the caviar, deb!

We could get them for deserts chocolate covered marshmallow goo.

before the school lunch program, my high school served a beef stew with a biscuit that was very good. Probably the only good thing they had that I remember. I usually took my lunch but I would ask my mom for lunch money for beef stew day twice a month.

and the hamburgers and tater tots best. Arkansas's food would have been all right if the dang cooks could figure out what they were doing: everything was burnt or undercooked. Utah's food was pretty bland. Would have been better if they'd just figured out that seasoning is a thing. Then there was California! "Abysmal" hardly describes it! I can't think of a thing they had that I could even stomach. Worst was the so-called tuna casserole. The tuna was gray, the sauce was gray, the noodles were gray, and the smell was actually a stench. To this day just mentioning tuna casserole can make me lose my appetite - am glad I already ate!

The very best was when I carried a lunch. I started school in an old barracks on an Air Force base in France, and it had no cafeteria.

I graduated HS in 1971. I wonder how the food in those states has changed over the years.

Of course, there was always the chocolate milk.

The staff were nonnas. I loved them:

Monday - Spaghetti and meatballs
Tuesday - Cold cut sub, italian dressing
Wednesday - Pizza, sicilian style
Thursday - Lasagna or meatloaf
Friday - Fish sticks

all came with green beans, mashed potatoes or corn, Italian bread, and ice cream with that strange little flat wooden spoon that looked like a miniature tongue depressor, or pudding or a brownie.

And tomato soup. Also tater tots. And for some reason, their foot-long hot dogs were great (I'm a vegetarian now, but back then I liked them).

eol.

That was then, now I’m old and a nibbler.

My wife and I go for lunch at the local Senior Center and get a $3.00 lunch a few days a week. Hey, got to take her out to eat.

Last edited Mon Nov 10, 2025, 11:32 PM - Edit history (1)

Mr, multigraincraincracker enjoy yourself.

I loved those little square pizzas! We used to have octagonal "mexican" pizzas too loved those.

depends on which school
The school I attended from 1st to 9th grade had some really awful items. The fried chicken was good, and the meatloaf. After our holiday turkey meals we had turkey salad which was good. We also had a soft serve machine, which saved me from starvation many times.

I transferred to a different school in 10th grade, and the food was much better. That was where they made the fabulous rolls. We also had an option to get a big salad instead of the meal and that was very nice.

cherry 🍒 cobbler 🥧 was my favorite. I think it was just canned cherries in heavy syrup, with a sugar cookie on top.

I forget what the side was, probably a small banana or fruit cup and white milk. I also liked their pizza and grilled cheese/tomato soup.

I refused to buy my lunch at all between the 2nd and 9th grades so my mom packed one for me. When packing lunch, the sandwich would be either bologna/cheese/mustard, pb/black raspberry jelly, tuna fish, or egg salad. If I took tuna fish or egg salad, she'd also pack a frozen juice box. Then mom would add in a pack of crunchies (munchos/carrot/celery sticks or corn chips/a pickle), and a sweet of some kind (a TastyKake butterscotch krimpet, Peanut butter Tandy Take, or a Hostess cherry pie). Most days I'd go through the drink line to buy white milk.

Our school had it's own kitchen so everything was made there.

always served with peanut butter sandwiches. I always loved chili day.

the sandwiches were triangular half sandwiches... at least in grade school. I remember some kids doing a trade of their peanut butter sandwich for someone else's bowl of chili and vise versa.

Lane Tech in Chicago actually had a pretty good chop suey.
It was like the Terry's frozen brand, but still pretty tasty.

They had actual cooks and a restaurant style kitchen. The women who cooked (it was all women) seemed to take a lot of pride in their work. They were better cooks than my mom or grandmas, maybe on par with my dad who only cooked on weekends and holidays.

My parents had more kids than they could comfortably support so we were only allowed cafeteria money one day a week, at most, and we got to look at the menu sent home the previous Friday and choose which day we'd eat cafeteria food. Otherwise we were expected to make our own lunches from an early age.

My children got free lunches in school, we live in a place where so many children qualify for free breakfasts and lunches it's not worth collecting money from those who can pay, but the lunches were assembled factory-style in the school district's central kitchen and delivered daily by truck and were not very good. Our children preferred to make their own lunches but it was nice knowing that if they forgot to make a lunch or, more often, forgot to bring the lunches they'd made in the rush to get out the door, they wouldn't go hungry.

In my elementary school we could go back for seconds after everyone had been served, and if you'd forgotten your lunch you could grab someone else's tray and get food that way. Unfortunately that usually wouldn't be the good stuff, it'd be side dishes like canned bean casserole and a chunk of corn bread, which may have been a wink-and-nod sort of socialism.

You can't screw THAT up.

Elementary School in Millington, TN, in the the early 60s. Sugar-loaded with thick chocolate frosting. You could taste the sugar in the cake. The frosting was about a half-inch thick and when you used your fork it broke into large pieces that made them a dessert by itself.

I loved that and miss it.

The cafeteria at my HS was really good.
Every day they had something tasty.
Same with where I went for undergrad.
Never had to eat in a crummy cafeteria.
(Oh, in grade school there was no cafeteria. Bag lunches for all of us.)