School lunches in my day
By Judy Evans
@JudyEv (381837)
Rockingham, Australia
May 9, 2022 6:34pm CST
In one of the comments about childhood memories, LindaOH (@LindaOHio) mentioned having a flask (thermos). I asked what she had in the flask and she said ‘milk’. This was a new idea to me so now I’m wondering what did you have to eat at lunchtime when you were going to school.
Any of my friends that lived close enough went home for lunch but bus kids mostly took sandwiches. These might have cheese, cold meat or jam. Our two boys had Vegemite (a savoury spread unique to Australia I think) and if I changed to anything else, they would ask for Vegemite. I don’t remember any schools providing lunch for students. Later, there were school canteens where you could buy your lunch.
A red-letter day for me was if Mum had made pasties for my lunch. In our hot summers, she put wet grape-leaves and put them round the sandwiches before wrapping them in paper. This kept the bread fresh. Nowadays, kids seem to have very fancy lunches with all sorts of healthy goodies.
We also had ‘school milk’ – a 1/3 of a pint of milk in a glass bottle. These were handed out free at morning recess. Would you like to write about your school lunches?
30 people like this
27 responses
@LadyDuck (502208)
• Italy
10 May 22
We had a snack at mid morning in school that we brought from home. Most of us had a fruit, because it was a lot healthier than bread. Usually an apple of one banana or grapes. For lunch UNFORTUNATELY we were served food at the canteen of the school. Food cooked by the nuns 
usually a disk of overcooked pasta followed by some meat and veggies. I cannot forget.
usually a disk of overcooked pasta followed by some meat and veggies. I cannot forget.2 people like this
@LindaOHio (222285)
• United States
10 May 22
I ate next to nothing when I was a kid. It was only after I got into my teens that I started to eat things like pizza, lunch meat,, PB&Js, etc. Believe it or not, I had butter sandwiches and apple jelly sandwiches. The thought of those now makes me ill. When we went out to eat, I would eat a grilled cheese sandwich or cubed steak.
2 people like this
@JudyEv (381837)
• Rockingham, Australia
10 May 22
@LindaOHio Haha - some things never change.
2 people like this
@LindaOHio (222285)
• United States
10 May 22
@JudyEv I still hate raw onions and beets though!
2 people like this
@1creekgirl (44560)
• United States
10 May 22
That's very interesting, Judy. I guess the most unusual lunch related thing for me was in my last two years of high school in Hawaii. Every student had to work in the cafeteria twice during the school year. Free labor for the school.
2 people like this
@1creekgirl (44560)
• United States
10 May 22
@JudyEv Maybe they never heard of child labor laws, lol.
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@JudyEv (381837)
• Rockingham, Australia
10 May 22
@1creekgirl Or thought they'd worked their way around the laws.
2 people like this
@Chellezhere (6421)
• United States
10 May 22
In high school, lunches cost $1.00. On days they were not serving pizza or Philly cheesesteaks many of us spent our lunch money on two boxes of peanut M&Ms.
2 people like this
@Chellezhere (6421)
• United States
10 May 22
@JudyEv, that was too bad. I know you wanted those chocolate honeycomb bars.
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@changjiangzhibin89 (17239)
• China
10 May 22
I think there was nothing like the pasties your Mum made for your lunch at the time.They say Vegemite is referred to as national food there.
2 people like this
@RebeccasFarm (91299)
• United States
10 May 22
Peanut butter and jelly or bologna sandwich
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@RebeccasFarm (91299)
• United States
10 May 22
@JudyEv Well thats what I got, that or an American Cheese sanny.
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@FourWalls (86583)
• United States
10 May 22
No, because school lunches sucked. But at least they didn't feed us Vegemite! 
2 people like this
@FourWalls (86583)
• United States
10 May 22
@JudyEv — I always offer coffee drinkers my share, so make sure you pick up my earthly allotment of Vegemite for yourself! 
2 people like this
@LeaPea2417 (40020)
• Toccoa, Georgia
10 May 22
When I was in public school as a small kid, I ate the school lunches. Then when I went to private school, they didn't have a cafeteria so all kids had to bring their lunches. I always brought a sandwich, chips, and either fruit or something sweet like cookies.
2 people like this
@JudyEv (381837)
• Rockingham, Australia
11 May 22
I always looked forward to the biscuit or cake that Mum would put in my lunch.
@RasmaSandra (97908)
• Daytona Beach, Florida
10 May 22
In grade school I went home for lunch, Then in the six grade I switched to a private school and I had to bring a lunch box so I had a thermos, I asked mom to give me juice sometimes in the thermos, I also had a small flat thermos that could hold some soup in the wintertiem,
2 people like this
@RasmaSandra (97908)
• Daytona Beach, Florida
11 May 22
@JudyEv yes I had a special thermo for soup or you could put in many other kind of warmed food,
1 person likes this
@Chellezhere (6421)
• United States
10 May 22
My aunt married a New Zealander. He praised Vegemite and we praised peanut butter. After taste tests, we all agreed to disagree and only served what we all liked.
2 people like this
@kaylachan (84711)
• Daytona Beach, Florida
10 May 22
I hated school lunches. Our school, my school was a bording school so the school was required to offer three meals a day and we had a caffiteria. the food changed on the regular, but tasted nasty and overcooked most of the time because it was kept on warming trays.
2 people like this
@Juliaacv (56218)
• Canada
10 May 22
When I was young my mother would buy milk tickets from the milk man.
I would take a milk ticket to school and buy a small container of milk for my lunch every day from our canteen.
I always had a half of a peanut butter sandwich and usually a piece of fruit and a homemade cookie.
2 people like this
@wolfgirl569 (135601)
• Marion, Ohio
10 May 22
We had lunch at school. Some were good but others were ewww
2 people like this
@petatonicsca (7070)
• Japan
10 May 22
I always had school lunch because they were government subsidized. I liked most of them. They all had a starch (potatoes or noodles or bread), a meat, a veg and some small type of dessert (usually fruit). We also had milk, which by the time we got it was warmish, so I didn't like it.
2 people like this
@JudyEv (381837)
• Rockingham, Australia
10 May 22
I remember how surprised I was when I first learnt that some children had lunch supplied at school. It just wasn't something I'd ever heard about (at the time). I know kids who went to boarding school would always complain about the food.
1 person likes this
@oahuwriter (26773)
• United States
11 May 22
From kindergarten to high school school served at lunches. It started at .25!! This was a full meal with dessert, all single size portions. I remembered in 6th grade, a slice of papaya was dessert, yuck. Luckily a boy infront of me felt the same as me about papaya. When our teacher wasn't looking, he quickly put the slice of papaya into his empty milk carton. Thus, I did the same.
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (381837)
• Rockingham, Australia
13 May 22
@oahuwriter My husband and his siblings had a dog which sat patiently under the kitchen table, waiting for scraps or stuff they didn't like. lol
1 person likes this
