Do You Remember... School Lunches
July 15th, 2009 by Rodney LeeSpecial thanks to Masako for this blog topic idea.
School lunches. Remember those? 25¢ would get you a meal with a drink - milk. White milk to be specific.
My memories of elementary school lunch was the opaque green rectangular plastic plates - with a compartment for the fork.
Dishes that come to mind are Spanish Rice, Fish Sticks, and Hamburger stew with cut green beans.
The lunches sometimes came with mashed potatoes, but usually it was white rice. Every so often, they'd try to sneak in brown rice, but it was a no-sale. Nobody ate the brown rice.
Remember the vegetable part? The soggy cut green beans seemed to be popular at my school. And the mushy spinach that nobody ate. The coleslaw was watery as I remember it, but it was palatable with a sweet touch to it. I think it had raisins in it.
The dessert dish favorite was the shortbread cookie. That was the best. Sometimes the dessert was sliced peaches or cut pieces of oranges - with the peel still on. I remember that because the kolohe kids would fold over the orange peel and shoot the acid from the peel into your eyes. Brutal.
And the milk was plain old white milk. Not like the chocolate and strawberry stuff that kids get to choose from nowadays.
Then later, as we got to the higher elementary school grades, we got "cafeteria duty". Couldn't wait unti it was my turn to "work cafeteria". Got to leave the class about 1/2 before everyone else and eat lunch before them. Then see all your friends pass through the food line as we were serving the food.
But we were always warned about how mean the "cafeteria ladies" were. No fool around or you going get lickin's. Talk about intimidation. But after lunch was over and everyone was back in class, before excusing us, the "mean cafeteria ladies" would treat us to a special stash of ice cream. They weren't so mean after all.
And we just couldn't wait to get back and make everyone all envious when we told them we had ice cream. Ah, those were the days...
Do you remember what foods you ate for your school lunches? What were your favorites? Do you remember "working cafeteria"? And did you ever experience a "food riot"?
Tags: brown rice, cafeteria, coleslaw, Fish Sticks, food riots, Hamburger stew, ice cream, Masako, mean cafeteria ladies, midlife crisis blog, orange peel, oranges, peaches, school, school lunches, shortbread cookies, Spanish Rice, spinach
July 15th, 2009 at 3:55 am
Hey Rodney, I remember $.05 recess break with a cup of juice and a fresh out of the oven shortbread cookie. Also, they had those rolls(sourdough?) with the whipped butter whenever they served that chili tomato hamburger helper-like dish. So ono. I used to volunteer a lot to work in the cafeteria because I could get two helpings of lunch plus dessert.
July 15th, 2009 at 4:02 am
well when I was little in Philippines we couldn't afford to buy the lunches so my mother would pack me rice and egg ..She walk to our school and drop my lunch off.
in high school we usually we go home for lunch...cafeteria so small you get wedged...so I go home beside my allowance is not enough to buy the lunch!
July 15th, 2009 at 4:03 am
my favorite food my mom bring the boiled egg I was happy no dessert with that..
July 15th, 2009 at 4:15 am
all I remembwer is watching other kids with the cafeteria food PANCIT and cokk and I cannot have one we were poor...OH WELL EGG and tap water WAS REALLY GOOD TOO..yes you stare at their food hoping they will share but oh no so you sit and LOOK omg funny!
July 15th, 2009 at 4:15 am
Wow, Rodney, you missed out! back in the old days school lunch in Hawaii was the best. beef stew, chop steak, roast pork, chicken hekka, long rice, watercress, kalua pig, poi (!!) a lot of variety. our ladies were bang-up great cooks, and they must have had a grand budget.
I never found a plate lunch place later that could compare, school lunch was high quality, family recipes.
I liked working cafeteria duty, because they were nice to me: they called me "Eh! BEEG girl!", but I worked hard and was ... um ... strong LOL and didnt grumble
July 15th, 2009 at 4:16 am
PANCIT AND COKE in the cafeteria ....
okay my father let me have only orange drink once in the blue moon at home.
July 15th, 2009 at 4:18 am
I am sure they have other food in the cafeteria but I only knew pancit and coke in Philippines...they have other things but I don't know the names I was a kid..other kids would buy all sorts of stuff.
