Sunday, September 5, 2021

Around the Kitchen Table: Grade School Lunch Memories + #Giveaway

MOLLY MACRAE: Brand new pencils,

Brand new books,

Brand new teachers’ smiling looks!

Brand new crayons,

Brand new paste,

Brand new lunch box . . . 

School lunches often get a bad rap, and “Lunch lady” is a stereotype in so many school stories and jokes. Do your memories fall in line with that? Mine show how lucky we were as kids. More often than not, my siblings and friends and I walked home for lunch. Even in the depths of Midwestern winters. (We had a teacher who called kids creampuffs if they didn’t walk home on the worst days. How cruel is that?)

But how lucky we were that our moms were home to feed us. We had leftovers, or sandwiches made from leftovers (gristly piece of meat on bread, anyone?), and sometimes little round omelets (I loved those omelets). My biggest secret though, on the days we ate in the school lunchroom, was wishing for a lunchbox instead of a brown paper bag. And a thermos! Nope, never had one.

So let’s go back to grade school. Did you eat in a cafeteria? Can you remember the smell of school spaghetti and Friday fish? Did you have a lunchbox? Did you drop your thermos only to hear the glass inside shatter? Did you have fun sitting with friends and then get to run around outside? What grade school lunchtime memories do you have?

What was your favorite part of 
lunchtime in grade school?

Food, friends, fun or . . . ?



🍎🥪🍪


MADDIE DAY: I love this topic, Molly! My favorite lunchbox was red plaid, just like in your picture. But my siblings and I always had tickets to buy milk to go with our lunch, so we never brought a thermos. (My mom probably knew how quickly it would break.) And we didn't live close enough to walk home for lunch (even though it was southern California, where the only weather presenting a problem was September with 105 degrees and 100% smog). I was third of four kids with a mother who was determined to make us self-sufficient in the kitchen as soon as we were tall enough to see over the counter. I usually made my own peanut butter-and-lettuce sandwich - hey, don't judge, it's delicious! Add in a pear or an orange and a couple of Girl Scout cookies and I was good to go.

Edith/Maddie second from left. A year or two before school age

Unlike my sisters and brothers, I was NOT a picky eater, so I loved buying lunch in the cafeteria. Cost might have been a factor in our family, so it wasn't a regular thing. But give me that flat slab of "Salisbury steak" with gravy and a scoop of mashed potatoes - yum. A little pocket of applesauce. Maybe a slice of boysenberry pie. It was a long, long time ago, and I truly don't remember what they offered on other days. I don't think I'll ever forget the smell of the school cafeteria.

Yes, and we always had a good long recess outdoors after lunch. Swinging on the bars, running out to the far fence where the walnut trees grew, playing kickball. Sigh.


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PEG COCHRAN: I went to a private Catholic school until sixth grade I can't remember if I had a lunch box or not but I do remember my mother making me bologna sandwiches over and over again. And I hated bologna sandwiches but didn't have the nerve to tell her! (I still do.) And, worst of all, the nuns made us finish all our lunch no matter what. I also remember that we said the "Catholic Grace" before the meal--sometimes in English and sometimes in French. So recess afterwards was definitely the best part when we were let loose to run around for a bit. When I transferred to a public school for 7th grade, I sometimes bought my lunch. What I remember most are the squares of white cake. The first day they just had frosting. Leftovers on the second day had frosting and chocolate chips and by the third day, the leftovers had frosting, chocolate chips and coconut.

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LESLIE KARST: I was lucky enough to inherit my oldest brother's Roy Rogers lunch box, which--being the horse-crazy gal I was--I adored! (Yes, I still have it.)


My mom, who went back to school get her master's degree when my little sister started kindergarten, would pack all our school lunches for the week on Sunday night: individually wrapped bologna sandwiches on white bread which would go into the freezer, potato chips in wax bags (yes, they were always stale by Friday, but I still loved them!), apples, and cookies in wax bags (also stale but delicious).

But once a month we got to eat in the cafeteria, and I'd spend ages poring over the next month's cafeteria calendar deciding which day to go: Hot dogs? Pizza? Creamed beef with canned string beans? I loved them all!

