening in its proper position. I miss being able to sit in a public chair and get a 5-min massage. I miss chocolate covered jelly beans. I miss Arby’s chicken cordon bleu. (Shush, I’m not fancy.) I miss being pleasantly surprised by a movie.
Swiss mushroom burger from Wendy’s
There was a gluten-free noodle bowl for a short while where the noodles were hair thin, not the fat ones everyone makes, but as soon as I found it it disappeared.
My husband misses when Girl Scouts sold thin mints candy, not cookies.
Laura Scudder Green Onion dip mix. Ate it all through my childhood, can’t find it anymore. Found it on line a few years ago, but it was over $7 for a little dried packet and I just couldn’t justify it.
You have to go to Canada or Europe to find real Cadbury Dairy Milk these days — apparently the American version has sugar, not milk, as the first ingredient? I have my husband bring a handful back every time he goes. And real barbeque Fritos — not the honey spirals — used to be an absolute DELICACY when you scooped them in vanilla ice cream. Sigh.
Oh yeah, I remember BBQ Fritos. They were yummy.
I just got a snack sized bag Fritos Bar-B-Q from the Dollar General in Rapid City, SD. I haven’t seen that flavor before and wanted to try them- unfortunately I really don’t like them. I so wish I send them the people that miss them.
Hi , in New Zealand we don’t have any of the ice cream , t-shirts or candles you mentioned but on a plus side there’s no Covid . They used to make a sweet called Wine Gums but about 10 years ago changed the recipe causing them to taste awful.
Once upon a time, Pillsbury only had a dry frosting mix (in a box) that was used in a Lot of their Bake Off Recipes. Oh, how I miss you, dry frosting mix- you and those recipes I’ve never been able to re create.
Hess’s Dept. Store (Allentown, Pa.) – I’ve shopped in Manhattan, San Francisco, etc. but I’ve never seen a Christmas puppet show, entire floor turned into flower show, or local TV program like yours.
Yes! It was used in their Tunnel of Fudge bake-off winning cake. It had a gooey chocolate center from that frosting mix.
Apparently, I am the only person in the world who loved Tequiza beer, a light beer made from the cactus plant. It went away and I was sad. I drink Corona Premier now but I miss my little “lady beer”.
Chocolate Coconut Bundt Cake Mix!
I have Reverware copper-bottomed pans. I always used Copper Glo. It’s no longer made. I switched to Twinkle and it was instantly taken off all store shelves around here, so I got angry and order it in cases from the company that makes it now.
My dishwasher cleaner was taken from store shelves, also. When I run out, it’ll be back to vinegar, which I hate to use because it’s acid, but at least it’s in stores.
The apricot nectar that supplied me with the potassium I needed so I didn’t have to suffer the nausea of taking the pills that made me so sick is no longer sold at the one store that carried it. I ordered it from the people who make it, a full case, and had to pay shipping to get it to me, but I will avoid the pills that way.
Very puzzling to me, and Purina has vowed to me that they are producing, but their cat foods disappeared from the shelves for months. Anyone with a cat knows what finicky eating means, so it’s been a struggle to get them fed. One will eat anything, the other will not. Good times.
Yankee candles sells online. Check it out for your candles. If someone else suggested that, I’m sorry for repeating it, but I’m not reading 237 comments to find out. They’re offering discounts if you sign up for them.
Our best-ever buffet restaurant closed for Covid and won’t be opening again. Until this recent surge, I was seriously considering maybe going out to eat. Won’t happen now, and I miss going out to eat. Carryout is good, but it’s not eating out.
But the heart-breaker is that the Symphony bars I love so well are now very thin and much smaller than they were last year. Nothing soothes this savage beast like that chocolate, and it’s skimpy now.
My best friend is having the same problem finding Purina cat food with tuna. They tell her its still in production but non of us are finding it.
Has anyone ever had a salesperson tell you something has been discontinued as if you were a Neanderthal who just left the cave since everyone else already knows this? I crept away from the Clinique counter.
I have noticed that the selection of Purina Friskies canned cat food has been varied… a person at Walmart said they have been producing, but due to COVID, it has been more of a challenge. There are often only a few flavors or kinds offered, so I often will look to see what there is and stock up if it is a flavor and type (must be pâté) our two cats like. I sometimes find it at grocery or pet stores, but with a higher price tag.
As for smaller amounts, that has happened with so many things which sometimes adds a challenge with recipes since the amounts are not the same with many products like a no bake pumpkin pie… I have to buy more canned pumpkin since the amount in the can is less than the recipe. So many things… sugar, yogurt, ice cream, cookies… have less than in the past, but still charge more. Really noticed how Girl Scout cookies have way fewer cookies in the box yet cost more so a double whammy!
