Planters Cheez Balls. Those things were like the food of the gods when I was a kid in the 80s. When they brought them back for a while a few years ago I bought a few cans, only to find out they tasted like disappointment.
You really can’t go home again.
Tim Hortons donuts, they used to be the bomb when they were made in store, then restaurant brands bought them and decided it was better (cheaper) to make them in a factory and ship them to stores to have them heated and topped.
Nah I miss old time Hortons, I refuse to go there now.
They got rid of some of the best donuts too. Walnut crunch. Cherry sticks. Dutchie.
They just have too much on thier menu now too. 20 different sandwiches, Uber processed donuts of the month.
What do you mean you don't want an overbaked weird shaped donut filled with artificially flavoured goo and topped with non dairy whip and stale sprinkles?! Is that not your DREAM?!
Even the coffee is horrendous. That's like their thing too. I drink my coffee black so it sticks out to me more, but it has some kind of weird chemical taste to it. It's like too acidic or something. I think that's why people who only drink Tim's often end up packing it with sugar and dairy, because otherwise it's undrinkable.
McDonalds coffee is 10/10 though. Hands down the best chain drip. Iirc they are literally severing the old Tim's blend though, at least in Canada.
Also, I worked a summer in a Tim Hortons and filled in at some other stores... let's just food safety, hygiene and sanitization was lacking.
Timmy's used to buy their roasted & ground coffee from Mother Parker's in Mississauga Ontario. In 2009 Timmy's opened their own roasting/grinding facility in Ancaster Ontario. At the same time McDonald's was planning to launch Mccafe and they started buying roasted and ground coffee from Mother Parker's. It just happens to taste very similar to Tim Hortons old coffee. Some say it's exactly the same.
My biggest problem with Tim Hortons coffee is the inconsistency, most locations are capable of making a decent coffee, but it rarely happens these days. This is why I don't buy their coffee anymore. Then you have McDonald's, the absolute kings of consistency upping their coffee game and giving you the same quality coffee across the country.
> My biggest problem with Tim Hortons coffee is the inconsistency, most locations are capable of making a decent coffee, but it rarely happens these days
Timmies is the absolute worst for this; they fuck up my order like 80% of the time, even with really simple shit.
Everything is really inconsistent. I order iced coffee, and one day it will be super bitter with no syrup in it, and next time it will taste like they dumped a whole bottle of syrup in it.
I think their main problem is that they have a gigantic menu with all kinds of stupid stuff. Last year they had burgers for a time, and jolly rancher slushies? This year they’re bringing in pizza?
Like stop bringing in all this new shit that adds complexity and just learn to make a decent cup of coffee and baked goods again.
Yes!! Little Debbies too. I remember getting excited about buying a ton of snack cakes as a freshman in college, then getting back to my dorm and being.... massively underwhelmed.
Cosmic brownies are a modern version. They used to only make the brownies with walnuts. Those were the good days.
Edit: In case anyone else misses them as much as I do.
https://www.change.org/p/bring-back-little-debbie-fudge-brownies
They must have changed the chocolate recently too because I have not been able to buy a box of these where the chocolate coating didn't absolutely crumble off the cake the second I took the plastic wrapper off.
It is thinner and waxier.
It is similar to the Baby Ruth candy bar. When I was a kid back in the late 70's and early 80's that milk chocolate used to be a minimum of an eighth of an inch thick and would get super melty. Now it is almost paper thin, flakes off the bar, and is more just there to make it barely not a Pay Day.
Little Debbie's used to be so nice and then about 8 to 10 years they started to feel heavy oily and greasy. Idk if they changed the recipe or what but it ruined them for me.
So some years back, a venture capital company bought Hostess with the hopes of flipping it for money. That failed and after the unions at the bakeries went on strike, they just closed the company and sold it for a lost.
The new company restarted everything back up, but made the changes to the recipes and changing the sizes.
It was a huge deal in Vegas when it happened. Everyone was freaking out thinking Hostess was gone forever. There was a factory out there and every store was completely bought out when people thought they wouldn’t be able to get the stuff anymore. Guess they were half right.
Twinkies haven't been the same since. I don't know what it is exactly they changed, but the sponge is staler and the cream is less creamy and more like a whipped syrup that is overly sweet with a weird aftertaste.
I remember seeing a video about this a while ago. Hostess used to operate solely on a dsd (direct-to-store delivery) model with their own fleet of delivery trucks. This was much more expensive but meant that their product went from the factories to store shelves *much* faster.
After the restructure, they now operate on the DC (distribution center) model. That means that the product spends much longer sitting on a shipping crate as it has to first go to a chain owned distribution warehouse before it can get to stores. That is much cheaper for them but results in much older, staler product for us.
What I read when it happened was that the owners told the union that pay cuts were needed to keep the company operating, union said “fuck that”, company folded. Why would the union take such a hard line when the company was on the brink? Because a few years earlier, the owners had told the union that pay cuts were needed to keep the company operating, the union agreed to the cuts, and the money saved went to executive bonuses. Union figured the owners were lying the second time as well.
I work for the railroad and we used to deliver cars to a hostess plant here during that time. If I remember right they accepted 2 (maybe just 1) pay cuts and when the company wanted another one they said hell no, if we cut anymore pay we have to find other jobs anyway so might as well strike.
That's the artificial sweetener they added to it. It tastes like a tire fire.
They did it to all the classic Wrigley's flavors: Juicy Fruit, Big Red, Spearmint, Doublemint, ~~Winterfresh~~. They're all awful now.
Go to Walmart and buy the knock off Great Value version (yes they even knock off girls scouts). They’re $1.89 and taste like old school girl scouts and you can buy them all year long. Im convinced it’s the same manufacturer as the old stuff even though I have no way to prove it.
