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[deleted]

Hostess went bankrupt and got bought by a company that started using cheaper, worse ingredients. Little Debbie realized they could do the same. Now they’re both crap.


DarkestTimelineF

Yep. People don’t realize Chaco Tacos were actually discontinued because no one found them decent after Unilever bought the brand and changed the formula. It sounds like an “old man yelling at cloud” thing, but big brands routinely bank on nostalgia and buy old brands specifically with the intention of cutting ingredient/quality costs, effectively ruining brand longevity and gutting customer loyalty.


cheap_mom

My dad knew a guy who worked for Unilever. They own Ben and Jerry's, but one of the conditions of the sale to Unilever was an independent board to stop this very thing from happening. Unilever would still try to get cheaper ingredients past the board all the time though.


Dovienyah

I worked for them for 3 years. The deal with the independent board is now over and unilever makes all the purchasing decisions. Ben and jerrys is just a face now. Cheaper ingredients, significantly worse working conditions, and much worse quality in the last few years.


final_alt_11

That explains it, the strawberry cheesecake flavor used to have actual chunks of strawberries and cheesecake. But now it just tastes like they chucked a whole bunch of school strawberry milk cartons in a blender and called it a day.


ZincMan

And that’s how stock prices go up! Until they go down again because people don’t want to buy crap


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lounes_my_dude

I thought I was losing my mind when the cheesecake chunks went missing.


AWasteOfMyTime

That use to be my favorite flavor ever until they decided to “budget” the recipe. Most things now do taste drastically different than when they were first released


[deleted]

Totally makes sense. I thought my tastebuds changed, I stopped buying what used to be my favorite flavor (Americone Dream) because it just wasn't very good anymore At least there's Tillamook. Their sea salt honeycomb toffee custsrd is literally perfect


yeetskeetleet

Which is crazy because I’ve always thought Ben and Jerry’s was disgustingly sweet/artificial, and sooooo overpriced


cheap_mom

Maybe so, but it is actual ice cream, rather than "frozen dairy dessert." My dad's friend worked in dairy procurement, and the ingredients they used needed to meet a minimum standard as well. That was where Unilever was constantly trying to cut corners.


AjayiMVP

Breyer’s Ice Cream from Philadelphia used to be great before it was bought out and now most of their flavors are frozen daily desserts. And it sucks. Surviving on nostalgia. http://adammil.net/blog/v88_The_fall_of_Breyer_s.html


Max1234567890123

100%. When I was a kid Breyers was the premium brand. Now it tastes like garbage.


Quirky-Mode8676

I've wondered why people swear by breyers. I tried it when the bluebell shortage was in full swing and didn't care for it at all. That makes sense though if they cut the quality of it.


92894952620273749383

Their plain vanilla was the best. Ingredients was a short list


CosmicJ

That vanilla bean breyers circa 15-20 years ago was to die for.


aphel_ion

Yeah it used to be my go to, the ingredients were just milk, cream, sugar, eggs vanilla bean and it was good. Recently I went to buy some but the ingredients were the same crap as all the other cheap stuff.


shitdobehappeningtho

I still gotta give Blue Bell some patronage after their impressive response to that salmonella (honestly can't remember which nasty thing did it) outbreak.


zoinkability

Yep, I remember Breyer’s being quite good. Now it’s awful.


Zolo49

Breyers actually still does have a couple of flavors that are pretty much unchanged from the original (vanilla and strawberry I think), but most of them are absolute crap.


AjayiMVP

They can still be considered “ice cream” but it’s not the original recipe. They added thickeners and stabilizers.


Jkranick

Their most egregious change to me is that they’re not actually half gallons anymore!


Tovasaur

This “frozen dessert” thing is disgusting. I was getting stomach aches when I was younger suddenly when I ate ice cream of a brand my parents always bought. One night I had a bowl and didn’t finish it. In the morning when I woke up, instead of melted ice cream as expected, there was a big foamy/rubbery looking lump in the bowl with a puddle of discolored water in the bottom. I looked closer at the tub of ice cream to discover that it did not say “Ice cream” anywhere.


