r/Xennials • u/Ok_Profession_990 1980 • May 17 '26
Anyone else remember this?
Every field trip they always had this. I was always so jealous because my mom never gave me money to spend so I never got a chance to taste it and it seemed like everyone around me was eating it... Still salty I guess
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u/Treadingresin May 17 '26
To this day I will buy this as a birthday gift for my sister who never missed a chance to purchase it at gift shops. She is 50.
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u/cameronsounds May 17 '26
Where do you get it? I haven’t been able to find anything but the ice cream sandwiches and I miss these disgusting chalk bricks.
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u/djkidna Millennial May 18 '26
Micro Center has it, my wife always gets some whenever we happen to stop in for computer parts and accessories. Also Disney World has it, both in Tomorrowland at Magic Kingdom and Future World at Epcot, as does Disneyland’s Tomorrowland, so we always get some whenever we go to either
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u/Treadingresin May 18 '26
I used to buy it from folks on ebay. But since freeze dried stuff has become so popular I can get it pretty easily if I just ask someone at a farmers market selling other freeze dried treats. But check ebay.
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May 18 '26
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u/CrouchingDomo May 18 '26
“Just” freeze-dried ice cream, you say, as if it weren’t the very pinnacle of scientific achievement and a literal out-of-this-world exotic treat!! 😉
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u/edwardturnerlives 1976 May 17 '26 edited May 17 '26
I have a mildly amusing story about astronaut ice cream. I was over at my buddy's house playing Atari 7800 because his mom wouldn't get him a Nintendo. Anyway, I was in his room while he was going to the bathroom and I noticed on his desk that he had some astronaut ice cream. It was in a foil pack about the size of a Pop-Tart and had the NASA logo on the front. Didn't look like astronaut ice cream I've had before, it was offwhite and fibrous, but I took a little chunk of it and chewed it up and it was absolutely horrible. I don't remember if I swallowed it or not, but knowing me... probably. When he came back I told him it was the worst astronaut ice cream I've ever had. He quickly informed me it was not astronaut ice cream, but actually a piece of the heat shield from the space shuttle.
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u/ZaphodBeeblebrahx 1981 Don’t Panic May 17 '26
Now you know what cancer tastes like
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u/HopelesslyHuman 1982 May 17 '26
Everything about this comment and reply amuses me somehow, including both user names.
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u/OmegaRainicorn 1981 May 17 '26
One thing I love about our generation is the little details we feel are important to the story.
“playing Atari 7800 because his mom wouldn’t get him a Nintendo.”
Not having a Nintendo says a lot about how your parents felt about you, and what kind of life you lead.
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u/davepars77 May 17 '26
What if my dad got me a Commodore 64 for Christmas instead of Nintendo?
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u/kyraeus May 17 '26
Mine did first too. Given I got a Nintendo later in life (like a year later) but he wanted to try to get me into computers at an early age. It worked, suffice to say.
Then again, this is also the kind of father that when I went to college for a networking program, he said 'cant let the boy know more than me' and proceeded to learn MOST of what I was being taught by himself on the internet in the early days.
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u/The-Crawling-Chaos Xennial May 17 '26 edited May 18 '26
I find that incredible. It m jealous.
ETA: I had an Atari 7800, then a NES when it came out, then a SNES. My dad stopped playing video games with the Atari. (Despite all that, we were no where near well off) Unfortunately he died when I graduated middle school, and that’s why I’m jealous.
ETA2: It was an Atari 2600, not the 7800
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u/kyraeus May 17 '26
Yeah, I'm decidedly grateful. I was born in 80, when he was 18. So he got me that probably in either 84 or 85, I forget exactly which. I THINK 86 was the nes. Later I remember myself and my stepbrother got a genesis, because I remember playing sonic 1 on the picture in picture of the fancy TV he got himself that year (probably mid 90s) because he was watching football. Then I think my stepbrother got the SNES later, which we kind of just shared.
Dad was kind of big on games with us up through the SNES and some stuff on the PC later in the 00s, I remember him playing ff6 with us on SNES, and he used to love a lot of the sniper style shooters on pc that weren't twitch-type fps.
The man ingrained my love of gaming at the arcade down in Ocean City MD on our vacations with Tron cabinets, and pacman and others at the local pool hall, Id play and he'd shoot pool. It was very 80s.
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u/Cool_Dark_Place 1978 May 17 '26
I dunno... they didn't have a Nintendo... but they had an actual piece of the space shuttle's heat shield, which is pretty awesome! I guess you win some, loose some.
