My Old School - Lunch!

spantini

COO of me, inc.
About 7 years ago I got to thinking back to my Junior and Senior High School days, specifically the spaghetti and meat sauce served for lunches. My all-time favorite meal at school. I would always throw my bagged lunch in the can and get the spaghetti.. went back for seconds, too!

I did some very loosely phrased searches and actually found our government's food/nutrition site for school meals. I thought I hit the freakin' jackpot!

I checked out a bunch of the recipes and was totally impressed, then I zeroed in on, you guessed it... spaghetti and meat sauce. Bingo. All these recipes are for 50-100+ servings so I had to break out the ol' slide rule and commence to cipherin'. First, I made a batch for 25 servings figuring that would be just right as I'd eat 2-3 servings at a clip and this would be 1 week's supply. That worked out great, then I got tired of all the work and modified my operations to simplify and lighten the workload further.

Initially, because I was trying to keep it on a healthier, more nutritious tack, I did not use canned tomatoes, canned or jar sauces - I made sauce from scratch using fresh tomatoes. That got to be waaayyyy too expensive, so I switched to whole canned tomatoes. This was more in line with the original school recipe anyway, and the taste reflected this.

So my current procedure has been to modify the ingredients - slightly. Just switching out beef/pork and replacing it with ground turkey. It's about 1/3 the price and when prepared correctly it's the perfect substitute. Instead of making a week's worth (25 servings) of the whole recipe, I make up a month's worth of seasoning ahead of time. Then I make 1 week's worth of meat sauce (utilizing 1 TBS of seasoning) which keeps nicely in the fridge. Then I prepare single servings of pasta each day as I feel like. This frees up more fridge space and is less work overall...

This site came in handy a while back as I was managing an institutional kitchen for a homeless shelter and I was able to cobble together some interesting meals - some 600+/day.

Just type the food or meal name in the Keyword Search Box at the bottom of the left column.. or browse through all the recipes. I typed 'spaghetti' to get my old school recipe..

Recipes for Schools – Child Nutrition Recipe Box
 
Canned vegetables aren't really all that bad. One nice thing is that they can be picked right when they're ripe and canned immediately. Fresh vegetables have to be picked early.
 
I was a big fan of the "burritos" but especially the sauce which I would definitely like to duplicate. I will have to do some research:)
 
Sadly, they did not have brontosaurus burgers listed. :(

Willlmmaaa! :laughings:

burger.jpg

Canned vegetables aren't really all that bad. One nice thing is that they can be picked right when they're ripe and canned immediately. Fresh vegetables have to be picked early.

Frozen are great in that regard. Very fresh.

I was a big fan of the "burritos" but especially the sauce which I would definitely like to duplicate. I will have to do some research:)

I don't believe burritos were in the system when I was schooling. Wish they were though because I can dig a burrito.
 
When I started high school, the school dinners were so bad that I barely ate one for 2 years. And that was only on Tuesdays. I joined the chess club so I'd get a pass for an early lunch and on Tuesday it was chips ~ the only thing I could eat in that canteen.
45 years on, I still play chess though !
 
Chips only..? Whew! That's rough.

What School Lunch Looked Like Each Decade for the Past Century | Mental Floss

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And I don't know who was getting these delectable dishes, but I'm forever grateful it wern't me :

School lunch recipes for main dishes and desserts. - Page 3 - UNT Digital Library

:D When Gt says 'chips' he means 'fries' not potato crisps which Americans call 'chips'.

Our school dinners werent too bad. In fact some of them were really nice. But we were very rebellious in secondary/high school. So it was down to the fish n'chip shop for a usually shared bag of very greasy chips with a even more greasy battered sausage or spam fritter covered in salt and vinegar. A few shared fags (UK name for cheap cigarettes) and a bottle of coca cola.

To Americans..........

Battered sausage and spam fritters were totally very unhealthy cheapest pork sausage or a thick slice of spam, dipped in a batter and deep fried, in those days in animal fat. They were very greasy and squelched out fat when you ate them.
 