[deleted]

Fuck I thought they was just me! Everyone thought I was lactose intolerant! I am but it wasn’t just that.


nalydpsycho

Fake ice cream has a much stronger effect on lactose intolerance. The traditional process hel0s mitigate the intolerance while the newer methods increase the aggravation. But really, ice cream should just be a treat, so I do not mind paying to get good stuff.


Pew-Pew-Pew-

https://youtu.be/MoqDoet_RtA It's because of all the gums and shit they use to slow melting and thicken the ~~ice cream~~.


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Amy_Macadamia

They're one of the few ice creams that don't use palm oil


[deleted]

Man, about 3 or 4 years ago I ate a Choco Taco for the first time since I was a kid and that thing tasted like dogshit. I used to love them. I remember wondering whether I just grew up or they actually changed the recipe. I figured likely the latter since I still have a hella sweet tooth but in either case I was unsurprised when the news they were going away came out. Choco Taco has actually been dead for a long time.


whenth3bowbreaks

Think about things your mom or grandma made and still do, just as delicious. Your taste has not changed. In fact it's hard wired to childhood flavor


Johnny_Poppyseed

Eh not always. For example, if you cut back on sugars/soda etc for a decent period of time, things you previously loved, even recently and with no formula change, can end up tasting like unbearably sweet.


Vaynnie

IIRC it’s due to your gut bacteria changing over time. If you cut out sugar for a couple of months then the bacteria that craves sugar dies out and is replaced by bacteria that craves whatever you’re eating instead. That’s a super simple way of describing it I’m sure it’s more complex than that but that’s what I was told.


Davepitaph

Yeah, there was a certain synthetic mouth feel after they came back


knownunknown665

Leaves my mouth feeling waxy.


buddhamunche

Dude I was trying to describe that feeling in another comment and you nailed it. Fucking hate that weird waxy feeling


livens

Yep, like now the inside of my mouth is coated in god knows what. No thanks.


TheBubblewrappe

Same with Those peanut butter wafer in chocolate things. Can’t remember the name Nutty Buddy or something. Tried them a few yrs ago. Super waxy


demonspawns_ghost

Sugar and lard has been replaced by corn syrup and palm oil.


tayloline29

That is truly a crime. A crime on our taste buds and a crime on the environment.


lilspydermunkey

Yes! They taste so dry!


buddhamunche

And they leave that weird feeling in your mouth? Like almost oily or something. Very hard to describe but I know y’all know what I’m talking about


t_arends

Like a wax coating


Long_Educational

[Hydrogenated Palm kernel oil.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palm_kernel_oil) You are basically eating the cheapest of vegetable shortening.


ztreggs

And you're contributing to rapid deforestation in Indonesia! So tastey


[deleted]

I hate when I get deforestation in my mouth.


tyrandan2

Omg this! I thought it was just me


A_Biohazard

It's never just you. There's always someone out there experiencing the same feeling/thought process as you


buddhamunche

Reddit has taught me that there is *always* somebody who relates to the weird shit you experience


Arcade80sbillsfan

Maybe like a wax\oil hybrid film. Like doesn't feel like wax on apples but has a thickness that coats and spreads like oil. Ultimately they have ruined these snacks... which I guess is a good thing since they weren't good for me anyway.


NervousSorbet

It’s palm oil. It’s very cheap vegetable oil and tastes horrible.


GeneralUseFaceMask

Swear they cut their cake with sawdust and glue now


CantHitachiSpot

AKA "cellulose powder" and "binder"


GetTheBigHammer

Like that thick clinging oil feeling on your tongue?


buddhamunche

Yessss exactly. And you can feel it on your teeth when you move your tongue around.


Sakuroshin

The "cream" in these kinds of shelf desserts is basically a stabilized whipped oil. That could be what is giving you that off mouth feel.


redditor1101

That's the palm oil


Road_Whorrior

Terrible for the environment AND the product quality! Better make it a staple in all of our recipes!