Happy anniversary
My favorite peanut butter honey oatmeal was discontinued and I am still trying to figure out proportions to make my regular oatmeal taste like that.
Congratulations on your anniversary. I hope someday I will be able to say I was married that long.
Covid is bad here in Wisconsin too and I am going grocery/supply shopping tomorrow because who knows when we might shut down again. We went from close to zero cases a day to 1000 new cases per day. This makes me slightly freaked out since I cannot get the vaccine (I am very allergic to one of its ingredients) and I have had covid before and do not want to repeat the experience.
I, too, am allergic to the PEG in the “big two” vaccines, but J&J has zero PEG and I got that within three days of it hitting our area because nobody else wanted it because it’s wasn’t hyped like mad as the latest greatest type of vaccine. No stats on how it does because for some reason, this country is ignoring the only vaccine available that would not kill me. One woman in this area got the one with PEG in it and she spent months getting all her dead skin scrubbed off and bandaged to prevent infection and more skin died and it was a royal mess. She is 90 years old and suffering horribly. They stopped the J&J because something like 7 people got blood clots, but she was the 17th in the country to get that from PEG, and they never warned anyone or stopped giving them to everyone they could give them to. I had to figure out my allergy to it by trying to find makeup I could wear, but even hypo-allergenic makeup contains it. Talk to your doctor about it. With enough prep, you can have a vaccine.
My husband and I have been married for 46 years, and I’ll tell you that the big secret way to be married a long time is to stay married and let the years roll by. I wish you well with that. We chose the right people to marry. I hope you can do the same. When it’s right, you fight now and then, but you stay together.
I miss pillow mints. You used to be able to buy bags of them or get them at bulk candy stores but I haven’t seen them in over a decade. It drives me crazy as I see them in the movies/tv: in a bowl at the hostess desk at a restaurant. I am in Canada.
I lived in SE Asia during the 80s and, back then, was not able to get cotton candy, soft ice cream, red licorice nor soft caramels. I remember one year a member of the PTA brought a suitcase of Kraft caramels from the US to make caramel apples for a school event.
Apparently A1 is available at our local Vons. If you want me to ship you some to an agent’s address or some other address not your own (to protect privacy), let me know! 🙂 As a Canadian who grew up with A1 and now living in the US, I’d miss it a lot if it was discontinued forever and I feel for you!
I think one of the worst for me is when shoes or boots are discontinued and styles changed. I have big feet and when I find something that works, I want to buy multiple pairs, but they’re usually so pricey. So I wait and then am disappointed when they’re discontinued. Sigh.
I think original A1 is available to Ilona 🙂 , but not the sweet steak sauce. Is that still found in Canada?
Grape Pop-Tarts. They were my favorite. They brought them back for a limited time only a few years back. I still keep an eye out if they bring them back again.
Just found this on inet:
Viennetta Ice Cream Cakes Are Coming Back To The U.S. After Nearly 30 Years
Your childhood self is totally freaking out right now!!!
by KRISTIN SALAKY and ALEXIS MORILLO JAN 25, 2021
Delish magazine
The big discontinue during Covid that affected me was the Vitamin E cream from Sam’s (Gene Therapy, I think is the name). I don’t shop at Sam’s, so as I was getting low I asked a friend to pick some up– not there. She checked all over town– none. Weird. Did an Internet search– EVERYONE is looking for it. Ebay has a jar for $100US (it retailed for $6.99US normally)!!! More research: apparently the owner of the company decided to take a sabbatical to ride horses. Understandable in these uncertain times, but the freak out is amazing. Given that it doesn’t cause a reaction in my terribly sensitive skin, doesn’t smell girly (my husband likes to use it during cold weather), and is very reasonable I guess I understand. I was upset. So, my friend’s boyfriend went to California to visit his elderly mom and decided to look around for the cream. Turns out his mother had horded several jars, so he brought me back one. I don’t know if I will find a substitute or if the owner will reopen. We’ll see.
Yeah. At our house the joke is “How can you tell if something is going to be discontinued in the next six weeks? Ask Mom if she likes it.”
It doesn’t matter if it’s food, clothing, furniture, paint colors, dishes, or restaurants. If I decide I REALLY LOVE it, it’s doomed.
I try not to REALLY LOVE things because of this. I also try to have back ups for my back ups. It doesn’t help my control over my hoarding tendencies ????
Mostly I complain for weeks or months and then grudgingly get used to the substitute. And eventually mostly forget about the original unless something reminds me, at which time I grumble and complain for another few hours.
What can I say, I’m an ISFJ, we like our routine! ????
For a while, Triscuit crackers had a caraway and rye combination. So tasty. It was made with real ingredients. They’ve since discontinued it. I went to their website and made a comment that I’d like it if they brought it back as it ~was~ made with real ingredients and not just the too salty dusted crap flavors they use now on all their choices.
