Dearly departed and dehydrated: Mug-O-Lunch

Who knew you could have sooo much fun and tastiness in a mug?

Mug-O-Lunch tasted kind of like the Kraft Easy Mac and operated on the same principal: add boiling water to salty powder and macaroni that would never get fully tender, wait a few minutes, and your lunch is in the mug. Sounds kind of silly now that we live in the age of prepared food and instant everything, but this felt inventive and exciting at the time.

Here's a newspaper ad that promises three flavors: Macaroni and Cheese, Spaghetti, and Beef Noodle. I seem to remember a Chicken Noodle one available at some point as well.

My brother and I had to talk Mom into buying these; she would say they were too expensive and that she'd be happy to make us a sandwich. She was a stay-at-home mom, and she probably would have made us anything we wanted from scratch. But of course, we wanted the dehydrated salty crap in a mug.