Poll: School Lunch

[AndreaU]

As a teacher, I can't help but notice what is churned out daily from our cafeteria and think about what it was like when I was in school. My class actually surveyed the school to see what they would like on the menu that isn't already there. In order, kids chose:
1. Chinese
2. Salad Bar (we don't have one in elem. school, but I've seen them in some high schools)
3. Ribs
4. Chicken wings (hot or BBQ)
5. Sandwich Bar

What were your favorite school lunches (if any) to buy when you were in school?

What were the scariest? (as in Mystery Meat)

Any of you with kids or if you work in a school, does the school have any creative items/choices on the menu?

Thanks for your input. Have fun reminiscing!

[sneezles]

Most often in grade school I had to carry lunch (6 kids, not much money). I do remember that when I was in second grade in Lawton, OK, it was my first time to eat cornbread...was an immediate lover of the stuff. Talked to my mom for weeks about how good it was!
In High School I worked so had my own money but must say that my lunches usually consisted of a Suzi-Q and a Tab (showing my age there http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/wink.gif )
My kids get choices and most days they eat a baked potato until they get a look at whatever it is they didn't order!

[mandarin2j]

I hated what my grade school did to most vegetables. My folks never cooked broccoli at home when I was little, and the nasty gushy stuff at school totally put me off the vegetable until my mom started making it as part of the whole Pritikin thing when I was in high school. But, I loved the beets they served. Funny, I never eat them now. Note to self: Get back into beets.

I also hated what passed for pizza there. Waaaaay too bread-y. I could always be counted on to give away my extra maple bar. I still can't stand 'em (Yay! One junk food that I actually dislike!). I also never ate the cinnamon rolls. Too dry.

I loved spaghetti day, even though the noodles were limp and the sauce was surely out of a can. Yum! http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/redface.gif

By high school, I was responsible for paying for my own lunch if I chose school lunches, so I almost always brown bagged it. I did love the gooey bean burritos that they served in the cafeteria when I could get them, though. http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/biggrin.gif

-Amanda

[SandyM]

For me, nasty school lunches were any school lunches. Grilled cheese sandwiches and tater tots (nasty "government" cheese, and to this day I will not look at a tater tot without gagging). Also, pizza - it was bread (or so it seemed) with Ragu and some nasty shredded yellow cheese (because it was determined that pepperoni stunted your growth). Fish sticks with the above-noted tater tots on Fridays. All this for a whopping $.75 (I graduated in 1981, giving you the general time period).

Soup was a pretty safe bet, but I generally took my lunch - tuna sandwich, a piece of fruit, and pretzels. So predictable......

[This message has been edited by SandyM (edited 04-12-2001).]

[AndreaU]

Sorry, forgot to answer my own question! I always bought on pizza day. Sorry mandarin2j, I was young... I didn't know good pizza then! But I agree with the veggie thing. Yuck! And kids won't eat vegetables anyway- I know schools have to serve them, but they end up in the garbage at least 75% of the time.

In high school, I lived off tater tots, french fries & mashed potatoes. Just spuds, a la carte, no meal to go with them. I'm surprised I didn't turn into a potato!

As for our school, their idea of creativity is offering a hot pretzel with that fake cheese sauce from a can! And once in a while they serve breakfast for lunch- french toast sticks (read: fat sticks) and sausage (read: fat).

[LGBurns]

My favorite lunch when I was a kid was pigs in a blanket (hot dogs wrapped in dough). I'm sort of appalled now that I think of it but boy howdy did I love it as a kid! When I was in high school I always bought lunch at the deli across the street (we had an open campus!)--turkey or roast beef on dark rye with avocados, tomatoes and sprouts, and an entire package of Pepperidge Farms Brussel Mint Cookies. (And I was a stick! Oh, to have the metabolism of a 16-year old again.)

Just a thought--because my mom worked, I hardly ever took my lunch. I have found that as an adult it is very hard for me to pack a lunch. I find bag lunches so unappealing and never feel like eating what I've packed when the time comes. It drives my husband crazy because we're trying to save money and I end up eating lunch out at least 3 times a week. I really think this has to do with the fact that I rarely ate bag lunches as a kid. Any thoughts?

[Grace]

We didn't have school lunch when I went to grammar school. I went home for lunch every day.

In high school, I didn't usually eat lunch (bad, bad, bad, I know). If I did, it was a $1 slice of yukky pizza.

[Gina O]

In high school we had to bring lunch or buy stuff out of vending machines, so I ate a lot of sandwiches, nothing special at all.

In elementary school, we had hot lunches every day, and I know I had favorites but what I remeber liking the best was a dessert that seemed it was nothing more than melted chocolate mixed with oats.

I distictly remember the worst items.... beef tongue in some kind of gravy over rice, hot tuna on toast and beets (they always wound up in the milk carton!!!) (sorry Amanda http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/smile.gif ) Also, once in 7th grade, I did not realize my milk was spoiled until after I took a drink of it. I have not drank white milk since that day. Gina

[ebobbitt]

My favorite item in the school cafeteria was the huge, homemade yeast rolls. They were the best. And I had totally forgotten about the Pigs in a Blanket. LGBurns, did yours have cheese? Ours did and they were yummy!
Elizabeth

[This message has been edited by ebobbitt (edited 04-12-2001).]