Ugg. So many things but the ones that came to mind immediately are my 2 favorite flavors of Ben and Jerry’s ice cream. Hazed and Confused was half chocolate ice cream, half very light, delicate hazelnut ice cream, and an amazing, rich hazelnut fudge core. The other was Volun-tiramisu. It was exclusive to Target and they were sold out of it more often than not so I don’t know why they would discontinue it.
The thing I’m mad about right now is not something that is discontinued but has been repackaged. Ghirardelli makes these fantastic mug brownies that are just the right size and actually taste good unlike every other mug cake I have tried. Up until a few weeks ago they were available in boxes with 4 packets usually around $3. They got rid of the boxes of packets and now you can get an individual cardboard cup for $2. I bought up the boxes they had in my local store and bought some more off of Amazon but it is going to suck when they are gone. I don’t want to pay more than twice as much for my brownies.
I am 100% with you. I think something is going to be discontinued and I buy 1000 of them just in case but they are still around. I quit buying them using the last one we have only to find they discontinued it.
We have TP, I am going to stock up on my favorite seasoning mixes (they were short last year) and turkey liver (it is the dogs’ favorite and one of the few things Brittany is still allowed to eat with her IBD).
Food Lion carried McCain’s Dipin Wedges for maybe 6 months to a year. Long enough to get me hooked & then Poof they were gone. I think they were test marketing in my area & decided it wasn’t worth it, dammit. I think they sell them elsewhere….just not in NC. I Looooved those things 🙁
My best friend taught me a thing. Whenever you find a product you like or love, make sure you say out loud that you dislike it. Otherwise the universe or the cosmos or a personal demon (the opposite of a guardian angel?) will make sure that product is discontinued. 😀
Weber’s had this awesome garlic seasoning with other spices that was great as a rub for roasting a turkey. Bummed that I can’t find it any more, I miss it every Thanksgiving and alas I have to be creative. Fresh garlic under the skin is always a great idea.
The most betrayed on a discontinued item I ever felt was when Origins stopped making “Have a Nice Day” lightweight face moisturizer with 15 SPF. I have never found a perfect replacement for it. ????
Pepperidge Farms Carrot Walnut and Raisin Cookies! Evidently, I was the only person who ate them. Thankfully, I’d figured out the recipe (oatmeal with add ins) before they did.
Happy Anniversary!!! 🙂
Soup Plantation/Sweet Tomatoes…. I was heartbroken when they went out of business, we used to go for like every single family event because it was one thing that we all liked. I have good memories of college nights there with my brother when were utterly confused about life and figuring it out…. (well, the life part hasn’t changed much im still confused lol )
Also you are the second person to recommend Invincible to me… I should get on that.
Jacobs Instant Ice Coffe mint flavor! And I don’t usually drink coffee.
For me, it was, or is, Newcastle Werewolf beer. Probably not the correct name, but it had a werewolf on the label. It was sort of seasonal to Halloween, but I haven’t seen it since we moved down here. Does anybody know if they still sell it in the States? I would drive Smokey and the Bandit style to get some and bring it back to Texas.
Rev ur engines. On the “Uncrate” website, there is info on a Newcastle Werewolf beer”Blood Red Ale”. Not sure if this is what ur looking for, but it looks like u can buy online.
https://uncrate.com/assets_c/2011/07/newcastle-werewolf-stretched-thumb-960×640-14721.jpg
I googled this, there were a lot of results, even including Walmart. Halloween is coming fairly soon, you may be able to find this…
BTW – Your anniversary is the same day as my father’s birthday!
Happy 25th Anniversary!
‘I wish they brought back the series “Firefly” – that was an amazing series; and I watched it over and over again and lamented its demise.
Tower Records, independent bookstores – I am infuriated by Amazon that made life hell for many independent bookstores in the early 2000s and now they are setting up brick and mortar shops left and right! Amazon Fresh, Whole foods, Amazon Bookstore — where I live – about 5 Amazon shops sprouted within 12 months – taking over empty spaces by businesses that succumbed to the pandemic or Amazon-business tactics –
There are no substitute for Firefly, but now I am watching – Home Before Dark on Apple TV and I love the new PBS series with Ben Miller based on a Dutch series with the same name – Professor T. I try to visit and shop the few remaining independent bookstores when I travel on my mini-breaks around the state – Washington – so I can help in a small way keep them up and running.
Firefly…only THE BEST SERIES EVER…I still love watching the actors in different projects. But nothing even comes close to Joss Whedons Masterpiece
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Alas and alack, when Firefly ended, so many people complained at unfinished business in it that they made a movie called “Serenity” to show how it all ended. I still quote the show when I tell people that I live “at the corner of no and where” in BFE when they ask how to get to my house. It was just too good for TV, I guess.
