I do not have fond memories of school cafeteria lunches — though they were memorable. For a few years, I never bought the school lunch, priced at 35 cents, because the “noon-aide” forced everyone to stay at the table until his/her plate was clean. Kids tried to hide nasty food in their empty milk cartons or sneak it into the trash — only to be caught and forced to sit down, eat it and raise their hand to be excused for recess when finished. Some kids sat there for the entire lunch recess. I remember walking by the cafeteria lunchroom, seeing a lone child sitting there with a plate full of grub with the fierce-looking “noon-aide” hovering nearby.
The school cafeteria
This was the 1960s. In the suburbs of Southern California.
I recall paper cups of thick, gooey chocolate pudding decorated with hard mini marshmallows — not too tasty. The hamburgers had oatmeal in them — not the bun, the meat. It was more of an oatmeal patty with a little meat. It was served with a thimble-sized paper cup of yellow sauce and two sliced dill pickles.
We ate our cafeteria meals from hard plastic trays using stainless steel utensils. After eating, you raised your hand to be “excused,” and you disposed of the paper goods in the large trash can while the trays and silverware went through the washing window to be recycled via dishwashing. If you were a good kid, you got to go out to recess.
In elementary school, the town newspaper, The Ledger, published the menu for the week. My mom would cut it out and pin it to the bulletin board in our kitchen. I seem to recall choosing one or two days of the week to eat in the “cafe.” I liked mashed potatoes and gravy, so I ate on turkey day. I hated the hamburgers and was sorely disappointed when I arrived, and the school had changed the menu. I had to hide that gross burger in my milk carton.
Fridays were fish sticks and tater tots
Fridays were always fish sticks or grilled cheese sandwiches. Why? I think it had something to do with religion — maybe Catholics? They could only eat cheese or fish on Fridays. I was never fond of those fish sticks, but the greasy grilled cheese sandwich was OK. However, if they ran out, you might get stuck with that fish stick and be stuck at the table all lunch period. Better to avoid Fridays completely.
We also had tater tots. Yep, tater tots were well-liked by most kids. They were well documented in the movie Napoleon Dynamite. Drinks? It was always a small carton of milk with a straw — a paper straw that easily collapsed into a soft mess of pulp when you sucked it. Paper straws have a terrible mouth feel.
School lunch cost 35 cents in the 1960s
We lined up for our lunch, paid our quarter and a dime, shuffled through the line, watched the lunch lady scoop up the meal of the day, and quickly found one of the lunch tables in the auditorium. It was a multipurpose room with a stage and long tables that slid out of the walls on either side of the auditorium. When the tables were rolled-up and hidden in the wall (like a hide-a-bed), we had square dancing or assemblies. I hated square dancing.
similar type lunch tables with wheels. Ours folded up into the wall.
Lincoln School Auditorium/Cafeteria/Lunchroom about 1964 — Summer School.
Outdoor lunch tables were for lunch pails
Lincoln Elementary School was first built in 1924 on New York Ave and Altura in La Crescenta, CA. Later in the ’50s, it was upgraded, but the stone wall in the front still stands. No, I did not attend here during this time frame.
Thanks for the memory Deila! I didn’t not recall the cafeteria as negatively. Perhaps that explains why I have never liked fish sticks however. I did like the chocolate pudding. I do enjoy your writing.
I have never had chocolate cake as good as in the late 60s, early 70s at elementary school in Southern California. The cake itself was dark and moist, and the frosting unbelievably creamy. Most chocolate cakes today seem dryer and heavier including the frosting. Anyone with an old sheetcake recipe from then, PLEASE share. My goodness, what we did not know then–that these choices would not always be there and that life would get filled with more chemicals and cheaper ingredients. Sigh.
In our family, the ground beef in gravy was served over a slice of toast (i.e., the “shingle”). My father remembered it from his days in the navy, where it went, appropriately, by its acronym, SOS.
jANA
on 04/30/2017 at 5:00 pm
Yes, the giant ones!. They us to bring them out on large medal trays. We had a type of oat meal or rolled oat brown sugar cookie, or a giant peanut butter cookie and they were delicious. The food at my elementary and junior high school were fantastic. This was in the Bay area, San Francisco, CA.
Does anyone remember the BRAND name for orange drink or orangeade (not juice) in individual-serve small cartons (same size as the milk or chocolate milk cartons), from public or Catholic school lunches and weekend (yup!) snacks of the late fifties and early sixties? Thanks!