I remember being a good Catholic boy in grade school. We had mass EVERY morning, and afterwards, breakfast in the school basement was a choice of donuts or pastry coated with icing (limit of 4) with milk or hot chocolate. I'm sure we were on a sugar high for the first 2 hours of school.

Even now, I still love good pastries!
 
Yes.. 'chips' are fries. Local place down the street here has the best fries to go with all their meals. I often stop in for just fries and sprinkle with my own stash of malt vinegar when I get them home.

I don't know what it is with Catholic basements and donuts.. I used to attend sunday 'breakfast' at our Catholic church, it was in the basement and most of the time it was nothing but coffee, tea and tables covered in donuts of all sorts. On special occassions there would be actual breakfast foods such as pancakes, sausage, eggs, biscuits, etc.
 
“At this festive season of the year, Mr. Scrooge,” said the [one of the gentlemen], taking up a pen, “it is more than usually desirable that we should make some slight provision for the Poor and destitute, who suffer greatly at the present time. Many thousands are in want of common necessaries; hundreds of thousands are in want of common comforts, sir.”

“Are there no prisons?” asked Scrooge.

“Plenty of prisons,” said the gentleman, laying down the pen again.

“And the Union workhouses?” demanded Scrooge. “Are they still in operation?”

“They are. Still,” returned the gentleman, “I wish I could say they were not.”

“The Treadmill and the Poor Law are in full vigour, then?” said Scrooge.

“Both very busy, sir.”

“Oh! I was afraid, from what you said at first, that something had occurred to stop them in their useful course,” said Scrooge. “I’m very glad to hear it.”
 
Chips only..? Whew! That's rough.
Not when you saw the rest of the swill they had on offer at St Marys ! :cursing:

The first thing I learned to cook was an omelette when I was 6. By 8 I could peel, cut well and fry chips. I used to make myself snacks of chips and omelette even back then. Then I stopped with omelettes and didn't take them up again until the late 90s. But I've always been partial to chips. But my own. I will eat them out, like every time Russia, Uganda or North Korea gets a new leader, but I prefer to do them myself. Healthy too {I hope !}. I've mastered the art of shaking out all the oil.
 
I did a little of both public and Catholic school here in Cali...The public school lunches were awesome.....the Catholic school lunches did not exist...except for Hot dog day like once a month...we always had to bring our lunch...this was Baby Boomer days 60 kids in a class. All those lunches stored in the back cupboards...a conglomerated smell of peanut butter n jelly, meats of various types and tuna sandwiches and what ever fruits the Mom's packed. I had a racket going on with this one kid whos Dad was a dentist...this is like 1962 so good money...sweets were a no no for him...When I'd bring a scooter pie he'd buy it from me every time I did for 25 cents...good money for a little treat back then.
 
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This sounds like a really poor thing but it may well have been, except we all lived like this back then.

We used to have 'bread and dripping' sandwiches for tea/supper. This was the fat and juices from the Sunday roast dinner gone cold and solidified in the fridge. It was usually beef or sometimes pork. Then this would be smeared on the bread as a sandwich. Salty, greasy and very tasty.

Another was 'bubble & squeak'. This was the left over veg and maybe some meat that hadnt been dished up for Sunday lunch because your mother always did extra for this purpose. Then on Monday night she would fry it in lard (beef fat) so it was starting to go crispy and she may add some corned beef or spam or sausage. Then you would eat it with tomato ketchup or brown sauce. Sometimes there would be added mash potato if not enough for the family. It was quite nice and quick.

Nothing was wasted back then so any stale bread was put in a dish with warm butter, sugar and sultanas and whisked egg and baked in oven served up with custard. That was gorgeous.

We ate chips a lot and the bacon fat was never thrown away. It was saved in an old cup and used to fry everything. There was no cooking oil back then.

I remember beef burgers were actually called 'Ham burgers' and some even came in a tin.