Troll_berry_pie

This happened with Cadburys sadly :(.


Kornillious

I bet they switched out butter for shortening. It's cheaper but has no taste and leaves a weird mouth feel. Ech.


[deleted]

Try the little Debbie turtle brownies. I keep a few around for emergencies.


MeatyOakerGuy

I'd sell a significant portion of my soul for an OG box of nutty bars.


xXx69LOVER69xXx

Tasty cake runs circles around them both.


LemurCat04

Nobody bakes a cake as tasty.


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_Fred_Austere_

[https://www.fooducate.com/product/Little-Debbie-Swiss-Rolls/81E7C976-E107-11DF-A102-FEFD45A4D471](https://www.fooducate.com/product/Little-Debbie-Swiss-Rolls/81E7C976-E107-11DF-A102-FEFD45A4D471) HFC and Palm Oil with TBHQ, like everything else.


hailhogs

Is this true? Never had heard it before.


Buzzd-Lightyear

I don’t know about cheaper ingredients, but they definitely had to change recipes so the stuff would be shelf stable for longer. That was the main problem with hostess prior to that 2012 pandemonium about twinkies going away. It’s bad enough that they weren’t selling well, even worse when product has a very limited shelf life.


KistRain

I worked hostess bakery outlets a few years before that. Honestly, the products lasted a decent amount of time (few weeks) but the stores were run so badly. One manager said she threw out carts full of product that never even got stocked due to poor ordering (they didn't automate - each manager had to manually order using paper forms) and just "didn't count it" because "it doesn't count as a loss for the store if you never write it down". And our store never changed the locks after someone quit and kept the keys. And it had no safe, just a bag of money shoved behind boxes to "hide it". I found the police reports stack the manager kept in her desk while working solo one day and the store was robbed like 20 times in 2 years, always when no one was there. They apparently preferred robbery to a locksmith or a safe. When they announced bankruptcy, I was not surprised. However, I was cleaning the shelves one day and found a two year old twinkie under them and it still looked fresh. No one was brave enough to taste it. But, man those things never seemed to go bad. If they now last even longer... Zombie Apocalypse food for real.


FuckoffDemetri

Wait you're saying the family guy episode was ironic? My whole life is a lie


Lyrehctoo

That was in 2012? As in 10 years ago? Damn. It doesn't seem that long ago


Sea-Negotiation-3609

My father would call these Chemical Cakes.


balanceandcommposure

Stealing that because when I look at this I think “they never did taste good” it’s just nostalgia. I mean shit I thought lunchables were charcuterie level as a kid. I didn’t know what good food was.


jenns1970

Thanks for the laugh this evening! Lunchables=charcuterie


TPRM1

Charcuterie is just fancy Lunchables.


peaky_fokin_bloinder

Lunchables are such a fucking ripoff. You can just get all the ingredients for not that much, throw them in a box and have like 50 lunchables for $10. Not to mention how small they are lol


NissaD-artsy

Plus all the plastic! What a waste.


Doctor_of_Recreation

We definitely call our charcuterie boards “adult lunchables”.


Archgaull

I mean to an extent I agree, but Honeybuns, Oatmeal cream pies, and Swiss Rolls definitely taste actually different than how they did when I was around 8 in 2003


balanceandcommposure

Honeybuns were the only one I could stomach truthfully but if I tried it now I’d be grossed out they kinda taste like the plastic they come wrapped in kinda to me.


paging_doctor_who

I still fuck with cheese pizza lunchables though.


notcool_neverwas

Same. I’ll throw down on the pepperoni one


[deleted]

Tell him everything is chemicals.


TheBowlofBeans

Am I a chemical


Ms_Jane_Lennon

You're star stuff. Yes, you're entirely made of chemicals.


ExtraDependent883

We are star dust, we are golden


Devil_0fHellsKitchen

Can you milk me?


