For decades after their introduction in 1963, Easy-Bake Ovens showed up on wish lists for Santa and for birthdays, and millions of them were sold. Take a look back!
Hot buttered tomato juice is a surprising ‘wow.’ Butter blends the subtlety of oregano and the zip of Worcestershire with the goodness of tomato juice.
For the many fans of minty vintage McDonald’s Shamrock Shakes, here you can see some old television commercials for the cold green stuff from the 1970s and 1980s! PS: They weren’t always mint-flavored.
Tilted rainbow jello layers form a striped color spectrum that delights the eye as well as the palate. Prepare several fruit flavors of jello for this fun dessert!
What better way to celebrate love than with delicious Valentine’s Day desserts?
Have you considered making a Valentine’s Day cake to woo your Valentine? We know it’s cliche, but it’s honestly not the worst dating advice the 1950s had to offer!
Why can’t we have a milkman? Judging from the blissed out faces featured in these 1950s dairy ads and other milk bottle photos, we’re missing out big time!
This 1970s meatball stew recipe (originally called meatball ragout) was created by the Campbell’s soup company, and combines beef broth and mushroom soup to make a rich base for these beef meatballs.
Homemade truffles = candy from the heart With the season of love just around the corner, we’ve found some easy and delicious vintage candy recipes to help
When it comes to saving money on food, it’s hard to always get the most out of your food dollar. Here’s a quiz from the fifties to see how budget-wise people were – and even though it’s old, most of it would still be helpful today!
See how to make a vintage charcuterie board made with retro-style cold cuts along with 1950s nibbles, like casseroles, old-school salads and more.
Long before we became obsessed with charcuterie boards, we had Hickory Farms Food Gift Paks. Remember those? Here, we have a round up of vintage Hickory Farms ads for your reminiscing pleasure!
You might remember some of these popular fudge recipes from your childhood. We encourage you to try at least one this year (or try them all)!
What is a tomato soup cake? Find out with these vintage recipes for what was really a classic spiced cake – although with one unusual addition: a can of regular tomato soup.
Here are 38 different classic punch recipes to try — none with alcohol as an ingredient. The fruit juices and different varieties of carbonated waters and ginger ales will satisfy the palate, and cool you off in a most refreshing manner.
You need only 7 ingredients needed to make this quick, delicious and easy one-pan pumpkin bread recipe – and it’s as good for breakfast as it is for dessert! Get the 1980s how-to here.
Thanks to a simple, happy collaboration between a kid and Mother Nature… we have popsicles! Here’s a look back at the frozen treats we’e enjoyed over the decades.
To many Americans living south of the Mason-Dixon line, sweet potatoes must be made with marshmallows! Here are 6 ways to make old-fashioned marshmallow sweet potatoes for a Thanksgiving side dish!
Try this easy Cinnamon Crescent – a delicious coffee cake ring that’s made with roll mix, then filled with a spicy raisin-nut mixture. Get the classic ’60s recipe here!
Find out how to make these delicious old-fashioned fall desserts with recipes for pumpkin dessert squares, a coconut choco-swirl cake & a date bar cake.
Something new has happened to pumpkin pie: Double layer pumpkin cheesecake pies! Cream cheese blends perfectly with spicy pumpkin, and bakes up smooth and creamy.
It’s the sweetest season, and we’ve collected a mix of vintage homemade candy bar ideas for Halloween — going back as far as 1956!
Try some two-tone fudge, featuring both chocolate and butterscotch flavors! Your whole family will love both sides. Here’s a retro recipe from the 60s!
Chilly, creamy and crunchy, but with a flavor profile that might put you in mind of a deconstructed homemade Butterfinger, you can whip up these butterscotch bars in a jiffy!
Tangy lemon juice, crisp corn flake crumbs and sweetened condensed milk combine in this easy vintage no-cook lemon freeze recipe.
This vintage easy pumpkin chiffon pie features a no-bake filling – and is made completely from scratch. Make it in just 9 easy steps, illustrated here!
See how Vintage Kool-Aid soft drink mixes looked over the years, along with all of the flavors they’ve made so far. Plus, see the Kool-Aid man break down some walls!
