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'90s kids ate these 12 classic foods every week. They're affordable and still available.

Millennials lived for Old El Paso taco kit night

90s, 80s, 90s kids, millennials, kids, family, growing up, food, dinner, nutrition, meals, nostalgia, culture, frugal
S fabien Peters/Flickr & Monica Gabriele/Flickr

12 delicious frugal dishes most Millennials ate every week in the 90s.

There's a lot of pressure on people, especially parents looking to feed young children, to cook impressive meals at home.

We're bombarded with messaging about the dangers of pre-packaged foods, high sugar content, preservatives, food dyes, and heavily encouraged to do things like prep our own baby food and make Mac and Cheese with sweet potatoes, butternut squash, and little bits of shredded spinach hidden inside for good measure.

The problem is, many of us are too busy, burnt out, and worried about the budget to meet the culinary ideal every single night. Luckily, there was a time not that long ago when people were also busy and pinching pennies, and back then, there was way less guilt about just whipping up something cheap and easy at home even if it had a few too many preservatives in it.

That time was the 1990s.

Here are a few affordable and delicious '90s grocery store staples that most millennials grew up eating several times per week. Better yet, all of these nostalgic favorites are still available at your local grocery store.

1. Totino's Pizza

90s, 80s, 90s kids, millennials, kids, family, growing up, food, dinner, nutrition, meals, nostalgia, culture Totino's frozen pizzaMike Mozart/Flickr

Every household in the '90s and early 2000s had a preferred budget-friendly pizza. In my house, it was Totino's, which we often rotated with Elio's, which was somehow even cheaper. We'd stock up whenever there was a 10/$10 deal or something similar.

These personal pan pies weren't the greatest pizza on Earth, but in some unexplainable way, they tasted the way childhood should taste.

One user wrote on Reddit, "They are so nostalgic for me because my grandma used to stockpile them in her freezer. Sometimes I would come visit and she would pop one in the oven for me ... whenever I miss her or have a bad day, I buy one and bake it. I then somehow feel a little bit better."

2. Bagel Bites

Speaking of pizza, any good '80s or '90s kid worth their salt knows this little diddy like the back of their hands: "Pizza in the morning. Pizza in the evening. Pizza at supper time. When pizza is on a bagel, you can have pizza anytime."

Whether you frequently bought Bagel Bites or made them at home with a cheap pack of bagels, red sauce, and a sprinkle of mozzarella cheese, pizza on a bagel was certainly having a moment in the '90s. It was a pretty inexpensive and delicious snack for us kids back then, and while they've gotten a little pricier, you can still find Bagel Bites in any freezer aisle.

90s, 80s, 90s kids, millennials, kids, family, growing up, food, dinner, nutrition, meals, nostalgia, culture Bagel BitesMike Mozart/Flickr

3. Shake 'N Bake

Chicken breast was, relatively, quite a bit more affordable in the '90s. It's also filling and full of protein and other vital nutrients, making it a great way to feed a family of four.

However, dressing that chicken breast up is and always has been a pain. In the '90s, struggling parents figured out complicated marinades were a waste of time when you could just sprinkle Shake 'N Bake on that breast and have an instant main course. Even better, you could switch up the flavor of your Shake a couple times per week and keep the party rolling.

We didn't ask questions back then about what "Artificially Flavored Coating Mix" meant, and we liked it that way.

90s, 80s, 90s kids, millennials, kids, family, growing up, food, dinner, nutrition, meals, nostalgia, culture Shake 'N BakeMike Mozart/Flickr

4. Tuna/Hamburger Helper

The '80s and '90s were the era of the casserole. Middle-class families with lots of mouths to feed figured out you could take plain noodles and really beef them up with a creamy soup sauce and simple protein—and then you could chuck whatever vegetables you had laying around into it for good measure.

Tuna Helper, then, was an amazing and affordable way to turn a can of dry (but very high in protein) tuna into a meal for the whole family. If you could get your hands on some ground beef, Hamburger Helper was just as good.

