My Favorite 7-Eleven Items in Celebration of 7/11

To celebrate 7/11, I've decided to share a short list of my favorite 7-Eleven items. These snacks will take you back.

I didn't have a 7-Eleven in my neighborhood growing up. I had the Greenwood Pharmacy. And the Greenwood Pharmacy had a Slush Puppie machine. As I shared in my 12-Inch Poll on Gen-X drinks, we abused that machine so badly the clerk moved it behind the counter. No matter; we just took our business across the street to Pump’n Pantry & loaded our Regular Limes up with 5 pumps.

The 7-Eleven in my hometown of Wakefield was a block away from the Wakefield Station stop on the Commuter Rail, just down the street from my Auntie Helen's house. When I was a kid, my Auntie Helen would host a big 4th of July cookout in her backyard for my mom's side of the family. As the festivities were winding down, she'd come out of the house with a stack of crisp dollar bills, one for each kid.

My cousin Jason and I were old enough to have permission to walk to the 7-Eleven, so you know were were taking our dollars there. And a buck bought you a fair amount of candy back in the '80s. I can't say I ever had a Slurpee back in those days; my introduction to that and other signature 7-Eleven goodies would come much later, when I was in high school.

Some of these things you can still get at your local 7-Eleven. Others, I don't know. It's been a minute since I've popped in. I'll have to ask my oldest son, because--get this--his summer job is in that same Wakefield 'hood. Just last week, I picked him up after work at Wakefield Station. He was sitting on a bench, slurping on a Slurpee.

As I said before, I grew up on Slush Puppie. So there's a bit of nostalgia attached. But once I sucked down my first Slurpee, that was it. Coke-flavored or cherry-flavored; no other flavors interest me. Gonna have to grab my free one later on.

By today's standards, 32 oz. of soda seems almost quaint. Hell, I had a 64 oz. Pilot travel mug called BIG ORANGE when I worked at Little Caesar's Pizza back in the day and I would fill that sucker with Coke twice in a 3-hour shift. It's a miracle I'm alive to tell you that. Still, Big Gulp is the big soda OG. Respect.

Everything's Bigger at 7-Eleven. And if you're going to toss back a hot dog, go big or go home.

Haters talk smack about anything on the rollers at a 7-Eleven. Outta here with that nonsense. If I stroll into a 7-Eleven and they've got those taquitos rollin', lookin' all tasty, I'm grabbing some.

Back in the day, 7-Eleven would sell you pizza by the slice. They still do, but now they'll also sell you a full 'za (see below). But back before they did, my buddy Tito once bought an entire 7-11 pizza. By the slice. Because he was really hungry.

All these idiots I see on TikTok and Instagram throwing tortilla chips and nacho cheese and fixings all over their kitchen counters need to get to their local 7-Eleven. Pretty sure they invented the do-it-yourself, convenient store nachos concept.

Waltzing into a 7-Eleven back in the day, popping a burrito into THEIR microwave. What a flex. Can't think of 7-Eleven burritos (or Slurpees) and not think of this.