[Mbart]

Oh, you are all going to be so disgusted, but I loved our school lunches! I loved the hot dogs wrapped in dough, the soggy pizza, loved the grilled cheese sandwiches (we'd get 2 - Bonus!) with tomato soup, but my favorite was the hot turkey sandwich, which was turkey between two slices of white bread, smothered in gravy!!! Starch city! I think we also got fake mashed potatoes with that lunch, which I thought was a real treat because we never got them at home! I also remember we were able to pick dessert and milk, or a chocolate milk shake. That was some of the best worst food in the world!

Thanks for the memory!

[HARRYET]

O.K. I'll jump in here with 2 of my favorites from grammar school, sausage links, mashed potatos,corn bread and applesauce, yum! and second was scrambled hamburger and gravy over mashed potatos, another yummy meal!

I didn't usually buy lunch in high school, by then I just thought they were gross, lunch usually consisted of milk and dessert. My favorite desserts were the chocolate cake they made that had mayo as a main ingredient,(the cake was yummy, but the batter was disgusting, go figure) and jiffy cookies and scooter pies, yum, how I long for some of these desserts!

Ann

[JulieM]

I usually took my lunch (not by choice), but when I did buy, my favorite was definitely pizza. We had a McDonald's nearby my High School so that was preferred over anything I could bring or buy at school.

[kwormann]

In elem. they served pizza and french fries and applesauce on Fridays....I loved that! In high school, once a week there was a salad bar and once a week a potato bar....I ususlaly got that. We also had a student run snack shop, so a candybar and a milkshake were standard fare. I wonder hoe I ever learned anything after that lunch!

Kim

[Susann]

OK, this is not a lunch from my childhood, but last year I had lunch duty and at least once a week, the students would have pizza and...corn.

Is it just me, or is that a really odd combination?

[makedah]

I liked many school lunches. My faves were corn dog days and chicken nugget days. (I graduated from high school in 1990). The worst lunch day I remember was in the seventh grade, when they served Chicken Perleau (Pilaf for the rest of y'all) and some blueberry thing for dessert. The lunch line was VACANT that day. Everyone who could afford it got snacks. In high school, we had a choice between a bag lunch (sandwich, fries/tater tots and a dessert. Nutritious, huh?), regular lunch line, salad bar and an ala carte line where you could get 'better' burgers, pizza, etc. I remember liking the mini deep-dish pizzas. NO ONE at my schools brought their lunch unless they had some kind of special dietary needs.

I can't categorize this as the worst, because I remember loving it. In elementary school, they used to serve us flying saucers. A slice of bologna (boiled until it was brown) with a scoop of mashed potatoes on top.

[Julie O]

AndreaU--

I do a lot of science programs in the schools. They usually offer me lunch in their cafeteria. I once went to an elementary school that had a salad bar. Scary!!! I was at the end of the line, so by the time I reached the front, I think every item on the bar had been mixed with everything else. I could not tell what was what!! Extremely yucky!

Growing up, my school cafeteria was quite yummy. The woman who was running it when I was in elementary school eventually started her own successful restaurant. But, when she left, the food really deteriorated.

[emilycat]

Bleachh! I loathed school lunches (sorry to be so vehement here http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/smile.gif ). Seriously, I think second grade was the only year I ate at school. Instead, I brough chips, bologna or American cheese white-bread sandwiches (oh, what sacrilege coming from the whole grains girl!)and fruit roll-ups or Little Debbie Cakes or something.
From 10th to 12th grade I took the other extreme and brought only an apple or a wimpy sandwich made with 2 slices (yup, just 2) of thin deli meat and light wheat bread. I'm happy to say that my eating habits have improved dramatically.

But I will say that I always loved the rolls our school system made -- I would beg people for them (until the 10th grade, of course http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/smile.gif )

And Susann, I seem to remember pizza and corn being quite a common combination. I have nothing good to say about the lunch programs in Georgia's public schools. That's okay, I always loved making my lunch http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/biggrin.gif

Emily

[Jewel]

Oh the memories...I remember 'hot lunch' in grammar school being a whoppin 35 cents a day, and I remember looking at the paper on Sunday evenings to get the menu for the week. I loved the pigs-in-a-blanket and the pizza, and something called 'Stan's Tacos'. We never knew who Stan was, but he made a heck of a taco! Only a soggy corn tortilla with non-seasoned ground beef and cheese, but when you're 9 years old, that's gourmet!! I also remember something called 'Cowboy Bread' that was on my school menu from kindergarten on. It was like a square of spice cake/bread that was really good. What I hated though was that everything was cold. I'm really anal about having my food steaming hot, I even get up from the table at least once now to nuke my plate! Cold or lukewarm canned green beans just didn't snap my towel, you know? http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/biggrin.gif

[dotglee]

My elementary school in the 50's had some strange things. Before I got there, and before there was a kitchen, my grandmother brought her vegetable-beef soup most days. (I've spent most of my life trying to duplicate that soup--she didn't use recipes or write anything down.)

I think I brought a lot of bologna sandwiches, but I _wanted_to buy the school's peanut butter sandwiches. The peanut butter and jelly was all swirled together and seemed to taste better, but my mother made mine in the two-layer fashion. The school made the most wonderful real blue cheese dressing for salads, and there was one treat no one else seems to remember. The ice cream cups had paper lids with movie star pictures on the back! You'd be licking Roy Rogers' face...