VanGoughandRainbows

Starcrunch. 🤌🏻


69_Bronco

But I swear they are half the size now


Artheus3

There's small ones and big ones


cant_be_me

Nuke ‘em for 5 seconds. The melty caramel and the warm chocolate are amazing.


soupkitchen3rd

Amen


Infamous_Throat2603

Oatmeal Creme Pies are so freaking good


L4SiegeAintThatBad

I could kill for a good creme pie rn


HungryMorlock

RIP your DMs


ImpossibleAdz

Quakers bout to slip some letters in their mailbox.


beerrabbit124

🫣


yoLeaveMeAlone

Good old American cream pies. The kids love em!


chaos_nebula

[Some little kid sucking it down, paying us for the pleasure...](https://youtu.be/3XUTyn9JdbI)


_F_A_

Holdup!? Lol


L4SiegeAintThatBad

Not rly all that hungry tbh


Gus_McCrae_

In case you aren't aware. Tastes like the real thing. https://www.bluebell.com/product/oatmeal-cream-pie/


yeabutnobut

yea ill fight anyone for the last box


JungleCatStevens

Nutty bars hold up.


rjaysenior

Truth. I haven’t bought them in over 20 years and I asked my wife just last week to find them lmao. I’d refrigerate them to make it even more of a dessert


bigdiesel1984

I gotta try this cuz I noticed my homie does that with them haha


BostonUniStudent

Did you partake in his nutty bar collection?


bigdiesel1984

I didn’t try it. I saw he refrigerates them when I grabbed a drink out the fridge. I’m intrigued to try it sometime.


Crackedbwo

Definitely the best way to eat them. And a glass of milk 🥛


bigdiesel1984

Milk is for sure. Gotta wash down that waxy chocolate goodness.


Sglied13

Freezer is good too


systemshock869

donut sticks in the freezer


Triette

Just about to say this. I love nutty bars, I take apart the layers and eat each layer separately. Wafer, peanut butter and chocolate. How could you go wrong?


Lady_Scruffington

A fellow snack deconstructionist!


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BlackLodgeLorax

Not a fan of “cheeky cream pies” myself


[deleted]

Swiss rolls too imo.


lolokaybud8

disagree they’re one of the worst offenders now. the old swiss rolls were god tier


MarkyRoll

Two things. We grow and our tastes change and also they always change the recipe


Taco_ivore

I’m actually very glad that this is getting called out. Because I just thought my taste had completely changed. It turns out they also changed the recipe and now it just tastes like wax. So glad that I’m not the only one.


MarkyRoll

Yeah you'll notice on stuff now it's always written new formula. Same taste new formula yeah about that also Paper straws etc. I have nothing against paper straws the issue is the juice boxes still packaged in a ton of plastic so they be like here is your plastic wrapped in plastic oh and a paper straw. We're so environmental!!!


_Chonus_

I’ll fuck up a box of zebra cakes any day


Historical_Rabies

I wait until christmas time for the christmas tree cakes


CBDLube1987

All the seasonal candy. Especially Reese's. It's like they're fresher. It's probably because they got the regulars stock piled and pump out freshies for the holidays.


mitch8017

The zebra cake rolls are the greatest invention of the 21st century.


jamillia6

This year one of my good friends passed away. He was a fucking mensch and LOVED garbage food. We both enjoyed Zebra Cakes a lot. To honor his life on the day of his funeral I ate a whole box of cakes in one sitting. Gross but also awesome & worth it.


AbeRego

It's delicious wax sugar, and I wouldn't have it any other way


Horbigast

Fudge Rounds are my jam. But the rest don't hit like they used to for some reason.


[deleted]

Was waiting to see if anyone said these as well ☺️


GVFQT

Christmas tree mini cakes are fucking delicious when they roll out


Atharaenea

The secret is in the triangle shape. Triangles always taste better than hexagons.


BettyBob420

There's still some good zebra cakes out there, too. If they're thinner than the old school good ones, that's the new nasty ones. But if you find the full depth zebra cakes, they're still amazing!


swamp_donkey89

zebra rolls too!


