Happy #NationalCerealDay! Don't lie - even as an adult you still relish in the flavor of the milk left behind by your morning bowl of Cinnamon Toast Crunch or Cocoa Pebbles.
Oh, and Lucky Charms milk with that marshmallow aftertaste isn't the worst thing in the world.
But for every Cheerios and Raisin Bran that's stood the test of time, there are dozens of other cereals that didn't make the cut...some of which were AMAZING!
Here's a few that time forgot, but should probably make a comeback
1. Pop Tarts Crunch
This one comes up in pretty much every conversation about old cereals, because honestly it was every kids' dream. Turn your favorite breakfast pastry into a cereal? Duh. Strawberry and Brown Sugar Cinnamon versions hit the shelves, but at some point parents realized what a horrible idea it was and Kellogg's pulled the brand.
Still, Pop Tarts Crunch has a cult following so much so that Kellogg's has had to respond to requests for it's return to stores.
2. Cinnamon Mini Buns
It's basically a much sweeter, much worse-for-you version of Cinnamon Toast Crunch, but it was equally delicious. And came with a free mini-comic book which is irrelevant but still sort of cool.
3. Ice Cream Cones Cereal
This one lasted a VERY limited time in the 80s and made a brief comeback in 2003, but turns out that ice cream flavored cereal just wasn't a big seller. Nonetheless, the thought of basically eating chocolate ice cream for breakfast was appealing and I'd totally scoop a box if it came back again.
4. Waffle Crisp
Although Eggo did create a similar version after Waffle Crisp went away in the late 90s, it just isn't the same. Honestly, why DID Waffle Crisp go away? I feel like this is one of the most popular cereals on this list and not as obviously horrible from a health standpoint as things like Pop Tarts Crunch or Ice Cream Cones. For what it's worth, Waffle Crisp isn't totally extinct - it's just very hard to track down in stores.
5. Oreo O's Cereal**
I mean the reason for its demise after a good run in the early 2000s is pretty obvious....cookies for breakfast isn't exactly something parents are wild about for their kids (although Cookie Crisp still manages to pull it off). Oreo O's were basically cookies and cream cereal once you added milk, and honestly is the best-tasting extinct cereal I could think of. While adult me probably wouldn't be eating it every day, the nostalgic self-loathing regret-what-I-eat version of myself would love to indulge in a bowl from time to time.
Thankfully, Post HAS brought Oreo O's back, at least for a limited run, thus the asterisk on this listing.
BRB gonna go grab a bunch off the shelf.
6. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Cereal
Let's be honest, the reason this one was around was because of the TMNT Mania in the late 80s and early 90s (of which I was definitely a part).
Honestly, the cereal was like a poor man's version of Lucky Charms and wasn't all that tasty, but the thought of eating your favorite Ninja Turtles (and later, pizza-shaped marshmallows) was too good to pass up. Not to mention the cool freakin' collectibles like TMNT trading cards and cereal bowls that you could get in each box. Hey, the Turtles themselves made a comeback...why not take another run at the cereal?
7. Dunkin Donuts Cereal
I did see the other day a donut-themed cereal, but I can't imagine it being as good as the original back in the 80s (which, by the way, I think I ate once before my parents realized that I should be eating something with less than a billion grams of sugar). There was a glazed donut and chocolate donut flavor offered as "part of a nutritious breakfast," which was probably stretching the definition of the word nutritious to it's limit.
Also, there was this creepy baker guy in their TV commercials....
8. Teddy Grahams Breakfast Bears Cereal
This one came out in the early 90s and the appeal is pretty obvious. It's Teddy Grahams, in cereal form. Which is brilliant, but also sort of redundant because you could just add milk to a bag of Teddy Grahams and basically have Teddy Grahams cereal.
9. Sprinkle Spangles
The concept was pretty spot-on here - take a decently healthy cereal and add sprinkles. But they chose a cereal that was basically a Corn Pop and added sprinkles, and people didn't exactly flock to stores for them. They only lasted a couple of years. I'll admit, I like the idea, but the execution was pretty mediocre on this one. If you want an idea of what Sprinkle Spangles tasted like, Sprinkled Donut Crunch is around today and is pretty much the same thing with an only slightly better tasting piece of cereal.
10. Hidden Treasures
It was released at the same time as Sprinkle Spangles, but this one still baffles me as to why it didn't work. The cereal was basically the same concept as Pop Tarts Crunch, but you never knew what kind of filling you would get. Some pieces were filled with cherry filling, some with grape, and some with orange. And just to add to the "treasure hunt" vibe, some of the pieces had no filling or were completely hollow in the middle. It was honestly a pretty good cereal, but for some reason only lasted two years on the shelves.
So in honor of #NationalCerealDay, what cereal would you like to see make a comeback?