When you were in Elementary school did you eat in the cafeteria or bring food?

[ChaliHo]

The cafeteria food in the 1990s was a joke it was unhealthy canned foods lol, we had like a mcrib style meat, bread pizza, tater tots, corn, mash potatoes and other gross stuff, the only thing I enjoyed was the small Chocolate milk in the carton and when they would give ice cream as a desert they used to give us those Ice creams with the wooden spoon or whatever else like an eskimo bar or sherbert push pops.

I started bringing my lunch around 4th grade, bologna sandwich and a capri sun and some snacks.

[miscHodor]

The cafeteria food in the 1990s was a joke it was unhealthy canned foods lol, we had like a mcrib style meat, bread pizza, tater tots, corn, mash potatoes and other gross stuff, the only thing I enjoyed was the small Chocolate milk in the carton and when they would give ice cream as a desert they used to give us those Ice creams with the wooden spoon or whatever else like an eskimo bar or sherbert push pops.

I started bringing my lunch around 4th grade, bologna sandwich and a capri sun and some snacks.

That square pizza was the chit when I was a kid!

[GuineaDago585]

I usually got lunch in the cafeteria.

It was fuking disgusting. Sometimes I think eating that chit probably stunted my growth srs.

My school used to do some rotation of cardboard tasting frozen pizzas, tacos with watery mystery meat, instant mashed potato bowls, burgers that tasted like rubber on stale rolls, and spoiled popcorn chicken.

I thank god every day I no longer have to put that chit in my body.

The best part of school lunch were those tiny juice cups that gave you like a sip to drink and the ice cream sandwiches.

[tripod29]

I'd destroy that pizza bruh. Always got seconds on Friday pizza days....ALWAYS!!! Srs, vry srs.

[stevebec]

You should have seen it in the 70s. Thursday hamburgers (soyburgers?) was the high point of the week. Fish sticks every Friday for the Catholics even though Vatican II was a few years earlier. Halfway through elementary school they invented "Iceberg chili" for every other Friday. Left over corn bread from the previous week's fish sticks, covered with chili and leftover iceberg lettuce from hamburger Thursday.

Pretty sure we never had pizza, tacos, or popcorn chicken. I brought my lunch most days in my "Emergency!" lunch box.

[GuineaDago585]

I'd destroy that pizza bruh. Always got seconds on Friday pizza days....ALWAYS!!! Srs, vry srs.

That pizza was nasty AF brah. We just thought it was good because we were little bastards with undeveloped palates. A box of chit tier frozen Celeste from the dollar store tastes better than the garbage “pizza” they served to kids when we were growing up (ded fkin srs).

[Saddleshoes]

The cooks in my school(s) were fantastic!!!
I sucked down EVERYTHING they put out.

[DolphinPilot]

Yeah I dunno bro. My school lunches were sometimes dang good. The chicken nuggets + a roll were tasty as fuk. Better than McDonards or grocery store nuggets, dead serious.

I remember we also used to have mashed potatoes and turkey gravy for an entree. Also fcking good.

I remember we had a bunch of pizza that everyone else seemed to love but I thought was garbage.

Then we had some weird burrito that came in a Taco Bell wrapper. I don't think it was from Taco Bell, so wtf.

Also we had chicken sandwiches which were mostly good.

Then again I was a kid then and thought Totino's Pizza and Kid Cuisine was tasty as fug, so I dunno. It might taste like **** if I tried it all again today.

But I did bring a lunch maybe half the time. My mom kept packing me jelly sandwiches all the time. No peanut butter. Wtf mom...

[DolphinPilot]

Also something unsettling I found out when I was a bit older, was that the food was shared between schools, so whatever the kids didn't eat would get sent to another school instead of being thrown away, so wtf

[tripod29]

That pizza was nasty AF brah. We just thought it was good because we were little bastards with undeveloped palates. A box of chit tier frozen Celeste from the dollar store tastes better than the garbage “pizza” they served to kids when we were growing up (ded fkin srs).

I probably am romanticizing it, but I crushed that chit as a young lad. Srs, vry srs.

[HairyWBush]

Also something unsettling I found out when I was a bit older, was that the food was shared between schools, so whatever the kids didn't eat would get sent to another school instead of being thrown away, so wtf

how could they do this kind of chit? I always brought lunch but there were a few times I bought lunch there. yea it wasn't good. the chocolate milk though on the other hand was easily gone

[RICHSTRONG]

Loved most of my cafeteria food as a kid but it was made in house for the most part. These days kids have all kinds of choices from food services and they still fkn complain

[mitchynufc]

Can't remember exactly but I know that I used to piss with my pants down to my ankles lol

[crupiea]

I might have eaten in the cafeteria maybe twice the entire time I went to school.

We always thought it was for the poor kids. If you were cool you brought a lunch box in elementary school. In high school they had vending machines that sold hamburgers and hot dogs. We had a cafeteria but I never ate there.

I remember in 6th grade that we would get mcdonalds delivered once every couple weeks on friday, we would order and pay a few days ahead of time and they would deliver it to the classroom. Again, the poor kids didnt get any, they ate in the cafeteria.

[bsmit107]

I brought my lunch (packed by mom) Every day......I'd sell all of it every day just so I could buy school lunch.

I got tired of sandwiches, chips, swiss rolls(big $ maker) and Capri suns.....all the other kids loved that chit. sold all it by 10am and eventually had return customers who were willing to pay more to guarantee they got what they wanted.

