Reduce, Reuse, Recycle!

As weird as it sounds, I love vintage food packaging!

Shoutout to one of my best childhood friends, Katie, who shares this odd interest with me! A couple of years ago, we picked a movie from the 1990s or early 2000s to watch every weekend - just as something fun to look forward to each week. I was living in Minnesota and she was here in PA, so we would text about all the nostalgic things we noticed while watching the movies. Our favorite thing to point out was any old-style food and beverage packaging. The scene in Romy and Michele’s High School reunion where they are binging on junk food was heaven for us! I specifically love the Doritos bag in that movie!

While doing my field experience this past semester (Spring 2026) at Northminster Presbyterian Church, I surprisingly came across some amazing old food packaging! Previous church members had resourcefully stored copies of church newsletters in cereal boxes! What a treasure trove!! I was so excited and nerded out about it to anyone who would listen! I loved the Frosted Flakes box, especially, because it had a coupon for a free hot fudge sundae from Dairy Queen on the back. Sadly, it expired on May 31, 1986. Does anyone recognize the Halfsies cereal? I had not heard of it!

Unfortunately, storing newsletters in cereal boxes is not an approved archival method, haha! We ordered some clamshell boxes to fit the contents as they are much better suited for document preservation. However, there is good news about the cereal boxes! The Pastor also thought they were really cool and requested to keep them in the storage closet where I initially found them. Love that!