Remember How Great School Lunches Used to be?

Remember long long ago when we would take our horse and buggy to school?

I remember when school lunches were something to look forward to. They were cooked from scratch from plump lunch ladies. I swear to God none of them were skinny at a time when everyone was skinny. The food was amazing. I remember one side dish in particular. It was red roasted potatoes in a butter sauce with parsley. Then there was the homemade spaghetti with garlic bread and salad. The square pizza, c'mon the square pizza!!!! Roasted chicken with mashed potatoes!!! It was all good.
Here is the funny thing, we could have milk or chocolate milk or if you had money you could buy yourself a soda!!! Yes soda in the cafeteria, but none of us had money so no soda for us!!!!
The one thing I didn't like was that ice cream with the wooden spoon in the half plastic cup. It was like ice milk, lots of kids loved that but I hated it.

Where did we go astray? School food now is inedible.

originally posted by: JAGStorm
Remember long long ago when we would take our horse and buggy to school?

I remember when school lunches were something to look forward to. They were cooked from scratch from plump lunch ladies. I swear to God none of them were skinny at a time when everyone was skinny. The food was amazing. I remember one side dish in particular. It was red roasted potatoes in a butter sauce with parsley. Then there was the homemade spaghetti with garlic bread and salad. The square pizza, c'mon the square pizza!!!! Roasted chicken with mashed potatoes!!! It was all good.
Here is the funny thing, we could have milk or chocolate milk or if you had money you could buy yourself a soda!!! Yes soda in the cafeteria, but none of us had money so no soda for us!!!!
The one thing I didn't like was that ice cream with the wooden spoon in the half plastic cup. It was like ice milk, lots of kids loved that but I hated it.

Where did we go astray? School food now is inedible.

Michelle Obama. Look it up.

a reply to: network dude

Michelle Obama. Look it up.

I know all about that but I actually think it started going downhill well before that point, she just set the garbage on fire.

I remembered when school lunches first started in our school. They were mostly homecooked meals, except for things like the buns and stuff like the pizza burgers they had once in a while. The fish sticks were often purchased commercially, rarely did we have actual fish fillets except maybe during lent, but they were way better than most of the fishsticks today.

Real mashed potatoes and gravy...but once in a while they had canned gravy if they did not serve roast beef or chicken where they could get the drippings.

The cakes were probably boxed cake mixes, but most of the ladies made good cake with homemade frosting. We went to the school lunch get together with the daughter and a granddaughter, they served lunches....it was hundred percent highly prepared junk food they were serving, nothing was homemade, even the fresh fruit mix came out of trays from the places that supplied their food, probably full of chemistry to preserve it so it didn't get too bad when shipped half way across the country.

I feel sorry for the kids having to eat the lunches in school these days, it is mostly highly prepared garbage. I suppose there are some schools in prestigious areas that do have real food for lunches, and maybe some private schools rich people attend have actual cooks preparing the meals.

a reply to: rickymouse

I feel sorry for the kids having to eat the lunches in school these days, it is mostly highly prepared garbage. I suppose there are some schools in prestigious areas that do have real food for lunches, and maybe some private schools rich people attend have actual cooks preparing the meals.

The food now is pure garbage. Kids should really not be eating it. I feel like high school lunches are slightly better in our area but middle school and elementary are inedible junk.

I've seen videos on school lunches around the world and they are significantly better and healthier than ours and their kids love it. My favorite to watch are the Korean ones and French. The French take it to another level.

a reply to: JAGStorm

a reply to: JAGStorm

School food in the 70s and early 80s was often pretty good from what I recall. I also liked the small cup of ice cream with the wooden spoon.

It's not just schools serving #e food either. My parents had been living in retirement communities for the past 10 years, and they moved to a different place several times because of the food. I'm not really familiar with prison food, but it does seem like the same truck that brings food to the prison is also bringing food to the retirement communities. These communities have one day every month where they invite prospective tenants to come try the food, and they serve something halfway decent on that day. I was constantly telling my parents that the several thousand dollars a month they were paying could get them a regular apartment and someone to bring them meals each day with money left over.

When my kids were small, I lived in So. California. Did the PTA thing etc. One day I decided to have lunch with my kids in the cafeteria. The nacho cheese was mostly water. The milk was hot, the brown Betty was raw. So I grabbed the kids went out for lunch, and I always packed their lunch after that.

