What will you do without Twinkies?

Twinkies may soon be no more, with the closing of Hostess Brands Inc. and the loss of thousands of jobs. Fans who grew up enjoying Twinkies, Ding Dongs, Zingers and other Hostess treats remembered the sugary snacks fondly across social media on Friday.

“One Ding Dong could get you a lot of good food in the lunch box trade,” Kelly Gentry, of Oklahoma City, said in a Facebook post.

“A disc of deliciousness disguised as a hockey puck!” Oklahoma City mom Kelly Moody said, adding that as a child, she, too, would trade in Ding Dongs at school lunch, but had never bought the snack for her own children.

Some fans rushed to grocery stores Friday to stockpile Twinkies for the future.

In addition to dozens of baking and distribution facilities across the country, Hostess Brands will sell its popular brands, including Hostess, Drakes and Dolly Madison, which make iconic cake products such as Twinkies, CupCakes, Ding Dongs, Ho Ho's, Sno Balls and Donettes, the company's website noted. Bread brands to be sold include Wonder, Nature's Pride, Merita, Home Pride, Butternut and Beefsteak, among others.

‘Part of our childhood'

As people lamented the end of the Twinkie, the loss of jobs and the closing of a sugar institution, very few people in an unscientific sample group of Oklahomans admitted to eating a Twinkie recently.

“It's been years! Flavorless. Full of sugar. Bleh,” Oklahoma City attorney Leslie Lynch said in response to a Facebook post.

A few noted that that Ding Dongs and Suzy-Qs were better, especially frozen or even heated up.

“When I was a kid, Mom would go to the Hostess store and stock up on whatever we (my Dad, three sisters and me) liked,” Lynch said. “I made sure we put some of the Ding Dongs in the freezer. They were 10 times better when they were frozen.”

Sherrel Jones, who writes a food column for The Oklahoman, enjoyed a trip down “Twinkie Lane,” as she called it, on Friday. However, she mentioned the snack's unhealthy reputation and said she'd rather have a slice of Oklahoma pecan pie.