There’s not much to miss about school when it’s out of session for the summer. That is, unless you have a sweet tooth, which means no more morning cookies or midday ice cream bars at the cafeteria checkout. Whether they were pulled from a sub-zero freezer chest or tucked away in a crinkly lunchbox for later, these snacks were the true highlights of the school day.

From the distinctive wooden spoons we can still taste decades later to the pillowy crumb and sugary innards of an oatmeal creme pie, here are five nostalgic school lunch desserts that defined the cafeteria experience in the 2000s.

1. Strawberry Shortcake Bars
2. Cafeteria Cookies
3. Ice Cream Cups with Wooden Spoons
4. Frozen Juice Bars
5. Oatmeal Creme Pies

Strawberry Shortcake Bars

The hum of the cafeteria ice cream freezer acted as a siren call—much like the familiar tune of an ice cream truck—come lunchtime. There, you could find individual ice cream sundaes, ice cream sandwiches, and best of all, the iconic Good Humor ice cream bars. Even kids who were certified chocoholics found delight in the Strawberry Shortcake flavor—though you could typically find a Chocolate Éclair version, too.

But nothing compared to the crunchy, pink-and-white coating, so sweet and euphoric that it didn’t even matter when its crumbs inevitably sprayed across the lunch table with each bite. Each ice-cold bite led to a hot pink, strawberry-flavored core that paired perfectly with the vanilla ice cream surrounding it. It made the post-lunch stomachache—the inevitable result of combining Flamin’ Hot Cheetos with a Strawberry Shortcake bar—almost worth it.

Cafeteria Cookies

Nothing compares to the good old days—and no, we don’t mean championship football games or prom, but that second-period cafeteria cookie that was the difference between making it to lunchtime and getting an Unexcused Absence. Usually sold in a clear, crinkly wrapper or pulled fresh from a warming tray, these cookies were characterized by their perfectly chewy—sometimes slightly oily—consistency. There’s a good chance they were undercooked, but that’s what made them so mouthwateringly tasty—plus, all those preservatives had to have counted for some semblance of food safety, right?

Whether they were classic chocolate chip, double chocolate, or even sugar, they had an unmistakably sweet scent that permeated the entire lunchroom. They were the culinary blank canvas of the school day: sturdy enough to survive a backpack trek, but soft enough to be the perfect trade for a bag of chips—or the answers to that day’s math homework.

Ice Cream Cups with Wooden Spoons

These plastic-encased, wooden-spoon-adorned ice cream sundaes may very well have been the start of many students’ daily sweet treat addictions. Just light enough to sit comfortably in your stomach after a first and second course of rectangular pizza and popcorn chicken, these quintessential prepackaged ice cream cups were the perfect ending to any lunch period.

Most commonly available in vanilla with a chocolate swirl, the most memorable part wasn’t the smooth fudge or the crunchy ice crystals that formed in a freezer on its last leg, but the tiny wooden spoon that came attached to each lid. The spoon’s woody taste and smooth texture rounded out the flavor profile of the sundae, making even the most gourmet of ice creams today pale in comparison to the ones we had as teens.

Frozen Juice Bars

Specifically, the triangular Minute Maid variety that came in flavors like Lemonade and Cherry—these were the “healthy” loophole of the dessert world. The geometric shape made them look like a sleek, newfangled treat, but it also proved to be a real challenge in terms of eating. You had to master the delicate art of biting off the corner without cutting your lip on the frozen plastic, then slowly squeezing the slushy, icy nectar out before it melted into a puddle. It was messy, it was cold, and for a few minutes on a hot afternoon, it was the best thing you could possibly have on your tray.

Oatmeal Creme Pies

Another misleadingly healthier option, thanks to “oatmeal” being in the name, these high-sugar, empty-calorie creations were practically the pinnacle of Little Debbie’s repertoire. Unlike the frozen treats, these shelf-stable cookie sandwiches could be carried throughout the day’s classes—just in case your blood sugar dropped, or alternatively, boredom kicked in during history class.

From the oat-flavored cakey cookies to that signature, sugary marshmallow filling that seemed to hold the whole cookie together, it was like eating pure joy in each bite. They also went down like water, so purchasing one at the cafeteria checkout almost always meant grabbing another just in case.

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