College students are adults responsible for their own decisions, a fact that I try to ignore every day. However, it's not all scary responsibility! How many times have your mom and dad said you can't have that thing from the grocery store, you know, the one with a million grams of sugar and a pound of saturated fat? As adults, we can buy these things for ourselves. Here are 10 snacks for kids that taste better as an adult.
1. Easy-Bake Oven Treats
Some of my favorite memories come from when my mom would drag this little oven from the back of my closet. Now that we're adults and can make things in a real oven, it seems like the Easy-Bake Oven would be obsolete. I am here to tell you, it shouldn't be. There's nothing more fun than an Easy-Bake Oven baking marathon. This toy is so legendary that there is even a national holiday for it.
2. Bubble Gum
I looooove bubble gum. It's so obnoxious and loses its flavor in 0.5 seconds, but is there anything more nostalgically childlike than seeing how big of a bubble you can blow? Also, let's not forget about the peak of advertising, the Bazooka bubble gum song that would get stuck in your head for hours. Chewing bubble gum was even rarer as a kid because when your parents did let you sneak it into the shopping cart, teachers wouldn't let you chew it in school! Assert your power as a real adult by chewing bubble gum today.
3. Yellow Cheese Slices
I'm almost 100% sure these shrink-wrapped cheese slices are not actually cheese, but they were a childhood staple in my house. My sister used to eat the cheese straight out of its wrapper, and I would pile two or three slices on a piece of buttered bread for the gooiest grilled cheeses. As I've grown up, I've eaten less and less of this "cheese," but every now and then I see it in the back of the dairy section, just waiting for a little kid to take it home.
4. Crackers 'n Cheese Dip
While we are on the subject of fake cheese, we can't leave out the Ritz Crackers 'n Cheese Dip. These little guys were great after school snacks, and as a college student, they make great in-between class snacks that are easy to throw in your backpack as you run out the door. Figuring out the perfect cracker to cheese ratio is one of the most fun challenges in life.
5. SpaghettiOs
I can't lie, SpaghettiOs are still a staple in my diet. These are by no means a healthy meal, but they ARE a dollar per can and take two minutes to heat up. Plus, SpaghettiOs are timeless, and you can't beat a timeless meal.
6. Juice Boxes
I don't know why, but chugging a juice box is so satisfying. Maybe it's the baby straw it comes with or maybe it's the catharsis of crushing the box when you're finished, but juice boxes are just as fun to down when you're an adult. (Does boxed wine count as a juice box? Asking for a friend.)
7. Hostess Snacks
Another dollar store delight, the Hostess snack. This is the indulgent snack that your parents only let you have every now and then, and for good reason, since there's about one billion grams of sugar in every snack. But now that we're adults, we get to decide whether or not to eat an entire box of "Snoballs" in one sitting.
8. Applesauce
I really took applesauce for granted as a kid. This is one of those versatile snacks that you can buy in bulk or in individual cups when you want to throw one in your bag to bring on campus. While I usually just eat it out of the jar, you can even use applesauce in your baking endeavors.
9. Kid Cuisine
Lean Cuisine who? Kid Cuisine all the way. This is a beautiful conglomeration of all the nostalgic favorites in one microwaveable TV dinner meal. Chicken nuggets, mac and cheese, a mandatory vegetable and some type of dessert makes for a dinner that 5-year-old me would die for.
10. Tootsie Pops, Rolls and Fruit Chews
If you want to feel like you're eating chocolate-flavored glue, this is the snack for you. The nightmare of dentists everywhere, all things Tootsie will always be a classic candy for 90s kids. This candy has been around for over 100 years, and I doubt it's going anywhere anytime soon.