School Lunches

[wpod]

I am 71 years old and grew up in Millbrae California and from elementary school through high school the food was great.

 

[Malo83]

I remember school lunch was $.25 cents, my favorite lunch was fish sticks and cole slaw and chili beans with cole slaw and corn bread, always had chocolate milk with my lunches.

 

[PandaBear]

My daughters are taking school lunch these days. I made it clear unless special circumstances and special occassion they are eating at school. We are not going to pack and cook and clean when school lunch in our district is free for everyone.

Cost can't be too high since it is paid for, and nutrition guidance means they cannot be too fatty, salty, sweet, etc. Most of the time it is low quality cheese on bread, rice with sauce and some meat or beans, or "hot dog, corn dog, pizza" in a healthier than typical version. I think if kids grow up eating them they are fine but most adults wouldn't like to eat them. Many kids just refuse and families just decided to pack home food either for reasons of "the kids deserves better" or "this is not nutritious enough we can do better".

They'll grow up fine, I don't want mine to be spoiled so that's what they will eat.

 

[Shel_B]

When I started school was the early 1960's. We lived on the next block, so I went home for lunch until maybe 2nd or 3rd grade. Had no idea how it worked, so just followed the others in line the first time.

Back then they had real cooks and made everything from scratch. It was probably better than what my Mom fed me at home for lunch. So I continued eating at school. Those ladies got there early AM and started cooking. Homemade pizza cut in squares, I always went back for seconds. We never made pizza at home. Chili, turkey, sea dogs, meatloaf and all the other stuff was cooked in the school kitchen. Milk came in glass bottles. Couple of the cooks belonged to our local church. Every few years, the church would make a cook book from the local recipes. I still have one dated 1970. Those cooks always shared recipes from themselves and other local people. Still my favorite cook book.

My Grandma was the main church organist and taught me how to play as a kid. I would fill in, if she could not attend. They gave us free cookbooks for pay...LOL!

I would never complain about our school food, it was good! My Granddaughter graduated last year. Said the school food was junk, just heat up frozen processed food. She took a cooler most days with her own lunch, said it was too nasty to eat.

Any other old timers remember good school lunches?

I started school in 1949-50, and our "lunch lady" was a woman named Mary. As you described, she'd arrive early and prepare and cook the meals. I don't recall all that we had for lunch, but it certainly didn't include pizza, chili, or "sea dogs," whatever that is. I do remember succotash, however, and it has stayed with me through the years...I loved Mary's succotash, and over the decades have tried and made numerous versions of it. My recipe collection includes 17 versions of that wonderful dish.

 

[vavavroom]

For most of my years at school, with the exception of my time at a school in the UK, I took lunch from home. Like AM, I am a picky eater but in a diametrically opposed way.

My son got breakfast at home and took lunch to school until he was 12. When I was 12, hanging out with my friends and socializing was way more important to me than Mom's admonitions. He got a lunch allowance but he was also free to take food to school, which he often did. So it worked out. He's now like me and lives precariously, cooking for himself and his girl, while squeezing in some restaurant food. The apple didn't fall far from this horse's bum.

 

[spasm3]

I seem to remember these blocks of butter on the tables, i think we had bologna and cornbread, i just remember blocks of butter