Thursday, August 7, 2008

SNACK AND A HALF

so get this. i'm going on a few weeks ago about this ice cream treat that i used to eat as a little turd face. i used to eat a couple a week. they were called snack and a half. motha fuckin ice cream surrounded by two oatmeal cookies covered in god damn chocolate. shit was gooooood. so i google it to see if they are still around. nothing. not even a picture from the 80's. they pretty much vanished off the face of the earth. so i do some researching. and by research i mean i typed in oatmeal cookie and ice cream into google. then i discovered that there is some brand in san francisco called "it's it" that pretty much makes exactly what i wanted. i kind of forgot about the whole thing for a while until i found myself in SF two weeks later. i was like "oh shit, it's it!!!, it's it!!!!!!" and i ran up into a corner store and picked one up and gobbled it down. oh man, IT WAS IT. i'm gonna say it again. ice cream surrounded by oateal cookies, and not just any oatmeal cookies, oatmeal cookies that your grandma made. yeah she personally made that shit. then your other grandma made the chocolate. crazy right? yeah shits gooooood.



45 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hey, i was just googling snack and a half myself and came across your site. The funny thing is i moved to Toronto about five years ago and about three years ago I came across a vegetable market in China Town that had Snack and a Half's in their freezer. I looked on the wrapped and noted that they were produced in Ontario. Anyway some time passed and i decided to go to China Town again to get me one and the store had changed ownership and no longer sold them. :( But hopefully this clue will help you in your quest to find them and if I do, I will keep you posted.

Anonymous said...

LOL snack and 1/2's are the shit. Just finished eating a home made one. Cant beat the real deal though !!

Anonymous said...

just finished one, Frosty Friends Ice Cream out of St. John's NL under the popsicle brand, I got mine at Needs here. So Goood!

Anonymous said...

I have located 2 stores in western canada that carry snack and a halfs,one is co-op gas station in yorkton saskatchewan, not always in stock, and the flying J truck truck stop in cremona Alberta, they are being made under the popsicle brand but they are very hard to find I can't even find them on the popsicle website.

Anonymous said...

I am the Dairy/Frozen Manager at Sobeys in Medicine Hat, Alberta and I get them through Ice Cream Depot (Edmonton) They are listed as a Scotsburn novelty item

Anonymous said...

i just bought some ice cream sandwiches by Chapman's that are exactly like the old school snack and a 1/2's, but in fancier adult packaging. i found them at loblaw's in toronto. they are in a green box.

Anonymous said...

I can't believe it! I thought I was the only person who remembered the Snack and a Half because I keep asking people and convenience stores but no one knows what I am talking about butI googled it (thinking, this is a waste of time, so obscure) but lo and behold, there are other kindred souls looking for it too! Thanks for the tip on Chapman's. I am also looking for the Good Humour Strawberry Shortcake ice cream (on a stick) and Lola (a triangular ice thing) in Toronto - anyone remember those?

ethan v said...

I love the intertubewebs. I am going to SF in a few weeks, will look for its it.

Anonymous said...

I was just sitting here at my desk eating my Chapman's Snack and a Half (they call it Oatmeal Cookies and Chocolate - it tastes the exact same), and was wondering if Snack and a Half's still existed, or if they were taken over by Chapman's. I didn't get a good answer, but I did find your site. I bought mine in a box of 6 from Loblaws for $7.99.
FYI:
http://chapmans.ca/productsNew.aspx?cat=Collection

Anonymous said...

the other night I had a craving for a snack and a 1/2, I had no idea where to find one since I havent had one in at least 10 years..well thanks to my fellow Torontonians who told be Chapman's are now making them.. I actually found the Chapman version of the snack and a half (which are just as heavenly) at Fortino's for $6.29 for a box of 6..OHHH and they were soooooo yummy, best treat of the summer by far this year.. Thanks Guys!!!

Anonymous said...

This a rad thread, my buddy and I were just talking about snack and a half's in the brutal heat at lunch this afternoon. Well more or less I was telling him about how amazing they were, and we was pretty jealous that he hadn't experienced such a treat back in the day. Does anyone know where a guy can find a similar product out here on the West coast (of Canada)?

Anonymous said...

Does anyone know where a guy can find a similar product out here on the West coast (of Canada)?

Try Sobeys. They carry the Chapmans product.

Anonymous said...

Whenever we go up to The Pas, MB we make sure we stop at Michael's Gas Station or The gas station in Wanless, MB to get our fix. They are made by popsicle. Man are they good. We buy a bunch & then put them in the freezer to have throughout the week at the lake :-)
They are my husband's favorite snack.

