Doo Dads Snack (History, Marketing & Pictures)

If you have always loved to eat cereal as a snack, you probably remember Doo Dads with fondness. This was a product that blurred the lines between the two categories of treat very well. Everyone who loves Chex Mix probably adored Doo Dads and wishes that they were still on the market. This was Nabisco’s original cereal/snack mix that is still remembered fondly by many.

Many people still feel that Chex Mix doesn’t hold a candle to Doo Dads, hence the shock that one item is still on the market and the other has not survived into the current snack marketplace. This was a really popular product in the 70s and 80s, but today there are many people who have never heard of this lovely snack mix. If you were unlucky enough to miss out on this delightful product, you probably should keep reading to learn some more about what Doo Dads were all about.

History

Nabisco made the Doo Dads product and sold it from the early 70s until the late 90s. The five components of this snack mix were toasted peanuts, pretzels, rice squares, wheat squares, and cheese Tid-Bit crackers. Tidbits were sold on their own as well, making this a great tie-in for those who loved these cheesy little snack crackers already. The brand was originally just offered with an “original” flavor, but later, there were additional flavors like Cheddar N’Herb that were added to the lineup.

The success of the original product was probably due to the fact that there were not many other competitors for this kind of product in the chip aisle at the time. The rise of the snack mix might in part be due to the delicious nature of the Doo Dad product itself, or maybe Doo Dads were just a bit ahead of their time. In either case, many young people and kids were huge fans of this product, and they were often family favorites for movie nights, holiday parties, and just general snacking.

The box itself was actually pretty large, which was probably a big hit with large families or teens prone to snacking. It is interesting to see the evolution of these kinds of products from the large box-style marketing plan to a much small bag that offers far less product for a lot more money. Snacking has changed greatly since the 70s, but there were some really charming things about this earlier era of snack products that many people are right to miss. 

Being able to get a lot of product for your dollar is one of these charming and delightful things that will likely never be a reality again. It is hard to imagine being given an entire large box of any snack product these days, and it is just as hard to envision that the bag inside will be full of snacks rather than half empty from the start. The thought of being able to feed a large group of people at a party with a single snack mix box or bag is almost silly in today’s snacking reality. 

Doo Dads were very successful for Nabisco until the late 90s when chip products and snack mixes suddenly became very popular. There were suddenly so many of these kinds of products on the market that the original Doo Dad variety of treat started to fall by the wayside. Those who love this kind of snack mix and were fervent fans of the Doo Dad will tell you that the current snack products that have since fleshed out the snacking aisle are nowhere near as good as Doo Dads are. There are so many varieties of these treats as well that they all sort of blur together into a vague lineup of similar flavors and textures.

Nabisco has been receiving letters and pleas from fans of the Doo Dad for years, begging for them to be allowed to make a comeback. While the company has never responded to these requests, fans continue to clamor for this lovely snack mix to come out of retirement again. It seems impossible that there is only room for one snack mix in the current market, but Nabisco has been deaf to the begging of ardent fans for years.

Perhaps part of the problem is that the yummy little Tid-Bit crackers are also no longer made by Nabisco and are not offered for sale in any snack market anywhere around the world. These were one of the components that everyone who loved this snack mix seemed to like the most about enjoying it. The reviews of the Tid-Bit crackers included in this snack mix seemed to indicate that these little cheesy crackers were better than any of the others that have been made before or since. 

There are many really popular products that have gone by the wayside over the years and so many fans who want them to be brought back to life. Doo Dads falls squarely on this list, but fans will likely never again get to enjoy this snack mix that they loved so much as kids and young adults. If you do want to try and make a copycat recipe, there are many of these suggestions floating around online. While this will never be exactly the same as the original product, you will probably get a glimpse into this fan favorite party snack when you make your own. Plus, this might be a fun family-bonding experience where you can show your kids what Doo Dads were all about!

Livery

Doo Dads were sold in boxes, and the overall presentation is actually a lot like a cereal product. These items are sold today in bags in most cases, which makes the box design really unusual with comparison to the current snacking market. The boxes were color-coded for their flavor, and the original was blue and white in later years of this product’s life. The original boxes were orange, brown, and white, but it appears that when other flavors entered the lineup, the colors of the livery changed entirely.

The Doo Dads box shows the product itself on the front, with pieces of the snack mix raining into a bowl from the top right. The simple lettering design is red and all in lowercase letters. There is not much else to see on the front of the box, and most of the information about the product is on the back.

The back of the box shows all of the different parts of the snack mix in pictures and describes what each item is. There is also mention of the flavors that combine to make the snack mix special. The original recipe is mentioned, which states that this part of the mix is zesty and flavorful. The other item that is mentioned is “zesty cheese” which talks about the cheesy and spicy flavors that are included in the snack mix. There might also be a blurb about the different varieties of this snack mix which might be two or three items depending upon the year that the product was made.

The sidebars of the box were used for an ingredients list on one side and then some suggestions about how to enjoy this treat on the other. Meals and snacks were both mentioned as ways to have fun eating this snack mix, and there were even pictures on most boxes to suggest ways to make snack time or meal times better with your Doo Dads treats.

The center of the back of the box usually also depicts some tea and a sandwich alongside a bowl of Doo Dads. The implication that this is more than a snack mix is clear in nearly all of the advertising information, but that was not uncommon for this period of time. Cereal and frozen food products were also being advertised as substitutions for meals, and you might also see candy bars advertising their products as meal substitutes. This has since gone by the wayside as an effort has been made to try and change the way that the US food supply is advertised to combat childhood obesity.

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Ingredients

This information is hard to come by since the product has long been off the shelves of stores and convenience outlets. There are many recipes that are floating around online to make your own Doo Dads, which use pretzel sticks, corn and rice Chex, peanuts, and some cheesy crackers of your choice. The recipes vary, but you might be given your own spiced butter recipe to use to make the blend, or you might be told to use a Chex Mix seasonings packet to complete your homemade copycat recipe.

For those who loved the Doo Dads product, this is probably like sacrilege, as the flavors will be nothing like the original product. None of these ingredients were added to the original mix, so you will probably be getting much closer to a modified Chex mix than anything that resembles Doo Dads.

Nutrition

Serving Size:	1 cup	% Daily Value*
Amount Per Serving
Calories	259
Calories from Fat	90
Total Fat	10.5g	16%
Saturated Fat	2g	10%
Trans Fat	0g
Cholesterol	0.6mg	0%
Sodium	724.5mg	30%
Potassium	157.9mg	5%
Total Carbohydrate	36.7g	12%
Dietary Fiber	3.9g	16%
Sugars	0g
Protein	5.9g	12%
Vitamin A		2%
Vitamin C		0%
Calcium		4%
Iron		8%
Thiamin		14%
Riboflavin		9%
Vitamin B6		6%
Folic Acid		10%
Niacin		15%
Magnesium		9%
Phosphorus		17%
Zinc		9%
Copper		9%
Pantothenic Acid		3%

• Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000-calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.

Pictures

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