What was the best and worst thing you ate in a school cafeteria?

[Buzz Rules]

What was the best and worst thing you ate in a school cafeteria?

 

[bcla]

I wasn't much for cafeteria food. In college I didn't stay in dorms and didn't have a meal plan although once I joined my cousin by paying maybe $5 for dinner at one of the dorm dining halls on campus. Once I ended up on a family retreat at UC Davis and it included 3 meals a day at the main dining hall. It was really good - almost as good as a mid-priced Vegas buffet although maybe not quite as expensive in the offerings.

In jr high I rarely bought anything because I'd brown bag it, but the one thing I could afford was maybe 30 cents for these peanut butter Rice Krispies treats that the cafeteria staff made. It was definitely not the reheated foodservice slop that was served like airline meals.

When I was in elementary school, my parents got me a punch card that I could use to get school cafeteria meals if there wasn't enough time to brown bag something. And generally I liked it, but for some reason I remember the blended turkey with gravy. And they were like perfect squares about a quarter inch thick. It wasn't inedible, but they were just weird. I think they were pressed into shape from various bits and pieces of turkey meat similar to chicken nuggets.

 

[phoenixconfidential]

I didn’t start eating at school until HS when I made for it myself ….

there were these addicting chili cheese burritos. I’ve looked everywhere for them online and no luck. I also love chicken nugs, mashed potato, gravy n roll day. I still recreate at home or by eating Bush’s

 

[Communicore1991]

At my high school they were known for their fries (who knows what made them so good besides lots of salt) and their chocolate chip cookies. Grabbing a PB&J sandwich, an order of fries, a chocolate chip cookie and a peach Snapple was the makings for a perfect lunch for me!

I really have been fortunate and have not struck out at school cafeterias. When I went to college, the dining halls was all you could want to eat so if I got something I didn't like, I went back up and got something else to eat instead.

 

[Kitty 34]

I hated three bean casserole and loved hamburger gravy over mashed potatoes but then I went to school when the dinosaurs roamed the earth.

 

[Kathryn Merteuil]

Best: probably that burnt square pizza, sounds gross but hey it's good
Worst: sloppy joes OMG that was like dog food on a bun

Because of elementary school, I refused to eat sloppy joes until I was well over 30 years old. Now, I actually like them. (assuming it is the McCormick brand, Manwich, or even the stuff from Aldi isn't bad)

 

[neverlandsky]

Best: Salad Bar
Worst: Hamburger

 

[slo]

I mostly took my lunch because I went to a very large school and the lunch line everyday was massive. The one thing I remember thinking was great was the rolls - I used to ask friends to request 2 so I could have one

 

[Disneylover99]

Back in my day, cafeteria food consisted of fries, meat pies and gravy, hamburgers (the patties were always grey) and cardboard pizza. Most people avoided it. I don’t recall any fruit or salads.

I did love the occasional prepackaged honeybun or Margaret’s cream filled donut though. It was always a happy surprise when it wasn’t stale.

 

[BlueStarryHat]

In elementary school, we went home for lunch so everything was always good. In high school for the first three years we got lunch out of vending machines, and it was all uniformly bad. I also once got a Coke from one of those old vending machines that dropped a cup and filled it, and had gotten through half of it before the cockroach floated to the top.

But, my senior year my school moved buildings to share with an elementary school. We had the top three floors to ourselves, but we shared the gym and the cafeteria, which meant for the first time we had proper lunch ladies who cooked. The building happened to be in a predominately African-American neighborhood, and these lunch ladies cooked soul food like you would not believe. Oh, it was so good. The collards cooked with bacon were legendary. That was the best.

 

[BayouQueen]

Our elementary school had this bright orange French dressing on the salads. I loved that stuff. I've been searching for it for the rest of my life.

 

[igrsod]

I ate pretty much the same thing all the way through high school if I chose to eat in the cafeteria.... yogurt, chocolate chip cookies, fries and gravy. Very healthy. lol

 

[Micca]

The one thing I remember thinking was great was the rolls

Same here! The rolls were big and puffy and fresh! I believe the school district must have baked them in-house and distributed them through the schools. A lot of the kids would have a lunch of a roll with butter and a little carton of chocolate milk.