One Redditor wrote, "Oh hamburger helper was a ... staple growing up. My mom was a single mom working at Walmart w 3 kids, it was cheap, easy, and fed all of us. I'm 26 and I still love it. The cheesy ranch burger w a piece of buttered bread is an absolute chefs kiss"

90s, 80s, 90s kids, millennials, kids, family, growing up, food, dinner, nutrition, meals, nostalgia, culture Tuna HelperAllen/Flickr

5. Rice-A-Roni

You know what made a great side for a dish of Shake 'N Bake chicken? Rice.

You know what was the easiest and yummiest rice you could get your hands on in the '90s? That's right, The San Francisco treat itself: Rice-A-Roni.

Not only was it yummy, but the marketing for Rice-A-Roni was incredibly effective. The commercials and jingle were extremely stubborn ear worms that you simply could not get out of your head.


- YouTube www.youtube.com

6. Kid Cuisine frozen dinners

Millennial kids got incredibly excited any time it was going to be a "TV dinner" kind of night. When mom and dad just didn't have anything in the tank and you knew you were going to sit on the couch, watch Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy!, and, of course, eat a Kid Cuisine.

The food inside was definitely of questionable quality, but the meals were colorful and usually came with a brownie so that was all it took to get the '90s kids on board.

"Aw man I loved [Kid Cuisine]! Grew up in the 90s, had those several times a week for dinner. Flintstones vitamins are the only reason I didn’t die of malnutrition," a Reddit user wrote.

These, like everything else on the list, still exist today!

90s, 80s, 90s kids, millennials, kids, family, growing up, food, dinner, nutrition, meals, nostalgia, culture Kid CuisineWordshore/Flickr

7. Lunchables

Lunchables need no introduction. Invented in 1988, they instantaneously became every millennial kid's dream lunch.

In the beginning, there was only the humble turkey and cheese. The pizza Lunchable wasn't invented until the mid '90s. These are still an amazing lunch option for parents who get overwhelmed by meal prepping and want to press the Easy button once or twice a week.

90s, 80s, 90s kids, millennials, kids, family, growing up, food, dinner, nutrition, meals, nostalgia, culture Lunchables pizzaBy Jake Przespo/Flickr

8. Taco Kit

You knew you were in for a special night when your parents came home with the Old El Paso "taco night in a box" kit.

It was simply a box that came with some tortillas, seasoning, and sauce—you had to prepare your own meat and toppings for the tacos—but it felt like an event.

Popular foods in the '90s just made things easy. You didn't have to make sure you had fresh tortillas, figure out how to make taco seasoning, realize you were out of chili powder, and then realize the jar of salsa in your fridge had gotten moldy. You just grabbed a box of Old El Paso and some cheap ground beef and you had dinner for the whole family 30 minutes later.

Sometimes, modern parents need that kind of energy in our lives.

90s, 80s, 90s kids, millennials, kids, family, growing up, food, dinner, nutrition, meals, nostalgia, culture Old El Paso tacosEugene Peretz/Flickr

9. Chef Boyardee

We should really have a conversation about the decline in popularity of canned food. Sure, canned foods are highly processed and a little high in sodium and other preservatives, but they were an amazing Easy button hack for parents in the '80s and '90s raising millennial kids.

Spaghetti night was never easier than when you still had a couple of cans of Chef Boyardee floating around in the pantry. They lasted forever and were absolutely delicious. Is homemade spaghetti with lean-protein meatballs and whole wheat pasta better and healthier? Probably. But, again, people in the '90s really valued occasionally just being able to take a night off from actually cooking in the name of mental health.

90s, 80s, 90s kids, millennials, kids, family, growing up, food, dinner, nutrition, meals, nostalgia, culture Chef BoyardeeMike Mozart/Flickr

10. Stouffer's frozen lasagna

Families in the '90s put a Stouffer's frozen lasagna out on the table and treated it as though someone had whipped it up from scratch.

Stouffer's was cheap, lasted forever in the freezer, and lowkey tasted better than most homemade cooking. That's what made it a legendary millennial staple.

"Raised a family on Stouffers, as a working, single Mom," wrote a user on Reddit.

"You can serve that stuff in a restaurant, and people would be happy. I don’t understand why it’s so good, but, it is," added another.