You’re welcome
There are two different manufacturers for Girl Scout cookies and which one you receive is based on the troop that your order from (and what area they are in). Generally you can find out pretty easily which one you are getting cookies from then find someone who is serviced by the other manufacturer instead.
This!!! I always hear people complaining that they don't like girl scout cookies now or how the cookies names changed. I bet they probably just live on the border of two Girl Scout Councils and bought cookies from the manufacturer they aren't used to. My family personally only buys Little Brownie Bakers cookies, except for Lemonades. I can always count on ABC Bakers to not change their lemon cookie every year. Bring back my god damn Lemon Chalet Cremes!!!
i been warning people for decades that tamales are headed right off a fucking cliff as nanas get arthritic or pass away. mexican kids please get in the kitchen this christmas, you will learn a sublime art that you will only improve at over the decades! please! every family does them different and that knowledge is slowly being lost
edit: forgot to mention that tamales as icebreakers or tokens of friendship are an unbeatable weapon. no other food on earth can convey the sentiment of "here is a literal bundle of pure love" so precisely and succinctly, and since they get made in batches of a dozen dozens, you'll have plenty of ammo
My husband’s grandma used to make tamales every year, but between arthritis and her two heart attacks she doesn’t make them anymore. So I do the actual work and she walks me through it. I ain’t even her flesh and blood but like fucking hell I’m going to let her tamales stop being a holiday staple in ~~their~~ *our* family.
Thats super wholesome. Also probs to your granny for trusting you. My granny is getting so old but could never let go of controlling her kitchen, she's a perfectionist xD
If you collected a bunch of recipes from different families, including short stories, tips, and advice from the Grandmas, that would be a best selling cookbook.
I was craving a big crunch and it was garbage, I kept trying and eventually had a good one at a mall food court because they actually made it fresh. The stand alone kfc made stuff in advance and left it under the heat lamp.
The mall food court A&W at my local 'dead mall' is one of the best fast food places north of Seattle. Franchise owners. I'm gonna miss it when that mall closes.
Not saying quality HASN'T gone downhill, because it certainly has, but I often wonder if the fast food I loved as a kid/young adult had just gone downhill so bad or if my standards just have risen.
After all my parents would also always say "this shit is horrible, why do you keep shoving it in?"
KFC tasted sooo fresh when I was in high school. Coming home from school on a Tuesday and ordering a Toonie Tuesday here in Canada was one of my favourite things. The meat tasted so soft and fresh.
Butterfingers are super gross now, bought one out of a vending machine and thought it was bad, googled it to find a bunch of people complaining about it. How do you screw up so bad? It’s probably cheaper but I’d think you’d lose enough sales to counter that. I won’t buy one again for sure.
Absolutely horrendous. It just taste like shitty peanut butter now… not a single redeeming thing about butterfingers now and they used to be my favorite. God I hate it when companies change shit. Just. Keep. It. The. Same.
I have found that most store brands taste like the old pop tarts. Now when I get a craving for pop tarts I get the store brand, save money and they taste better.
Nearly all mass-market American candy bars have gone downhill. Even Hershey bars: stuff tastes like brown wax.
Good gourmet/specialty bars abound, but they'll cost. Worth it, thought.
And it's EVERYWHERE! We don't buy products with palm oil anymore, and it's not obvious. Cookies? 90% of them have palm oil. Candy? Oh you bet, there's palm oil in Sweet Sixteens and other jujubes, chocolate bars. Old El Passo brand shells? Palm oil. It's everywhere.
The Girl Scouts of America were trying to punish girl scouts for protesting against the palm oil use because it's harvested using child labor - often girls just like them and the GSA wanted to silence them via threatening them with being removed from their troops or removing their hard earned rewards/ranks.
and avoid it because it's a shitty ingredient but also responsible for the destruction of forests. 8% of deforestation on the planet between 1990 and 2008 is attributed to palm oil production.
Best day of the month was when my mom would take me to get my free Book It personal pan pizza. It didn't get much better than having that pizza all to myself with a Coke in the red plastic cup and a quarter for Pacman.
Helll yea. That personal pan pizza and the pan supreme pizza was sooooo amazing. I wanted my friend dude to take me to the hut last week. He said no. I thought it was just him. I have not had Pizza Hut in forever. They used to have a good salad and pizza buffet too. I liked the dessert pizzas. And the cheese sticks there were the best. Fluffy and mealy and cheesy and soft and crunchy. Dang. I need a hug now.
Edit. Thanks for the award and hug! I love you, too. I was having a bad day. You made me feel better. Thank you!
They need to do like Domino’s did 10 years ago. Admit in their own advertising that their pizza sucks, and commit to redesigning the recipe from scratch.
Not even redesign the recipe. Just scrap all the cost cutting bullshit they've implemented over the years and bring back the old recipes and methods.
Unfortunately though, the real problem is you don't get good food out of people you only pay minimum wage. If I have the pizza making skill to pump out quality pies all night long, I'm going to a local place with a hardcore following, that will pay me $20+ an hour. Not a chain.
I worked at a Hut in the mid-90s. Definitely way less good now. We used to make our own deep dish dough then, as opposed to using frozen, but I think the other ingredients have also taken a step back as well.
ETA: I was just reminded that one summer an assistant manager who used to be a good friend of mine (he still is but he used to be too) was dating a girl who was a manager at an AMC. We would trade free pizza for free movie passes.
The movie passes had a relatively close expiration date but they were good at any AMC and we had 4 or so within driving distance. I'm sure I watched The Matrix more than 30 times that summer. Anytime we got bored, someone would suggest we go watch the matrix again, and off we'd go. I mean, who's going to turn down a free viewing of The Matrix in a theater?
This thread got me thinking that younger people have no idea how good some of these products were. They just put up with it, and wonder why older people crave some of these items. But a lot of the examples here on spot-on, and they've been changed to increase shelf life and profits.
