What was your school lunch like?

Self-explanatory, really. I sporadically follow the “fedupwithschoollunch” blog, which I visited tonight for the first time in a couple weeks, and I was truly bothered by the food that is being served to students. It got me thinking about my experiences with school lunch, and I am interested in hearing others’ experiences also…what was your school lunch like? Were there healthy options available? Was the food prepared on-site or did it come pre-made and was simply heated at your school? Did it fill you up and give you energy for the rest of the day?

As for me, I have two very different experiences. During elementary and middle school I was living in a suburb, comprised mainly of middle- to upper-middle class residents. The schools were quite well funded, and I actually have very good memories of the school lunches. I don’t remember much of elementary school lunch, but I remember that the PB&J was delicious, there were always fruits and vegetables with our lunch, and you had to pay extra if you wanted unhealthy things like chocolate milk and ice cream. In middle school, I got a soup and sandwich almost everyday. Pizza was served very rarely.

My school lunch experience changed completely when I started high school after moving to a new state and lived in a small city where the majority of the residents lived in poverty and the schools basically had no money. We were served things like greasy mozzarella on texas toast that you dipped into marinara sauce, pretzels with cheese, and pizza was available almost every day. There were usually veggies or side salads available, but most people chose fries instead (this was crazy to me as fries were never, ever served at school in my old town), and you didn’t have to pay extra for chocolate milk. Whenever I ate school lunch at my high school, I would feel a bit sluggish for the rest of the day, not surprisingly. I still don’t know how I managed to run cross country and track after eating food like that

Your experiences?