90s, 80s, 90s kids, millennials, kids, family, growing up, food, dinner, nutrition, meals, nostalgia, culture Stouffer's frozen lasagnaK. Latham/Flickr

11. Kraft Mac & Cheese

Kraft is the GOAT, and kids have known this for decades. No matter what else comes along, no matter how much cheese and butter you put into your made-with-love homemade macaroni, nothing can dethrone Kraft in the eyes of an eight-year-old.

You need a little milk and butter to whip it up, but a box of Kraft macaroni will only cost a dollar or two most of the time, making it one of the all-time greatest, most affordable ways to feed multiple kids. That's why millennials still have a soft spot for the stuff.

90s, 80s, 90s kids, millennials, kids, family, growing up, food, dinner, nutrition, meals, nostalgia, culture Kraft Mac & CheeseMonica Gabriele/Flickr

12. Toaster Strudels

"It's like a Pop Tart, but tastes better!" That's a line to an iconic and memorable Toaster Strudel commercial from 1997.

- YouTube www.youtube.com

The '90s were a time of many great breakfast conveniences like Pop Tarts, Eggos, and all different kinds of sugary cereals. But nothing was more '90s than Toaster Strudels. Somehow they were quick and easy but also felt gourmet. They were relatively affordable for middle-class families but also felt like a luxury. Truly, the perfect millennial food.

Toaster Strudels are still around, fortunately, but some watchful shoppers say they're smaller than the original.

Millennials grew up in a simpler food time. The healthy-eating craze was beginning, but our culture also prioritized quick and easy options for families on a tight budget.

Today, even low-quality fast food is way too expensive. Taking the whole family to McDonald's, for example, is supposed to be an exercise in sacrificing a little health and nutrition to get a cheap and easy meal. Now even that's out of reach for a lot of families.

But a lot of the staple foods that kept middle-class families going in the '90s are still out there. Fresh, homemade, and unprocessed meals are always great when you have the time and resources to whip them up, but occasionally working in a Tuna Helper or Chef Boyardee night can help take a lot of mental load off our plates.

It's also a fun nostalgic trip down memory lane. So is this POV of someone walking around a grocery store in 1996:

- YouTube www.youtube.com

A simpler time, indeed!

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8th grader's award-winning experiment finally reveals if a dog's mouth is cleaner than a human's

You've heard the myth. Now read the science.

dog experiments, dog tongue cleaner than humans, experiments by kids, cool science, dogs, fun science, experiments, science
Photo credit: Canva

A young teen boy holding a beagle.

Dogs come in a wide variety of breeds, along with their own unique personalities and needs. They can be guardians, helpful workers, loyal friends, snuggly companions, but there's one thing almost all dogs have in common: Licking.

Sure, some dogs lick way more than others, but it's rare to find a dog who never licks anyone or anything. Many dogs communicate and show affection by licking, which is sweet—if a little gross—depending on how slobbery they are. There's a common saying that dogs' mouths are cleaner than humans', which is a bit hard to believe when you see what some dogs put in their mouths, but it is true?

What does science say about dog tongues and saliva? Is a dog licking our face something we should worry about?


dog experiments, dog tongue cleaner than humans, experiments by kids, cool science, dogs, fun science, experiments, science A man being licked by a golden retreiver. Photo credit: Canva

It turns out, the answer to whether a dog's mouth is cleaner than ours isn't super straightforward.

An 8th grader named Abby tackled this question in a science experiment that won her a Young Naturalists Award from the American Museum of Natural History in 2011. Her family had gotten a dog and her mom kept telling her not to let the dog lick her face because dog mouths are full of bacteria. Instead of arguing, Abby decided to find out herself if this was true.

"I hypothesized that human tongues would be cleaner than dog tongues," she wrote. "I thought this because humans brush their teeth at least once a day. I hypothesized that dogs' tongues would be dirty because they were always licking dirty things like garbage."

After diving into the research about bacteria that live in and on humans and dogs, Abby decided she had a testable hypothesis. But this wasn't any old middle school science experiment. She applied for and got a grant to the State Hygienic Lab at the University of Iowa, where she was assigned a mentor to work with her.