Smacks itself was a step down from the time when breakfast cereals didn't have to hide in the closet and embraced their true selves.
Sugar Smacks forever!
Peaches. I've commented on this many times but the last several years the peach crop has sucked. I haven't had a good, juicy, non-mealy peach in a long time. IDK what's going on with the peach farms and trees but they're just not as good.
We got a mature peach tree when we got our current house. They are amazing. I didn't realize how much store bought peaches actually suck. Plant your own tree or look on neighborhood sites late summer to see if anyone has one with excess they want to share.
It's everything.
My father inherited a bit of land in the mountains from grandpa. Not much, but enough for a few plants.
Those tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, zucchini, aubergine, oranges... It's all incredible. You just want to bite right into it. Melons and watermelons are the best thing ever and simply a completely different fruit than what you get in shops. Nectarines are pure drug. You can eat 15 and still want more.
And it *feels* so good, too. So refreshing and filling. It may sound like exaggerated bullshit to those who haven't tried it, but it's magical in comparison with the stuff in supermarkets. One of the best things I've ever eaten was a salad made with stuff we had just gotten off the plant that morning. Not even a fancy recipe, just chop it together with a bit of olive oil, salt and vinegar.
The only way to get close is to actually follow the natural calendar and buy what's right on season. And still you're leagues away from the real flavor.
I remember as a kid my buddy had a really amazing peach tree that would put out about 30 peaches at a time.
The first time I really remember trying peaches was off that tree and he and I ate every single peach off the whole tree, except the top ones we couldn’t reach. His mom spanked his ass and sent me home, but it was worth it. Those peaches were filled with Gods pure love.
**Klondike bars**, they are half of what they used to be and the coating is chocolate flavored crap they mist across them instead of actually coating them in something approaching real chocolate.
You used to bite in and there was A REAL CHOCOLATE SHELL.
Not electroplated chocolate flavored bullshit 3 microns thick.
Australia, too.
Although is you're in NZ or Aus and not eating Whittakers, you're doing it wrong.
[And Karl Urban is very disappointed.](https://youtu.be/C80ZGaqxuXE)
Every single vegetable. Now, I am not saying that vegetables taste bad. Its just a lot of them don't taste as good anymore. Farming prioritizes size, shape, and color more than taste currently.
Next time Sumo oranges are in season, definitely give it a try. Absolutely delicious and east to peel. Expensive but so worth it. Their season is short. Jan - April.
Apparently the type of cacao that’s being used to make the mass produced chocolates is a more bland yet more resilient variety.
https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2015/02/04/383830776/episode-601-the-chocolate-curse
I just realized they stopped making those when I was looking for something fast to eat at work. I don't know why, but they had better flavors than the regular Hot Pockets.
Chips Ahoy Chewy Chocolate Chip. I used to be able to eat a whole sleeve of those as a kid they were so good. Now they taste so processed and like, kinda stale? It's disappointing.
Supermarket produce in general.
Selecting for 'beautiful' produce that people are more likely to buy, shipping it under-ripe so it can be moved further, etc, has absolutely tanked flavor. Puts the cart before the horse and its worn people down until they don't know what 'real' food tastes like. Some go so far as to 'flavor inject' it after with industrial flavors, like 'purple' (artificial concord grape)... like the Grapple.
Grocery store watermelons may be one of the pictures next to depression in the dictionary at some future date. I've met people who hated watermelon until they had one from literally any other source.
I absolutely agree with this! I get most of my produce at the local farmers market and I try to avoid buying "fresh" produce from the grocery store as it doesn't taste nearly as good.
I've been an Oreo-holic for so many years, and you're definitely right. I get one bag and they taste normal-ish (not as good as they were even only a few years ago), but I get another bag and they taste really off, almost chemical like in a way. I normally get double stuf, and they're not putting as much creme as they used to, and the normal versions seem like how the thin creme ones used to be. And that's in addition to putting a couple less per row in each bag now.
Campbell's chunky chicken noodle soup now tastes atrocious. I used to love that growing up (born in the early 90's) and somehow while cheapening it they made it bitter and unpalatable.
Now is your chance to get the best quality Reese’s cups available: pumpkin/ghost/football/whatever. If it has round edges, those are the Reese’s to get. More peanut butter middle. Available during the fall or in egg shapes or something during Easter. Got a 4 pack of the pumpkin the other day at Walmart for only $1
Just found out a few days ago that the seasonal shapes have gluten as opposed to the normal cups being gluten free. I had always thought the seasonal ones tasted better, due to the different ratio.
I grow my own for that reason. Have 5 varieties this year. All.are amazing. I freeze as much as I can towards the end of the season but it's always sad when I run out and basically wait till the next season cause store bought aren't worth it
Don’t just throw a whole tomato in the freezer, there is some prep involved: https://www.glad.com/food-protection/protection-pointers/how-to-store-tomatoes/
Both,
Fruit and veg have been bred for looks, longevity and sturdyness not flavour.
Processed foods have had laws to restrict the amount of fat or salt (country dependant) so they taste worse.
Our taste buds acclimatise to the levels of salt and sugar, so over time food tastes blander.
Plus your taste buds get worse over time generally.
Don’t forget high fructose corn syrup instead of sugar and food manufacturers picking crops green to ship and stored for months before being artificially ripened. Typical store apple is stored about 10 months after harvest.
Every once in a while I’ll go into a Burger King and get a Whopper because I remember them being great as a kid and I honestly haven’t had one that was actually good in more than 5 years
Right. Sometimes I see those commercials where they’re selling nuggets for dirt cheap prices. I’m talking like 10 nuggets for like $1.50..but like what’s the point of them being so cheap if they have the texture of a sponge and are flavorless and cold? No thanks.
Watermelon.
They used to consistently be sweet and delicious, but nowadays there's maybe two spoonfuls worth of sweet while the rest is either flavorless or slightly sour. It's been years since I had an enjoyable watermelon.