Anonymous said...

seeeeriously this is awesome ive been dyyying for one of those for years im sooo excited im going to make it my personal mission this summer to find them mmmmmmm. anyone remember a bar called Canadia mint??? thats another one i just cant find anymore not even on web.

Anonymous said...

Is this the greatest blog ever about the greatest snack ever? Confirmed.

On the basis of this miracle of intenet soapboxing, and the comments contained below, I was able to locate the chapman's collection product. In a further bit of serendipity, I happened to be in a lineup at a random Needs convenience store, and followed the same process I have followed for roughly ten years, looking into the ice cream freezer in the vain hopes of finding the delicious treat. Except this time, IT WAS THERE!! That's right, the original, popsicle-brand "Snack and a Half" in the old yellow wrapper.

Now, I know this may offend some classic sensibilities, but I have to tell you in all honesty : CHAPMANS HAS MADE THE SNACK AND A HALF EVEN BETTER. That's right, after having the luxury to compare the two products, CHAPMAN's has reinvented and refined that product we all know and love.
Rediscovering the snack and a half is like rediscovering your soul, your essence -- it also involves the discovery of copious amounts of additional body fat. Happy snacking!!

Anonymous said...

Does anyone remember an all-chocolate version of the Snack and a Half? It had chocolate cookies (not oatmeal) and chocolate ice cream (not vanilla). I vividly remember buying them 2 at a time after delivering newspapers on hot summer days, but that might have been an alternate fantasy world that never really existed.

Dave Toxik said...

They are delicious, and called "Snack and Half". No "a" in the Popsicle version at least.

Dave Toxik said...

Oh, and there is a SNack & Half group on Facebook!

No Foreign Lands said...

So exciting! I have been looking for Snack 1/2 everywhere...I used to love them, and they disappeared. In my hunt, I found the Chapmans version. I like them, but they have a distinct cinnamon flavour that doesn't jive with me--not because it's bad, but because it isn't like the original!

Anonymous said...

I just bought a box of them (Snack and Half)from the Ice Cream Depot in Edmonton. With the plain yellow wrapper and there just as delicious as I remember them from years ago.

thaMANSTA said...

Any idea where I can get these in Vancouver?

Jordan said...

Foothils creamery in calgary distributes these, the real deal.. I have a box now. i think they have a branch in kelowna as well.

Anonymous said...

Does anyone know where we can get these wonderful ice cream sandwiches in or around Winnipeg?

Anonymous said...

okay so i was talking about these with a friend last week. you can still buy them in nova scotia - amazing!

Anonymous said...

Thank you thank you thank you!! This has been a decade long mission for me! How could they stop mass distributing such an AMAZING ice-cream? I can't wait to check Sobey's!

Anonymous said...

I have found them and it's all thanks to this blog! I wrote a little story about it on my blog if you're interested in reading. My blog is about marketing in every day life so I have tied it into that, but you may relate to the story all the same...

http://jennifersteiner.wordpress.com/

Scott Simpson said...

Same story, same experience.

Wife blew up with excitement when we found them in late August in a Scotsburn freezer at the Needs in Middleton, NS.

Since found them again at Recardo's outside Tantallon, NS.

Good stuff. Weren't they in a foil wrapper, say, 25-30 years ago?

Sarah said...

Oh my goodness !!!! I have been talking about snack 1/2 for years, and everyone, except my patens, look at me like I'm an idiot making up some fantasy ice cream snack. I can't seem to locate them in Winnipeg anywhere. For a brief time they sold them near Grand Beach, MB, but that was short lived since then I havn't been able to find them. I didn't even know is was Popscile that had carried them. I will have to keep my eyes open for the Chapmans version. Someone else mentioned Canadian mint bars those were amazing too. Why do they have to get rid of all the yummy treats?

Anonymous said...

My soulmates!!! I thought I was the only one missing them...

Anonymous said...

Thanks for all the info! The Snack and a Half is truly the best icecream ever. Can't wait to check out Chapmans brand and The Ice Cream Depot in Edmonton. They should really make this ice cream treat more readily available. Maybe if they new how much in demand these things really are, we would see them in more places.

Sarah L. said...

I found them again! At the general store at Spuce Sands, Manitoba. I forgot how amazing they truly are. They are a unileaver product,distributed by scotsburn co-operative St. Johns, NL.

Anonymous said...