You can read the nitty-gritty details of her experiment here, but it involved a lab, swabs, agar plates, and more. Here was the conclusion:

dog experiments, dog tongue cleaner than humans, experiments by kids, cool science, dogs, fun science, experiments, science A dog's tongue close-up. Photo credit: Canva

"I concluded that dog and human mouth flora are very different. (Flora means the bacteria found in a mouth or anywhere else.) The bacteria found in human mouths are more similar to another human's oral bacteria than the bacteria found in a dog's mouth.

"I also concluded that dogs' mouths are cleaner than humans' in some ways, and dirtier in other ways. Humans have more bacteria in their mouths than dogs do, based on the total number of bacteria. Most of the humans had a 'moderate' number of bacteria, and most of the dogs had 'few' bacteria. A possible explanation of this might be that dogs pant a lot, and maybe while panting, bacteria falls off their tongues along with their saliva. But dogs had more types of bacteria. The average number of different bacterial colonies in a dog's mouth was about 5.7. The average number of different bacterial colonies in a human's mouth was about 4.1. I think this is so because dogs sniff and lick a variety of things, like carpets, floors, chairs, grass, etc., so they pick up bacteria from many places."

But what about the licking of our faces? That's a bit of a subjective call, but Abby's results gave her some peace of mind:

"In conclusion, will I let my dog continue to lick me? The answer to the question is yes!" she wrote. "I will feel guiltless about letting my dog lick me because I found out that human and dog oral bacteria are different, so my dog's oral bacteria present no harm to me."

What do the experts say?

According to Colin Harvey, professor at the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Veterinary Medicine and executive secretary at the American Veterinary Dental College, comparing dogs' mouths to humans' mouth is "like comparing apples to oranges." As Abby found, the microbes in a dog's mouth are very different than those in a human's.

The American Kennel Club elaborates:

"Most of the bacteria in your dog’s mouth aren’t zoonotic, which means you probably won’t get a disease from a big old doggy kiss. There are exceptions to this. Dogs that eat a raw diet are at an increased risk of contracting salmonella, which can be spread to humans. You also probably shouldn’t share kisses with a dog that regularly raids the litter box.

In other words, kissing your dog is less risky than kissing another human, but that doesn’t mean that your dog’s mouth is necessarily cleaner than a human’s—they just have a mostly incompatible set of germs."

Keeping your dog's mouth healthy through regular teeth cleaning and dental check-ups can also help prevent issues that could potentially come from dog licks.

dog experiments, dog tongue cleaner than humans, experiments by kids, cool science, dogs, fun science, experiments, science A golden retreiver getting their teeth brushed. Photo credit: Canva

So there you have it. If your dog doesn't eat a raw diet and doesn't go snacking in the cat box (or some other equally fecal-bacteria-ridden place), their kisses are probably not going to hurt you. Guilt-free pooch smooches for the win!

This article originally appeared last year.

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Sleuths debunk 5 supposedly healthy things that are actually terrible ideas

"Detoxes / cleanses are great for clearing out your wallet."

healthy food; healthy options; unhealthy food; fasting; juicing; supplements
Photo credit: Canva

Sleuths debunk 5 supposedly healthy things that are actually terrible. 5 things to do instead.

A lot of people reach for convenient items advertised as healthy when they're short on time. The rise of health and fitness influencers has also contributed to the proliferation of confusing information about what is considered healthy, and what actually is. It's no wonder people sometimes make unhealthy choices, believing they're doing right by their body.

Some people took it upon themselves to parse out the gimmicks from the multi-million dollar health and fitness industry. Their revelations may surprise you. If you've fallen for the hype of an item or product that turned out to be a dud, it's not your fault. Some things are heavily marketed as healthy, while others are things we've grown up believing were healthy. In a world that can feel oversaturated with information, it can be difficult to have time to research everything.