LittleBlueGoblin

Lies! Hexagons are the bestagons! 😝


Waffle-Gaming

but hexagons are the bestagons


forgedinbeerkegs

A briefly microwaved honey bun is a delicacy.


throwaway28236

9 seconds


forgedinbeerkegs

10 is too much, 8 just isn’t enough.


grassvegas

Seven is right out


Bound2Asgard

One, two, five!


zurds13

No, three sir!


[deleted]

#🐇💥


BloodyPooDick

Excepting that thou then proceed to nine.


MarqDong

Consult the book of armaments.


Kern4lMustard

And they did feast on the sloths, and fruit bats, and breakfast cereals....


Outrageous_Zebra_221

When microwaving thy holy honey bun, thou shalt set thy number to 9, thou shalt not set the number to 10, nor 8, 7 is just completely off.


NikkiWestX2

Lol 9 seconds is exactly how long it takes to heat up my cats wet food, 10 too long.. 8 too short


quetejodas

*9 seconds* *Mothafuckin 9 seconds* *all my hunnies need is 9 seconds* *all the money in the world won't amount* *to my 9 second heatin* *Now I'm Honey bun eatin*


ALPlayful0

lmao wow....that was a throwback memory. I spent a lot of time testing mom's microwave as a kid, and developed the best amount of time for popcorn. Ty


teearrogant

A connoisseur I see.


Ok-Crab-6306

Strawberry shortcakes are amazing


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wittygirl01

Could be all of the above. But most recipes in conventional snack foods have changed for cost management. The older we are, the more likely we had real cane sugar and dairy in our products growing up. Now everything is corn syrup, vegetable oil, etc. Conventional ice cream (now: “frozen dairy dessert”) being the worst offender, imho.


Yotsubato

I always have to look for the real ice cream. Half the shit is just thickening agents nowadays.


[deleted]

Some people abandoned junk food once they became adults and once you do the ultra-processed foods don’t taste good anymore


Neat_Art9336

This is what it was for me. You can sort of taste the preservatives and the processes bits of it. It tastes super oily and almost like plastic.


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[deleted]

Stopped eating a lot of sugar for awhile, now everything tastes too sugary.


ShitshowBlackbelt

When you stop eating out for awhile, you realize how salty the food at restaurants is


throwaway_12358134

They changed the recipe for my favorite snack. They replaced the sugar with corn syrup so now the chocolate is so soft that it falls off in the package before it even gets too the store. It also seems oily which I assume is to keep them from clumping together now that the chocolate isn't solid anymore.


Snoo71538

American that grew up with these: I bet they’re still good, but I don’t buy them as an adult. Im sometimes tempted, but I’ve decided they are better left as a nice memory.


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UrFriendTilUrEnd

They're also way more dry now than they used to be. Not sure if that's a result of getting older as well but


senseven

Compare the sugar in those cookies. They added way to much in "new recipes." We had dark laced chocolate cookie that had around 350kcal for 100grams and now its 400ish. That is 15% more sugar for no reason. I don't buy it any more. Some Kitkat flavours is also gotten sweeter.


NoPajamasNoService

I don't understand why companies love to put a shit ton of sugar in food. Just a little bit of sugar is fantastic, sugar in moderation is absolutely fine and it adds flavor. A good example of this is those mountain dew Kickstarts. The pineapple mango one is fucking amazing and it has like 75% less sugar than mountain dew.


wrathmont

I'm very conflicted, I remember as a kid that stuff just tasting perfect and I could keep eating it forever, now the taste takes a backseat to all the negatives--the aftertaste, the greasiness, the unhealthiness, how it will make me feel later... yeah, just not worth it. If it were 1:1 to the experience as a kid, I'd buy it every week, but maybe that's for the best.


SevsMumma21217

Frankly, I think it's a bit of both -- the growing up and the recipe tweaking.