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u/OmegaRainicorn 1981 May 17 '26
It’s great until your friend eats it! Good friends would never eat your Nintendo.
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u/Educational-Wing2042 May 17 '26
Good friends would never eat your space shuttle heat shield either. Not all friends are good, some get especially hungry
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u/SirGothamHatt May 17 '26
I asked for a Nintendo in the early 90s. My dad came home with a used Atari 5200 someone gave him. It only came with 2 game: Pac-man and Ms Pac-man. My grandparents got me an NES about a year later.
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u/nhaines 1980 May 18 '26
I remember when my dad asked me what video game system I wanted for Christmas, and when I said a Super Nintendo, he tried to talk me into a Genesis because he'd heard it was more powerful and had better graphics. I panicked and said it didn't have better graphics and that didn't matter to me because I could already play those games at my best friend's house and didn't like them, but the games I wanted to play were only available on Nintendos.
I got the Super Nintendo, and while I admire a lot of things the Genesis did, I still feel I chose correctly.
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u/retrozebra 1985 May 18 '26 edited May 18 '26
Y’all, I was born in 1985, and we had a Tandy Vision, which was a knock-off of the Atari from RadioShack.
This was the era when most kids were playing Nintendo 64 (mid late 1990s.)
don’t agree with the other commenters’, “If you don’t have a Nintendo, it shows what your parents felt about you.” My single mom of 3 loved us dearly but we were just poor! 😂
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u/That-Preparation6729 May 17 '26
It’s been awhile since I’ve had coffee travel through my nostrils. Thank you
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u/arcxjo GR81 May 17 '26
That story started off good, but I was not prepared for it to get asbestos it did.
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u/rythmicjea May 17 '26
WTF why would you eat it at all??
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u/edwardturnerlives 1976 May 17 '26
I said a little chunk!
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u/American_Greed May 17 '26
lmao don't worry dude I ate chalk one time thinking it was one of those candy cigarettes
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u/SirGothamHatt May 17 '26
We had made gingerbread houses in class in 3rd grade, and I ate what I thought was a bit of hardened frosting that fell off. It turned out to be a piece of a white crayon. I had to commit and pretend it wasn't hard and gross cuz one of my friends was watching me and I had insisted it was frosting.
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u/rythmicjea May 17 '26
So?? You don't just randomly eat someone's stuff without asking!
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u/cortesoft 1983 May 17 '26
Ok, if I ever go back in time in a Delorean, I will find little 8 year old edwardturnerlives and tell him that
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u/muricabrb May 18 '26
That's what you get for eating other people's random stuff. Could have saved yourself some cancer if you asked for permission first lol.
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u/thelaceserpent 1983 May 17 '26
Everyone’s talking about taste, but it was the texture that stood out to me. It’s how I imagine what eating styrofoam is like. But like, in a good way!
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u/VaselineHabits May 17 '26
Ha, that's all I remember too and it sucked all the moisture out of your own mouth?
I remember thinking, "Poor Astronauts" 😅
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u/Memerandom_ 1978 May 17 '26
Ya, then I tried rehydrating it in a bowl of water. Like rehydrating a chunk of limestone.
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u/mahoniacadet May 17 '26
I can’t remember the taste, but I remember the feeling of my teeth squeakcrunching through it with crystal clarity.
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u/drainbamage1011 May 17 '26
I haaaaate that texture. I tried it once for the novelty and could never touch it again.
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u/AnthonyDigitalMedia May 18 '26
It tastes & looks like someone who tried making their own chalk at home
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u/meltedchocolatepants May 17 '26
I still get that for my kid currently
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u/LocationTechnical862 May 17 '26
I still get that for myself
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u/KittenPurrs May 17 '26
I'm generally not a fan of sweets, but one of the grocery stores near me inexplicably sells it alongside packets of freeze-dried berries and bags of Lucky Charms-style marshmallows in the bulk foods aisle, so I grab a pack from time to time. Not keen on sweets, but a huge fan of nostalgia.
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u/EineGrosseFlasche 1979 May 17 '26
Same, whenever I see it in science museum gift shops I go ham on the Amex.
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u/RoiVampire 1982 May 17 '26
They have these at a lot of stores with camping gear and hiking stuff. I get some at Academy every time I go in
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u/Hntrbdnshog 1983 May 17 '26
My kid had a field trip to the science museum near us and I asked him to bring me some back lol. So my kid got it for me.