Suddenly, everyone's drinking green juice or swearing by a new protein bar. Since the bars promise to taste like raw cookie dough without the risk of salmonella, you throw a few boxes in your grocery cart, hoping for the best. After all, it claims to provide all of the vitamins for the day, and you don't have time to cook.

healthy food; healthy options; unhealthy food; fasting; juicing; supplements Homemade granola bars with chocolate chips – perfect for a delicious snack!Photo credit: Canva

Instead of wondering, here are some things people think are healthy, but actually aren't, and what you can replace them with instead:

1. Cereal, granola, and protein bars

Cereal bars are quick to grab when you're running late. The same goes for granola and protein bars. Some people even use them as a meal replacement, but they're not as healthy as people like to believe. If you flip over the package, you'll be met with a high sugar content and very little actual protein in many cases. One person in the Ask Reddit thread is aghast, "We all need to be taught how to read nutrition labels. I was and am still absolutely shocked by the amount of sugar and sodium that are in most packaged foods, throw serving size in there, and it's totally bananas."

Try this instead:

If the goal is to make a healthier morning selection while still packing in a little extra protein, eating whole fruits with a side of peanut butter will fill you up. Whole vegetables, cheese cubes, or mixed nuts are also easy to grab but are full of needed vitamins and healthy fats, minus the high sugar content. Good RX reminds people, "Eggs aren’t just a morning treat. Make a batch of hard-boiled eggs to have on hand as a high-protein snack. One hard-boiled egg contains over 6 g of protein."

healthy food; healthy options; unhealthy food; fasting; juicing; supplements Refresh with a healthy green juice boost.Photo credit: Canva

2. Detoxes

There's a detox for everything. One person shares in a Reddit thread about things people think are healthy, but aren't, because detoxes don't work in the area you're expecting. They write, "Detoxes / cleanses are great for clearing out your wallet." According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), some detoxes contain laxatives that may cause acute diarrhea, which can lead to dehydration and malabsorption. The organization also explains that, "Some juices used in 'detoxes' and 'cleanses' that haven’t been pasteurized or treated in other ways to kill harmful bacteria can make people sick." Others may result in kidney stones for some users due to the high amount of oxalate found in leafy green foods, often used for green detox juices.

Try this instead:

Instead of taking your chances on a detoxing cleanse, Alix Leestma, RDN, CSOWM, senior dietitian at MultiCare Center for Weight Loss & Wellness, tells MultiCare Vitals that staying properly hydrated and eating a balanced diet will allow your body to detox properly. People's liver and kidneys are designed to detox your body naturally. “When dehydrated, our blood is more concentrated," Leestma says, "But when adequately hydrated, you’ll have the same amount of toxins in the blood but in smaller concentrations, which is easier on the kidneys to filter through.”

healthy food; healthy options; unhealthy food; fasting; juicing; supplements Making fresh orange juice in the kitchen. 🍊Photo credit: Canva

3. Juicing/fasting

Juicing is a way people are fasting while still feeling like they're getting in their nutrients. One person voiced concerns that juicing alone wasn't effective in maintaining the nutrients of the fruit, so it's best to eat the whole fruit. Northwestern University recently did a study exploring the effects of juicing. The results were surprising.

"The juice-only group showed the most significant increase in bacteria associated with inflammation and gut permeability, while the plant-based whole food group saw more favorable microbial changes. The juice plus food group had some bacterial shifts but less severe than the juice-only group. These findings suggest that juicing without fiber may disrupt the microbiome, potentially leading to long-term health consequences," Northwestern writes. Senior author Dr. Melinda Ring, director of the Osher Center for Integrative Health at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and a Northwestern Medicine physician, says, “Most people think of juicing as a healthy cleanse, but this study offers a reality check."

Try this instead:

“If you love juicing, consider blending instead to keep the fiber intact, or pair juices with whole foods to balance the impact on your microbiome,” Ring explains. You can also eat the fruit whole to ensure you're getting the fiber needed if blending it doesn't sound as appetizing as juicing.

healthy food; healthy options; unhealthy food; fasting; juicing; supplements Be careful with supplements.Photo credit: Canva

4. High doses of supplements

There's a supplement for everything, and some people take as many as they can in an effort to fill in the gaps of their diet. But excess supplements can cause issues, one person reveals: "I got a kidney stone this way. Wasn't fun." According to Healthline, water-soluble vitamins are more benign, even when taken in higher doses, because the excess is excreted in the urine. Fat-soluble vitamins found in some supplements can cause dangerous toxicity levels that cause irreversible damage.