So I called the school board about the situation, I was told that the school system does not get enough free lunch subsidise, so the kids who buy lunch are paying for most of the free lunchers. Then she proceeded to tell me that the illegal migrant children are putting a huge strain on the system. Essentially our children's food is watered down and horrid due to all these illegals eating our children's lunch.

I do think the free lunch program is important, and we could do it for our kids, we just can't feed the world.

Not really, I mean what was it in the 80/90s some chimichangas, beef tips on rice, Salisbury steak?

I took my lunch cause that was #ing slop.

High School in Texas we had like Papa Johns and Taco Bells setup in the school its weird tbh.

I'm glad yours were okay, in the '70s and 80's ours were nasty IIRC this would have been a good day.



I mean I always order canned corn with my pizza LOL, we would have spaghetti, tacos, and sloppy joes one day after another and the ground meat was exactly the same on all of them, same flavor same sauce

my daughters in the late 90s and early 2000s at least had choices and a decent salad bar option.

a reply to: JAGStorm

We watch some TV shows from South Korea, they have some pretty tasty looking soup. I kind of want to taste a good seaweed soup, I want to try making some but finding good seaweed around here is impossible. There are no Korean restaurants around here either.

I don't care for the taste of Kelp, but I have tried a different seaweed one time in a dish in a chinese restaurant and it tasted pretty good. I suppose it's taste is related to where it is grown too.

a reply to: putnam6

yeah thats the tray of puke i am accustomed too

remember they starting putting milks into bags instead of cartons....


blegh

originally posted by: rickymouse
a reply to: JAGStorm

We watch some TV shows from South Korea, they have some pretty tasty looking soup. I kind of want to taste a good seaweed soup, I want to try making some but finding good seaweed around here is impossible. There are no Korean restaurants around here either.

I don't care for the taste of Kelp, but I have tried a different seaweed one time in a dish in a chinese restaurant and it tasted pretty good. I suppose it's taste is related to where it is grown too.

Seaweed soup is eaten on birthdays. There is a lot of superstion regarding seaweed soup. If you have something coming up, a court date, a test, or something like that you DON't eat it.

It is absolutely delicious. It is like a light beefy broth, the seaweed is slick, with a little bite, kinda what you would think of a thick spinach. You eat that with rice and devour it. It is a lot better than it looks but for many they can't get over the seaweed part. It is comfort food.

a reply to: JAGStorm


When I worked in Gilbert AZ roughly 13 years ago as a lunch/recess monitor for a charter school, I was amazed at what a great fruit/salad and veggie bar the school offered the kids. It had every fruit you could think of, piled high. Huge selection.

I’m not quite sure how they accomplished that, but I do think I remember hearing AZ gave the thumbs down to Michelle Obamas’ idea of school lunches.

The Boston schools don’t even compare. AZ by far was superior in providing healthy food for the kids.

originally posted by: putnam6
I'm glad yours were okay, in the '70s and 80's ours were nasty IIRC this would have been a good day.

I mean I always order canned corn with my pizza LOL, my daughter in the late 90s and early 2000s at least had choices and a decent salad bar option.

That looks super nasty! I guess you didn't have the good lunch ladies that made food with love 😍

originally posted by: Lysergic
remember they starting putting milks into bags instead of cartons....


blegh

Here in Wisconsin I saw bagged milk for the first time, NO THANK YOU!!!

a reply to: putnam6

I can't say that I would like any of that other stuff, but I could go for a slice of that basic cheese pizza if it is anything like the pizza the schools I attended were serving.

I remember the vegetarian option when that started in the 80's.

A lump of Cheddar cheese!



Personally, overcooked sausages, beans and proper mashed potatoes was one of my favorites along with a great assortment of desserts and endless custard of various colours.

originally posted by: JAGStorm

originally posted by: putnam6
I'm glad yours were okay, in the '70s and 80's ours were nasty IIRC this would have been a good day.

I mean I always order canned corn with my pizza LOL, my daughter in the late 90s and early 2000s at least had choices and a decent salad bar option.

That looks super nasty! I guess you didn't have the good lunch ladies that made food with love 😍

Can't remember too much, LOL but yes the cheese pizza was a day I didn't bring my lunch, cause it was the best thing they had. Occasionally we would get a real baked potato which I did like.