Loved this post! My husband and I went to the same elementary school and we both still require chili to be accompanied by a peanut butter sandwich. That combo was one of the main ones at our school and we had it often.
We did not have lunches provided at schools in Australia. Mostly we brought sandwiches from home. There was a tuck shop / canteen where we could order sandwiches,, pies, or sausage rolls.
In infants school we had small bottles of milk in the morning.
I was addicted to Spaghetti O's for awhile. 😂 We couldn't afford school lunches every day, so I lunch boxed it most days. Picking a new linch box each year was a big deal! Every now and then my mom would let me buy special day lunches like Spaghetti...or the "box" lunch with hot dog and french fries. Only time we were allowed to eat on the playground. By Junior high, bringing lunch wasn't cool anymore and I got an allowance for lunch.
Oh man - a new lunch box, how exciting! We were a brown bag family, much to my chagrin lol I remember one of my friends had a Partridge Family lunchbox which I really coveted in fifth or sixth grade.
I always really loved the instant mashed potatoes my school made! We had a local milk company for a while but then they switched it and it was AWFUL!!! In high school I ate lots of of uncrustables
Never liked 'em, those Spaghetti-Os! My mom tried so hard to get me to eat them, but no, no way. I was the picky one in the family.
Wait until you see my Jell-O dish in this Sunday's post. Found the recipe in my great grandma's recipe book, and while I hesitated, I made it, and it was DELICIOUS. So, some of those old-fashioned foods still meet today's tastes.
Who knows, the 'zombie' might be today's runaway hit!
Oh fun! Have you read Sweet Land of Liberty: A history of America in 11 pies? They have a great story about lemon chiffon pie with jello! https://amzn.to/41JzX57
Ah, Spaghetti-Os! I remember them well. Wasn't there a version of Spaghetti-Os with meatballs? How we loved finding those little grey tasteless meat marbles in our bowls!
School lunch ladies are the unsung heroines of primary and secondary education. And although school food was often unpalatable, when I look back it was incredible to think of the meals they put together on the food budgets they had.
At my high school, students usually just grabbed fries and spent their lunch hour nibbling them standing up while they crammed for the next class or gossiped in the hallways with their friends. When we were old enough to leave campus, we skipped lunch altogether in favor of coffee and cigarettes at the diner next door. Senior year we hosted a dozen or so French exchange students for a couple of weeks, and it was amazing to see the French kids put everything on their trays, hot main, side vegetables, and fruit, and sit down like civilized people with their trays, eating and talking. It was the beginning of my lifelong love affair with French culture. They know how to do it.
Definitely agree about the lunch ladies! And I love the high school memories haha. Our school was under construction my Senior year, so we didn’t have a cafeteria and were allowed to leave which, would have been great except there was nowhere to eat close to the school lol. We basically just drove around talking and eating brown bag lunches.
Grilled cheese is still our go-to when we don’t feel like making a big meal.
In terms of school cafeteria food, my favorite (and this is likely a Texas thing) was Mexican food day. We would always have tacos, of course. But even better was fried bean burritos covered in chili gravy. It’s been over 50 years and I still crave them.
Loved this post! My husband and I went to the same elementary school and we both still require chili to be accompanied by a peanut butter sandwich. That combo was one of the main ones at our school and we had it often.
What a very odd combo! I cant exactly imagine what they would taste like together tho lol I’ll have to try it sometime.
For all we knew, everyone had it that way. As you say, our tastebuds were trained by this so we love it.
And that’s the influence of school lunches!
I can still see the Bologna sandwich in wax paper and the thermos of chocolate milk in my lunch box! Wonderful post, Lori!
We did not have lunches provided at schools in Australia. Mostly we brought sandwiches from home. There was a tuck shop / canteen where we could order sandwiches,, pies, or sausage rolls.
In infants school we had small bottles of milk in the morning.
I was addicted to Spaghetti O's for awhile. 😂 We couldn't afford school lunches every day, so I lunch boxed it most days. Picking a new linch box each year was a big deal! Every now and then my mom would let me buy special day lunches like Spaghetti...or the "box" lunch with hot dog and french fries. Only time we were allowed to eat on the playground. By Junior high, bringing lunch wasn't cool anymore and I got an allowance for lunch.
Oh man - a new lunch box, how exciting! We were a brown bag family, much to my chagrin lol I remember one of my friends had a Partridge Family lunchbox which I really coveted in fifth or sixth grade.
There is also this recipe book from the USDA that outlines some of the more iconic school lunch recipes: https://archive.org/details/CAT92970475
Very cool - thanks I’ll definitely go back and take a look!
I always really loved the instant mashed potatoes my school made! We had a local milk company for a while but then they switched it and it was AWFUL!!! In high school I ate lots of of uncrustables
Never liked 'em, those Spaghetti-Os! My mom tried so hard to get me to eat them, but no, no way. I was the picky one in the family.
Wait until you see my Jell-O dish in this Sunday's post. Found the recipe in my great grandma's recipe book, and while I hesitated, I made it, and it was DELICIOUS. So, some of those old-fashioned foods still meet today's tastes.
Who knows, the 'zombie' might be today's runaway hit!
Oh fun! Have you read Sweet Land of Liberty: A history of America in 11 pies? They have a great story about lemon chiffon pie with jello! https://amzn.to/41JzX57
Oooh. I have not. You are a great heritage book resource :)
Ah, Spaghetti-Os! I remember them well. Wasn't there a version of Spaghetti-Os with meatballs? How we loved finding those little grey tasteless meat marbles in our bowls!
School lunch ladies are the unsung heroines of primary and secondary education. And although school food was often unpalatable, when I look back it was incredible to think of the meals they put together on the food budgets they had.
At my high school, students usually just grabbed fries and spent their lunch hour nibbling them standing up while they crammed for the next class or gossiped in the hallways with their friends. When we were old enough to leave campus, we skipped lunch altogether in favor of coffee and cigarettes at the diner next door. Senior year we hosted a dozen or so French exchange students for a couple of weeks, and it was amazing to see the French kids put everything on their trays, hot main, side vegetables, and fruit, and sit down like civilized people with their trays, eating and talking. It was the beginning of my lifelong love affair with French culture. They know how to do it.
Definitely agree about the lunch ladies! And I love the high school memories haha. Our school was under construction my Senior year, so we didn’t have a cafeteria and were allowed to leave which, would have been great except there was nowhere to eat close to the school lol. We basically just drove around talking and eating brown bag lunches.
But those elementary lunches were key!
Grilled cheese is still our go-to when we don’t feel like making a big meal.
In terms of school cafeteria food, my favorite (and this is likely a Texas thing) was Mexican food day. We would always have tacos, of course. But even better was fried bean burritos covered in chili gravy. It’s been over 50 years and I still crave them.