What did you dislike about school dinners?

[Shandan35]

I think my only complaint was that the sweetcorn was tasteless

I hated everything about school dinners. Couldn't even cope with the smell let alone bring myself to eat them.

I loved them. My mum wasn’t the best cook anyway and Dad was often out of work (Thatcher years) so they were my main meal. Sausage pie and Gypsy tart & hot custard were my favourites.

Liver and Bacon. Still makes me heave just to think of it.

[quote RickJames]@SingleHandSue

Those jugs! I've only ever seen them in that environment- where did they get them from???[/quote]
I'm going to find out about it & ask my friend who was head of an infants school.
One time they stole, well, borrowed those jugs & beakers plus snaffled the left overs incl. the custard still in the jug (one lump or two?). I was invited round for dinner & there were trays of lumpy mash served with a scoop, school sausages which were really nice, bullet peas, jug of lumpy gravy & coconut jam sponge with the solid custard. All served with whoops and shreiks.

Nothing. I was a sixties and seventies child when cooks ladled out stew from giant cauldrons. It's quite odd. We had large platefuls of food and we weren't fat. Now school meals are pitiful and children are obese.

Fake meat.
Overcooked vegetables, at infant school re-heated not cooked on the premises.
'Choice' about as predictable as food probably was at Butlins or other holiday camps.
Longish lunch hours which meant going home in darkness in December and January.

pink custard
liver and onions
spam fritters
semolina (Why did it always taste "hot" - as in, sort of spicy???)
1960s kid here!!

Everything but the half an apple for dessert and salad. I was hardly ever allowed salad because they made six salads and the staff used to bagsy them. Small primary early 90s. I had failure to thrive through never wanting to eat. It turned into an eating disorder due to being forced to sit next to a teacher and eat everything. Tried pack up. Worse. If only I could have had the salad with grated carrot, tuna which we never got at home, cucumber and lettuce.
By high school I was so upset at queuing alone, the primary experiences and my mother refusing to provide enough. (I often got shouted at for taking things I couldn't afford.) They'd throw them cos been touched but wouldn't let me have them. I gave up and saved up the money for Lamberts instead.

Smilies! I don't know why - I like all potato-based products but they just tasted weird to me.

On the other hand they made the best sponge cake ever and I've never found one or been able to make one that comes close. It was so ridiculously soft and I don't know how.

The smell in the dining room at junior school.
I have no idea what it was but there was always a horrible smell which never went away. We used to have our class music lessons in there and no matter what time of day, the smell was there and it always made me feel sick.

I’d forgotten all about it until my son started junior school and their dining room smelt exactly the same. If I was in the school and had to walk past I’d hold my breath and cover my nose.

Going to secondary school was a revelation at first. The dining room was set out like a cafe, it didn’t smell bad and there was a great choice of really good food.
Then half the school burnt down and we lost it and for the last three and a half years that I was there was a makeshift tiny dining room and a limited choice of food, thankfully back in the 80s we were allowed to leave the school grounds at lunchtime so a lot of us used to go home for lunch instead (back then you just went to your catchment school so we all lived nearby).

He's only 10. He got a fright and lashed out. Don't make a big fuss about it and he may well apologise when he's over it.

Oops, sorry! Wrong thread :)

@SpudsandGravy Wrong thread maybe but very apt username!

I loved them 😳😂

Cold baked beans at primary school. Put me off baked beans for life!

Later on, the fact that the catering contract changed and there was barely enough to feed a sparrow. Packed lunch was much better.

[quote MrsGrindah]@SpudsandGravy Wrong thread maybe but very apt username![/quote]

Ahahahaa!

In the 70's we had gorgeous dinners in my infants and juniors

Proper gravy, home made pies mash and greens
Iced sponge squares and pink or chocolate custard, pineapple cake

I despair the rubbish kids have been getting now it's such a shame

Boiled fish in parsley sauce with boiled potatoes.

Spam fritters with tinned tomatoes.

Brown stew.

My daughters went to school in Paris and got sushi, steak frites, lasagne, and food that you might actually want to eat.

Cornflake pie with a sticky syrup base

Oh and the spam fritters pure grease 🤮🤮

My only complaint was semolina, which I never tried as I didn't like the look of it, and mashed potato served with an ice-cream scoop. Not Scottish but BOAK.

My DH actually asked me if I’d make Spam fritters not so long ago.

I told him to keep his dirty thoughts to himself.

Our school dinners were fab at primary and secondary
Only complaint is that we didn’t get them every day some days we went home for lunch as mum couldn’t afford it every day

@MrsGrindah

My DH actually asked me if I’d make Spam fritters not so long ago.

I told him to keep his dirty thoughts to himself.

Actually I wouldn't touch spam fritters back then either (see my other post), BUT I crave them now. They just need some fancy chutney or salsa on the side to make them sing!

Another 70s convent school girl who hated almost everything - this thread is bringing back memories - why was that custard pink? (we had it with coconut and jam sponge). least favourite puddings were rock hard yellow ice cream and Eccles cakes. But it was the grisly, vile meat that did it for me - mince that had a very odd smell when you cut into the lumps etc we also had sadistic nuns patrolling to ensure we finished everything and to ‘think of starving children in Africa’. I used to line my pocket with an empty crisp packet and shove as much as possible in there, as I literally could stomach it. Happy days...