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LUCY BURDETTE: Leslie, you are too cool with the Roy Rogers lunchbox! My mother had four kids plus she worked, and my dad commuted an hour plus each way to Manhattan, so nobody was packing lunch. We ate at the cafeteria and that seemed fine.

Back in middle school, or maybe it was late grade school, our school was being rehabilitated and we had to go to another school and share split sessions. That meant that half the kids arrived very early (could it have been 6 AM?) and left by noon. The other kids attended from noon to five. My sister and I were in the early bird shift. And my mother hated getting up early. But she wanted us to eat well before we went to school. One of the things she fixed ahead of time for our breakfast was sloppy Joes. We were on our own for heating them up to eat at 5:30. They were delicious!

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MARY JANE MAFFINI: I love this topic, Molly! Lunch was absolutely my favorite subject in school. In grade school (we called it Elementary) I lived a block from the school but everyone in the school walked home for lunch. I don't remember any accommodation for children to eat at school, regardless of weather. Almost all the moms were at home in the fifties. We always had a hot lunch in the cold weather and my dad also came home from work for his hot lunch. My mother was an excellent cook, but of course, my preferred meal would be beans and wieners or grilled cheese sandwiches. The walk home and back was an important time to socialize with other kids, although in winter with our woolen mittens and heavy cotton padded snowsuits, we were usually cold and wet going back. I love the film "A Christmas Story" although it's an earlier era, we still had the bulky gear and the challenges of snow and occasionally falling into it.

Even in high school (beyond the scope here but ...) we walked home, a half hour each way. That left us a half-hour to eat and be out the door. I went to a Catholic girls school and we were not permitted to go anywhere except home at lunch, especially not to restaurants. I always enjoyed bending that rule.

Years later, I made lunches for my own girls, every day. One daughter (who shall remain nameless) always complained that my lunches were not as good as her friend's. The friend's dad (a firefighter) apparently always provided chocolate milk, chocolate bars and soft and chewy chocolate chip cookies. If he included sandwiches, I assumed they were filled with M & M's.

Although I don't remember specifics, no doubt I criticized my poor mum's meals at the time. Now, of course, I have nothing but happy memories of school day lunches.


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Leslie and Twiggy -- 3d grade

LESLIE BUDEWITZ: Eat your hearts out, sisters. I had a "Julia" lunchbox. And I still have it, and the Thermos, though I wasn’t brave enough to unpack half the back end of the garage to reach the box where it’s safely stashed to take a picture.

Another Catholic school kid here, but from what I remember, our cafeteria lunches weren’t any better or worse than the public school kids’. The only difference was that I lived too far to walk home for lunch. (Walk to and from, yes, but not for lunch.) Was it Marty Wanner who convinced me that the scoop of rice was dead maggots? Though I can’t blame him for the idea of flipping the cooked peas over our shoulders with a spoon so they splatted on the cafeteria walls, which were the exact same shade of horrid green. And on what planet was fried baloney actually decent? Friday Fish Sticks and squares of cheese pizza were fun, but usually I took a lunch. Some years it was cool to have a box – and Julia WAS cool – and some years, brown bags were cool. Who decides these things? It sure wasn’t me, never cool for a minutes Sandwiches or soups – that’s where that Thermos came in handy, even if we bought milk for a quarter. An apple or orange segments in a little baggie. My mother’s homemade cookies. And occasionally, for a treat, a little bag of Fritos. Trades happened, though I doubt I participated, not because of that cool thing, but nobody could offer anything that beat my mom’s cookies.

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TINA KASHIAN: Great topic! I fondly remember school lunch in grade school. I had a Strawberry Shortcake lunchbox. We ate in the cafeteria, then had recess on the playground. We always looked forward to playing outside. When it rained, we had to stay indoors. As for my lunch, my mother packed me hummus and pita at a time when hummus was not well known. It caused some stress for me. Finally, I asked for peanut butter and jelly. I have two girls now and we make their lunch. Sometimes, they make their own. They prefer peanut butter and jelly and never want to change. There is something to be said about a routine.  