July 15th, 2009 at 4:18 am
ohhhhh, a food fight was my salvation: Mom yanked us out of Kailua and we went to Punahou. I think I sailed in on scholarship, by just the interview. ... it wasnt musical or sports ability, not math and science. I was strictly verbal! (big surprise)
July 15th, 2009 at 4:51 am
HOW ABOUT DO YOU REMEMBER CAFETERIA LUNCH WITH NO MONEY TO BUY FOOD......OH I never been to cafeteria food fight...we behave good at our school...do you want the nun to smack you with ruler!
July 15th, 2009 at 4:57 am
The punahou lunches were pretty darned ono at times, we had a snack bar that was open all day and a cafeteria that was open for just lunch. I always brought lunch from home, but, for a growing boy in hs, one lunch was just not going to do it. drove my dad lolo with how much i spent on food. couple bucks here and there couple times a day adds up. as a parent now, I get it. gomen.
best was chili rice thursdays in the snack bar. same chili they serve at the carnival. a bowl of that with a bag of crushed doritos (nacho cheese, please) mixed in held me over for a couple of hours.
July 15th, 2009 at 6:05 am
I'm older than you, UR but my memories of elementary school lunch and cafeteria were similar. The food wasn't memorable but I do remember that mushy slimy spinach that didn't taste so good but I ate it anyway. I basically ate everything. I also remember the morning snack of orange juice and cinnamon sugar hard toasted bread. I can just picture the old cafeteria with all of us standing in line, first washing your hands at the outside sink, going through the swinging doors, then lined up against the wall, going to the table to pay and picking up your plate and food. This was the same cafeteria that my father went through. It had these long wooden tables and benches. The cafeteria ladies were loud, real loud and yelled at you constantly but never thought they were mean. They laughed loud too. Cafeteria duty was fun but hard work.
A few years ago, I had a chance to eat at the Kamehameha School cafeteria. Boy, nothing like the cafeteria food of my youth. It was like a buffet line at the old Flamingo Chuck Wagon with a lot of entree and side dishes Don't remember how much it was exactly but was inexpensive.
July 15th, 2009 at 6:15 am
eh Rosette, you probably cook your own filipino food but wea you go for good filipino food? Lately, we've been going to Sam & Syd's in Kalihi about once a month. I like their pinakbet and sari sari and tried this chopped squash and roast pork dish called bat-something...was ono.
July 15th, 2009 at 6:32 am
I remember the $0.25 school lunches. I thought they were good. My favorites were the shoyu chicken, pizza, and beef fritters. I also liked the fresh rolls and the cookies. In elementary and intermediate school we had to work in the cafeteria. For some reason I remember always working in the slop area with the disposal and cleanning the trays.
July 15th, 2009 at 6:40 am
Good morning Rodney!
I liked the spanish rice back in those days. I remember washing the lunch plates with that sprayer and spraying the other helpers and getting yelled at by the cafeteria ladies.
July 15th, 2009 at 6:44 am
Rodney,
Yes, I remember the old days of school lunches for 25 cents. Except, I don't remember rectangular trays but the ugly green or brown plastic large round plates and not all the cafeteria ladies were "mean", only the portagee ones. My favorite school lunch was the Spanish Rice - my mom never made it at home.
July 15th, 2009 at 6:46 am
No forget Pig-in-the-Blanket. I loved the Hamburger stew. Shortbread cookies was the best and hot freshly baked buns.
Elementary time, we were assigned Cafeteria duty. We used to BRING lunch to the Kindergarten kids. They used to put it in a wooden carrier like a stretcher and 2 of us would carry it.
Intermediate, I think I worked a few times but most was done by volunteers. High School was all volunteers (hmmm I wonder why?)
Yeah people thought the Cafeteria Ladies was mean, but not, we loved them. They loved it when we called out their names to thank them.
As for fuud fight, nope. Haven't been caught in one YET.
July 15th, 2009 at 7:30 am
We had one teacher at elem school that was so Nazi about eating everything... starving kids in China l'dat. She wised up to us chewing then spitting into a napkin and stuffing it in the milk carton so she even started checking those! sheesh
I think I ate HS caf lunch less than 5 times in 3yrs. We went to either Sekiyas, Rainbows, or Burgerland. I look back ... where did we get the money? I look back... shoulda spent just the 25 cents.
Caf duty in HS was da best! My friend and I would bring a big paper bag to school that day cuz the caf mgr would make us put our purses in the same room where they storaged ... get this... DA COOKIES!