A curry was in a dehydrated packet and called 'Vesta curries'. No frozen ones in those days. They were quite nice.

No takeaways, just fish n'chip shops and 'greasy cafes'.

Hardly any fat people though. :)

I remember a head teacher used to tell us........' you lot have never had it so good' and 'you dont know you are born'. He also said a lot of other things when we had caused trouble. But I imagine he had it rough when he was a kid.
 
...Another was 'bubble & squeak'. This was the left over veg and maybe some meat that hadnt been dished up for Sunday lunch because your mother always did extra for this purpose. Then on Monday night she would fry it in lard (beef fat) so it was starting to go crispy and she may add some corned beef or spam or sausage. Then you would eat it with tomato ketchup or brown sauce. Sometimes there would be added mash potato if not enough for the family. It was quite nice and quick...
I have a refined recipe for 'bubble & squeak' which I have eaten many times. Always a favorite.

...Nothing was wasted back then so any stale bread was put in a dish with warm butter, sugar and sultanas and whisked egg and baked in oven served up with custard. That was gorgeous...

This sounds very much like the bread pudding my grandmother turned me on to - with vanilla custard topping. MMMMMmmm!

...We ate chips a lot and the bacon fat was never thrown away. It was saved in an old cup and used to fry everything. There was no cooking oil back then...

Many people still save (savor) their drippings this way. MMMmmm!

...Hardly any fat people though. :)...

People were more active and burned those extra calories before they could become spare tires :p
 
This sounds like a really poor thing but it may well have been, except we all lived like this back then.....We used to have 'bread and dripping' sandwiches for tea/supper. This was the fat and juices from the Sunday roast dinner gone cold and solidified in the fridge. It was usually beef or sometimes pork. Then this would be smeared on the bread as a sandwich. Salty, greasy and very tasty.....Nothing was wasted back then so any stale bread was put in a dish with warm butter, sugar and sultanas and whisked egg and baked in oven served up with custard. That was gorgeous.....We ate chips a lot and the bacon fat was never thrown away. It was saved in an old cup and used to fry everything......I remember beef burgers were actually called 'Ham burgers' and some even came in a tin.....A curry was in a dehydrated packet and called 'Vesta curries'. No frozen ones in those days. They were quite nice.
My Mum was a nurse and when I look back on it, quite ahead of her time when it came to healthy eating.
Kind of.

There was no cooking oil back then
I remember when "Spry Crisp'n'dry" came out and their selling point was that the cooking oil shook off so easily. And Mazzola ~ their line in their advert {it was a great song, by the way} was "You never taste the oil, you only taste the food with Mazzola."

Hardly any fat people though
You obviously didn't know Paul Crawford or Karen Pistor or Andy Walker or Mr Jenkins, our handwriting teacher !
 
My Mum was a nurse and when I look back on it, quite ahead of her time when it came to healthy eating.
Kind of.

I remember when "Spry Crisp'n'dry" came out and their selling point was that the cooking oil shook off so easily. And Mazzola ~ their line in their advert {it was a great song, by the way} was "You never taste the oil, you only taste the food with Mazzola."

You obviously didn't know Paul Crawford or Karen Pistor or Andy Walker or Mr Jenkins, our handwriting teacher !

You are correct Gt. I remember them now. I dont know when they came about and I cant remember anybody using them. All I can see is blocks of lard and the old mug with no handle that had the cooking fat poured into so it could be used again and again.

But then I remember Smith's crisp with a blue bag of salt inside that you shook over the crisps yourself. There was only one flavour of crisps (plain) and we used to make salt and vinegar by adding vinegar ourselves.

The first cola cans which were actually tin and you had to pierce them with an opener as you did all beer cans.

All portable heaters were paraffin fueled. No gas heaters.

One coal fire to heat the whole house and hot water. Coal came in hessian sack bags of 1cwt/112lb/50kg and the coal delivery man was the size of a house and black with coal.

Cars had starting handles.

Lawnmowers were push mowers.

And so on.
 
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