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MAYA CORRIGAN: Like Molly and MJ, I walked home for lunch. I lived about 1/3 mile from school in Queens, NY, and walked with friends whose houses were twice as far. I was happy to be the first one to peel off. Our school had no cafeteria, so everyone within a mile of school was required to have lunch at home. Others who lived farther but were near a city bus route were also required to go home. The remaining few kids ate bag lunches in the auditorium. They had a longer recess than the walkers, but we fit in a lot of socializing on the way between home and school. As you can tell from the uniform and obediently folded hands in my first-grade class picture, there were nuns involved.

My mom always cooked a balanced meal for dinner, but lunch either came from a can--Campbell soup, Heinz baked beans--or between two slices of bread. I remember ham, bologna, tuna fish, lettuce and tomato, and BLT sandwiches. So my midday meal had more variety than box lunches. I still enjoy BLTs and tuna salad sandwiches, though I've given up my other childhood favorite: baked beans on toast.


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Photos from our younger years!
Click here to learn more about us &
the books we write as Cleo Coyle.


CLEO COYLE: Great topic, Molly! My husband and I attended different public schools in the Pittsburgh area, but we both had a blast during our lunch periods. Marc looked forward to seeing his friends from other grades. I was a chunky monkey (foodie-in-training!), so any meal break was a happy part of my day. And it was during these lunch hours that I got my start as a storyteller, entertaining my cafeteria tablemates with seriously odd tales. 

The giant mouse 🐁 on the moon 🌙, who gobbled up astronauts foolish enough to rocket there, went over big. Maybe not as big as Pizza Bagel Day or the apple crisp, but definitely more palatable than the canned green beans, cooked until every last molecule of living nutrition was boiled out of them (one of my early encounters with culinary crime). Then again, the food wasn’t all bad. Our lunch ladies also served a favorite Western Pennsylvania nosh (one so good that Marc and I still eat it to this day), the BBQ Chipped Ham Sandwich

We are such fans of this cheap eats delight we wrote it into our 14th Coffeehouse Mystery, ONCE UPON A GRIND. After moving to NYC, our pregnant amateur sleuth (Clare Cosi) craved the sandwich so badly that she sent her young husband out into the night with instructions for deli workers on how to “chip” the ham "Pittsburgh-style" on their slicers. If you’d like to learn this deli-ordering trick and get our recipe, click on the photo below, and eat with school lunch memory joy! 

Vicki Delany: I also am of the walking home for lunch generation.  I don't remember anything memorable about those lunchtimes except for one thing. My grandfather lived with us for a while. As my mom was a teacher, Grandad prepared our lunch.  Every lunchtime he opened one can of Campbell's tomato soup to serve with a rather plain sandwich of a slice of cheese on white bread sort of thing. No matter how many people were coming for lunch - whether it was just me and him, or my brother and some of our friends, maybe Mom too or Dad if he was off work for some reason - he opened one can of soup.  So somedays I got an adequate serving, and some days barely a spoonful. 


What was your favorite part of lunchtime
in grade school? Food, friends, fun or . . . ?


GIVEAWAY! 

To be entered in this week's drawing,
join us in the comments.

Include your email address,
so we can contact the winner!

Comments Open until
Wednesday, September 8, noon Eastern


>> HEATHER AND HOMICIDE by Molly MacRae

>> A SCONE OF CONTENTION (Audio) 
by Lucy Burdette

>> CRYPT SUZETTE by Maya Corrigan

>> MURDER AT THE LOBSTAH SHACK (ARC) 
by Maddie Day

 >> BREWED AWAKENING by Cleo Coyle


Comments Open until
Wednesday,  September 8, noon Eastern

Don't forget to include
an email address!