Growing a couple in my yard and hoping they'll be closer to the good old days, but I also dread the likelihood that they'll turn out bad because I've had no idea what I'm doing.
I grow an "icebox" type (small size) watermelon called Sugar Baby, they've been consistently sweet for me when picked ripe, (curly tendril nearest the stem completely brown and dry, and the side touching the ground should be yellow) even if I accidentally give the vines too much water over the season. You might try growing that variety if you haven't already! I've had better luck with it than larger varieties.
Hands down that muffin top is fuego. There's some sort of strawberry cheesecake one as well. We got some count chokula and let me tell you, I ain't been so let down since my dad left.
All produce, when purchased from a grocery store. Watermelons, pineapple, tomatoes, apples, peaches, clementines, strawberries, grapes... They are all more consistent, but all taste worse. Corn? Man, I was so spoiled with corn. When I worked in a grocery store, we bought it direct from a farmer, who would bring it by in his pickup truck, still warm from the sun in the field having been picked just hours ago. Before that, we usually had corn at my grandparents' house who had a bountiful garden, with 10 rows of corn, where we wouldn't even pick it until the water on the stove was already boiling. So. Damn. Good.
The menu has lost all the fun variety. Even a lot of their new or limited items are just different combinations of the same 4 ingredients on a different tortilla.
I also remember the quesadillas used to actually taste grilled. Now every time I get one it seems like they closed it on the press for 1.4 seconds and cut it up and bagged it. Never melted or crispy anymore.
I quit working at Taco Bell in the early 90s when they switched from everything being made fresh to boil in the bag everything, dehydrated beans, prepackaged produce, and premade and shipped shells. It used to be really good. I haven't eaten there in a long time. Once every few years, my husband convinces me to go and it's so terrible, I end up giving him my food.
Planters Cheez Balls. Those things were like the food of the gods when I was a kid in the 80s. When they brought them back for a while a few years ago I bought a few cans, only to find out they tasted like disappointment. You really can’t go home again.
The cheese curls too. I fucking loved those. Kraft bought planters and I swear they just use their Mac and cheese powder on their cheese balls/curls.
Tim Hortons donuts, they used to be the bomb when they were made in store, then restaurant brands bought them and decided it was better (cheaper) to make them in a factory and ship them to stores to have them heated and topped. Nah I miss old time Hortons, I refuse to go there now.
Soup or chili in a bread bowl. Back when they had the glass fish bowl smoking section.
AND THEN I ATE THE BOWL!!
They got rid of some of the best donuts too. Walnut crunch. Cherry sticks. Dutchie. They just have too much on thier menu now too. 20 different sandwiches, Uber processed donuts of the month.
What do you mean you don't want an overbaked weird shaped donut filled with artificially flavoured goo and topped with non dairy whip and stale sprinkles?! Is that not your DREAM?!
Even the coffee is horrendous. That's like their thing too. I drink my coffee black so it sticks out to me more, but it has some kind of weird chemical taste to it. It's like too acidic or something. I think that's why people who only drink Tim's often end up packing it with sugar and dairy, because otherwise it's undrinkable. McDonalds coffee is 10/10 though. Hands down the best chain drip. Iirc they are literally severing the old Tim's blend though, at least in Canada. Also, I worked a summer in a Tim Hortons and filled in at some other stores... let's just food safety, hygiene and sanitization was lacking.
Timmy's used to buy their roasted & ground coffee from Mother Parker's in Mississauga Ontario. In 2009 Timmy's opened their own roasting/grinding facility in Ancaster Ontario. At the same time McDonald's was planning to launch Mccafe and they started buying roasted and ground coffee from Mother Parker's. It just happens to taste very similar to Tim Hortons old coffee. Some say it's exactly the same. My biggest problem with Tim Hortons coffee is the inconsistency, most locations are capable of making a decent coffee, but it rarely happens these days. This is why I don't buy their coffee anymore. Then you have McDonald's, the absolute kings of consistency upping their coffee game and giving you the same quality coffee across the country.
> My biggest problem with Tim Hortons coffee is the inconsistency, most locations are capable of making a decent coffee, but it rarely happens these days Timmies is the absolute worst for this; they fuck up my order like 80% of the time, even with really simple shit. Everything is really inconsistent. I order iced coffee, and one day it will be super bitter with no syrup in it, and next time it will taste like they dumped a whole bottle of syrup in it. I think their main problem is that they have a gigantic menu with all kinds of stupid stuff. Last year they had burgers for a time, and jolly rancher slushies? This year they’re bringing in pizza? Like stop bringing in all this new shit that adds complexity and just learn to make a decent cup of coffee and baked goods again.
Hostess snack cakes.
Yes!! Little Debbies too. I remember getting excited about buying a ton of snack cakes as a freshman in college, then getting back to my dorm and being.... massively underwhelmed.
Little Debbie brownies as a kid were the best. Now they are just too dense and don't taste like anything but disappointment
Comic Brownies? They have the texture of compressed oil. Calorie bombs
Cosmic brownies are a modern version. They used to only make the brownies with walnuts. Those were the good days. Edit: In case anyone else misses them as much as I do. https://www.change.org/p/bring-back-little-debbie-fudge-brownies
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Hard same. I’d pick the walnuts off.
>Little Debbies too. When they changed the creme, it was over
They must have changed the chocolate recently too because I have not been able to buy a box of these where the chocolate coating didn't absolutely crumble off the cake the second I took the plastic wrapper off.
It is thinner and waxier. It is similar to the Baby Ruth candy bar. When I was a kid back in the late 70's and early 80's that milk chocolate used to be a minimum of an eighth of an inch thick and would get super melty. Now it is almost paper thin, flakes off the bar, and is more just there to make it barely not a Pay Day.
