Whether you’re stocking up on shelf-stable foods during the pandemic or you just want to have something on hand for the days you don’t feel like cooking, canned food is a pantry staple. Some canned options, like tuna or beans, can be included in healthy recipes. Others, like canned soup, are often loaded with sodium and preservatives.
And while it’s hard to imagine a grocery store without the canned-food aisle, not everything that comes in a tin has stood the test of time. Here are some of the most outrageous discontinued canned foods that have ever existed.
And for more, don’t miss these 15 Classic American Desserts That Deserve a Comeback.
Before Snack Packs came in plastic cups, lunchbox pudding cups were served in cans in the 1970s.
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This was a limited-edition flavor that came out in 2019. And while Pumpkin Spice Spam sounds pretty horrifying, it apparently sold out in a matter of hours!
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To be clear, you’ll still see Progresso’s canned soups at the store—there just won’t be as many options as there were before the pandemic. In July, Bloomberg reported that Progresso has cut 40 types of soup from its offerings. And while the full list of discontinued flavors isn’t available, it might include one of your favorites.
Chef Boyardee is still on store shelves, but the Smurfs version is a thing of the past.
Campbell’s discontinued this soup years ago, but you can still find plenty of recipes for Philadelphia pepper pot soup on food blogs. We love this pepper pot soup recipe from The Spruce Eats.
Canned mac and cheese may not sound appetizing to you. But in some circles, there’s serious nostalgia for this canned delicacy.
We have it on good authority that Trader Joe’s has discontinued several of its chili offerings, including the fan-favorite veggie chili. Fortunately, you can still get vegan chili cans from Amy’s Organic.
These snack crackers, released at the same time as Bugles in the 1960s, came in cans as well as in boxes (and yes, they were spelled Daisys and not Daisies). Shaped like flowers and train-conductor whistles, they didn’t stand the test of time, although Bugles are still around today.
You can still find Dinty Moore beef stew, but you’d be hard-pressed to find the meatball version of this canned Hormel classic.
For more, check out these 108 most popular sodas ranked by how toxic they are.