I'm joining the weird anonymous people who have been commenting on this entry since 2008... I used to have Snack and 1/2 all the time as a kid too,in rural Quebec. Then I didn't have any for years. I moved to Montreal 8 years ago and around the third year found a convenience store near my apartment at the time that carried them. Since then i've moved around this city a bunch but usually stayed in the same neighborhood. I think the last time i had a snack and a 1/2 at that store was probably two years ago or so. I might check them out soon an dsee if they still carry them. It's winter right now but i know they usually keep their stock from the summer in their freezer. Anyway, since this blog entry is now used as a way for snack and 1/2 lovers to find out where they can still get their favorite treat, if anyone lives in Montreal, try the convenience store on the corner of Duluth and Saint-Andre. They might still carry them. At least in the summer. It is tragic that snack and 1.2 have almost ceased to exist.

Anonymous said...

Check out Chapman's Ice Cream Cookies. I was thinking of the snack and a half today lol. I saw this in a Sobeys and said...omg...gotta try. It was JUST like I remember them 10 - 15 years ago.

Weird how they indeed seemed to have dissapeared in Canada. Same with the Milky Way bar they used to have here.

Anonymous said...

http://www.chapmans.ca/productsNew.aspx?cat=Collection

Not the brand name snack and a half but it might as well be! Damn it was good!

Anonymous said...

I have found the REAL Snack&Half in Sussex New Brunswick. At a Kwik-Way on St.George Street. just had one 30 mins ago...it was Awesome!!!!!

Anonymous said...

Found them in a little shop called Yellow Submarine in Wabamun, Alberta, a summer village of about 600 people 40 minutes west of Edmonton on Wabamun Lake.

Ive been looking in the ice cream coolers of every store ive stepped inside for the last 18 years and finally found them this weekend!!!

I took a half-assed look inside not expecting to find them, and entered a dreamlike state upon seeing them!

Anonymous said...

October 6, 2012 - the search of every ice cream freezer finally ended :) The grin on my face was huge when I saw the bright yellow package with Snack & Half written on it. Keremeous, BC at Mariposa fruit stand of all places. SO HAPPY!!! The flood of childhood memories was fantastic. Turns out they are made in St. John's, Newfoundland or at least distributed from there. www.scotsburn.com is the website on the package. Looked for the product there but couldn't find it. Worth an e-mail to the company though :) So excited!!

Anonymous said...

Hey was just looking up my favourite youthful dessert, my grandparents used to sell them at their cornerstore. Anyways i am from BC and I remember them coming in a kind of silver package not yellow. I remember, becuase the packaging was so plain that my five year old logic thought it wasn't as yummy as the brightly coloured packaged inferior novelties. Anyways I will stop gushing, bu does anyone else remember them in the silver packaging? I don't think I ever saw them in yellow packaging, I wonder if it was a local or regional difference? Or did they chane their packaging later in the eighties?

Anonymous said...

I do! Canadian mint and snack and a half were my two favs as a child and wish I knew where to get something close to either in BC, Canada! I just watched a how's its made show and they made Chapmans ice cream oatmeal sandwich and see on here someone said its just like the old snack and a half. id be stoked to find that here!

Anonymous said...

Hey there's a place in Edmonton that sells both the original Scotsburn Snack and a Half, and the Chapman's Oatmeal Cookie sandwich - it's the Ice Cream Depot :)

Unknown said...

I just bought 2 boxes from No Frills in Vancouver on Denman St. $6 for 12 - 90gram .
I'm thrilled that I found this blog telling me to look for Chapmans.
Thank you Crunchator - from the bottom of my 54% fat heart.
I too have been looking for these a long time.

Unknown said...

Well it is 2016 and I'm from ontario and really really really want a snack and a half....anyone know where I can find one

Unknown said...

Well it is 2016 and I'm from ontario and really really really want a snack and a half....anyone know where I can find one

Unknown said...

Scotburn calls it Super Snack
http://www.scotsburn.com/page/branded_products/category/single_serve_novelties/product_line/sandwiches/product/0_63124_03014_8/

Unknown said...

Hey there i also thought i was the only guy on the planet that had this horrible craving for my old munchies at truck stops or gas stations just for you all know it the original snack 'n' a half ice cream sandwich in the same yellow plastic packaging that i remember,and yes i also big time miss the Canadian mint ice cream bar on a stick i will be in search for those this summer in Keremeous, BC.if it is true i am going to be so relieved.i also used to go to seven eleven back in the 80's till late 90's and they used to make microwavable cheese burgers or just hamburgers you could add your own fixings and cheese from the nacho machine as well.I used to buy them all the time i don't know if they just stopped making them to crush me to this day or if there was something in them that was harming people i guess i will never really know.Thank you all for all your help finding out how to find out how to find the real deal snack 'n' a half and the Chapman's oatmeal cookie ice cream sandwich's 6 in a box.Now let the quest begin for me.And good luck to the rest of you i hope you find that certain taste or craving that you remembered from child hood like i did as well.