So, when time to pau, we fill up the bags and go back to our friends. How we never got caught is a miracle. I'm talking big supermarket size paper grocery bags. LOL
July 15th, 2009 at 7:32 am
Lunch was 45 cents when I was in elementary school and topped out at 75 cents when I graduated high school. Funny how things changed from elementary school to high school. I used to hate school lunch in elementary school, but loved it in high school. I used to also love to work cafeteria duty in elementary school, but hated it in high school.
Some of my faves - baked spaghetti, chili dog
Some not so faves - chicken patty, fish patty
Had food fights in intermediate school. I used to just get the heck up out of there once I saw stuff flying
July 15th, 2009 at 8:00 am
We had 50/50 rice. Half brown and half white. No choice there. I remember breakfast was $0.35, with milk. My favorite breakfast was the toast with the melted cheese on top. Ooh! And once in a while there was a ball of cheese in the bread that came with our lunch. That has super cool 'cause it was a surprise that made your day. My favorites were: Chicken patty burger with gravy, tacos, and pizza.
July 15th, 2009 at 8:14 am
G'morning Rodney! The SHORTBREAD COOKIES were "the best". I think they'd sell them for $0.05 if you wanted "extra". And the popsicles.
Simpler time.........I wanna go back.
OL
July 15th, 2009 at 8:19 am
Morning everybody
Yup, .25 lunches what a deal yeah
My favorite was spanish rice and spaghetti 
neva could eat dem fish sticks 
remember morning snack time had cinimmon toast mmmmmmm 
loved that 
ducks; wow....you guy's had come good lunches
sally; by any chance did you go to Kaimuki High
we used to eat at all those places too 
like you hardly ate in school 
NKHEA.... reminiscing of the good olds.... sigh
July 15th, 2009 at 8:27 am
Do public school kids still do cafeteria duty now? I've heard they don't have clean room duty any more. Too bad--those were learning experiences (I remember some kids not knowing how to sweep and mop until they had clean room duty). The DOE should re-institute those, for the educational benefits as well as to save money. Two custodians were able to take care of our entire elementary school, including maintaining the grounds (with a big assist from all the weed-pulling we had to do for any infractions), in large part because they didn't have to clean the rooms.
When we had to work cafeteria, there were a couple of benefits. Our lunch was free, and my mom let me keep the quarter. And we got to eat two times--a regular lunch before we started serving, and a second time after we finished, before we went back to class. The second time, the cafeteria manager would bus' out the good stuff, like the extra shortbread cookies she's saved for us.
July 15th, 2009 at 8:34 am
I ate practically anything they cooked in elementary. EXCEPT the BBQ Hot Dogs. I got sick in kindergarten after eating that and could not stomach it ever after that. I used to bring home lunch on the days they had that scheduled.
I remember they changed the type of fish sticks to a breaded fish fillet. Too much bread and it was soggy on the inside most of the time.
Pizza was my favorite. It was made with hamburger and american cheese.
In intermediate school the cook was awesome. Everything was great.
In high school I hardly ate lunch. We got out of class by lunch time and I just either went home or work. Back in the day we had Learning Option Time. Most students went home. They did away with it by the time I was a senior, but then I had enough credits and did not have an afternoon class on every other day.
Simpler time....
July 15th, 2009 at 8:41 am
All I remember from my elementary school lunches were hamburger stew (can't remember the name of it...on the tip of my tongue too) mix with carrots, corn, and beans. Cornbread was always on the menu and a pint of white REAL milk. On Fridays it was always fish for the main entree. That's probably why I'm not fond of cornbread or fish.
I don't remember much about high school lunches either as we were able to leave campus during lunch period. It was always to a place who's name escapes me...Royal King or King Royal fast food...the current postoffice and Zippy's is occupying the spot it was on back then on Kam Hwy in Kaneohe. I do remember the milk nickel Popsicle for a nickel, or was it a dime
I worked in the cafeteria only once in my 4 years in high school.
I've eaten lunch with my kids during their elementary years and the FUUD is not too great either...tacos, chicken nuggets, hamburger, corn dogs...milk or juice.
July 15th, 2009 at 8:50 am
school lunch yep i remember those green trays lol. the food on some days was good and other days never eat the main course. i remember trading w/ others on things i never like sometimes hahhahahaha. as i got older i stopped eating lunch @ school but that was ok back then. food fights nope, but i remember many fights at lunch time where tables or trays were knocked over..
