School Dinners

[Daisy]

I've just been reading an article about the history of school dinners, and what they were like years ago compared with now. Did you like school dinners, or hate them?

I didn't have school dinners until I went to the grammar school - in junior school I used to go home for dinner and we'd have our main cooked meal then.

You could take a packed lunch to school, but I'm not that keen on sandwiches and preferred school dinners. We only had a very tiny dining room until I was in the 5th form, so it was two sittings using long tables in the needlework room as well. The kitchen was between them - not great on cabbage days! I think the food was generally overcooked, but mostly I remember eating most things. The only thing I hated was school custard. It was nearly white, always lumpy and tasted of sterilised milk. I love custard normally. Two girls (mostly Prefects) sat at the top of the table and served. Two at the other end cleared the plates away. It was usually Lobby (a bit like Scouse) on Fridays, and I always thought they used up any leftovers from other days. But at least the meals were cooked from scratch, were hot and filling.

[Oma]

I only stayed for dinners a short time in primary school ,
I wasn't keen and we didn't live very far away so I preferred to go home for dinner.
I did like the school mince and mash though I remember that 😀

[Gemini]

At my (private) primary school I wasn't keen on the dinners. It almost always seemed to be sliced unidentifiable meat with gravy, lumpy mash and veg. Puddings were mainly rice pudding (quite watery) or sago or semolina. I did like the mince and dumplings though and remember aways wanting seconds of that.


The meals at the grammar school were varied and nice. I occasionally had packed lunch, depending on what my friendship group was doing, but had a lot of school dinners.

[Lizzie48]

I didn't stay over very often at the infant school, maybe did the first few years as we lived outside of the village, when we moved I stayed over now and again, there was a very good cook, a friend of the family, Mrs Marwood, some days she had "specials", I would beg to stay over on those days. We would sit in the classes and see the local butcher passing to take the meat to the canteen, striped pinafore on and carrying the meat on his shoulder in a basket! Memories!!

When I went to the secondary school we had to stay over, we were the boundary village and travelled by bus, calling at the other villages along the way. The meals were decent actually, very strict, we had to eat what was on our plates, I think that is why there are not many things I do not like, we didn't have much choice but to eat it!!!

[Nanto2girls]

I sometimes stayed for school dinners. We didn't live far from school,so i went home often.
As far as i can remember i did like the dinners,especially the puddings. Even now i love puddings.

I worked at a special education needs school for 8½ years. I loved the dinners there.
Probably because someone else made them, because by then, i had developed a hatred of cooking.

[Daisy]

I don't think we were allowed to swap between packed lunches and school dinners. It had to be one or the other.

It's good to hear though that on the whole school meals in our day weren't too bad at all.

[Grauntie Mag]

The very words ‘school dinners’ has me heaving! We lived too far away to be ‘home dinners’. Mash with bits in, inedible meat, mostly gristle, lumps of vinegary beetroot which stained everything pink, frogspawn with jam and so on. The only good thing was gypsy tart! Oh I forgot, chocolate sponge and pink custard, too revolting for words. 😝

[Gemini]

Grauntie those descriptions sound very like my primary school dinners!

[Daisy]

Grauntie, I don't know why I've "liked" your post,that does sound horrible, although I quite like frogspawn and jam - much better than the custard.

[Plantaholic]

Yuk, frogs spawn milk pudding.

[Daisy]

Plant, the hardy girls at school always used to talk loudly about frog spawn, so those who were more hesitant didn't want any leaving more for the hungry, hardy ones!