These Karo lace cookies are so thin & elegant, crisp & crunchy, you can serve them to company, give them as gifts, or hang them on the tree.
This retro chocolate caramel nut bars recipe is the best of both of the candy bar classics! And it’s a very easy sweet snack to make at home. Get the vintage 80s recipe here!
These nutty chocolate caramel bars feel a lot like a creamy, dreamy, frozen Snickers bar — perfect for any festivity where fans of candy bars cluster.
From the 70s: With Chipos around, why buy any other potato chips? Chipos, fashioned for flavor from dried potato granules.
Everyone will love the taste of fall in these delicious vintage Libby’s pumpkin recipes! Pie is only the beginning.
If you love the tangy taste of pineapple, and have been hoping to find some delicious old-fashioned pineapple upside-down cake recipes, you just need to look back a few decades!
Get the double deliciousness in this two-flavor fudge — which has chocolate and butterscotch combined together! This retro recipe comes from Nestle, and was published back in the 60s.
Kellogg’s came out with Pop-Tarts in 1964, and kids across the land adored those sweet little rectangles. Then in the late ’60s, Nabisco debuted Toastettes toaster pastries, their spin on the sugar & fruit-filled breakfast treats.
Kellogg’s Concentrate cereal debuted in 1959. Despite being nutritious and not sugary, commenters here make it clear that people loved the stuff!
Incredible Edibles, the candy-making Thingmaker counterpart, said that their Sooper Gooper would mold sugarless liquid Gobble Degoop into chewy gumdrop-like morsels in 4 flavors. Here’s how it worked.
What were hostesses with the mostesses setting up on dining tables 40+ years ago? Here’s a look back at some beautiful vintage ’70s table setting ideas!
Take a look back to see what food shopping used to be like in these photos of vintage 1960s supermarkets – scenes of shoppers, checkouts, storefronts & more!
If you lived through the seventies and eighties, you can probably immediately remember the sound that these vintage dot matrix printers used to make. See and hear them again here!
Don’t worry, this delicious pecan pizza coffee cake is only _shaped_ like a pizza. The sweetness of this treat comes from a combination of brown sugar and maple syrup.
Retro air-pop popcorn makers like these were super popular in the ’70s and ’80s, because they made it so easy to make a big batch of perfectly puffed popcorn. Here’s a look back!
In the 70s, stainless steel or copper cookware wasn’t enough – people wanted retro pots and pans for their kitchen in all of the latest colors and patterns. Take a peek inside those old kitchen cabinets!
Back in the ’70s, Lenox Temper-ware did everything: you could freeze in it, then bake in it, serve in it – and it came in 8 different dramatic patterns.
‘Magic Touch’ vintage metal ice cube trays were hugely popular in the ’40s, ’50s & ’60s because they let you easily release your ice without smashing it up.
This zesty purple Jell-o poke cake has stripes of flavor from a tangy blackberry gelatin! Not feeling so purple? You can swap in any other flavor of Jello to make this cake recipe all your own.
This raspberry-cream cheese coffee cake is a delicious jam-filled breakfast treat that won fancy fruit bread honors back in 1970.
While boxes of Jell-O pudding pops may be but a memory, we can still remember their glory days through these magazine ads and TV commercials!
See several old brands of bottled 1950s orange soft drinks and sodas here! Some were sparking, but several of the fruity drinks were non-carbonated – and none were diet.
Did Coca-Cola once have cocaine in it? Amazingly, yes. Originally marketed as a health drink when it debuted in the 1880s, Coca-Cola was said to cure everything from a migraine (aka “sick headache”) to physical exhaustion to depression.
These flavorful and colorful gelatin sugar cookies need just a few simple ingredients. Best of all, one base dough can make up to five different flavors – you choose your favorite jello mixes to stir in. Then just refrigerate, slice, and bake a fresh batch anytime!
Libby’s vintage Fruit Float debuted in 1974, and was a canned mix containing pieces of real fruit that, when mixed with milk, made a light and fruity pudding-like dessert.