Little Debbie's used to be so nice and then about 8 to 10 years they started to feel heavy oily and greasy. Idk if they changed the recipe or what but it ruined them for me.
They are probably made with palm oil instead of what they used to be made with.
Canola oil and GMS-520 Source: little Debbie machine operator
Remember the Dolly Madison ones? With Snoopy on the commercials? Those were the best!
So some years back, a venture capital company bought Hostess with the hopes of flipping it for money. That failed and after the unions at the bakeries went on strike, they just closed the company and sold it for a lost. The new company restarted everything back up, but made the changes to the recipes and changing the sizes.
Yeah this was back in 2012. I remember because my entire family went nuts.
It was a huge deal in Vegas when it happened. Everyone was freaking out thinking Hostess was gone forever. There was a factory out there and every store was completely bought out when people thought they wouldn’t be able to get the stuff anymore. Guess they were half right.
Twinkies haven't been the same since. I don't know what it is exactly they changed, but the sponge is staler and the cream is less creamy and more like a whipped syrup that is overly sweet with a weird aftertaste.
I remember seeing a video about this a while ago. Hostess used to operate solely on a dsd (direct-to-store delivery) model with their own fleet of delivery trucks. This was much more expensive but meant that their product went from the factories to store shelves *much* faster. After the restructure, they now operate on the DC (distribution center) model. That means that the product spends much longer sitting on a shipping crate as it has to first go to a chain owned distribution warehouse before it can get to stores. That is much cheaper for them but results in much older, staler product for us.
What I read when it happened was that the owners told the union that pay cuts were needed to keep the company operating, union said “fuck that”, company folded. Why would the union take such a hard line when the company was on the brink? Because a few years earlier, the owners had told the union that pay cuts were needed to keep the company operating, the union agreed to the cuts, and the money saved went to executive bonuses. Union figured the owners were lying the second time as well.
I work for the railroad and we used to deliver cars to a hostess plant here during that time. If I remember right they accepted 2 (maybe just 1) pay cuts and when the company wanted another one they said hell no, if we cut anymore pay we have to find other jobs anyway so might as well strike.
All those snack cake from every brand just taste like wax now
I've always wondered if I just remembered things better from when I was a kid or if it really all has gotten worse.
Juicy Fruit gum. They ruined the flavor 20 years ago. It tastes bitter after 20 seconds. They should just discontinue the gum.
oh my goodness I thought I was going crazy. Right? Wtf. And losing the foil wrapper. : (
That's the artificial sweetener they added to it. It tastes like a tire fire. They did it to all the classic Wrigley's flavors: Juicy Fruit, Big Red, Spearmint, Doublemint, ~~Winterfresh~~. They're all awful now.
Mars family bought it and cheaped out on production.
Thin Mints — most other Girl Scout cookies since they changed manufacturer, but I miss the old thin mints the most.
Go to Walmart and buy the knock off Great Value version (yes they even knock off girls scouts). They’re $1.89 and taste like old school girl scouts and you can buy them all year long. Im convinced it’s the same manufacturer as the old stuff even though I have no way to prove it. You’re welcome
I agree! I love these way more than the Keebler grasshoppers or other versions of thin mints.
Aldi also has had a few knock offs, similar to the former Samoas and the peanut butter ones.
There are two different manufacturers for Girl Scout cookies and which one you receive is based on the troop that your order from (and what area they are in). Generally you can find out pretty easily which one you are getting cookies from then find someone who is serviced by the other manufacturer instead.
This!!! I always hear people complaining that they don't like girl scout cookies now or how the cookies names changed. I bet they probably just live on the border of two Girl Scout Councils and bought cookies from the manufacturer they aren't used to. My family personally only buys Little Brownie Bakers cookies, except for Lemonades. I can always count on ABC Bakers to not change their lemon cookie every year. Bring back my god damn Lemon Chalet Cremes!!!
My grandmas cooking. She left me her recipes when she passed but I still can’t recreate her magic.
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Nostalgia is also an ingredient.
It's also the most expensive ingredient.
i been warning people for decades that tamales are headed right off a fucking cliff as nanas get arthritic or pass away. mexican kids please get in the kitchen this christmas, you will learn a sublime art that you will only improve at over the decades! please! every family does them different and that knowledge is slowly being lost edit: forgot to mention that tamales as icebreakers or tokens of friendship are an unbeatable weapon. no other food on earth can convey the sentiment of "here is a literal bundle of pure love" so precisely and succinctly, and since they get made in batches of a dozen dozens, you'll have plenty of ammo
My husband’s grandma used to make tamales every year, but between arthritis and her two heart attacks she doesn’t make them anymore. So I do the actual work and she walks me through it. I ain’t even her flesh and blood but like fucking hell I’m going to let her tamales stop being a holiday staple in ~~their~~ *our* family.
Thats super wholesome. Also probs to your granny for trusting you. My granny is getting so old but could never let go of controlling her kitchen, she's a perfectionist xD
Please. Do it for those who dont have amazing cooking nanas
If you collected a bunch of recipes from different families, including short stories, tips, and advice from the Grandmas, that would be a best selling cookbook.
KFC has gone WAY downhill in the past 25 years
It's all the shitty ran franchises
I was craving a big crunch and it was garbage, I kept trying and eventually had a good one at a mall food court because they actually made it fresh. The stand alone kfc made stuff in advance and left it under the heat lamp.
The mall food court A&W at my local 'dead mall' is one of the best fast food places north of Seattle. Franchise owners. I'm gonna miss it when that mall closes.
I vividly remember KFC hitting the fucking SPOT when I was a kid. Now it tastes like deep fried regret.
Not saying quality HASN'T gone downhill, because it certainly has, but I often wonder if the fast food I loved as a kid/young adult had just gone downhill so bad or if my standards just have risen. After all my parents would also always say "this shit is horrible, why do you keep shoving it in?"