My middle school and high school had wonderful school lunches in the 60s & 70s. Everything was homemade & the cooks were fabulous. We had such enticing entrees as Yankee Doodle Noodles & Meat Sauce, Braised Brown Sugar Carrots, Princess Peach Pie & Honey Dippers. Everyone’s favorite dessert was Midnight Chocolate Cake, served year round but always on Halloween. Our cafeteria served us HUGE feasts the day before a Holiday, like we really needed a big meal before a holiday. But, we loved it. Nothing was packaged! No potato chips, no pretzels, no Twinkies, or any other packaged desserts. We didn’t miss them. No one threw food away. Most of us bought 2 lunches, even though the first portion was ample. We just couldn’t get enough of the GREAT food!. My youngest son still attends the high school I went to. The cooks I had are long gone, but some of the recipes have been passed down. A lot of schools have more of a fast food menu now & unfortunately my old high school has made cooking easier too. But, at least once a week, the menu will have one of my old favorites from yesterday & it brings back memories of the lovely smells coming from the cafeteria & making my stomach growl at 11:30 each day. Yummy!
My middle school (actually, Jr. High) was better than elementary school. But I seem to remember mostly the breads, potatoes, rice — They did have great donuts and homemade rolls! But no braised brown sugar carrots and honey dippers — that sounds good. And midnight choc cake? yea, I will have some of that too. It would be fun to take a look at their old recipe book — you may have to get those 🙂
I had a lot of the same experiences in elementary school in 1960s Utah: having to eat everything on your plate, etc. my fav day was when my number came up & I got to be a ‘helper’ for that day. It was something to look forward to IF it was Also a day they served tater tots & French fries (you could choose) because the helpers got to eat as much of these two as you wanted afterwards.
I loved the hot, fresh, fried tots & fries!
Our High School lunches were so delicious- all made from scratch & on site.
French dip with French fries were my favorite.
Now it’s all made elsewhere & heated back up at the school. Ugh!
I actually liked the lunches that our cafeteria provided because there was an al a carte proponent. My mother, because there were so many kids in our family, usually sent bologna (baloney) sandwiches on Wonder bread with mustard, Fritos or chips, Hostess Twinkies and carrot or celery sticks which we tossed into the trash. “Plain” milk was available for five cents. We also packed our own lunches. I liked the spaghetti and the tacos, and you are correct about Fish Stick Friday, especially in California. For my last 3 high school years in Las Vegas, it was like a restaurant so we could select from a variety of foods, and I remember ordering a lot of egg salad sandwiches and chips. We left school to go out for lunch in Vegas and headed for Taco Bell or The Big Boy! I guess we had it better than most!
Ha ha. I remember packing my own lunches for fieldtrip days and there was always white bread and bologna and Fritos and a Ding Dong. Really a poor diet in retrospect. It was good that I usually ate a hot lunch. I think I might even have eaten my vegetables, except for the green beans.
Oh, I ate in the café a lot in those days. My favorite thing was pizza, believe it or not. When I went to Italy with BYU Abroad in 1973, we went to a little stand and bought cheese pizza there. It tasted EXACTLY like our school cafeteria pizza at Dunsmore. I remember fish stick/grilled cheese Fridays and that was what we were told — that the Catholic kids couldn’t eat meat on Fridays. My husband remembers that, too, and he was Catholic until 2010. He said they stopped doing that after while, but when he was really little, that was the way it was in CT, also. Weird that Deb had a different experience in NJ. I usually didn’t take a lunch because I was very allergic to citrus fruit. It would cause me to break out in hives all over. I didn’t care, but my mom sent me to the café so I wouldn’t trade my banana or apple for an orange. I loved citrus so much that I used to go out to the freezer in our garage and open the frozen citrus juice with a triangular can opener, making cuts all around the can’s lid and then scoop out the frozen concentrate and eat it! *LOL* My mom could always “tell”. I couldn’t figure out how she knew? *LOL* Okay, so I wasn’t quite right in the head! hahahaha… I loved after school when you could get an ice cream sandwich or a big stick at the snack window when school let out for 10 cents. The hamburgers were pretty gross, Deila. You have a good memory!
Hi, Just read an article about choc milk being removed from schools because it contained too much sugar. Gave me a flashback to my school days in the 1960’s So I googled and found you! I remember a machine with plain milk, choc milk, orange drink(not juice) & grape drink. I attended Catholic school in NJ. Don’t remember fish stick friday. We did not have noon-aides we hade NUNS! They tried to make me eat my breadcrusts by telling me children are starving in Europe.
