Did you like the old school dinners?!


Question: We used to like them, 2 course lunch cooked on site, served by cheery ladies.


Answers: We used to like them, 2 course lunch cooked on site, served by cheery ladies.

I liked school dinners. I went to a school in Cumbria, and each table sat eight. At many tables a teacher sat on the end seat (to avoid squashing, not a 'throne' thing). This kept behaviour in check, though the teachers were 'off duty' and never discussed school stuff. The food, though slightly overcooked for my taste, was good and wholesome. The Government subsidy on the price (removed by Mme Thatcher) meant that practically everyone ate it, and it was a valuable social experience.

School dinners were a great British institution. They made sure all children were properly fed for a large part of the year, no matter what their home circumstances; and taught table manners as an added side-lesson.

No, lumpy mash - ugh.

Pink custard - ugh.

Rice pud with a lousy blob of cheap jam - ugh.

I could'nt wait to get home to have beanz on toast on a TIN plate.

Yes i liked them because it was the only cooked meal i had each day. The dinner ladies were lovely.

I only ever liked the dumplings and most of the puddings, also the Christmas dinner wasn't too bad

Yes I loved them. Back then we didn't have as much money and takeaway only meant fish and chips. Nowadays people want/have too much choice and they seem to make the wrong choices, hence the problems with obesity.
Bring back meat and two veg.

i only ever like the puddins

In 1964, I remember the first appearance of chips. Once a fortnight.

Yes, ours were very good....

Yeah they were fantastic!! The smell in the lunch que was the best, I can still remember it.

I was super lucky as when I was in Juniors my Mom was a dinner lady and I used to get extra pudding, all my friends wanted to que up next to me because she would give them extra too!! Tar Mac (it was like a chewy chocolate cake) with pink custard was the best!! She used to make it for me at home sometimes, hmmmm.

Why don't schools do dinner's like they used to? Even the Jamie Oliver thing is nowhere near as good as they it used to be. We can go into school and have lunch with our 7yr old sometimes and it is totally Cr*p!! Cold watery gravy, cold veg, dry bread. We send him with a packed lunch!

yeah i did especially xmas dinner at school with seconds yum yum

Not so bad, we just scoffed it anyway. I don't recall anyone making a fuss at the time, not even over the pink custard! At school I ate leeks for the first time and discovered how nice they are. Glad I've not missed out on those juicy little chaps and hey! remember dead man's arm pudding? A real treat after cross country running!

Most definitely yes! Chocolate sponge with chocolate custard was my favourite but spam, cold mashed potato and broad beans with sperm sauce was my least favourite.
What about you?

I wasn't a fan really. when the food, which was pretty average, was served you didn't get any choice of food, just the quantity. (ie one or two spoonfuls of beans etc). the problem was that when you got served something you didn't like (I didn't like coleslaw at the time) the dinner monitor boss, named Mrs D (it may have been Dee, but I never saw it written down) wouldn't let you go until you ate some of that food you didn't like. You had to go to her and say "Mrs D, can I leave my broccoli?" She would say "no. have a little of it" and you had to eat some of the food you really didn't like. It just annoyed me because you sat down and had to force it down your neck. It wasn't that I was a picky eater. I enjoyed fruit and veg, I just disliked certain things.

yes, I liked them especially on weekends.

Yuck! 'Old' school dinners is right. Way back in the 50s we were served fish on Fridays, because of the Roman Catholics. Sometimes we got fish on Thursdays, and we knew that was because it was 'on the turn' and wouldn't keep until Friday. (We were only 15 miles from Morecambe Bay). When that happened we got cheese pie on Friday - so every cloud has a silver lining.

Yep--we got a meal ticket subsidized by the government, $1.25 per week. But the lunch ladies could be a different sort. They made sure my little brother got the heel of the bread loaf because he liked it. One woman went up into a neighbor's barn loft and bagged a pile of pigeons (at his invitation--"You eat pigeon, don't you? Come clean out my loft.") turning it into "chicken" potpie and serving it to the school. If you had ladies like this, they were a treasure. They knew how to cook and they were proud of it.

yes, apart from the mash and swede. I used to love the puddings!

no they are horrible

Yummy!!! I loved them. Over cooked cabbage, runny gravey, butterscotch tart with fake cream(middle slices only), fab pink custard with dry sponge cake! Hot chocolate on special days.
I know alot of people found them gross, but i truely loved them.





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