Toys Found in Foods from the 90s

Hey guys. I was inspired by Ken’s post about Cool Toys from Cereal from the 70’s to the 00’s but then when I stopped to think about my childhood, I really couldn’t remember any real memorable toys that I got from the cereals Mom purchased growing up. Well- there is one – not a great toy, but one I can vividly remember. It was the Trix Rabbit and it was a color-changing spoon. The spoon changed to a different color when it hit the milk in the bowl. And the part not touched by the liquid would remain the same color.

But then I remembered – I actually got more free promotional items from foods that WEREN’T cereal. Yes, cereal is generally the item you think of (even still today) that includes some kind of toy or small fun item for children to help sell the cereal, but in my upbringing, I can remember several things from non-cereal items from the grocery store that either came free in the package, or, in some cases, you cut out and collected UPC’s on the item and mailed away for items that might have been advertised on the package itself. This was before the internet and social media, so you couldn’t just go and Google it to see more information about the free item, so listing the item on the product packaging was very important back then.

So, without further ado, I want to present a list of items that I have strong memories of receiving thanks to some kind of food that Mom brought home from the grocery store. I’ll start with my favorite and most nostalgic one first.

1) Kraft Singles Pop-Up Baseball Cards

These were so cool, and how clever of Kraft to slide these baseball cards right into 16 and 24 slice packs of American cheese. Now, I wasn’t the biggest baseball fan growing up, but these cards were cool to collect because they had a really neat feature of being pop-up cards. Included on these cards were a tab that when pulled out, revealed an almost 3-D like image of the player (See photo). I remember Mom bought American sliced cheese on nearly every weekly grocery store trip, and I was really into trying to collect the complete set. It looks like Kraft did these for a few years beginning in 1993. The 1995 versions are what I remember the most, and in my trading card box I could pull out many of these today. The pull-tab generally revealed player stats, like the back of most traditional sports cards. I thought that was the coolest feature. I wish the NFL and NBA would have gotten deals with Kraft because I would have been all over that promotion.

2) Jimmy Dean Sausage Baseball Cards

Similar to #1, I remember Mom would often buy frozen mini sausage biscuits for my sister and I to pop in the microwave when we were old enough to operate one, and in those frozen boxes I remember seeing a baseball card or two in the package – shrink-wrapped. I wasn’t a huge baseball fan, but I thought Jimmy Dean was cool to include them. They didn’t have the 3D Style like Kraft, but a solid memory from my childhood nonetheless.

3) Cheez-Doodles Pogs

Mom’s grocery store of choice was always BI-LO, which living in the southeast was a hugely popular chain of grocery stores (they have since gone out of business about 5 – 10 years ago). Often times, she would pick up a bag of knock off Cheetos called Cheez-Doodles (This brand, made by Wise, was probably a bit cheaper than the official Frito-Lay Brand Cheetos). The cheesy chips came in Puffs style, as well as crunchy cheese doodles. But I remember both bags came with special edition POGS that were wrapped in plastic, which was good since cheese dust would cover your hand with every reach in the bag.

In the mid-90s, these chips went all in on the POG craze at the time, and Mom and I were determined to collect the entire set. I have to admit though, when it came to the game of POG, after being excited about collecting and trading the many cool looking designs, I really never was interested in playing the actual game of POG. I treated POGS more like I did with trading cards – find them, collect them, trade them with friends – but when it came to playing the game, I can’t ever remember even playing.

4) Little Debbie / McKee Baking Hot Wheel Set & Rice Krispies Hot Wheel

Toy cars were always a good thing for a young kid to find in his cereal or snacks, and these two are ones that I snapped a photo of from my personal collection. The Little Debbie semi-truck was actually part of a 3 car set (the other two I didn’t find). If my memory serves me correctly, these didn’t come inside of Little Debbie Snack Cakes – instead I remember seeing a mail-away on the back of a box (Probably Swiss Roll Cakes or Nutty Bars) where you might have had to collect UPC’s and then send them in along with a form and probably a small shipping and handling fee to have them sent to you. My guess is that Mom did this for me and I reaped the benefits.

Similarly, I found the Rice Krispies Model-A Ford that probably came inside the actual box of Rice Krispies (Dad loves the cereal). As you can see, mine is missing the top that I believe you could lift up and down. It probably broke and now is lost, but by the looks of it, I must have played with mine quite a bit as some of the paint is chipped off.

5) Pepsi Stuff Clothing and Set of Sports Balls and Hacky Sacks

My last item that comes to mind when it comes to prizes or merchandise related to food was back probably in the late 90’s called “Pepsi Stuff.” I remember seeing commercials on TV about this promotion and our family was a Pepsi family – Mom drank Diet Pepsi pretty regularly, and we would often indulge in regular Pepsi, Dr. Pepper (at the time, I believe this was considered a Pepsi Product) and Mountain Dew. I think Pepsi at the time was trying new things to connect with a new generation (probably similar to what they and Coca-Cola had done in previous decades) and I guess the thinking at the time was “young people like free stuff”. So I think you would collect Pepsi Points on the labels of 12-pack cans, 2 Liter Bottle Caps, and perhaps even 20-ounce Bottle Caps and redeem them for “Pepsi Stuff.” I can distinctly remember getting a few tee-shirts, a denim hat, a pair of Pepsi shorts, two hacky-sacks, and a mesh bag containing a miniature football, basketball, and soccer ball – all with the Pepsi logo prominently displayed. I remember wearing the tee shirt often – perhaps not at school (I think I thought Pepsi clothing would get be ridiculed in middle school) but did wear it around the house and out doing yardwork with Mom and Dad.

I searched the web and found the Pepsi Stuff Catalog, which I know was the exact one we had to pick out the item Mom wanted to redeem her points on. As you can see, there were probably some high-point items that were also available that we didn’t get (a bike, beach chair, sunglasses etc.), but the cover of the catalog definitely gives off a young adult vibe to the people that Pepsi was trying to sell their beverage to. Probably the most 90’s thing in the catalog has to be the Pepsi Branded Phone Card! To my knowledge, I don’t know if Coca-Cola ever went this far with their merchandise.

Well, I’d love to hear your thoughts. What 90’s era food-related merchandise and prizes or promotions do you have fond memories of. Let us know in the comments or on our social media channels (Instagram/X).

-Chad