Also remember the cafeteria lady scooping ravioli out of a huge can-yuck.
Anyway, thanks. DR
Thanks for sharing your great memories! Well, no fish sticks in Catholic school, that’s interesting. yea, those infamous breadcrusts. My husband has a thing about that too, he wanted our kids to eat them. So I would cut it off and eat it for them (such a mom thing to do).
What memories, you were so cute! We couldn’t afford school lunch, mom would pack my lunch for me and I would usually go hide in the restroom and eat mine…thick homemade whole wheat bread…amazing that I love it today! LOL
Oh wow, my memories exactly sister. However I don’t remember agreeing to eat in the cafe very often. Remember how picky I was. I always thought the milk tasted warm and gross in those milk cartons. I remember eating on the benches more often with my lunch box. Much better, and mom would give us cookies, except I recall a girl giving me a bad time about eating cookies and tha she didn’t because she was on a diet, and made me feel guilty for eating goodies and that I should be on a diet too. Ha, I kept eating my cookies anyway. Funny how girls can become like that even in elementary school.
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Thanks for the memory Deila! I didn’t not recall the cafeteria as negatively. Perhaps that explains why I have never liked fish sticks however. I did like the chocolate pudding. I do enjoy your writing.
And your point is?
I have never had chocolate cake as good as in the late 60s, early 70s at elementary school in Southern California. The cake itself was dark and moist, and the frosting unbelievably creamy. Most chocolate cakes today seem dryer and heavier including the frosting. Anyone with an old sheetcake recipe from then, PLEASE share. My goodness, what we did not know then–that these choices would not always be there and that life would get filled with more chemicals and cheaper ingredients. Sigh.
Does anyone remember smoky rolls and shit on a shingle? big ass cookies for 5 cents? could always go back for seconds????
lol. Shit on a Shingle. I still occasionally use the term.
Lol
Shit on a Shingle is, Ground meat in a beef gravy over mash potatoes.
The best. Lol.
In our family, the ground beef in gravy was served over a slice of toast (i.e., the “shingle”). My father remembered it from his days in the navy, where it went, appropriately, by its acronym, SOS.
Yes, the giant ones!. They us to bring them out on large medal trays. We had a type of oat meal or rolled oat brown sugar cookie, or a giant peanut butter cookie and they were delicious. The food at my elementary and junior high school were fantastic. This was in the Bay area, San Francisco, CA.
Does anyone remember the BRAND name for orange drink or orangeade (not juice) in individual-serve small cartons (same size as the milk or chocolate milk cartons), from public or Catholic school lunches and weekend (yup!) snacks of the late fifties and early sixties? Thanks!
Driftwood Dairy?
I think that’s correct — what a name for a dairy
Tang.
The drink of astronauts.
I really grew fond of the baked fish on Friday.
My middle school and high school had wonderful school lunches in the 60s & 70s. Everything was homemade & the cooks were fabulous. We had such enticing entrees as Yankee Doodle Noodles & Meat Sauce, Braised Brown Sugar Carrots, Princess Peach Pie & Honey Dippers. Everyone’s favorite dessert was Midnight Chocolate Cake, served year round but always on Halloween. Our cafeteria served us HUGE feasts the day before a Holiday, like we really needed a big meal before a holiday. But, we loved it. Nothing was packaged! No potato chips, no pretzels, no Twinkies, or any other packaged desserts. We didn’t miss them. No one threw food away. Most of us bought 2 lunches, even though the first portion was ample. We just couldn’t get enough of the GREAT food!. My youngest son still attends the high school I went to. The cooks I had are long gone, but some of the recipes have been passed down. A lot of schools have more of a fast food menu now & unfortunately my old high school has made cooking easier too. But, at least once a week, the menu will have one of my old favorites from yesterday & it brings back memories of the lovely smells coming from the cafeteria & making my stomach growl at 11:30 each day. Yummy!
My middle school (actually, Jr. High) was better than elementary school. But I seem to remember mostly the breads, potatoes, rice — They did have great donuts and homemade rolls! But no braised brown sugar carrots and honey dippers — that sounds good. And midnight choc cake? yea, I will have some of that too. It would be fun to take a look at their old recipe book — you may have to get those 🙂
I had a lot of the same experiences in elementary school in 1960s Utah: having to eat everything on your plate, etc. my fav day was when my number came up & I got to be a ‘helper’ for that day. It was something to look forward to IF it was Also a day they served tater tots & French fries (you could choose) because the helpers got to eat as much of these two as you wanted afterwards.