📚 

60 comments:

  1. What fun!
    Our cafeteria was shared by the grammar school (6-8 grade) and high school. It was small and we had very little lunch time. If you brought lunch there was just about enough time to eat. If you bought lunch there were two options: the regular line with wonderful (at least I thought it was) spaghetti now and then or the hall line with hamburgers, drinks, and snack like big chocolate chip cookies.
    We were convinced the burgers were nothing but a mold culture on the bun. They were so thin and tasteless that it was necessary to add catsup AND mustard in order to have any taste. Now my question is, why did we buy them?
    It wasn't unusual to be still in line for food when the bell rang.
    I don't remember what I brought to eat from home even though that was the majority of my lunches.
    libbydodd at comcast dot net

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  2. When I was in grade school we went home for lunch but I don’t remember what we ate. Probably soup or sandwiches.
    sgiden at verizon(.)net

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  3. Eating with friends.
    terry0743@aol.com

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  4. I had that Roy Rogers lunch box too! Loved it. Peanut butter sandiches and a piece of fruit is what I remember. In grade school we had to either eat at our desks or in the gymnasium, nocafeteria. High school we across the street to the greasy spoon, played the jukebox and ate french fries with gravy! Yum!

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  5. In elementary school (first though sixth grade) I ran home for lunch. My mom usually had a sandwich or left overs from the night before ready for a quick meal since we only had an hour for lunch. I usually met two friends for the walk back to school. During the walk we shared dessert, usually cookies.
    In junior high most of my friends and I brought sandwiches from home and bought something to drink (either milk or orangeade in small wax containers). Always a fun 50 minutes.
    High school was the worst though - band with lunch. Try tooting your clarinet between bites of a sandwich. Ugh. LRJ
    lroth@pcext.com

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  6. Being an old Army brat, lunch time was the time to make new friends. As a child I was a rather picky eater. So eating in the cafeteria lunch line was only on days they had something I would like which was about once a week. Mom was a great cook and whether it was leftovers from supper the night before or a peanut butter sandwich, it was something that everyone else wanted to trade for. That didn't happen very much.

    My first memory of lunch rooms was first grade. We stood in line to wash our hands before going to the lunch room where your hands were looked at before you got went in. You were allowed all the food you wanted as long as you didn't waste it. We learned that each compartment of our tray had a number. If you wanted seconds on meat and it was in compartment one, you held up one finger and one of the lunch ladies would come around with that pot or pan and give you a little bit more.

    Fondly remember taking the fizzy tablets and getting a glass of water to make my drink or the straws that when you sipped your milk through magically turned the white milk into chocolate flavored milk.

    Lunch time was also time to rush through eating so you could go outside to play. The monkey bars were my favorite and my Mom's worst nightmare being the cause for many rips and tears.

    Thank you for the chance! Shared and hoping to be the fortunate one selected.

    Have a fabulous three day weekend!
    2clowns at arkansas dot net

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  7. Great question, it's very interesting to read everyone's answers. I went to a country school from kindergarten through 8th grade. Our school had free breakfast and lunch for everyone, with seconds of you wanted them, and it was really great food. It was so good that no one really brought their lunch at all back then. But, I guess there is always some food that not everyone loves and my mom said I came home from school the first week of kindergarten and told her that I wasn't going back to school at all. When she asked me why I didn't want to go back, she said I told her because they made us take a nap and eat all of our lunch and it had spinach, and I wasn't to do either! She said she argued with me for a bit and then told me "fine, don't go back, grow up to be a dummy". She said I got a funny look on my face and then told her that everyone had to go to school. Apparently I didn't ever argue about the naps or the spinach again!
    Mickeymania1@aol.com

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  8. Elementary school lunches were quiet and quick so not often very soon. I was in a strict private school. My lunch usually consisted of a peanut butter sandwich from home and milk. In high school lunch was not as strictly regulated so I got hang out with my friends more and it allowed for more unwinding time. I usually brought lunch from home then too. cherierj(at)yahoo(dot)com

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  9. In elementary school, lunches were brought from home, school lunches usually once a week. What i remember from kindergarten/first grade age was a Star Wars red plastic lunchbox. Lunch was usually PB&J or cheese sandwiches, grapes, a cookie and juice. That lunchbox was repurposed as a coupon box for my mom. startrek1976 at yahoo dot com

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  10. In grade school, we usually had healthy lunches. I wasn’t a picky eater, thanks to my mother’s insistence on a well-rounded diet. I did draw the line when the school lunch included hominy. Anyone remember this? To this day, just hearing the word makes me cringe.