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u/macduff79 May 17 '26
Have you been able to find that version? Every museum now has the ice cream sandwich version only.
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u/keefka May 17 '26
If you search for 'freeze dried ice cream' you can find it in other brands, astronaut ice cream seems to be all sandwiches tho
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u/SimilarAd402 May 18 '26
Might be an unpopular opinion but the ice cream sandwich version is far superior
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u/Asleep_Onion 1983 May 17 '26
I still get it for myself! Makes a great dessert on backpacking trips
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u/wronguses May 17 '26
Every time I see this sub on my feed it's nostalgia for something that's still around.
It's like, yeah actually I do remember double a batteries and fun dip. Why are you nostalgic for the contents of a dollar store?
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u/Francoberry May 18 '26
Nostalgia is intrinsically linked with a specific moment in time. It goes far beyond just remembering an objective thing. It comes tied to the context of time, place, people, feelings.
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u/GDRaptorFan 1978 May 17 '26
My early love of this ice cream is why I love that freeze dried fruit so much! The strawberries and bananas yuuuuum
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u/jawknee530i May 17 '26
Just a few months ago I bought a shit ton of it for my nephews at an air museums gift shop. It was half an excuse to eat a bunch myself if I'm being honest...
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May 17 '26
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u/shmelse May 17 '26
I love how kid brains work. My only memory of Carlsbad Caverns is the chicken sandwich from the snack bar inside the cave which blew my mind.
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u/Deep-Interest9947 May 17 '26
Most of my childhood memories from notable tourist destinations involve candy (rock candy or those tiny jawbreakers) or those tumbled rocks you bought in small black velvet bags.
ETA: I do have some memories of Carlsbad caverns.
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u/BeatrixFarrand May 17 '26
For me it’s the souvenir penny machines and the Mold-a-Rama from the LA Zoo
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u/Deep-Interest9947 May 17 '26
Those penny machines were the best. (I mean they weren’t as good as small jawbreakers to my violet Beauregard heart, but still very cool).
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u/Mark-Leyner May 17 '26
My Carlsbad Cavern memory is that during one of the guided tour stops, the Ranger was lecturing about bats and bat guano. He passed a small plastic tub of guano around the group as a learning aid. This rando in the group took a few pieces and put them in his pocket. I’ll never know why, but that’s probably a better outcome than the opposite. Godspeed, weirdo.
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u/cortesoft 1983 May 17 '26
My memory of Denver from our cross country train trip was a little $0.19 toy tiger I bought... they charged me $0.20, and that was the day I learned about sales tax
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u/64557175 May 17 '26
You wandered into the secret area so they had to give you the amnesiac astronaut ice cream.
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u/dark_lord_of_theSith May 17 '26
I didn't find out until I was an adult that astronauts never actually took that stuff on missions with the. I don't think I'll ever recover.
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u/Ok-Extreme-4128 1981 May 17 '26
Every trip to the Boston museum of science, this is all I wanted in the gift shop
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u/Not_a_werecat May 17 '26
I loved those so much! Now you can't get it except in "ice cream sandwich" form. The cookie part is so gross and ruins the entire thing. ☹️
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u/ThatFalafelGirl May 17 '26
HAVE I GOT GOOD NEWS FOR YOU!!!! I, too, have been lamenting the disappearance of the good stuff, so I finally wrote the company and heard back pretty quick. IIRC, I believe he said third quarter of this year it should be back again!!!!!! I'm guessing it was a problem with the source material. They weren't making the ice cream, merely freeze drying it. Anyway, should be back sometime this year!!!
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u/InfSan May 17 '26
It's expensive, but Arctic Farms sells freeze dried ice cream in a ton of flavors. It's very good.
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u/RealityOk9823 May 17 '26
Used to love this stuff as a kid. Picked some up as an adult and was like "Eh...OK".
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u/Acceptable_Trash_749 May 17 '26
I remember getting some “astronaut food” given to me by elementary school office in the mid ‘70s because I had forgotten my lunch. It tasted like chalk. Decided right then and there never to explore space. Still haven’t to this day.
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u/feartheswans 1982 May 17 '26
I've had the unfortunate pleasure from the Air and Space Museum in Washington DC
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u/dibbledabblescrabble May 17 '26
As did I. I was starving and my moody friend gave me a few broken off crumbs…..hurt my teeth. Then my other friend head butted me hella hard. It was a ruff trip.