Katie Mohan, a 57-year-old woman, was close to needing a liver transplant after beginning a regimen of a turmeric supplement. A report of an increase in liver damage due to supplement use on NBC prompted her to seek medical care. She was hospitalized for six days. Dr. Dina Halegoua-De Marzio, a hepatologist at Jefferson Health in Philadelphia, tells NBC, “Natural does not mean safe. When you cook with turmeric, that could be really safe. But some of the supplements now are 2,000 mg-plus, which is a very high dose of turmeric." According to the World Health Organization, a daily dose should be no more than 0-3mg per kilogram (2.2 pounds) of body weight. Which means, even a man weighing 200 pounds should only take less than 300mg of turmeric a day.

Try this instead:

Get the appropriate nutrients through a balanced diet and stick to one multivitamin daily, instead of several different supplements. Adding more nutrient-dense foods can also aid in boosting the vitamins you're hoping to make up for with supplements, according to the Navy and Marine Corps Public Health Center.

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Woman says we are 'severely underreacting' to octopuses, then proves she's not wrong

"However impressed or fascinated you are by octopuses, it's honestly probably not enough."

octopus, octopuses, wildlife, ocean life, marine life
Photo credit: Canva

Octopuses are just wildly interesting creatures.

What creatures have eight legs, nine brains, and dozens of fun and fascinating facts about them? Octopuses, of course. (Wait, is octopuses or octopi? Octopodes, perhaps?)

However interesting we think our suction-cupped, cephalopodic friends are, we're probably selling them short. That's the contention of Sarah, a comedic content creator on TikTok who's been sharing everything she's learned about octopuses, because they're far more bizarre than we might think.

"However impressed or fascinated you are by octopuses, it's honestly probably not enough," she says. "We are severely underreacting to octopuses collectively."

Once you see her video, it's clear she's not wrong.

@sarahmakesmelaugh

Octopuses are fascinating and I DO want to hold a tiny guy if possible just putting that out in to the universe 😬🐙#creatorsearchinsights #octopus #weirdanimals #animalfacts #didyouknow

With a hilariously understated sense of humor, Sarah shares facts like the idea that octopuses don't have tentacles, as many of us have been led to believe, but arms instead. Tentacles have suckers only at the end, while an octopus's arms have them from top to bottom.

"They decorate their front yards with shells and other shiny things they find in the ocean," Sarah says, adding, "I wonder if they judge other octopuses for how they decorate their front yard. Like, is there an octopus HOA?"

Sarah points out that The Beatles' song "Octopus's Garden" was inspired by this delightful fact.

Many of us know that octopuses are smart, but we may not know that they have a brain in each arm in addition to the brain in their heads, which is shaped like a donut. They can solve mazes and complete tricky tasks. And if their beak can fit through a hole, so can their whole body.

"So a fully grown giant Pacific octopus, which can literally be 30 feet long, can fit through a hole the size of a lemon," says Sarah. "And I don't care for that, particularly. I would never say that to an octopus's face because, evidently, they can recognize us, which I find unsettling. Note to self: Do not be mean to an octopus."

Because each arm has its own brain, it can operate independently, complete with its own sensory system.

Octopus, octopus arms, ocean life, marine life, octopus brains Each of those arms has its own brain?Photo credit: Canva

"I feel like they're smarter than us," Sarah says. "Are we confident they're not smarter than us? For instance, they will prank their prey. You know the joke where like old men will tap you on one shoulder, but surprise, they're at the other shoulder? Octopus do that. If they're hunting a shrimp, they'll tap it on the faraway shoulder so the shrimp runs directly into them. Like, 'gotcha!' I don't want octopus to do gotcha."

On a positive note, Sarah shows some examples of exquisitely colorful octopuses, though some of the most "fancy and beautiful" ones are also highly venomous.