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    1. That's so funny, Mary! I love hominy and seek it out now to include in my chili.

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  11. We had pretty decent lunches in school. Of course of there was something we didn't like, we could bring lunch from home. Peanut butter and jelly was my standard, with chips and something for dessert. When we got to middle school they had a salad bar as an alternative if we didn't like the meal, so most didn't bother dragging something from home. I remember tons of complaints when they switched brands of mashed potatoes, and again when they took away the salad bowls and stuck us with these tiny, disposable paper ones. Other than that it wasn't too bad.
    kozo8989(at)hotmail(dot)com

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  12. I walked home for lunch all through elementary and high school no matter what the weather was. My mother made hot meals which were filling and tasty. I realize now that I did not appreciate this and wish that I was more aware of the lunches prepared everyday for us. saubleb(at)gmail(dot)com

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  13. My favorite memory is of the trades during lunchtime. We always looked forward to what each other’s moms packed us! Thanks for the chance.
    Jess
    maceoindo(at)yahoo(dot)com

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  14. From kindergarten on I walked to and from school 4 times a day. This was the norm where I lived. My mother was home as this was in the 1950's and the lunches were prepared with love, care and were greatly enjoyed. My favorite was a tomato and noodle casserole topped with crackers. I never knew what lunch would be. It was always a delightful surprise. elliotbencan(at)hotmail(dot)com

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  15. What was it about those red plaid lunchboxes? I remember mine so well. And I remember dropping the thermos multiple times--I hated that glass shattering sound! I don't think I ever went through the cafeteria line at school because my mother made my lunch. I don't remember much about it, but it probably contained a cream cheese and grape jelly sandwich--I loved those for years! As a matter of fact, I was thinking about that lately and had to buy the cream cheese and jelly. Yes, I have treated myself to those sandwiches a couple of times since then, and they still work for me. Ah, back to school days! mbunting(at)sbcglobal(dot)net.

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    1. I'd forgotten I ate about cream cheese and jelly sandwiches. Your memory stirred up one for me. Thanks for commenting, Margie. ~Maya

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  16. We had to eat in the school cafeteria. You could buy a lunch or pack a lunch from home. I still remember the dreaded glass tinkling sound that sometimes occurred if you dropped your lunchbox with the empty thermos inside. In high school I convinced my parents to give me lunch money for the week so I could practice money budgeting skills. I would buy a bowl of what was mostly vegetable soup - leftover veggies I am sure with maybe a morsel or two of meat - and a big soft yeast roll for a bargain price. I would have the remainder for my lunch money for spending money. My bargain hunting skills started early!

    Nancy
    allibrary (at) aol (dot) com

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    1. Oh, that dreaded tinkling! I remember it all too well.

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  17. I was a picky eater so I took my lunch every day. I didn't like peanut butter with my jelly so I had a jelly sandwich (mom's homemade jelly!) with the edges cut off. hannah03 (at) bellsouth (dot) net

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  18. Mostly bought the school lunch. Once on awhile I took my lunch. There were to lunch lines. One you paid for your milk if you brought your lunch. One line if your bought the school lunch. If it snowed and would wonder if school was getting out early we would sniff. If we could smell lunch cooking we weren't getting out early. pwtish171@gmail.com

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  19. My favourite lunch was always when I slept over at my best friends house. The bread was fresh, they had real butter and the apples were crisp. It was heaven. We had very little when I was growing up so I never complained but my mom was famous for spam and relish sandwiches and apples, in her opinion were only good if you could press your thumb into them. I refer to them as applesauce in a skin. Still can't do spam or any tinned meat.