I loved the hot, fresh, fried tots & fries!
Our High School lunches were so delicious- all made from scratch & on site.
French dip with French fries were my favorite.
Now it’s all made elsewhere & heated back up at the school. Ugh!
I actually liked the lunches that our cafeteria provided because there was an al a carte proponent. My mother, because there were so many kids in our family, usually sent bologna (baloney) sandwiches on Wonder bread with mustard, Fritos or chips, Hostess Twinkies and carrot or celery sticks which we tossed into the trash. “Plain” milk was available for five cents. We also packed our own lunches. I liked the spaghetti and the tacos, and you are correct about Fish Stick Friday, especially in California. For my last 3 high school years in Las Vegas, it was like a restaurant so we could select from a variety of foods, and I remember ordering a lot of egg salad sandwiches and chips. We left school to go out for lunch in Vegas and headed for Taco Bell or The Big Boy! I guess we had it better than most!
Oh, yea, your mom’s lunches sound worst than the cafe 🙁 Not too healthy either. Too funny, you and aunt Norma loved the egg salad sandwiches!
Ha ha. I remember packing my own lunches for fieldtrip days and there was always white bread and bologna and Fritos and a Ding Dong. Really a poor diet in retrospect. It was good that I usually ate a hot lunch. I think I might even have eaten my vegetables, except for the green beans.
Oh, I ate in the café a lot in those days. My favorite thing was pizza, believe it or not. When I went to Italy with BYU Abroad in 1973, we went to a little stand and bought cheese pizza there. It tasted EXACTLY like our school cafeteria pizza at Dunsmore. I remember fish stick/grilled cheese Fridays and that was what we were told — that the Catholic kids couldn’t eat meat on Fridays. My husband remembers that, too, and he was Catholic until 2010. He said they stopped doing that after while, but when he was really little, that was the way it was in CT, also. Weird that Deb had a different experience in NJ. I usually didn’t take a lunch because I was very allergic to citrus fruit. It would cause me to break out in hives all over. I didn’t care, but my mom sent me to the café so I wouldn’t trade my banana or apple for an orange. I loved citrus so much that I used to go out to the freezer in our garage and open the frozen citrus juice with a triangular can opener, making cuts all around the can’s lid and then scoop out the frozen concentrate and eat it! *LOL* My mom could always “tell”. I couldn’t figure out how she knew? *LOL* Okay, so I wasn’t quite right in the head! hahahaha… I loved after school when you could get an ice cream sandwich or a big stick at the snack window when school let out for 10 cents. The hamburgers were pretty gross, Deila. You have a good memory!
I forgot about the big sticks — was that everyday?
I went to Dunsmore, but it might have just been one day of the week. My sister would definitely remember — she so loved sweets of any kind! *LOL*
Hi, Just read an article about choc milk being removed from schools because it contained too much sugar. Gave me a flashback to my school days in the 1960’s So I googled and found you! I remember a machine with plain milk, choc milk, orange drink(not juice) & grape drink. I attended Catholic school in NJ. Don’t remember fish stick friday. We did not have noon-aides we hade NUNS! They tried to make me eat my breadcrusts by telling me children are starving in Europe.
Also remember the cafeteria lady scooping ravioli out of a huge can-yuck.
Anyway, thanks. DR
Thanks for sharing your great memories! Well, no fish sticks in Catholic school, that’s interesting. yea, those infamous breadcrusts. My husband has a thing about that too, he wanted our kids to eat them. So I would cut it off and eat it for them (such a mom thing to do).
What memories, you were so cute! We couldn’t afford school lunch, mom would pack my lunch for me and I would usually go hide in the restroom and eat mine…thick homemade whole wheat bread…amazing that I love it today! LOL
Oh wow, my memories exactly sister. However I don’t remember agreeing to eat in the cafe very often. Remember how picky I was. I always thought the milk tasted warm and gross in those milk cartons. I remember eating on the benches more often with my lunch box. Much better, and mom would give us cookies, except I recall a girl giving me a bad time about eating cookies and tha she didn’t because she was on a diet, and made me feel guilty for eating goodies and that I should be on a diet too. Ha, I kept eating my cookies anyway. Funny how girls can become like that even in elementary school.
My favorite was corn dogs. I lived in LA in the 70’s and then San Diego. I don’t remember having to finish it though.