The 1960s and 1970s brought new advances in food technology that ushered in the era of the TV dinner and convenience foods of all sorts. What the 80s did was spread them far and wide and saturate the market. Now, latchkey kids everywhere could let themselves in, pop a frozen meal into the microwave, scarf some poptarts or open a tin of pasta and make themselves dinner a la Kevin McCallister.
But the 80s also brought convenience to our working mothers like never before in a decade where more divorces forced women into the workforce and while decades later we’d know how unhealthy a lot of this stuff was, for the time it was its own empowerment of saving time to have the bagged fruit snacks, pudding cups and crackers ready to toss in lunches before the start of many a woman’s long day of working and parenting.
Kid Cuisine
Banquet Meals
Swanson Meals
Spaghetti-Os
Chef Boyardee Dinosaurs Pasta
Chef Boyardee Dinosaurs with Meatballs Pasta
Chef Boyardee Ravioli
Chef Boyardee Beefaroni
Chef Boyardee Macaroni and Cheese
Chef Boyardee Pac Man Pasta
Chef Boyardee TMNT Pasta
Spaghettios
Spaghettios with Meatballs
Kraft Macaroni and Cheese
Kraft Cheese Singles
Campbell’s Chunky Soup
Campbell’s Condensed Soups
Wilson Smoked Sausage
Uncle Ben’s Long Grain and Wild Rice Blend
Hunt’s All-Natural Barbecue Sauce
Peter Pan Peanut Butter
Skippy Peanut Butter
Jif Peanut Butter
Jif Crunchy Peanut Butter
Promise Margarine
Swanson Hungry Man dinners
Stoufer’s Bread Pizza
Chef Boyardee Pizza Mixes
VanCamp’s Beanie Weenies
Heinz Beans
Mudd Scub and Mash
Wessoil Cooking Oil
Lipton Noodles and Sauce
Mrs. Butterworth Regular and Lite
Parkay Margarine
Swift Soup Starter
Swift Premium Brown n Serve Sausage
Pop-Tarts
Jello 1-2-3
Hostess Pudding Pies
Bagel Bites
Lean Cuisine
Toaster Strudel
Lunchables
Handi-Snacks
Hunts Snack Pack pudding
Del Monte pudding
Fruit Wrinkles
Fruit Roll-Ups
Sara Lee Pound cake and pies
Hot Pockets
Birds Eye meals
Hidden Valley Ranch seasoning pouches
Maruchan Instant Lunch
Hamburger Helper
Rice-a-Roni
Vienetta
Microwave Popcorn
Microwave Pizza
Tony’s Pizza
McCain’s freezer cakes
Ore-ida french fries
Micro Magic Microwave french fries
Mug-O-Lunch
Tuna Helper
Carnation Instant Breakfast
Sizzlean bacon
Carnation breakfast bars
Kudos granola bars
Sunkist fun fruits
Totinos Pizza Rolls
Jenos Pizza
Angel Delight
Bird’s Custard
Yoplait
Dannon yoghurt
Findus Crispy Pancakes
Alphabites
Vesta Ready Meals
Heinz Ready Meals
Old El Paso meal kits
Betty Crocker Julienne / Au gratin Potatoes
Betty Crocker baking mixes
Dunkin Hines baking mixes
Jif Baking Mixes
Chef Boyardee Pizza mixes
Spam
Cool Whip
Easy Cheese
Cheez Whiz
Velveeta block cheese
Aunt Jemima pancake mix
Uncle Ben’s Rice mixes
Top Ramen
Dole canned fruits
Dole pudding
Lucky leaf applesauce, pie fillings
Motts applesauce
Musselman applesauce
Hungry Jack potatoes
Hungry Jack Buttermilk pancake mix
Bisquik
Eggo Waffles
Del Monte Fruit Snacks