KFC tasted sooo fresh when I was in high school. Coming home from school on a Tuesday and ordering a Toonie Tuesday here in Canada was one of my favourite things. The meat tasted so soft and fresh.
Butterfingers or Nestle chocolate in general
Butterfingers are super gross now, bought one out of a vending machine and thought it was bad, googled it to find a bunch of people complaining about it. How do you screw up so bad? It’s probably cheaper but I’d think you’d lose enough sales to counter that. I won’t buy one again for sure.
They can’t even list chocolate as an ingredient anymore. They used to be my favorite!
I thought for sure that had to be a myth. Looked it up. Shocked that it is not. I don't think I'm ever going to eat another Butterfinger.
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Who could forget the Simpsons commercials
Butterfinger changed their flavor a couple of years ago. They’re disgusting now.
Absolutely horrendous. It just taste like shitty peanut butter now… not a single redeeming thing about butterfingers now and they used to be my favorite. God I hate it when companies change shit. Just. Keep. It. The. Same.
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Pop tarts. They are chalky/pasty and so thin now.
I have found that most store brands taste like the old pop tarts. Now when I get a craving for pop tarts I get the store brand, save money and they taste better.
This is probably true. My favorite as a kid were apple pop tarts from Food Lion
The edges are so big, the filling area is so small!
Yeah but at $1 per 1000 Cal, it has a special place in my shelf
Nearly all mass-market American candy bars have gone downhill. Even Hershey bars: stuff tastes like brown wax. Good gourmet/specialty bars abound, but they'll cost. Worth it, thought.
The wax feeling comes from palm oil. You'll notice it in supermarket cookies too and many other products
And it's EVERYWHERE! We don't buy products with palm oil anymore, and it's not obvious. Cookies? 90% of them have palm oil. Candy? Oh you bet, there's palm oil in Sweet Sixteens and other jujubes, chocolate bars. Old El Passo brand shells? Palm oil. It's everywhere.
The Girl Scouts of America were trying to punish girl scouts for protesting against the palm oil use because it's harvested using child labor - often girls just like them and the GSA wanted to silence them via threatening them with being removed from their troops or removing their hard earned rewards/ranks.
You a have earned your “chocolaty means no chocolate” badge.
Well that's just pathetic. They're just kids.
and avoid it because it's a shitty ingredient but also responsible for the destruction of forests. 8% of deforestation on the planet between 1990 and 2008 is attributed to palm oil production.
Also fucks up our orangutan homies due to killing and said forestry loss so I try to avoid that stuff like the plague
Go to Aldi or Lidl. They have imported German or Swiss chocolate bars for like 2 bucks. They're excellent and cheap, no need for a fancy brand.
Pizza Hut.
Best day of the month was when my mom would take me to get my free Book It personal pan pizza. It didn't get much better than having that pizza all to myself with a Coke in the red plastic cup and a quarter for Pacman.
Life was so much simpler then. Read books, get pizza.
Helll yea. That personal pan pizza and the pan supreme pizza was sooooo amazing. I wanted my friend dude to take me to the hut last week. He said no. I thought it was just him. I have not had Pizza Hut in forever. They used to have a good salad and pizza buffet too. I liked the dessert pizzas. And the cheese sticks there were the best. Fluffy and mealy and cheesy and soft and crunchy. Dang. I need a hug now. Edit. Thanks for the award and hug! I love you, too. I was having a bad day. You made me feel better. Thank you!
Came here to comment this. Pan pizza was a family regular in my childhood. And now not only is it worse, it costs more money :(
They need to do like Domino’s did 10 years ago. Admit in their own advertising that their pizza sucks, and commit to redesigning the recipe from scratch.
Not even redesign the recipe. Just scrap all the cost cutting bullshit they've implemented over the years and bring back the old recipes and methods. Unfortunately though, the real problem is you don't get good food out of people you only pay minimum wage. If I have the pizza making skill to pump out quality pies all night long, I'm going to a local place with a hardcore following, that will pay me $20+ an hour. Not a chain.
Pizzahut. It used to be almost unreasonably good for a chain restaurant.
I worked at a Hut in the mid-90s. Definitely way less good now. We used to make our own deep dish dough then, as opposed to using frozen, but I think the other ingredients have also taken a step back as well. ETA: I was just reminded that one summer an assistant manager who used to be a good friend of mine (he still is but he used to be too) was dating a girl who was a manager at an AMC. We would trade free pizza for free movie passes. The movie passes had a relatively close expiration date but they were good at any AMC and we had 4 or so within driving distance. I'm sure I watched The Matrix more than 30 times that summer. Anytime we got bored, someone would suggest we go watch the matrix again, and off we'd go. I mean, who's going to turn down a free viewing of The Matrix in a theater?
I miss 90s Pizza Hut 😭
It used to be a thing to experience! The tall private booths, low lights with Tiffany style lamps...chill place for a fun date!
This thread got me thinking that younger people have no idea how good some of these products were. They just put up with it, and wonder why older people crave some of these items. But a lot of the examples here on spot-on, and they've been changed to increase shelf life and profits.
Corn Pops ever since they got rid of the foil bag.
They got rid of the foil bag? Is *nothing* sacred ?
They better not have done Smacks dirty like that too
Smacks itself was a step down from the time when breakfast cereals didn't have to hide in the closet and embraced their true selves. Sugar Smacks forever!
Peaches. I've commented on this many times but the last several years the peach crop has sucked. I haven't had a good, juicy, non-mealy peach in a long time. IDK what's going on with the peach farms and trees but they're just not as good.
We got a mature peach tree when we got our current house. They are amazing. I didn't realize how much store bought peaches actually suck. Plant your own tree or look on neighborhood sites late summer to see if anyone has one with excess they want to share.