In the ’80s, these sweet vintage Dunkin’ Donuts glass jars came filled with Munchkins donut holes, and were meant to live out the rest of their days on a kitchen counter, just waiting to be refilled with tasty treats.
If you’re looking for a vintage-style dessert for a special occasion, check out our collection of more than 100 classic cake recipes to suit all tastes!
Looking to get a ’60s-style party going? Here are some old-school toasts to raise, and some vintage ’60s drink recipes, so you can say cheers with a savvy retro flair!
Remember the great taste of graham crackers, toasted marshmallows and real milk chocolate with this retro recipe for Indoor S’mores!
This frosted sandwich loaf holds a surprise in every layer: curried egg salad, tomato, chicken salad, deviled ham-pickle filling – frosted with a mixture of mayonnaise and cream cheese.
Remember getting drinks in vintage Dixie Cups? While many of us recall them from childhood because of their cute designs, they weren’t invented simply for convenience.
These tasty vintage pudding cups were supposedly made for kids… but we know that plenty of adults loved the taste and convenience of these to-go desserts. How many of the flavors do you remember?
Imagine, up above the clouds enjoying a cheeseburger from McDonald’s for lunch or dinner. McDonaldland cookies for dessert. That’s what United Airlines’ McDonald’s Friendly Skies Meals offered kids in the 1990s!
What did kids – and adults – eat in the mornings back in the fifties when eggs, bacon, toast and pancakes weren’t on the menu? Take a look back at these popular vintage 1950s breakfast cereals to get a glimpse into the options people had back then!
Pineapple juice is more than just a drink on its own. It can be used in a variety of recipes – from party punches to zesty meat marinades. Take a look at some vintage pineapple juice recipes and ideas here!
In 1927, dozens of people tried to break the coffee-drinking record. In just over a month, the cup count went from 71 to a San Francisco man who more than doubled that number.
Years ago, companies promoted all kinds of vintage freebies and low-cost mail-in offers, usually requiring some boxtops or proof of purchase. Look back at some of the premiums from the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s!
Tang orange drink mix was advertised as a ‘new breakfast drink discovery’ when it was introduced in the ’50s, and went on to become a part of pop culture history – especially once NASA and Mrs Brady got in on the action.
Before the Pepsi company introduced lemon-lime Slice (starting in 1984), Storm (1998) and Sierra Mist (2000), they hit the market with Teem soda — a fizzy lemon-lime soft drink that seemed much the same, but with a different name.
Remember Vintage Wacky Packages (also called Wacky Packs for awhile) that were popular when Gen Xers were kids? Here’s a look back at some of the best of these wild and crazy collectible stickers from way back!
Here, look back at 14 brands and varieties of crunchy and smooth vintage peanut butter goodness from the last 120-plus years, including popular favorites as well as once-famous spreadables that are now gone.
The Campbell Kids appeared in Campbell’s Soup advertising for decades, always with those little round faces. Here, see dozens of vintage toys, cups and more with their images, find out how they began, and meet the artist!
Bubble Up lemon-lime soda had its ups and downs since the brand was registered back in the 1920s, but it never got ahead of 7-UP, or could compete with the likes of Sprite and Teem. Find out more about this retro soda here!
Stouffer’s ice cream – really? Yep! Since they were already a well-known freezer brand, the company tried to expand outside the TV dinner/frozen meal market back in the mid-seventies.
The original Rice Krispies treats were invented in the 1930s. By 1940, the recipe was known across the country — and their popularity has hardly waned since. Here, get the original version of the treats recipe, along with some modern variations!
Here, see some of the colors – like pink and blue – and styles of the most popular vintage 1950s saucepans and kitchenware from the middle of the 20th century.
They toasted! They cooked! And, most important of all: these vintage toaster ovens warmed up TV dinners without needing to heat up the full-size oven. See how the little kitchen appliances evolved over the years, right up through the 1980s.
The 1970s arrival of old-school food processors like these vintage Cuisinarts – along with similar small appliances from other companies – were some of the most beloved kitchen tech tools since the invention of the stand mixer.
