Little Debbie Raisin Creme Pies are one of my guilty pleasures. I’ve loved them since I was a little kid, but back then I picked the raisins off and either ate them separately or threw them away. Now I happily eat the entire thing, raisins and all, when I can get it.
Right around the time COVID-19 hit, though, I noticed the individual LDRCPs went missing from gas stations and convenience stores. The Little Debbie pop-ups in those stores still offered Zebra Cakes, and Nutty Bars, and Oatmeal Creme Pies, and other goodies, but the LDRCPs weren’t there any more.
I can find them still at grocery stores, in 12-count and 24-count boxes, so it doesn’t feel like it’s a supply-chain issue. I miss being able to get them when I fill up at a gas station.
Is this just a regional thing, or have LDRCPs disappeared from convenience stores across this great land of ours?
I’m not sure I’ve ever seen them where i am (Michigan). Not sure I’ve even seen them sold in boxes before.
Incidentally, I’ve always had Oatmeal Cream Pies and Zebra Cakes as my favorite LD snack cakes, but recently discovered the glories of the Peanut Butter Cream Pie. Dang, those things are tasty. Two big soft peanut butter cookies stuck together with creamy peanut butter.
Be on the lookout for Blue Bell ice cream with the OCP mixed in. It’s not available all the time and it might be regional. Be diligent, you won’t be disappointed.
I don’t remember Little Debbie’s at all from when I was a kid. I haven’t looked for them, so I don’t know if they’re around here (SoCal) now. Not something I usually go for.
Your area might have been inundated with Hostess snacks. Since my father was a career military officer, we shopped a lot at the base commissaries, which carry both LIttle Debbie’s and Hostess snacks.
Blain’s Farm & Fleet has them near me. But I don’t know if Mills Fleet Farm near me has them. Mills Fleet Farm does carry Little Debbie Peanut Butter Creme Pies, which I did not know was a thing. But then again, until this thread I didn’t know Raisin Creme Pies were a thing either.
Nutty Buddies used to be a kind of ice cream novelty. I think it was a cone filled with ice cream, topped with peanuts and caramel and sealed with a chocolate coating. I remember Nutty Bars in the 90’s because when I was working in a super market, an old stalked up to me and very belligerently demanded to know where the Nutty Bars were. I said there was one down on Lee Street but I wasn’t sure exactly where since I never went to nutty bars. The concept of humor confused and enraged him.
thanks for that link, I was just thinking how bad for me could it be eating an entire box, um I mean one, every now and then?
I can abstain, from your link:
TBHQ is added to the bars to protect the oils from going rancid and preserve color, but the substance has been sometimes linked to visual disturbances, liver enlargement, neurotoxic effects, convulsion, and paralysis.
So it sounds like Little Debbie Raisin Creme Pies ARE still being sold in convenience stores in some areas, just not in my neck of the woods (Birmingham, Alabama). Weird.
I’m guessing there’s some sort of regional distribution / sales metric in play, and LDRCPs didn’t sell well enough here to warrant keeping them on the shelves. Because, you know, us Alabamians are famous for our healthy eating habits.
I have no idea if convenience stores sell them because I visit them less than once a year, but grocery stores definitely do. I saw them in Shaws on Monday, in fact.