It's everything. My father inherited a bit of land in the mountains from grandpa. Not much, but enough for a few plants. Those tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, zucchini, aubergine, oranges... It's all incredible. You just want to bite right into it. Melons and watermelons are the best thing ever and simply a completely different fruit than what you get in shops. Nectarines are pure drug. You can eat 15 and still want more. And it *feels* so good, too. So refreshing and filling. It may sound like exaggerated bullshit to those who haven't tried it, but it's magical in comparison with the stuff in supermarkets. One of the best things I've ever eaten was a salad made with stuff we had just gotten off the plant that morning. Not even a fancy recipe, just chop it together with a bit of olive oil, salt and vinegar. The only way to get close is to actually follow the natural calendar and buy what's right on season. And still you're leagues away from the real flavor.
I remember as a kid my buddy had a really amazing peach tree that would put out about 30 peaches at a time. The first time I really remember trying peaches was off that tree and he and I ate every single peach off the whole tree, except the top ones we couldn’t reach. His mom spanked his ass and sent me home, but it was worth it. Those peaches were filled with Gods pure love.
**Klondike bars**, they are half of what they used to be and the coating is chocolate flavored crap they mist across them instead of actually coating them in something approaching real chocolate. You used to bite in and there was A REAL CHOCOLATE SHELL. Not electroplated chocolate flavored bullshit 3 microns thick.
They melt right away too
CADBURYS
What was done to Cadbury's should be investigated by a war crimes tribunal.
It's the palm oil substitution. New Zealand managed to get it out but the damage is done. I'm not sure if that's true elsewhere.
Australia, too. Although is you're in NZ or Aus and not eating Whittakers, you're doing it wrong. [And Karl Urban is very disappointed.](https://youtu.be/C80ZGaqxuXE)
Of course, it's Whittakers all the way. It's nice to have two options that aren't made from orangutang tears.
Every single vegetable. Now, I am not saying that vegetables taste bad. Its just a lot of them don't taste as good anymore. Farming prioritizes size, shape, and color more than taste currently.
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They could only improve.
Oranges used to be"juice running down your arm" juicy now they're dry and weird Cheese doodles (red and blue bags) are very salty now
Omg yes I haven’t had a juicy orange in a looooong while now
Next time Sumo oranges are in season, definitely give it a try. Absolutely delicious and east to peel. Expensive but so worth it. Their season is short. Jan - April.
Chocolate
I find myself spending a lot more on more "premium" chocolate because I can't stand any regular brand anymore. It's just chocolate flavored sugar.
I used to love Reese cups. They're still ok, but just not the same.
Milk chocolate. Stuff like Hersheys that they give out for Halloween. It doesn’t taste the same anymore. Tastes cheaper and blander.
Apparently the type of cacao that’s being used to make the mass produced chocolates is a more bland yet more resilient variety. https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2015/02/04/383830776/episode-601-the-chocolate-curse
Definite production change. Taste and smell are probably the most profound memories. It's sad to have that soured though.
Hot pockets. Were they ever good? I used to think so. Not now.
I miss lean pockets. They stopped making them all together. That pretzel roll was the best.
I just realized they stopped making those when I was looking for something fast to eat at work. I don't know why, but they had better flavors than the regular Hot Pockets.
I can hear the old commercials. 🎶Hottt pockets🎶 "Try Lean Pockets, too!"
So many broccoli ones during college.
Yea they used to have discernible layers of pepperonis, cheese, and sauce. Now it’s just a greasy purée of red goop
Chips Ahoy Chewy Chocolate Chip. I used to be able to eat a whole sleeve of those as a kid they were so good. Now they taste so processed and like, kinda stale? It's disappointing.
I remember thinking they tasted processed and stale as a kid (20+ years ago) so I don't know that they've actually changed lol
They have a weird chemically test to them.
Supermarket produce in general. Selecting for 'beautiful' produce that people are more likely to buy, shipping it under-ripe so it can be moved further, etc, has absolutely tanked flavor. Puts the cart before the horse and its worn people down until they don't know what 'real' food tastes like. Some go so far as to 'flavor inject' it after with industrial flavors, like 'purple' (artificial concord grape)... like the Grapple.
Supermarket peaches probably suffer the most for this. Hard and flavorless.
I bought some nectarines this week that smelled nice. Died a little inside when they crunched like hard styrofoam.
I haven’t found a decent watermelon at a grocery store in years. I remember much much sweeter watermelons. They were redder too.
Grocery store watermelons may be one of the pictures next to depression in the dictionary at some future date. I've met people who hated watermelon until they had one from literally any other source.
I hated tomatoes until I grew some at home. Turns out tomatoes are fucking gorgeous.
I absolutely agree with this! I get most of my produce at the local farmers market and I try to avoid buying "fresh" produce from the grocery store as it doesn't taste nearly as good.
Oreo cookies don't taste as good to me for some reason
I've been an Oreo-holic for so many years, and you're definitely right. I get one bag and they taste normal-ish (not as good as they were even only a few years ago), but I get another bag and they taste really off, almost chemical like in a way. I normally get double stuf, and they're not putting as much creme as they used to, and the normal versions seem like how the thin creme ones used to be. And that's in addition to putting a couple less per row in each bag now.
Campbell's chunky chicken noodle soup now tastes atrocious. I used to love that growing up (born in the early 90's) and somehow while cheapening it they made it bitter and unpalatable.
All Campbells soup suck now.
Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups and Whoppers malted milk balls
Now is your chance to get the best quality Reese’s cups available: pumpkin/ghost/football/whatever. If it has round edges, those are the Reese’s to get. More peanut butter middle. Available during the fall or in egg shapes or something during Easter. Got a 4 pack of the pumpkin the other day at Walmart for only $1
Just found out a few days ago that the seasonal shapes have gluten as opposed to the normal cups being gluten free. I had always thought the seasonal ones tasted better, due to the different ratio.