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  20. I went to a Hebrew Day School and the food was horrendous. We had potato soup with a half inch skin on the top. Red and white spaghetti that let you turn the plate upside down without leaving the plate. Oh, and the milk in the wax lined containers with was floating in the milk. I finally got Mommy Dearest to stop paying for lunch and just pack me a sandwich, which I ate on the front steps of the school in rain or shine.

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  21. I lived in a rural school district so we rode the bus in Ocassionally packed lunch with some sort of sandwich and apple or orange. My favorite from the cafeteria was Baked Bean Sandwich. Hamburgerbun with baked beans and a slice of melted American cheese with a brownie

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  22. I loved catching up with friends and laughing! The cafeteria was always full of laughter and conversations!

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  23. My Grammar school didn't have a cafeteria. We ate lunch in our classrooms so it wasn't so fun. But High School was great that's where I'd hang out with friends and have fun. It was always loud and full of laughter!

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  24. What a fun topic. I took my lunch in a brown bag for the early years, usually a bologna sandwich (my least favorite) wrapped in wax paper, and nothing else. Sometimes my mom would make "ham" salad, which was also made from chunk bologna, but it tasted like ham, and was definitely my favorite. The very worst day was when I opened my bologna sandwich to find a detested black jelly bean melting atop it, under the wax paper. I can still feel the revulsion.

    I have no memories of what we ate in high school, oddly, but fond memories of my Catholic grade school lunches. In fact, I still have an oilcloth-covered fundraising cookbook from 1963 that includes some of the cafeteria ladies' best recipes.

    One of my all-time favorite lunches from that era was their chili, which was served with peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. They have never tasted the same, and I've never been able to figure out why.

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  25. What great memories this brought back! I had a new lunchbox every year, and my favorite was the Charlie Brown lunchbox. I also had a thermos and I think I killed at least three in my grade school career. I went to Catholic school and we were separated at lunch time - students who ate hot lunch ate in one room and students who brought cold lunch ate in a different room. Thanks for the wonderful giveaway! aut1063(at)gmail(dot)com

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  26. School it self as it was escape from home life. cheetahthecat1986ATgmailDOTcom

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  27. I can't remember my first lunch box but how about my latest one! I figured anybody could have a Harry Potter lunch box, but only quirky mystery authors would have a Voldemort one (The Order of the Phoenix). It came from Borders, back in the day, and cost $17.99 It's part of my estate planning. Before I go into the nursing home I'll put it on eBay! So sorry that I can't post a picture here. But back to elementary school. It was tiny--all six grades in 3 rooms with only 3 teachers. And the 1st & 2nd grade teacher was also the principal. It served 90-some students, and one of our moms (Mrs. Hopkins) came in to make the lunches. Two 5th & 6th graders each week were assigned to help her. Hot, homemade lunches for 25 cents! I didn't like milk, so my mom packed me malted milk balls so I could slip them in the hideous white milk. Good times!

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  28. Always ate in Cafeteria! In 6th grade, I was chosen to be the cash register worker. Quite the honor! I got to leave class early, and take the 35 cents from all in line! Learned to make change and always got my choice of butterscotch pudding. What FUN!

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  29. My favorite part of lunch was the food, of course, and my friends. Pizza and hamburger were my favorite school foods. I brought lunch from home on the other days. 3labsmom(at)gmail(dot)com

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  30. My favorite part of school lunch was the pizza and of course hanging out with my friends swapping food! Thanks for the chance!

    jarjm1980(at)hotmail(dot)com

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  31. For a short time, my grade school cafeteria served warm Parker rolls (in the small mashed potato bowls) and had a plastic squirt bottle filled with melted butter. So, since it was self-serve, we would literally drown those rolls in butter. Sadly for us, mom volunteers caught on and took over the butter.