I haven’t eaten Viennetta for a while and I’m not from the US either, but according to wikipedia, it ‘was re-introduced in the US in 2021 under the Good Humor brand’. So maybe you can find it under another name?
And yes, lots of things I enjoyed have been cancelled, including fine salad sauces and ice creams. And right now I’m really worried about our restaurants and shops due to several long lockdowns and another looming ahead, anything relating to culture has been even worse off.
I feel like August has become the cold shower to the kindling of hope I’d started to feel in late June. I’ve been slowly stuffing my closet again with cleaning products and toilet paper. This will probably become a lingering habit rooted in deep-seated fear of broken supply chains.
I adore and miss Vienetta, too. It was our go-to treat when treats were cost prohibitive. A measly substitute available in Texas is Kroger’s semi-sweet chocolate chip ice cream. It is a vanilla (sweet cream-esque) ice cream with shaved semi-sweet chocolate. It doesn’t have the “frosting” but I find that a squirt of store-brand whipped cream makes it a viable substitute.
I forgot! Happy anniversary!
Goo goo cluster ice cream my fav gone when I was a kid….. I also get mad when they start using chemicals in my food without warning. I react horribly to fake sugars and so I have to cherry pick brands and items so I don’t have to be an OCD label reader as seriously no one has time for that…. When I then get horribly sick and end up in the hospital, i have to figure out what brand betrayed me it’s annoying.
You know, sea salt triggers my seafood allergy, and I had to change many brands I buy because they all say, “Now with Sea Salt!” as if anyone gives a hoot about dried up sea creature pieces and wants them in their salt! I read every label of every new food I think I might want, because the allergic reactions very bad. Fake sugars have been on that list for years on end. If the label hints that the formula has changed, I read the whole label, and people stare at me in stores as I do it. Too bad. I’ve done it for years, and it works, so that’s how life goes. Make time for it.
Not discontinued as much as no longer carried here. Harps Lager and Meade wine. I live just outside of the city limits in a more rural setting, and may have been the only person local who bought either.
People in the big city can get them, but out here Sam Adams is as fancy as the beer gets and Boones Farm is the best selling wine
Teavana’s opus rouge and Sakura tea.
The Edge series. But I like your other books as substitutes :).
Also a type of honey cookies, a local brand in my country, and I’ve never found anything that tastes quite the same:(
Peak Freans coffee cookies….
Nabisco butter cookies…
Marathon bar. Messy to eat, but yummy.
Noooo! lost a filling to a marathon bar once
I had to eat that in pieces. Another yummy treat was Hershey’s Go candy bars.
I LOVE Vienetta ice cream. It was such a treat when I was a kid and we could only get it when we had a coupon. I talked about a while ago and found out the still sell it in England and Australia or something like that. I just googled to figure out where it was that they’re still sold and found out that in January they announced they were bringing it back to the USA! it says it’s at Kroger and Publix but now I’m on a mission to see if it’s there for real.
Dolly Madison Angel Food Cake with the Pink Frosting…delicious
The only thing that I miss is pink popcorn that I used to get when I was a kid at the San Francisco zoo! I actually researched it and the maker is no longer in business and I’ve found nothing that comes close. Ah sweet memories!
Happy Anniversary!
My mom used to make a four layer cake with a powdered cocoa icing that she mixed with whipped cream for the in between chocolate cake layers and then made the icing out of to put on top and drizzle down the sides. It was a staple of special occasions growing up. Part of my life really. They discontinued it and despite trying every work around and other options it is just not the same! Sadness and woe.
Vienetta ice cream cake was awesome! We had that so much when I was growing up!
There was a certain brand of egg rolls that I used to love, it was a grocery store brand, but a couple of years ago they went out of business so I can’t get them anymore. Same store also had a super thick chicken and noodles which was an awesome comfort food.
I feel ya on the trying clothes on as a plus sized woman. It’s hard.
Happy belated anniversary! Hope kid 1’s boyfriend gets better soon, and the rest of you stay safe and healthy.
Starbucks discontinued sugar free caramel and are discontinuing sugar free cinnamon dolce. Only sugar free vanilla. ????
Krusteaz bran muffin mix! It took me 15 years to find a recipe that approximates the mix. And not nearly as easy. Oooh and Braum’s peanut cluster fudge ice cream. They now only make it in fat free. Yech.
We’re back in mask mandates. And I’m sincerely hoping people get it together. Our business survived but I’m not sure we could survive a second lockdown.
Trader Joe’s carried a seasonal gazpacho soup I really liked. No more. Milano had thin wafer cookies coated with dark chocolate on one side (“Orleans”) now gone. The list goes on…
Mary Kay revitalizing mist. Every time I wore it, I got lucky!
I saw Viennetta Ice Cream cake in my local Safeway a couple of weeks ago. I remember being surprised which is why I remember it at all.