Instant Whip

Bird’s Instant Whip vanished from the grocery shelves around 2004. The brand (Birds having disappeared long ago) had been sold to Kraft so maybe they felt it competed directly with the ickier Angel Delight (there might even have been a conflict with the long-established Instant Whip company in America who still sell that squirty cream stuff). In any case it had long forsaken boxes for foil sachets. The dessert first arrived around 1955 (see the advert at the bottom of the page) in quite spartan packages but this is one of the sixties boxes. A product of the Bird’s company (whose vintage three birds logo still looks good on the front), they had decided to incorporate the bright colours from their custard powder packs (and probably the pre-cooked starch base as well) and then added a bit of bounced type for the modern look. Easy to prepare (‘one minute to make’ claimed the packet, which ignored the fact that you had to leave it to set for five minutes – eternity as a child) it proved very popular with time-pressed mums. We got through loads of it as kids, especially the chocolate one, and debates about favourite flavours still litter web forums (Strawberry and Vanilla arrived first). The boxes, which had how-to-make instructions on the back, were fairly relaxed about the ingredients, this being the days before strict content descriptions. About the only real food here was the raspberry on top of the realistic glass serving dish illustration.