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I used to love those little bottles of milk! In winter, it was so cold, it gave you a pain in the head when you drank it!!
I remember sitting in class and red crates of these little bottles of milk were piled up at the back of our class. They were never refrigerated, even in the Summer! I would have been glad for Maggie Thatcher The Milk Snatcher to take mine away at that time!
I remember my school meals in the States to be pretty good, especially the deserts and the yeasty bread rolls. I think our meals were 25 cents back in the late 60s and (cold) milk was 2 cents. The price had risen to $1.50 and 12 cents by the time I left school in 1981.
My kids attended school in southern California a little over a decade ago and I was shocked when they said that they need $7 or more for lunch each day. The cafeteria did little of their own cooking and brought in catered meals from local restaurants. They had a choice of Mexican, pizza, burgers, Chinese, sushi and everything else under the sun. It was essentially a pay-as-you-go buffet.
I remember my school meals in the States to be pretty good, especially the deserts and the yeasty bread rolls. I think our meals were 25 cents back in the late 60s and (cold) milk was 2 cents. The price had risen to $1.50 and 12 cents by the time I left school in 1981.
My kids attended school in southern California a little over a decade ago and I was shocked when they said that they need $7 or more for lunch each day. The cafeteria did little of their own cooking and brought in catered meals from local restaurants. They had a choice of Mexican, pizza, burgers, Chinese, sushi and everything else under the sun. It was essentially a pay-as-you-go buffet.
When I started school in 1957, the price of a school dinner was 1 shilling. We paid on a Monday for the whole week. 5 shillings was just over $1 back in those days, so the equivalent of about 20 cents a day. It remained that price all through my time at school.
The first eight years of dinners we stood in line, and worked our way past a group of dinner ladies each in charge of groups of food. I believe back then, the government had rules on content of the meals. There had to be potatoes, various vegetables, and a choice of meat. Followed by some sort of afters like jam roly poly and custard.
Then, when I was 12 years old, the system changed. Instead of all the kids eating in a large dining hall. We were split up into six groups in separate buildings. These were known as 'house blocks.' They had names like 'Windsor' 'Stuart' and mine was 'Lancaster' block. Each block had it's own kitchen. Now we sat on round tables of six kids, and one teacher. When we were all sat, a dinner lady bought to the table a large tray full of oblong metal tureens. Each of these had a different food inside, like potatoes, veg, and meat.
Now, my friend Harold and myself soon found out which were the fussy kids, and made sure we sat with them. A fussy teacher was harder to find, but beggars can't be choosers. The lids of the tureens would be removed to choruses of 'I don't like that......' Harold and I smiled to ourselves, as the teacher loaded up our plates........ We would polish off our share, and that of the kids who didn't like some of the food.
As I said before, the rice pudding was best. It came in a large bowl with a ladle. I will agree, it was a little lumpy....... The cries of 'I don't like that' filled the air, as Harold and I ate most of it....... I tell ya........ it was great value for 1 shilling!!
When I visited my son's school, and saw the system in place by then, I was shocked. It was like a fast food joint, with a big menu on the wall. They literally had burger and chips, pizza, and all sorts of things like that. No sign of any vegetables, or genuinely nutritious food. The cheapest meal was about £1, which was 20 times the price mine had been. I know we had inflation in the intervening years, but this was ridiculous. I think this was about the year 1991, so gawd knows what they're paying now for a school dinner!!
Today one of my local seafood places ran out of Cod for Fish & Chips. Haddock isn't the end of the world, to me, though. After having Baked Cod and Fried Haddock, I wouldn't mind Baked Haddock and Fried Cod (if that made any sense at all).
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I would have been glad for Maggie Thatcher The Milk Snatcher to take mine away at that time!
We would polish off our share, and that of the kids who didn't like some of the food.
The cries of 'I don't like that' filled the air, as Harold and I ate most of it.......
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