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Pour one out for this nostalgic kitchen staple.
Minute Maid is discontinuing their frozen canned juices in the US and Canada after 80 years.
Once a must-have in family homes, the frozen juice concentrates include flavors such as orange juice, lemonade, limeade, pink lemonade and raspberry lemonade.
“We are discontinuing our frozen products and exiting the frozen can category in response to shifting consumer preferences,” a spokesperson for the Coca-Cola Company, the parent company of Minute Maid, told People.
“With the juice category growing strongly, we’re focusing on products that better match what our consumers want.”
The spokesperson added that the frozen products will be phased out in the first quarter of 2026 — any time from now through April — with “in-store inventory available while supplies last.”
As one social media user put it, “Rest in slush.”
The history of frozen canned juices goes back to 1945, when the company was incorporated as Florida Foods Corporation.
Frozen orange juice concentrate was developed during World War II to improve food quality for American soldiers.
In the early 1940s, the soldiers were given lemon crystals for Vitamin C, but they had an unpleasant taste and often went uneaten, according to the National Museum of American History, so frozen concentrate was seen as the solution.
The US Army ordered 500,000 pounds of orange juice in 1945, and Florida Foods got the contract — but the war ended before the product could ever ship, according to the company’s website.
A year later, in 1946, the company was renamed to Vacuum Foods Corporation and shipped the first frozen concentrated orange juice product in the US, which they called Minute Maid.
The name Minute Maid was created to showcase the convenience and ease of preparing orange juice at any time of the year.
It wasn’t until 1973 that the brand, which was acquired by The Coca‑Cola Company in 1960, introduced ready-to-drink orange juice and expanded from the freezer aisle to the chilled juice aisle.
Fans who spotted the news on food blogger Markie Devo’s Instagram were devastated to learn that their childhood favorite will no longer be an option.
“How am I supposed to live without this in my freezer?” a disappointed fan asked.
“NOOOOOO! This is my literal childhood,” one wrote.
“Damn, I haven’t had these since I was a kid but I loved it! Too bad they are discontinuing,” someone shared.
“An end of an era is right! My favorites growing up. Sad to hear this,” another wrote.
“Awe man I grew up on these… my mom loved them… she kept some stocked in the deep freezer,” a user remembered.
Some people shared how they’ve been using these frozen cans into adulthood, too, and expressed their disappointment.
“Oh! My mom used to make this frozen concoction with frozen lemonade and lime maybe and vodka. You kept that all summer and added 7up. It was the rage. For adults of course!” someone shared.
“How am I supposed to make margaritas?!” another questioned, while another added, “TERRIBLE NEWS FOR MARGARITAS.”
“These things made really good frozen lemonade pies. Now it’s going to have to be with kool aid packets,” one wrote.
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