    The cafeteria also had a stoplight behind the teachers’ table with the light colors to regulate talking volume. bobandcelia (at) sbcglobal (dot) net

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  32. What a fun topic! Love recalling the memories …
    I walked home from school at lunch (no cafeteria in our elementary, parochial school). I had my lunch with my mom (primarily, stay at home) and dad (manufacturer manager) who drove home from work for his 1 hr lunch break each work day. My older sister was in high school for most of my elementary years, and had lunch there. Mom always had lunch ready on the table, because I was only home for about 20 minutes before needing to walk back to school. Lunch was usually hot soup and sandwiches (tomato soup and grilled cheese was a fave) or a hot meal of deliciousness (Mediterranean and Yankee home cooked cuisine). In 8th grade we were allowed to stay at school in our classroom for lunch, and my PB sandwiches on home made pita bread were always a curiosity with my non-Arabic classmates.
    Oh what fun remembering a simpler time.
    sharonepero(at)comcast(dot) com

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    1. Thanks for sharing your story, Liz! My parochial elementary school also had no cafeteria, but going home was a nice break in the day.
      ~Maya

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  33. I grew up in an extremely small town in Northern CA. I saw the same kids from K through eighth grade. I still remember my friend eating the entire inside of an orange and only the peel was left!!

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  34. Love hearing all your stories. Brought my lunch in my red plaid lunch box usually a Fluffernutter and milk money for that warm carton of milk. For snacks we got fruit or more peanut butter on saltines. I was envious of those that got snack cakes. In junior high bought cafeteria when we had pizza. It was uncool to bring your lunch. Lots of girls didn't eat at all especially in high school.

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  35. Forgot my email. jasblue0324 (at) yahoo (dot) com

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  36. I remember brown bagging it for lunch, usually a bologna or ham sandwich and an apple or fruit of some sort. We did have cafeteria meals on some days. We lived too far to walk home for lunch. When we transferred to school at our church, we could go to my Grandmother's house because she lived right behind the school. My sister had a Flintstone's lunch box which she still has,
    diannekc8(at)gmail(dot)com

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  37. I enjoyed finding out what my Mom put in my lunch each day. We were not able to talk at lunch in grade school. In junior high and high school, I was so quiet and withdrawn that I did not talk to anyone. I would read on my lunch. Thank you for the opportunity. dpruss@prodigy.net

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  38. In elementary school, I had a lunch box with a thermos. I took my lunch every day — always a sandwich. I alternated between peanut butter and grape jelly, bologna and cheese, or ham and cheese. Usually I had milk in my thermos, but sometimes my mom would send Campbell’s soup in the thermos. In junior high, I mostly bought my lunch. It was strange that we always had greens as a veggie the day after the grass was mowed 😊. In high school we could leave campus for lunch, so that’s what most people did (we got an hour for lunch). cking78503(at)aol(dot)com

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  39. Ah, metal lunchboxes, and I still have a Zorro one and a Disneyland one. Grandma crocheted little pouches for our milk money, which she knew could fall from pockets while playing. <3

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  40. My favorite part of grade school lunches were the friends and fun. I was sent to school with a brown paper bag style of lunch. It was fuel not spectacular food. But the camaraderie and the tables, potential trade ups with friends and games at recess after eating was absolutely fabulous!
    Little lamb lst at yahoo dot com

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  41. I took my lunch most days. We would have a sandwich, chips, and usually grapes. I loved to buy pizza on pizza days though-it was a rectangular shaped pizza and was probably horrible for us, but man it sure was delicious. clarksrfun at gmail dot com

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  42. My favorite part of lunch at school was eating with my friends.
    Kitten143 (at) Verizon (dot) net

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  43. I was a shy kid. I was always afraid to go to the cafeteria due to there being a lot of people (kids). I would take lunch to school. Egg sandwich or bologna sandwich. It wasn't until High School that I started to eat wgat they served, Pastrimi sandwich, etc.

    strgth4yu(at)hotmail(dot)com
    Linda Ortiz

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  44. I was that wierd child who loved hot lunch, I discovered if I voluntered to worked in the cafereria I could eat for free and pocket my lunch money. I loved watching the lunch ladies creating delishious food in those giant caldrens. My favorites were tuna casserole, mashed potatoes with hamburger gravy, and my favorite no bake chocolate oatmeal peanut butter cookies. I later made them for my kids and now Grandkids. So many fond memories of getting to interact with all the kids in the school as they staggered the grades.

