Can't Get This Stuff No More: Discontinued Grocery Items of the '50s to the '90s

Kellogg's Kream Krunch Cereal

Ad copy above reads  "Now - Ice Cream in a nourishing cereal. Crisp chunks of real ice cream (freeze-dried) right in with the good grain. The kids won't believe it. (Maybe you won't either!) But thanks to freeze-drying, we've taken the cold out of ice cream, made it crisp and crunch, so it keeps without refrigeration right in a package of cereal. And what a cereal! A crisp, nourishing blend of hearty corn, wheat and oats that's a treat by itself. With the ice cream it's... well taste it see for yourself. At your grocer's now."

It really seemed like a good idea.

If anything gets the kids bugging their parents to the point of insanity in the cereal aisle, it's a cereal that contains something they really like. Raisins? Yuk. What kid really liked raisins in anything?

And all kids love ice cream. Especially that then-new freeze-dried space ice cream the astronauts get to eat that everyone on TV was talking about back then.

Soooooo, Kellogg's executives thought they had a winner in their new cereal, Kream Krunch. It was a Cheerios type cereal with bits of freeze dried ice cream in Strawberry, Vanilla and Orange flavours (though surprisingly, Kream Krunch didn't have a chocolate flavour.)

But ice cream for breakfast...Was America an awesome place in 1965 or what?

And it really did sound good.....But that's as far as Kream Krunch got. The flipside was the freeze-dried ice cream melted into a super gross, sticky goo after sitting in milk for a few minutes, so you had to eat it fast or without milk. (I eat my cereal dry with a glass of milk on the side to wash it down - That's how passionately I hate soggy cereal.)

Parents complained to Kellogg's, demanding refunds because when the freeze dried ice cream melted, kids would stop eating the cereal. And soon, they wouldn't touch the box at all and it would have to be thrown out. Kream Krunch was discontinued in 1966. And Kellogg's (or any other cereal company) never attempted another freeze-dried ice cream cereal.

Duz and Bonus Laundry Detergent

Once upon a time, you could buy a box of laundry detergent and get something really useful out of it besides a plastic scoop.

And during the 1950s and '60s, there was such a detergent. In fact, a few of them.

Duz and Bonus laundry detergents each offered a bonus goodie. Duz offered a free china plate, bowl, cups and later, glass tumblers in each box. Moms would then religiously buy Duz until their china set was complete.

They must have sold a lot of these dishes as today, they are still as ubiquitous as Herb Alpert records in any second hand store.

Bonus offered free bath towels.

It was like Cracker Jack for housewives.

Breeze was another line of detergent that offered premiums.

But tragically, Duz, Bonus and their many imitators stopped including extras in their products by the late 1960s. And without the goodies, these brands died off.

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