July 15th, 2009 at 8:56 am
I use to cut class and go to Rainbows to get the dollar Chilli plate.
July 15th, 2009 at 9:08 am
Cannot, absolutely cannot compare private school lunch with old public school lunches. Like night and day.
I remember the cardboard pizza lunch in high school, we thought that was the best lunch of the month. I would splurge and pony up 50 cents to buy 2 lunches on those days. The sliced hot dogs over rice. That was pretty simple. Always served with canned peaches if I remember right.
Yeah, the hamburger stew, I liked that....the egg foo young, I did not like that, nor did I like the canned spinach. But the whole lunch like Rodney said was just 25 cents, including milk. I can scarcely believe that today. Those really were special times.
July 15th, 2009 at 9:26 am
I remember the name of that hamburger stew - Mulligan Stew
July 15th, 2009 at 9:38 am
"eh.....A.V. guy.....i like chop quartah!"
school lunches were good. i used to eat pretty much everything they served......except that god awful apple sauce. blech!! ptui!!
i really liked the oven baked chicken, pastrami sandwich and pig in da blanket. didn't care for the spanish rice. i always thought......that's it?! just this orange rice?!
high school time i was a CPO so we would get to eat lunch early. and it was always double-lunch cause we would get one free.
what a racket!
then we would have to watch/patrol the cafeteria during lunch and be on the look out for any shenanigans. "eh....you gonna eat that cookie?"
the buns made good projectiles when you roll em up real tight.
July 15th, 2009 at 10:08 am
I'm from the 25 cents era. We looked forward to work in the cafeteria. I tried to avoid serving the rice...hard work. Had to dip the scooper in water container. Easy job was serving the dessert or cooked veg.
Intermediate school, the boys usually worked "slop." And we had the most mean cafeteria lady
NKHEA - You're right the cinammon toast was the best...also the shortbread cookies, with guava juice.
Too bad kids now days don't have the experience of working cafeteria and staying after class to sweep and mop the classroom and empty the waste baskets. We used to also erase the blackboard and then wipe it with wet rag.
July 15th, 2009 at 10:36 am
Matt: THAT was where i learned to eat doritos in chili! i remember fridays and shrimp curry, mmmm... french fries dipped in milk shakes... caramel cuts... but i was already spoiled by the cafeteria ladies' cooking in the old old days.
Kailua elementary (i guess you had to go back into the 50's) was near a good okazu deli, and crack seed and tasty freeze, and Jean's bakery... how did i remember that name? i cant even always remember my own name
in high school we could run across the street to get manapua (ohhhhh my, not going to say what they called our little snack store, i had to ask someone what it meant.) all in all we were on easy street.
Visitor: the rice scooper was big and our hands were just chubby and little. By the time we pushed that lever with our thumbs 150 times, all red and sore!
Does anyone know what it is about our cultural "tastes", that everyone liked the hamburger "Mulligan" stuff with green beans? Was it because of the rice?
My family loves that, we call it "school lunch" and the kids get all happy, even if we have it often. After making it for decades, i can tell you there is no secret ingredient or anything.
July 15th, 2009 at 10:39 am
Rodney.
Since I may be your oldest blogger, my comments may be interesting.
Back in the 40's when we reached (Intermediate level) 7-8, we worked an entire class (home room) one(1) week at a time on Cafeteria duty!
Most of us loved it, since we didn't have to go to classes for the week.
We had various assignments (which rotated amongst the students) so a group didn't get the "hard & junk jobs" all week. Girls did food preparation and the guys did the pots & pans (lifting etc.,) Looking back, Hawaii may have had the very best Cafeteria Mgrs. in the U.S. They were highly qualified and cooked "ono kine food" i.e., Spanish Rice, Stews, Baked Macaroni w/Hamburger in tomato sauce, Saimen, Pork Roast etc., etc., the desserts were the best! Custard pie; lemon meringue pie, apple, chocolate pudding, cookies, ice cream etc.,
Ready for this? .15 cts for single lunch; .25 cts double lunch (football guys) includes juice & 1 pt milk. (You can have 2 if you drink it all) also had chocolate milk. There was a "mid-morning break in high school, serving sanchwiches & milk/juice for .25 cts. Their were students on a special need program who had their food at no cost to them!
