food nostalgia

11 vintage cheese snacks you might never eat again

Or should we say "Cheez"?

Jun 28, 2018, 9:45AM By MeTV Staff

Planters Cheez Balls are back! Sure, cheese balls have been available forever, in giant clear plastic barrels the size of an oil drum, but we got excited about the news of this particular comeback. There's something about Cheez Balls coming in those blue canisters. It brings to mind the days of potato chips in tins.

This retro snack revival got us thinking about other cheesy (or, well, cheezy) snacks from the past. They are extinct from grocery shelves today. However, who knows, if we talk about them enough they could come back!

We've ranked them in order of our desire. What was your favorite cheese-flavored snack food?

1. Tid-Bits

We know from past snack nostalgia pieces that you love Tid-Bits. These cheddary sticks certainly had their devotees. There was a sharper taste to these, making them something like Cheez-Its with a pretzel shape and snap. Mmm… now we hanker for a handful.

Image: Nabisco

2. Cheeblers

Okay, these are essentially Cheetos, only made by Keebler elves instead of a Cheetah. (Yes, we believe that the mascots are real and manufacture these snacks.)

Image: Keebler

3. Cheeze Ritz

There are dozens of Ritz options on the snack shelves these days, from Ritz Bits to Ritz Chips. The originals come in Vegetable and Bacon varieties. Oddly, there is no cheese iteration of the original! Buttery, flaky, cheesy… we want them. Filled with more cheese, of course.

Image: Nabisco

4. Flings

These boxed puffs also came in a Swiss n' Ham variety. But we'd be satisfied with the originals, please.

Image: Nabisco

5. Toastwiches

Grilled cheese in a toaster? Genius. How are these not a thing? If Pop Tarts are the dessert, we need a similarly cooked meal beforehand, people!

Image: Betty Crocker

6. Pimiento Snack Mate

Some of us grew up in the south, which is why we consider pimiento cheese to be manna from the heavens. The regional flavor was once far more common in national snack foods. Take this canned processed cheese spray. Today, Snack Mate is called Easy Cheese. There used to be blue cheese and shrimp cocktail flavors, too, but those are more of an acquired taste.

Image: Nabisco

7. Kraft Squeeze-A-Snak

A fat tube of processed cheese spread. Now that is American cuisine. It came in Pimento, Sharp, Bacon, Hot Pepper, Garlic and Hickory Smoke varieties. Yes, that is cheese spread on an apple in the ad. Don't knock it until you've tried it.

Image: Kraft

8. Buttons

These look a bit like cheese cereal, but somehow that is curiously appealing.

Image: General Mills

9. Cheddar Taters

A more obscure offering, though quite unique. For starters, these were made from potatoes, as the name implied. There was also a hint of chive, which added a sophisticated twist. Or "tingle," as the ad described.

Image: General Mills

10. Swiss n' Ham Crackers

Our office was divided over meat-flavored crackers. There are those who adore Chicken in a Biskit and those who abhor them. However, everybody loves bacon. And ham is almost bacon, so….

Image: Nabisco

11. Kraft Pineapple Cheese Spread

We love pineapple. We love cheese. Together? Honestly, we've never tried it, which is why it comes in at the bottom of this list. These jars of Kraft spread date back to the 1950s, when pineapples became the trendy post-war fruit of choice. Seems ideal for a tiki party.

Image: Kraft