 

[Kellykins1218]

The best was chicken and noodles and creamed turkey over mashed potatoes. The worst were the soy burgers they served in the 1st district I went to. We moved to Georgia and not only got real burgers, but they were cheeseburgers. That was huge lol.

 

[footballmouse]

We didn't have hot lunches at our cafeteria in high school but we did have microwaves. If I bought anything, it was usually a salad or pizza bread.

Now grade school was a different story. We had hot lunches every day and the menu for the coming week was posted in the Friday newsletter. I would let my mom know if I wanted to buy or pack. The worst lunch I ever had was when I was in the 3rd grade and I bought for Cowboy Stew. It was horrible and we weren't allowed to leave until we finished eating. My sister was in the 8th grade and when the older kids starting coming in, I was crying at the table because I didn't like my lunch and I was missing recess. My sister packed that day but came over and ate my lunch so I could leave. My mom called the cafeteria lady when I got home from school and told her that she was never to make me eat my lunch since she wasn't the one who paid for it and if I didn't eat my lunch then I would be the one who got hungry later in the day. I will never forget that day, very traumatic for a 9 year old.

The best thing they had was the tomato soup and grilled cheese. The grilled cheese would leave a grease mark on the lunch tray! It was soooo good!!!!

 

[Lisa_lvspplmvr]

We actually had decent homemade lunches in our cafeteria in grade school . The best were the pizza and donuts . The worst is the carton of white milk . That was your only option . You had to get a drink from the water fountain if you wanted anything else. I don’t know how we stayed hydrated . That was before reusable water bottles became the norm .

 

[LouChris]

In elementary school everything was made fresh buy the lunch ladies. The food was pretty good. The hot rolls where made from scratch and out of this world.

They also had a peanut butter bar with a glaze on it that was just soooo good. I actually have that recipe. Someone got it and figured out how to reduce it for a normal family not a school!

I do have to say because of them that I have some odd habits. Every Friday was either a fish sandwich or in the winter meatless chilli with a half a peanut butter sandwich(no jelly) We all dunked our sandwich in the chilli as it was so dry. I still eat chilli that way today. My family looks at me like I'm crazy, but people who try it usually like it.

 

[Chupaca bruh]

Early to mid 60's. We only got to eat the school lunch once in a while, mostly on hot dog day.
Best: Wacky Cake
Worst: Boiled spinach (looked like liquid algae)

 

[barkley]

in elementary in the late 60's/early 70's everything was daily scratch made by the 'cafeteria ladies'. my fondest memories are of fresh green beans done up with minced onions, butter and a wonderful blend of seasonings. my worst is of some god awful stew like concoction called 'more' that was always served at the end of the month and was rumored to be an effort to use up leftovers (hot lunch purchases were always at a low the day it was served).

at high school reunions/on facebook discussions of school memories the made from scratch cinnamon rolls that were sold in junior and senior high cafeterias in the district i attended always evoke fond memories. they were made fresh daily and you could smell them baking when you arrived at school.

Every Friday was either a fish sandwich or in the winter meatless chilli with a half a peanut butter sandwich(no jelly)

it was the same meatless friday concept when i went to school UNTIL a friend in jr. high who was very political from a young age (her dad was a u.s. senator so it was ingrained in her) sought to find out why we, public school students, were subjected to an outdated catholic practice that even the local private catholic schools no longer held to (they frequently served pepperoni pizza on fridays ). she gathered a small group of supporters who spoke at a school board meeting and wrote a few letters to the editor of the local paper which resulted in what was a better result than they anticipated-the district started offering an alternate non meatless friday entree and began exploring other meatless options which they began offering 5 days a week (big win for the vegetarian population of the student body).

 

[BrianL]

I never once ate from my high school cafeteria. I used to bring my lunch, but then I took to just skipping lunch and hanging out in the library.

In elementary school though there were days when I would get the hot lunch. The best days were of course pizza days, with those flat, rectangle pizzas. Taco day was also on-point, with good nachos too.