This is my favorite part of my story.2 guys name "Bill and "Jon" Bill President of Student Body also got me as head cashier for cafeteria) and "Jon" a class clown and prankster started a food fight in the newly built cafeteria! Pies, vegetables, bread, milk was flying all over the place! What caused it, to this day I don't know. We had a lot of fun though! Since it was nearly the student body involved, we all had to stay and clean the place up, Spick & Span. Took 3 after school days! "Bill, "Jon: & myself since we held profile student body positions had detention for 2 weeks! Picking up rubbish and helping the custodians after school! I'm laughing out loud as I am writing this and the memory is coming back loud and clear!
"Bill" went on to become a structural & civil Engineer Ph.D. and held the job of being responsible for retrofitting the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco,Ca (Many yrs retired) "Jon" became a renown Plastic Surgeon M.D. and is known for developing techniques in facial construction deformities, also in San Francisco, CA (Now retired) and myself owning 2 Corp. in San Francisco/Bay Area. Here is the "kicker" We never planned, nor saw each other since High School. All ended up as adults in the same city. Odds? Gotta be high!
Would love to tell you their names but I did not their permission and I will reveal myself soon when my son teaches me how to send pictures etc.
July 15th, 2009 at 10:45 am
On the rare occaision we did get to buy lunch I loved it! Especially when they served fish sticks with tater tots and cream corn. It sure beat the plain PnJ sandwiches we used to get almost everyday. I remember my mom would sometimes pack two vienna sauges and a small scoop of rice for our lunch. I loved it but the other kids would give us funny looks.
July 15th, 2009 at 11:38 am
During Kindergarten I remember lunches were 25 cents and milk was 10 cents extra. I always wondered what the kids who didn't bring milk money drank...water, I guess. There was also this kid who was allergic to milk, supposedly, so every time we'd go through the line he'd yell, "JUICE, PLEASE!" I kind of felt bad for him too because the juice cup he got was about half the size of a milk carton, sorta like a juice shot.
Never had too many public school lunches. I remember really liking chicken patty (bun or gravy) and turkey. The worst lunches were nachos, bread pizza and fish bun. For a few years during elementary, I attended a small school and brought my own lunches. During intermediate, I got shipped off to Kamehameha, so I had the "Flamingo Buffet" experience. You guys are going to want to slap me, but at Kamehameha, I never really ate school lunch. With the exception of turkey and stuffing, I thought most of the food was nasty because I had to eat all three meals there. Little did I know that 2 years later, as a starving student, I'd be looking at my mushy saimin and cursing my existence. 8 years later and I've learned to cook for myself, but damn...what I'd give for a Kamehameha meal again.
July 15th, 2009 at 11:42 am
@ hemajang my sister in law she knows more of filipino stores..even my white husband knows where the filipino store since I don't do the shopping he does it when I send him for a list and he comes back with filipino food...or I go to my mom she can cook for me filipino..I sort of cook filipino food I mix whatever..voila pancit time...!
July 15th, 2009 at 11:43 am
imagie if they serve chicken feet at school....kids with chicken feet...OH the nuns woudl love that kids runnign around chasing each other with claws ..that is why pancit only!
July 15th, 2009 at 11:46 am
@ hemajang I COOK PANCIT and chicken adobo that is all I know how with filipino ..my mom she does the egg rolls too mcuh work for me becasue when I cook pancit I toss evertyhing in oven voila cook I am not going to roll around then fry around so I go to my mom's house.
July 15th, 2009 at 11:51 am
On a side note, kids now days get chocolate and strawberry milk? Spoiled!
July 15th, 2009 at 12:05 pm
Wow, I don't remember ever doing cafeteria duty. I do remember the awesome shortbread cookies (wit da pukas from da forks poking 'em to let out da steam) and ice cakes. Remember ice cakes? Mmmmmmm.
I don't remember specific entrees (you can tell I still have a sweet tooth) but I remember we had the best cafeteria lady when I was in elementary school - Miss Ginoza. She and her ladies made all our lunches from scratch. I remember the warm, almost sweet tomato sauce smell in the cafeteria.
I remember buying school lunches while I was at King Intermediate, but I never ate in the cafeteria. As a small Japanese girl, I was a sitting target, so I ate outside with my friends. I don't remember buying lunch AT ALL when I was at Castle, but I vividly remember the manapua wagon parked on K-Bay Drive when a quarter would get you a really good manapua. It was a splurge if I bought a Hawaiian Sun juice with my manapua!