Gen X kids got to prove that these 1980s fruit snacks – non-perishable packaged sweet and chewy treats – would be big sellers… and the forerunners of the dozens of similar snacks on the market today.
Do you remember chocolate-covered Kudos granola bars? Here’s a look back at the flavors you used to be able to get, and why you can’t find them anymore.
Vintage recipes in this Campbell’s emergency dinner cookbook include Pot roast, Frankfurter boats, Campbelled eggs, Skillet meatloaf, Spanish rice, Macaroni & cheese, Tuna supreme, Chicken crunch & more.
In the past, a few products – like Borden cheese – made it so their glass jars could be reused later as party or hostess glasses. Since people collected them, it was a smart use of double-duty packaging.
Although it seems to be everywhere now, Sprite, Coca-Cola’s lemon-lime soft drink. was only introduced back in the sixties. Even back then, though, it wasn’t a guaranteed success.
For this chocolate mint-whipped cream cake, you layer rich, moist chocolate cake with mint-flavored whipped cream, and frost it with some of the best chocolate frosting.
Jolly Time popcorn is an American company that got its start in 1914. Ten years later, they hit on the idea of selling their popcorn in cans to seal in the freshness so every kernel would pop.
This vintage 1970s recipe for a King Kamehameha pie makes a sweet and extra-fruity apple pie. The chunks of apple are set in a juicy pineapple glaze, then topped with cream and macadamia nuts.
Go beyond the regular Toll House chocolate chip cookies, and try baking minty sweet treats with this retro recipe for double chocolate mint chip cookies.
Take a look back at these cute plastic retro Rubbermaid food storage containers, mixing bowls, measuring cups and other kitchen gadgets that lived in kitchens during the seventies and eighties.
How can you decorate store-bought cakes you got from the supermarket freezer? Here are six great ways to customize them – making an ordinary cake into an extraordinary dessert.
The vintage Tappan Gallery Gas Range design from the late sixties was an improvement on the gas stove models of the fifties – and the then-trendy appliance colors were also a big plus.
They’re the treats you probably always wanted your mom to buy — old-school cookies, including both classics and long-forgotten brands. Here’s a look back – see how many you remember!
When you think about vintage Hostess snacks, do you start to crave Twinkies, fruit pies, Ho-Hos, Ding Dongs, or just some slices of squishy Wonder Bread? Revisit your favorites here!
How long does it take to make jello set? Get a chart with the times needed to make Jell-O gelatin desserts and salads.
Before he was a star among stars, Leonardo DiCaprio was a kid taking jobs where he could – including playing an awesome gum-lover in this vintage 1980s Bubble Yum TV commercial.
Can’t you smell the warm, friendly fragrance as these caramel-y rolls come out of your oven? Try this retro recipe for fresh-baked homemade caramel-pecan harvest rolls!
When it comes to desserts, what is a bombe – and how do you make one? We have answers! Get several recipes and tips for creating beautiful old-fashioned ice cream bombes right here.
The 1970s Rival Crock-Plate multi-purpose cooker – from the people who made the famous Crock-Pot – had a high-fired stoneware plate that they said could do the work of several appliances.
See two different versions of the Roto-Broil 400 – once America’s favorite infra-red rotisseries – popular kitchen appliances from the ’50s.
During and after his stint as James Bond, actor Sean Connery played off his fame and good looks by making these ads for Jim Bean Kentucky Bourbon Whiskey – with nary a smile in sight.
Hot buttered Cheerios – a quick, easy snack made with Cheerios cereal. Make a bowl right now, and you’ve got Hot Buttered Os – plus 5 variations to try.
How about a little old-fashioned holiday inspiration? Check out these super-cute retro Christmas cake decorating ideas to help you use frosting to make a wreath, stocking, reindeer, Santa Claus cake and more!
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Note: ClickAmericana.com features authentic historical information, and is not intended to represent current best practices on any topic, particularly with regard to health and safety, but also in terms of outdated cultural depictions and social values. Material on this site is provided for purposes of education, criticism, commentary, cultural reporting, entertainment, historical reference, and news reporting/analysis. Also, as an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases. Now that you know, have fun looking around!