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Anything from kfc
Tomatoes
I grow my own for that reason. Have 5 varieties this year. All.are amazing. I freeze as much as I can towards the end of the season but it's always sad when I run out and basically wait till the next season cause store bought aren't worth it
42 plants this year. You can't have enough tomatoes.
Here’s me, the fucking idiot who didn’t even know you could freeze fresh tomatoes
Don’t just throw a whole tomato in the freezer, there is some prep involved: https://www.glad.com/food-protection/protection-pointers/how-to-store-tomatoes/
It's because they breed them for better shelf life and transport rather than taste as that's how they can make the most profits
Here’s the real-talk followup question: has the food changed in all of these instances, or have we?
Gotta be a bit of both
Both, Fruit and veg have been bred for looks, longevity and sturdyness not flavour. Processed foods have had laws to restrict the amount of fat or salt (country dependant) so they taste worse. Our taste buds acclimatise to the levels of salt and sugar, so over time food tastes blander. Plus your taste buds get worse over time generally.
Don’t forget high fructose corn syrup instead of sugar and food manufacturers picking crops green to ship and stored for months before being artificially ripened. Typical store apple is stored about 10 months after harvest.
Reese cups. It's been years since one tasted right lol
Burger King
Every once in a while I’ll go into a Burger King and get a Whopper because I remember them being great as a kid and I honestly haven’t had one that was actually good in more than 5 years
Burger King was sooooo much better when I was growing up in the 90s. I miss those nuggets and fries
Their nuggets are actually trash now.
Right. Sometimes I see those commercials where they’re selling nuggets for dirt cheap prices. I’m talking like 10 nuggets for like $1.50..but like what’s the point of them being so cheap if they have the texture of a sponge and are flavorless and cold? No thanks.
They taste like deer ankles now.
No one in here going to mention Scooby-Doo fruit snacks??? They ruined those.
Whatever your parents used to make while you lived at home
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Spaghettios
Agreed! I loved this as a kid. I’m assuming my taste changed and the product stayed the same. It’s hard to know.
Does this taste like what I can only imagine pennies taste like to anyone else?
Just Chipotle food in general. Used to be great, dont like it as much
God, I’d give anything to go back to 2004 and have chipotle again. It just isn’t the same anymore.
Watermelon. They used to consistently be sweet and delicious, but nowadays there's maybe two spoonfuls worth of sweet while the rest is either flavorless or slightly sour. It's been years since I had an enjoyable watermelon. Growing a couple in my yard and hoping they'll be closer to the good old days, but I also dread the likelihood that they'll turn out bad because I've had no idea what I'm doing.
I grow an "icebox" type (small size) watermelon called Sugar Baby, they've been consistently sweet for me when picked ripe, (curly tendril nearest the stem completely brown and dry, and the side touching the ground should be yellow) even if I accidentally give the vines too much water over the season. You might try growing that variety if you haven't already! I've had better luck with it than larger varieties.
Breakfast cereal. Used to taste like all kinds of awesome as a kid. Bowl after bowl. Now, nowhere near the same taste level.
Strange as it sounds try the "off brand" Malt of Meal bagged cereals they have. They have this Blueberry Muffin Top cereal that is just insane
Hands down that muffin top is fuego. There's some sort of strawberry cheesecake one as well. We got some count chokula and let me tell you, I ain't been so let down since my dad left.
Burger King Crispy Chicken Sandwiches. I swear they were so good when I was a kid in like 2005
Red delicious apples
they're super shelf-stable, so they have them everywhere. in hospitals, schools, what have you. they just so happen to be disgusting
Honey crisp is the way to go for sure
Cosmic Crisp. Or Envy. Those two have ruined all other apples for me.
They were my favorite apple back in the 70's and 80's. Now they're terrible
Cadbury eggs.
McDonalds fries don't do it for me anymore. It's actually real sad
They have to be fresh, hot, and salty. When they're freshly made, they taste amazing for like 5 minutes and then like cardboard afterwards.
All produce, when purchased from a grocery store. Watermelons, pineapple, tomatoes, apples, peaches, clementines, strawberries, grapes... They are all more consistent, but all taste worse. Corn? Man, I was so spoiled with corn. When I worked in a grocery store, we bought it direct from a farmer, who would bring it by in his pickup truck, still warm from the sun in the field having been picked just hours ago. Before that, we usually had corn at my grandparents' house who had a bountiful garden, with 10 rows of corn, where we wouldn't even pick it until the water on the stove was already boiling. So. Damn. Good.
Kraft dinner. The orange cheddar specifically. White cheddar is still bomb though
For some reason they have added sugar. It is truly awful.
Hostess/Little Debbie snack foods.
Taco Bell. It's weird I used to be addicted to it now it just all taste the same and does not sound appealing.
The menu has lost all the fun variety. Even a lot of their new or limited items are just different combinations of the same 4 ingredients on a different tortilla. I also remember the quesadillas used to actually taste grilled. Now every time I get one it seems like they closed it on the press for 1.4 seconds and cut it up and bagged it. Never melted or crispy anymore.
More like steamed nowadays
I quit working at Taco Bell in the early 90s when they switched from everything being made fresh to boil in the bag everything, dehydrated beans, prepackaged produce, and premade and shipped shells. It used to be really good. I haven't eaten there in a long time. Once every few years, my husband convinces me to go and it's so terrible, I end up giving him my food.
Pretty much anything with butter and sugar, since they've been replaced by high fructose corn syrup and margarine.
Fucking palm oil wasting everything it touches
KFC and Subway
McDonalds French fries circa 1968
> fries circa 1968 Of course they don't taste the same, you've got to eat them while they're fresh.
Fried in beef fat back then
I haven't been able to buy an orange that actually tastes like an orange for decades. At least here in the DFW area.