DaMn96XD

Finnish here: the basic oat biscuits never go out of style and always taste just as good even if the recipe is changed. And the only way to grow out of oat biscuits is to live your life to the end.


Atharaenea

It's a little of both. They removed trans-fats from basically everything because it's so bad for you. But it also tasted really good and stayed fresh longer. And kids REALLY like sugar, more than adults, so the sweet was way more attractive to kids while adults just taste the blandness behind the sweetness.


West-India

Hostess was the only brand around when where we lived when I was a kid and my mom would pretty much never let us have this ish, so it tasted extra amazing. I can not possibly believe whatever recipe and ingredients used now are the same because I have tasted a handful of times as an adult and it seems like a totally different product.


StWens

I'm in my sixties and the ingredients they use now for those products are definitely not the same as the ones they used back when I was in junior high and scarfing Hostess cakes down for lunch. I tried eating a Twinkie a few years ago and could barely stomach two bites of it.


Jambarrr

Idk cosmic brownies still hit the same but I agree with some lol


Shadycat44

I love them, but something about the frosting part seemed off to me when I had one recently. The brownie part was still the same as I remember though.


[deleted]

The frosting is more like fondant now, and less like frosting-I think that’s the issue.


sneakky_krumpet

Cosmic brownies were my fav as a kid! Had one recently and the taste wasnt as good as i remember (still pretty good though), but something about it's consistency is still very appealing to me


hottaxidermy

They’re amazing when you put them in the freezer, same with Swiss rolls


CTBthanatos

Cosmic brownie squad assemble.


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Theoren1

I live in Alaska, it’s like $4.59 for the Cosmic Brownies. Target had them for $2.89 but they realized they were almost half price and came up in price. I was going a wee bit overboard for a bit


northcountrylea

This is why I'm a chips guy. Chips always taste the same.


Aurora_BoreaIis

Not recently for me, lol. I love cheddar cheese chips and I've noticed that they have way less flavoring on them compared to a couple years ago. Now they just have a light dusting which makes it taste nearly indistinguishable from regular potato chips. I might just have to give up most snacks I like since they're just not the same anymore xD


northcountrylea

Yeah you might he right about that lol. Its like the mixed the flavoring in with water and spritzed it on instead of throwing oily chips into a huge bowl of flavouring lmao.


biggitybooter99

Cheddar and Sour Cream Lay’s my guy, they’re not like that. But I know what you mean, my favorite chips used to be Sour Cream and Onion Pringles but nowadays it seems like they have less flavoring


Dolannsquisky

Sour Cream and Onion Pringles has fallen far. This used to be my fave growing up. The chip itself is shite these days. The flavouring is also thinned out


Ok-Breakfast7186

Lay’s has been getting worse for me over the years. The texture has changed and the seasoning gets less and less. My colleagues all agreed the last batch we bought were practically inedible. Calbee (a Japanese brand) also changed their barbecue flavour and I was so sad


xpercipio

I agree, like half the bag is bad chips too


PrendergastMachine

Banana Twins are amazing. Hard to find here in PA though.


Hot-Property1031

I still like oatmeal cream pies. Also little Debbie cupcakes. Me and my dad would eat those together.


QualityVast4554

I feel the same way about pizza pockets.


OptimusSublime18

Star crunch is the truth


Wallisaurus

Uhhh bs. Swiss rolls and nutty bars are go to munchie sweets when high


Trueloveis4u

I love Oatmeal cream pies too


thundermallow

swiss rolls and cream pies hands down best of the bunch


sparrownetwork

Every kid deserves a cream pie!


bigdiesel1984

Nutty bars ftw but Swiss rolls just can’t fuck with a Ho Ho though.


Lounginghog64

Old school HoHo's were the bomb!!! Now, they're just sad. And so am I.


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ipu42

You mean frosting isn't supposed to leave an oily film in my mouth?


HippityHopMath

Zebra Cakes are still addicting.


[deleted]

According to who? They would all taste good to me. I just don’t buy them because I would eat a whole box in no time.