That may have been the end of Sarah's video, but she wasn't finished. There's a part two that features blanket octopuses, the female superheroes of the sea. And that's not even the wildest part:

@sarahmakesmelaugh

Replying to @LalainID did yall know about the blanket octopus and didn’t tell me? Except those of you who did thank you 😂 #octopus #animalfacts #science #learnontiktok #learnwithme


A male blanket octopus is basically an inch tall and the female can grow to over six feet. The males can fit inside the pupil of the female's eye. What?! Basically, their only job is to produce sperm, which just raises way too many questions.

Sarah also talks about the mimic octopus, which she calls "the Jafar of the ocean" because it's basically a sorcerer (and one of them genuinely looks like Jafar from Aladdin).

That wasn't all. Even after the second video, she still wasn't done. Part three was every bit as fascinating, terrifying, wonderful, and chuckle-worthy as the first two (and also slightly NSFW in the most PG way possible):

@sarahmakesmelaugh

More Octopus species, this could go on forever y’all 😂 #octopus #weirdanimals #learnwithme #funfacts #creatorsearchinsights

The blob octopus? Who even knew? The eighth-arm situation is too much. Sarah was 100% right. We are, collectively, not reacting to octopuses nearly as strongly as we should be.

You can follow Sarah (@SarahMakesMeLaugh) on TikTok.

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A grainy 1991 QVC infomercial 'starring' two terrifying porcelain dolls is triggering the best reactions

Did anyone actually buy these?

90s, Gen X, QVC, Hello Dolly, vintage dolls, porcelain dolls
Photo Credit: QVC, @80svintagevisions, Instagram

Two porcelain dolls being sold on QVC in 1991.

One of the most wonderful attributes of a QVC host is their ability to sell the heck out of anything. In 1991, this was the job of one such woman tasked with selling two porcelain dolls from the “Hello Dolly” collection by Albert E. Price. (A few online sleuths pegged her as Judy Crowell, though Upworthy spoke with her and she didn't recall.)

Whoever she was, this was quite a feat as these weren’t just any dolls. They were wide-eyed, cleft-chinned little siblings named Jaime and Jason. And they were certainly unique. Described as 16 inches and porcelain, the “brother/sister team” were selling for $50 each. (On screen, there’s a note that they retailed at $82 apiece.)

A clip of the set being hawked on QVC is making the rounds on social media, and it has many people genuinely intrigued. In the @Totally80sroom clip, we see two almost puppet-looking dolls, a boy and a girl, each clad in overalls with golden blonde hair. Jason is wearing a red hat, while Jaime has white bows in her hair. But it’s their expressions that truly stand out: both might be described by some as “frightened-looking” thanks to their intense, unique stares.

The camera zooms in on Jaime, who seems as if she’s side-eyeing the host with a tiny tear in one eye. The host asks, “Do they remind you of your two little ones? Or do they remind you of you and your brother when you were this age? Up to no good! Being put on restriction!”

She then laughs and tells a delightful story from her childhood. “Who was it… Jeff said to me, ‘Restriction? Who gets put on restriction? You get grounded!’” She lets out a hearty laugh. “Well, I was put on restriction! In first grade. And I remember my restriction was I couldn’t leave my own front yard. So I used to go up to the border. My border, where the grass—our grass—met the neighbor’s grass, and stand right on the edge. And say, ‘Nope! I can’t come over! I’m on restriction.’ So by the time the spanking was over, and all the sadness is gone from your eyes, then it became kind of a game.”

She pauses as if she's just remembering that she has a job to do. “And that’s probably what will happen to these two too. Fifty dollars for Jaime. And fifty dollars for Jason. It is your choice of porcelain dolls from Hello Dolly.”

dolls, clowns, porcelain, QVC, vintage dolls A white porcelain doll with a tear stain. Photo by Monique Layzell on Unsplash

The comments are fabulous. One points out the obvious. “They’re cute until you wake up in the middle of the night because of a noise and they’re sitting there staring at you!” Another has a similar thought. “They’ve looked like they’ve seen some stuff they weren’t supposed to.”

This person focuses on the excellent professionalism of the QVC host: “This hostess deserves an Academy Award for filling time talking about those horrendous dolls.”