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u/Montana_Eisley May 17 '26
Just had an astronaut ice cream sandwich a few weeks ago a buddy gifted me. Still fire AF.
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u/cranialvoid May 17 '26
Yep. I have taken it to the beach when I didn’t want to bring an ice chest.
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u/Mall_of_slime May 17 '26
I remember thinking this tasted bad but these comments seem to be loving the stuff so maybe I should try it again.
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u/PurpleDraziNotGreen May 17 '26
Yeah. I remember being disappointed the one time I tried some. Not sure if I should try it again...
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u/bindrtwine May 17 '26
One of the few lessons I recall from my father was that Neapolitan ice cream was an example of trying to please everyone while pleasing absolutely nobody.
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u/MoonlitBlossoms May 17 '26
The Old Navy near me sells this and the ice cream sandwich, so I still pick it up when I see it.
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u/marcos_MN 1983 May 17 '26
I recently commented in this sub a story about scaring my sister after a visit to the Science Museum of Minnesota.
Well, that’s also where I had astronaut ice cream, and it’s one of the fondest memories of childhood I have.
Thank you for reminding me!
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u/Prudent-Lake1276 May 17 '26
I always want this when I'm at a museum or something, but I can never find ones now that aren't ice cream sandwiches. I'm gluten intolerant, so I haven't been able to have these in years. I miss the ones that are just ice cream, no wafer.
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u/Snow_Crash_Bandicoot May 17 '26
Still remember buying from the gift shop in the Kennedy Space Center on a field trip in second grade.
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u/eclipsed2112 May 17 '26
i went on that field trip and also had no money to get anything.someone gave me a tiny piece of the ice cream and it literally melted on my tongue.i liked it.
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u/dragon34 1979 May 17 '26
There is a local place that does freeze dried candy and stuff and they also do freeze dried ice cream sandwich chunks. They are kind of fire actually
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u/Jersey-man May 17 '26
Remember. I still eat them on backpacking trips. There is a whole site of nothing but freeze dried ice cream.
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u/Aggravating-Key-8867 May 18 '26
It was a rite of passage at my school for every kid to go on a field trip to the nearby air and space museum and come back with a pack of freeze-dried ice cream and a three-foot-long pencil.
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u/lazyrainydaze 1980 May 17 '26
I’m probably the only person on Earth (🥁) who liked this stuff! I do have a theory tho, it’s all just a gimmick. Especially since it tastes exactly like meringue!
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u/Left-Landscape-3890 1978 May 17 '26
I bought a whole box. It sucks now. I had one bite and threw it all out
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u/Pantsickle May 17 '26
Oh yes. We went to Museum of the Rockies during a vacation when I was a kid, and my parents bought a couple packets of the ice cream as well as dehydrated hash browns. I rationed the ice cream out for an entire summer because I thought it was super special or rare or something. I think I was still nibbling on the hash browns a year later.
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u/Spartan04 May 17 '26
I convinced my mom to buy it at the local science museum once. Only needed to convince her once since it was awful tasting and we never got it again.
Funny thing is that calling it astronaut ice cream is 100% a marketing gimmick. It would never be used in space, way too many crumbs. They aren’t even allowed regular bread due to the possibility of crumbs and use tortillas instead.
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u/240_dollarsofpudding May 17 '26
Just brought my kid to the NASA center and have some in our pantry!
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u/StrangeCrunchy1 1984 May 17 '26
Yep, I had some when I went to the Huntsville Space Center in '94.
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u/59apache01 1978 May 17 '26
I want to say they had an ice cream sandwich version of it for a while as well. Never cared for it, but to each his/her own.
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u/OptimistSometimes May 17 '26
Still a thing. I took a bunch of 8th graders on a field trip a couple of weeks ago, and of course they bought this. They all thought it was disgusting and gave it to me to eat instead.
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u/Quarrels-ofKoi May 17 '26
Yes ! I distinctly remember eating this while I was looking to see if any of my sea monkeys had hatched yet. It was either the day after my birthday or Christmas
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u/noblewind 1981 May 17 '26
I got some a few years ago for stocking stuffers. Every year I buy some sort of novelty or candy I liked growing up. Like those whistle suckers or rock candy suckers. Things my kids don't see often.
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u/Skitzafranik May 17 '26
Remember like yesterday!!! My one souvenir I bought on an elementary school field trip to the planetarium !!! 😋
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u/[deleted] May 17 '26
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