I was an entrepreneur, a dealer of food.......where did it all go wrong?

[Retoaded]

went through different phases. brought my lunch more than ate cafeteria food though. surprised they still let you bring lunches these days since it would be considered privileged and make the cafeteria eaters feel bad.

[DolphinPilot]

Some of us didn't get lunch.

Just lol @ nolunchcels

[TryingMen]

I think I did both. The schedule was usually posted in advance and I was a picky eater so when it wasn't something that sounded good I brought my lunch. When they had spaghetti days and pizza days I think I ate the school food. Everything else I'm pretty sure I brought my lunch.

[ChingonGuero]

Sometimes I brought lunch, sometimes I got school lunch which came in red and white cardboard trays from some central location and got reheated on-site. The worst was the "Taco Boat Chalupa", made me nauseous the rest of the afternoon every time. The egg roll was OK but it smelled like dog food. Pizza wasn't too bad. The best was school breakfast and the donut reheated right in the plastic wrapper, I can still taste it.

[jonmcd46]

my parents never made me lunch, and we were forced to buy lunch unless we brought one in elementary school. I hated it so I would just buy it and give it to the cooler fat kids. The one's who ended up being O-line in high school not the incel nerdy ones

[FoulSmell]

1970s, and while I wouldn’t exactly call it high quality, the cafeteria food was better than the swill I ate at home. They gave a choice of 2 different things, and if you didn’t like those, you could just get a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

I still love peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

[radrd]

We got our trays and ate in our classroom. I bought lunch a couple of times a week and brought lunch the rest of the time. Now lunch is free so my daughter eats school lunch every day and they eat in the cafeteria.

[ParsleyTea]

I brought lunch most days.

I don't think it was till HS that I ate the school lunch freshman year, and then later in HS we got to buy fast food. Used to kind of laugh at all the food fast places circled around that HS.

[ChaliHo]

That square pizza was the chit when I was a kid!

yeah lol

It was always sausage we only had pepperoni once, my favorite time during elementary school was when t rained hard we had a big cafeteria slash auditorium where they held graduation in and all the kids would eat in there and they would put movies on, we watched Lady is a Tramp and Honey I shrunk the kids and back to the future and others on the projection screen. Fun times.

[mycorona]

Growing up in Scotland i remember the school lunches very fondly. Very good hearty home style meals with an absolutely bomb apple crumble with custard for dessert.

[tank2003]

My mom was a teacher and made us bring our lunches (i ocassionally ate int he terrible cafeteria). CHit infuriates me that our kids are REQUIRED to go to scvhool and REQUIRED to pay for terrible school lunches

[SaviorSelfJT]

Always ate in the cafeteria. Was on free/reduced lunch since poor as chit

In high school my parents made enough money to go over the threshold so no more free/reduced lunches. Dad was a drunk and spent too money on booze. So I stopped eating lunch at school. Srs

[WasThaBestMan]

remember bringing in brown paper bag lunch. like pb and jelly sandwich, juice box. lunchables crackers and cheese/lunch meat. applies or oranges that i would sduqqeze in the woodshop vice (whcih was that early years lunchroom) LMAO!

[ChaliHo]

I might have eaten in the cafeteria maybe twice the entire time I went to school.

We always thought it was for the poor kids. If you were cool you brought a lunch box in elementary school. In high school they had vending machines that sold hamburgers and hot dogs. We had a cafeteria but I never ate there.

I remember in 6th grade that we would get mcdonalds delivered once every couple weeks on friday, we would order and pay a few days ahead of time and they would deliver it to the classroom. Again, the poor kids didnt get any, they ate in the cafeteria.

Elementary almost everyone ate in the cafeteria even if you brought lunch, but the 5th graders got to eat outside, I think in junior high is when only the poor kids started eating in the cafeteria, thats when they had soda machines, snack vending machines and the Lunch shack where they would sell burritos, pizza, and sodas and all types of stuff.

We would get Pizza Hut on Wednesday, KFC or TACO bell delivered on Fridays, I used to love the KFC box it was potato wedges bisquit and 3 chicken tenders with honey mustard, but you had to fall in line quick or they would sell out

High School same thing poor kids at in the cafeteria mostly the ghetto blacks and white trash, and everyone else would buy food from the windows they had 3 different places you could buy foods outside and line up

They gave us KFC, Pizza Hut, and Taco Bell as well, In n Out would come by from time to time with the burger truck which was cool they did it for the football games.

My favorite to buy at lunch was the Hot Pocket pepperoni, Chicken Chimichanga and a cherry coke with some funyons.

[Dontoewsmebro]

The elementary school I went to had great cafeteria cooks. This was back in the 90's.

My parents would give me $20 for the week, and it would last for lunch, and I think I still had some left over money. Lunch back then was like $2.50. My favorite was the philly cheesesteak it was on the menu for Thursdays, and I would be so happy knowing Friday was the next day.

I think Fridays was pizza which was pretty good as well. The philly cheesesteak was a footlong too all for $2.50! I remember their thanksgiving menu was amazing too.

Also, random question, I don't know if this applied to any other elementary schools across the country, but was it forbidden to bring fast food to the cafeteria, and eat it...we couldn't have your parents drop you off McDonald's or any other fast food as it was "unfair" to the other kids lol your parents had to come and sit down and eat it with you.

My parents came one time with McDonald's, and my friends were mirin hard lol.