These wouldn’t be the first dolls to raise some eyebrows. If TV and movies were an indication of the toys that kids had back in the '80s and '90s, it would seem we were all surrounded by clowns and Chucky dolls. While yes, we did have a few such things, they became more of a symbol of fear in media than in real life.

In a piece for Collider, feature writer Jenna Rae Isley discusses the 1982 Spielberg-written classic Poltergeist, in which a child’s toy clown becomes a nightmare for the audience. “In reality, a clown doll is just a clown doll. But in our imaginations and in Poltergeist, a clown doll is a sinister, watchful force, lurking ominously in the corner of our rooms, keeping us perpetually on edge until it ultimately makes its move.”

The very scary clown scene from the film Poltergeist. www.youtube.com, Moyer Movies

But according to research conducted by Scientific American staff, there are actual reasons that people across many cultures are afraid of clowns. After sending out a questionnaire with various clown-based scenarios, more people answered that they had coulrophobia due to ‘negative portrayals of clowns in popular culture’ rather than actual ‘frightening experiences with clowns.’” In other words, movie makers and artists determined them to be scary…and so they became scary. (Though according to the same research, some are truly afraid of the unsettling makeup, even that of Ronald McDonald.)

It’s worth noting that most people, at least according to this survey, are afraid of clowns because they’re masked. “In fact, the strongest factor we identified was hidden emotional signals, suggesting that for many people, a fear of clowns stems from not being able to see their facial expressions due to their make-up. We cannot see their ‘true’ faces and therefore cannot understand their emotional intent.”

To that point, Jaime and Jason do not seem to be hiding their true intent. They just seem scared…perhaps because they saw a clown.

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Guy finds long-forgotten album in a thrift shop, reunites the band, and is sharing their music with the world

The damaged vinyl record was first released 58-years-ago

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Photo credit: Marcus Pollard on Facebook

Marcus Pollard is reviving a 77-year-old warehouse worker's lost rock music.

In the 1960s, Norman Roth and his band, The Glass Cage, were Canadian indie rockers who played small local shows and built enough of a following to land gigs in bigger cities. When Roth was 18, the band recorded a live performance that was never officially released and was eventually lost after they broke up shortly afterward. Now, thanks to a four-dollar thrift store purchase, the band's music is reaching a wider audience—58 years later.

In 2016, veteran rock music promoter Marcus Pollard bought an unlabeled vinyl record at a thrift store on a whim, despite the album being physically damaged. He fell in love with the six songs recorded on it and spent the next two years trying to track down any band members connected to the record.

"I searched in vain for two years trying to get any clue as to who was on the record, but to no avail," Pollard wrote on Facebook. "Then, in a last ditch effort I posted a clip on the Canadian Artists Records Appreciation FB page and... I got a hit!"

Pollard eventually received a reply that read, "Hey, that's my record!" from Roth, now 77 and working as a warehouse manager. Roth was floored that his band's long-lost recording had resurfaced, and he was able to listen to songs he hadn't heard in more than 50 years.

- YouTube youtube.com

After reuniting Roth with his lost music, Pollard went a step further. After consulting with the other band members, he set out to bring The Glass Cage's music back to life after remaining dormant for generations. Pollard spent the next eight years using his industry connections and expertise to officially release the album. Working with a team of professionals, he refurbished the damaged record, digitally remastered the songs, designed elaborate packaging, and developed a booklet detailing the band's impact on the Vancouver indie rock scene of the 1960s before they broke up.

The finished vinyl album, titled Where Did the Sunshine Go?, is scheduled for release on February 24, 2026.

"I feel like everyone has done something in their life that was dismissed," Pollard told CTV News. "And I wanted them to feel like what they created was actually important."

While Roth and his former bandmates are excited about the album's release, they aren't trying to relive their youth or chase the rock star dreams they once had. They're just happy that others will now have access to their music and are enjoying the ride.

"I'm not looking for accolades or super stardom—that's long gone," Roth told CTV News. "It's just saying to the world, 'I was here.' And I hope they enjoy it."

If you'd like to hear Roth's music, you can stream tracks by The Glass Cage on Bandcamp and purchase the vinyl when it's released.

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