Snacks That Will Make You Feel Like a Kid Again

It is fair enough to say kids eat the weirdest things. From weird quirks all kids seem to do to full meals all kids have enjoyed at least once, everyone will recognize something from this list that will make them want to run to the store and be a kid again. Some are a little more conventional than others, but all of them will bring you right back to your childhood.   

Mac & cheese with hot dogs.

My mom would NEVER buy Kraft Mac & Cheese (heartbreaking, I know), but I had a friend who, whenever I went to her house, her mom always made us Mac & Cheese with hot dogs cut up in it and it made my day every time. The cherry on top of the classic kids’ Mac & Cheese with hot dog meal is the bowl, though; it was always served in one of those bowls that had a Disney cartoon picture on the bottom, so when you got to the bottom, you got to see what image you got. (You probably already knew, though, and fought for the Disney Princess bowl. Don’t even lie to yourself.)     

Ketchup on EVERYTHING.

Leave it to kids to ruin a good steak with ketchup. (I’m not going to lie, I did this up until about my junior year of high school so I can hardly even talk…)

Ants on a log.

I don’t trust anyone that makes ants on a log with raisins instead of chocolate chips, but you do you.

Pickle dogs.

As a kid, I never realized how painstakingly time-consuming it was to make pickle dogs. Now that I’m in college and I’m way too lazy to sit down and make a good pickle dog, I regret taking my mom’s pickle dogs for granted back home.

Fun fact: Some people call Pickle Dogs “Minnesota Sushi.”

Tortilla chips dipped in juice.

I swear every kids does this, and I really don’t know why other than the fact that it is just weirdly delicious. Any time I have juice and Tostitos tortilla chips at the same time, I always find myself dipping my chips into my juice still to this day. I thought it was just me, but I’ve met so many people that do the same thing!

Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

A classic!! If you were lucky, your mom maybe even cut the crust off for you too. I still love a good pb & j sandwich every now and then. Especially now that I’m in college, peanut butter is my main source of protein; it’s cheap and it lasts forever so it’s just a great snack or meal on the go!

Lunchables.

Please, PLEASE someone remind me again why I stopped eating Lunchables??? It was a full (ehhh, maybe not full but still delicious to kids that usually don’t get to eat nachos or tiny cold pizzas for lunch!!!!!) meal in a fun little tray. Nothing made me more excited than field trip days when I would open the fridge and see my mom had a Lunchable waiting for me.

Smiley-face fries.

If your elementary school cafeteria didn’t serve smiley-face french fries, I am so sorry. You had no childhood. Somehow putting faces on food makes it 100x more fun to eat, and smiley-face fries are a perfect example of that.

Frozen grapes.

Heck, as a kid, anything that’s not typically frozen but can be made frozen is a fun snack! Frozen grapes were always a fun summer treat, especially because they were so refreshing on a hot summer day. And when they melted, they were still just as good.

Cheerios mixed into yogurt.

I tried this again now that I’m in college and was sort of appalled I ever actually ate it as a kid. I think as a kid I just felt cool and inventive using yogurt instead of milk with my Cheerios, but now that I’m older it’s just weird. The texture was all off and I felt like I was just eating lumpy, crunchy yogurt – bleck.   

And finally, the best for last . . .

This is a personal favorite that my sister and I used to eat, and it would absolutely disgust our parents. It was so normal to us that we didn’t think to give it an awesome name, so I’ll just call it the Brandt Sister Sandwich (a.k.a. the best sandwich in the world). I think if I made myself one of these bad boys in college, all my childhood memories would come flooding back with just one bite; these sandwiches are magic.  

How to:

-Two slices of bread

-Cover one piece of bread with peanut butter

-Cover the other piece with mayonnaise

-Fill with lettuce and pickles

-Enjoy the oddly satisfying flavors of pickles, mayonnaise and peanut butter as they cover your tastebuds.

(You can thank me later for this recipe.)  

College is the time you can eat kids food and nobody can judge you because they’re probably wishing they had what you have. Never be ashamed to eat like a kid every once in a while, no matter how weird of a snack it is. Also – make sure to thank your parents for letting you eat the nastiest things and never judging you.  

• food
• Winona State University