    onnie.poppop@gmail.com

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  45. We always brought lunch to school because it was cheaper with 4 kids. a sandwich and cookies or chips. usually bologna. i refused to eat chicken salad sandwiches after i got sick after eating it once. bought the little carton of milk. we had to eat at our desks. the cafeteria wasn't big enough to hold everyone.
    wskwared (at) yahoo (dot) com

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  46. Tina, I also had a Strawberry Shortcake lunch box. We were not allowed to leave campus for lunch, and it seems like I probably took my lunch half the time. My favorites from the hot line were the hexagonal shaped pizzas, chili, chicken fried steak.... It was always a great day when they served those chocolate peanut butter oatmeal no bake cookies. Thank you for the chance to win. Dmskrug3 at hotmail dot com

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  47. As the oldest of 3 kids, we moved from the city of New Orleans to a brand new house in a new suburb the summer I turned 6. Had already made friends by the time 1st grade started. The Catholic school was so new that not only did they lack kindergarten for 2 years, but the cafeteria wasn't completely finished either, so I brown-bagged it and only had to buy milk while sitting with pals before running outside to play. Mom made a different sandwich every day, except Fridays were usually my favorite tuna salad, with Fritos, or if I was really lucky,potato chips, some kind of fruit & maybe 2 Oreos! Then after a few months in 5th grade my dad got transferred (for the first time before much moving around)to NYC, and this little Southern gal got to go to public school on Long Island. Total shock to my system, but my new best friend lived around the corner and was also a "new girl" from Pittsburgh. We would read the Sunday paper to check out the school's lunch menu each week and only liked a few hot lunches (which were about 20 cents I think) So basically it was lots of socializing and fun, & our moms could have the days to themselves in peace and quiet, then serve delicious hot meals for family dinner later. lola777_22 at hotmail dot com

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  48. For most of my elementary school I went to small schools that did not have hot lunch. I loved the lunch for the two years that I went to a school in a bigger city - particularly fish sticks and macaroni and cheese on Fridays. The cheese enchiladas were delicious too. dfdeforestoh at gmail dot com

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  49. We usually ate school lunch, Mom started working when my sister started kindergarten - I was in 3rd grade & my brother was in 6th grade, so it was the only year we were all in the same school. I loved the definitely not Chinese chow mein and the chicken surprise over rice. Each class had a monitor to collect the milk money, I think it was 2 or 3 cents. One of my friends would only drink chocolate milk, so his mother sent hom with chocolate flavor straws so he'd drink school milk. We ate in the multipurpose room, the long tables folded up so it was also the gym & the band room. Great memories!

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  50. My first 4 years of grade school we didn't have a cafeteria so I brought lunch in my Beverly Hillbillies lunch box with a little baggie of Nestle Quik so I could have chocolate milk. We ate at our desks and the janitor delivered a crate of little bottles of milk to the room just before lunch time. Thank you for this chance at your giveaway! pgenest57 at aol dot com

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  51. Great topic! I ate lunch at school in elementary school. I remember the lunch tickets and lunch ladies well. The food? Not sure but I do remember the homemade cookies for dessert. I was destined to be a baker. In Senior high I carried a brown paper bag lunch and ate on the steps of the auditorium. Thanks for the chance to win! ljbonkoski@yahoo.com

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  52. fitzpatrick.lynn@gmail.com Our lunches were sometimes set up to force us to eat an undesirable food in order to get seconds on a favorite food! One such pairing was a hot dog served with slimy cooked greens! I was told by a classmate to hold my nose, swallow the greens whole, and wash them down with my milk! This resulted in the need for a cafeteria floor cleanup and no seconds on my hot dog! Lynn Fitzpatrick 😁

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  53. In elementary our cafeteria was the gym during other times. I always carried my lunch and was always excited about what new lunch pail I got. Within a month the thermos would always get broke. In junior high and high school I loved being able to eat in an actual cafeteria and choosing what I wanted to eat or drink. It was also fun to sit with my friends and gossip about other classmates. robeader53(at)yahoo(dot)com

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