For the fun, let’s leave out the serious answers…don’t say insulin or antihistamines.
For me…. if Duluth Trading Company ever dropped the ball-room jean… I would have to move to a tropical island where I can just wear shorts all year, because I cannot wear regular jeans anymore. As a man with fat thighs, regular jeans can vary from mildly uncomfortable to “ouch.”
Please don’t go away ball-room jeans.
I’m already most of the way there with microwave turntables. They have a limited lifespan, and every time I try to replace one it gets harder to find on line. (Forget brick-and-mortar stores!) Apparently microwaves today have their carousels built in, so a turntable like I use is a niche item. Can I help it if my microwave dates back to the mid 80s, when they were accessories ?
President Johnson, is that you?
ETA: @Nyvaak: Color me mystified such a consumer item even exists. From what planet do you hail, good Sir/Madam?
If they un-invented wine my life would be much impoverished.
Cleveland Ballpark Mustard. Oh, sure, I could switch to some other brand, but no other is nearly as good. That stuff is God’s gift to sausages, and good on anything else mustard is good on.
Dean’s french onion dip. It’s been my favorite chip dip since I was a teenager. Nothing else is quite like it. I honestly prefer it over the french onion dips that use real sour cream (Dean’s is mostly skim milk, whey, and palm oil).
Walmart’s NoBoundaries ribbed tank tops.
They sell them year round.
I always get black; have quite a lot. $3 each.
Years ago, under doctor’s advice, I started eating a high fiber diet and Kellogg’s Frosted Mini-wheats was a staple of my breakfast diet. Then, discovering I was pre-diabetic, it was suggested that I avoid foods with added sugar which kicked Frosted Mini-wheats to the curb. Grape-Nuts have no added sugar, Fiber-One has no added sugar and each by themselves I really don’t like. But mix them together (1/2 box Fiber-One, whole box of Grape-nuts), YUMM!
During Covid there was an occasional shortage of each cereal so I would need to eat each of the by themselves, not enjoyable.
As a precaution against this happening again, I have 3 boxes of Fiber-One and 6 boxes of Grape-Nuts in my cupboard. If they discontinued either one I would be good for about 6 months, then I would be screwed.
I was curious enough to go googling, and immediately found a short Reddit thread that had one person asking about an aftermarket microwave turntable, several other people wondering if they are real, and another person saying they were real but haven’t been able to find any in stock for a long time.
So apparently they are or were a real thing, but are rare and obscure at this point.
Well, yeah !
Otherwise you have to open up the microwave and give the plate (or whatever) a quarter turn every 20 seconds or so to avoid heating one spot to boiling while another spot stays cold.
If the item is fairly large, that means quite a length of time standing near the microwave, drumming my fingers on the counter.
Dunno about being screwed, but I’d be very unhappy if the main things I wear below the waist were discontinued:
Especially in the case of the underwear and the socks, I’d searched for years for brands and styles which fit me well and felt comfortable. And, in the case of the jeans, Levi’s are the only brand I’ve worn for over 30 years.
In all those cases, I’m sure that I could find something else, but then I’d be starting over on looking for something that fits well.
I’ve been concerned that Baggies-type disposable food storage bags (the ones you seal with included twist-ties) might disappear from the market. They’re getting hard to find at supermarkets, having been largely replaced by plastic bags with zipper closures or snap tops.
It’s not so much that they’re more convenient for storing food. I use the Baggies-type to cover pots containing plant cuttings, to hold in humidity. The other kinds are too thick/can’t be easily sealed when used for that purpose.
I’ve stocked up on generic Baggies bought online; hopefully it’s a lifetime supply.
Skechers Relaxed Fit shoes. As someone with apparently really wide feet, even most other brands supposedly “wide fit” shoes aren’t quite wide enough. Skechers Relaxed Fit are the only shoes I’ve found that feel truly comfortable on my feet.
This is very specific to my particular situation, and it’s not about something being “discontinued” so much as becoming practically unavailable, but—
I intensely dislike scented personal products. I don’t like perfume on other people, and I don’t want to walk around in a cloud of it myself. When I lived in the US, I used exclusively unscented deodorant, unscented laundry detergent, unscented shampoo, and so on. My wife has the same preference.
However, when we moved to Europe, we discovered to our dismay that unscented deodorant simply is not a thing here. You go to the personal-product aisle at our equivalent of Walgreen’s, and every single men’s deodorant is labeled with cool blast, sport, ocean, or some other scent. The women’s section has the same sporty perfumes plus some floral type options. In the other product categories, we’ve found local choices, like “sensitive” laundry detergent or tea-light candles with no perfume added, but when it comes to deodorant, there’s apparently zero local demand for a mainstream unscented product.
You can get unscented European deodorants, but they’re the hippy-dippy variety, they’re sold only at dedicated drugstores, and they’re expensive as shit. They also don’t really work.
So after some hunting, we discovered a couple of online options for ordering imported American personal-care products in bulk, as well as a couple of alternatives produced in the UK. We also stopped buying men’s and women’s varieties, since they’re essentially the same product anyway, especially when you remove the aromatic element. That approach served us reasonably well for several years; we’d buy a half-year’s supply of deodorant at a time and stash the box in the garage. But then Trump started his stupid trade war, and while the tariffs primarily go the other way, supply chains and prices started to wobble and suffer.
We made a huge order several months ago, and now have three full cases of deodorant, probably two years’ supply, sitting in the garage. If the long-term situation doesn’t improve and we end up running out, we’re not sure what we’ll do.
I have a similar issue, except it’s been a long time since I’ve been able to find much in the way of unscented anything and it really frustrates me. I’m apparently sensitive to something used in most artificial scents, because to me nearly all such products smell harshly “chemical”, like some kind of industrial cleaner. And outright give me a burning sensation if it’s too strong.
But at this point the most I can do is put up with it.
What about your basic green Speed Stick deodorant? Is that still too odorous for you? Because that’s the one thing I couldn’t live without.
One that is discontinued, and that I would really hate if mine stopped working because I couldn’t replace it: the Sunbeam Hot Shot. It’s the quickest, easiest way to boil a cup or two of water.
Regular scent != no scent.
Wow. Blast from the past. When I got hooked up with my first wife ~40 years ago (!) she had an old Hot Shot. Which she’d had since college ~10 years previously. I’d never seen nor heard of it, but they’re just the thing for making tea or instant soup. It eventually died and we easily bought a new one. This was probably 1992.
Of course by then microwave ovens were ubiquitous, and the new one turned out to live in the cupboard a lot more than on the counter.
If your Hot Shot ever dies …
I don’t know your living arrangements but if you own your residence and intend to stay there a few more years and can spend a couple hundred on a toy, consider an instant hot water dispenser. I’ve put them in every residence I’ve owned since about 1995. I live in a rental now and this is probably the household device I miss most. The only thing faster than a Hot Shot is this thing; it’s always at ~190F.
Here’s one example among many:
For a fraction of the cost, and ideal for making tea or instant soup…I give you…a kettle!