Penny For Your Thoughts By: Nancy Whitaker
The first thing I remember eating anything at school was in Kindergarten. We always had a snack of a round cracker and a carton of chocolate milk, and…it was good.
The first time I had a school lunch I must have been in 3-4 grade. We had food like hot dogs, potato salad, Johnny Marzetti, mac and cheese and also the choice of packing our lunches.
Did you know that school lunches have been around since the early 1700s? Actually Germany noticed that if children were not hungry they did better in school. The lunches back then were mostly soup and a piece of bread but it helped fill empty bellies.
Going into the United States and looking back at 1910, lunch at schools were so different than today’s meals. Volunteer programs were the main source of school lunches.
However, cities were starting to develop programs that would offer 3-cent meals. These meals were typically simple fare, such as soup, bread, and milk.
In addition, if students had an extra cent they could choose between rice pudding and candied fruit as a side dish. While not exactly an ideal meal by today’s standards, it was a marked improvement over the alternatives of going hungry or eating some lunch at school.
In the process of learning more about food lunches offered in the late 60s, the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s, I spoke with former students about school lunches, prices and their favorite school cafeteria food.
Two former students from the 70’s and 80’s had this to say, “I remember when lunches were 35 cents and Dad always laid our lunch money on the table”.
“My favorite was the pizza we had on Fridays.”
Another former luncheon eater from the 70’s and early 80’s said “I liked the chili and peanut butter sandwiches. I also liked the hamburger gravy over mashed potatoes. I did not like the No Bake cookies and gave them away.”
“Then we used to get a piece of cheese that you could use as an eraser (and I did.)
A gal from the 80’s and early 90’s said she had attended a small religious church school and everyone packed their lunches except for “the townies” who went home for dinner. Without any cooler system lunches were eaten at room temperature.
Another former student from the 70’s and early 90’s said this; “I always liked the school lunches. I liked the pizza. It was square shaped but good.” Continuing on the former student said, “I liked the prunes. No one else liked them so they gave me theirs. I usually ended up with a tray full.”
Another student shared, “Everyone in Kindergarten laughed at me cause I ate beets.”
Students from this decade have electronic accounts that money can be added to the students account to cover lunch. In addition, some schools offer extra items that they can purchase separately.
My granddaughter told me that her school had offered hot lunches and cold lunches. She also texted me a copy of her kids lunch menus. I saw many good things to eat on the menu but if you are a prune or beet lover, I did not see them listed.
What did you eat at school? Did you pack and if so what did you have in your lunch bag? Do you remember any school lunches? Let me Know and I’ll Give you a Penny for your Thoughts
Authors note: The former students I interviewed were my 4 kids, a daughter-in-law. and a granddaughter.