I also remember buying breakfast at UH's Campus Center when $1 would get me corned beef hash, rice and eggs. Yum.
July 15th, 2009 at 12:11 pm
Ah yes, school lunches!
I'm from the 25¢ lunch era as well. I had my quarter safely tucked away in my ching-ching purse, along with the occasional extra dime or nickle for extra milk or ice cake after school.
I gotta think about my favorites. Baked spaghetti was always good. I recall pizza being served with tater tots. Che mentioned beef fritters -- I liked those too! With gravy!
Once I hit high school, I stopped eating school lunch. I thought our food was kinda junk, so I didn't eat. Actually, a LOT of my friends didn't eat lunch in high school. Lunch was candy and soda.
Snickers and diet coke -- lunch of champions.
July 15th, 2009 at 1:12 pm
Lunches were 25 cents when I was in elementary, 45 cents in intermediate, and 75 cents in high school. Overall, an excellent deal for what you got.
July 15th, 2009 at 2:37 pm
let's see...teri burger with mushy french fries, nasty shoyu chicken, gritty canned veggies especially those green beans, making faces with the orange peel over your teeth and learning how to take a bite of spinach and spit it into your milk carton so you didn't have to eat it. that's what I remember about public school lunches...that and being able to get a cup of juice for 5 cents in the morning. One thing I could never figure out was that in the morning, it smelled so good in the cafeteria, like they were baking something delicious, but then come lunch time, it was always like, what the heck is this that they are serving today?
Lunch was just a delay from getting to go out and play...
July 15th, 2009 at 3:00 pm
Back in my day lunches were 25 cents and juice was a nickel so every morning my mom would put my money in a ching ching purse and i paid the cashier after we got our lunch. These days my son has a card which they scan to automatically deduct whatever he buys from the cafe. Every so often I write a check for him to deposit into his account.
In elementary school my favorite lunches was the pizza, pig in the blanket, spaghetti and lasagna. I remember they served this thing that looked like Alpo and the beef patties were really gross. The breads were always good. In intermediate school they would have wiki where we could get taco's, cheeseburgers or manapua and chow fun. That was pretty good. I saw a few food fights in intermediate and high school.
I liked working in the cafe in elementary school. In middle school a whole class would go at a time, It would get too wild with so many kids and the ladies were always yelling. We used to have to dump slop and wash pots and pans. I hated it so I would go to the health room when I knew we were up for cafe duty.
I now work in a school setting so I get the opportunity to eat school lunch. My favorites now are the oven baked and teri chicken, Roast turkey, kalua pig, and Beef stew, stuff that I guess they had when I was a student but I didn't appreciate it then.
July 15th, 2009 at 3:23 pm
Ahh, forgot about the roast turkey, the Wednesday before Thanksgiving! I always looked forward to that.
July 15th, 2009 at 4:45 pm
In regards to recess snacks for 5 cents: In kindergarden, we would sometimes get jello or a cup of fruit cocktail from canned fruits. From first grade on the snacks would usually be a cup of juice and graham crackers. Sometimes we would have a cup of hot cocoa and buttered toast or half of a grilled cheese sandwich. The best 25 cent lunches were pizza, shoyu chicken, baked beans with a hot dog, beef stroganoff, pig in blanket, sloppy joe, baked spaghetti with a cheese topping, spanish rice, corned beef hash with ketchup, spanish hot dogs (sliced hot dogs cooked in tomato sauce and served over noodles) and on May Day they would serve a Hawaiian plate with kalua pig, poi, chicken long rice, a pineapple slice and haupia. The vegetable salad with french dressing was pretty good and the best desserts were apple brown betty, the shortbread cookies, canned peaches or plums or apricots and the biscuit with a sugar and cinnamon topping.
July 15th, 2009 at 5:26 pm
I remember that. First time I drank POG, I said "Hey, this is the stuff we used to drink at first recess!".
That was nice of her - just to make sure you had something to eat.
But look how far you've come today, Rosette. No more only boiled egg and water.
Maybe back then the schools didn't have Daily Requirements to follow so the ladies cooked up whatever they could think of. Yeah, we missed out...
No food riots at Punahou? LOL
Although a quarter wouldn't take you as far as a public school lunch. All day snack bar - how do you not put on weight?!
I can picture it too. Boys, barefoot with khaki pants and aloha print jac shirts. Hair nicely combed with pomade. Girls with frilly chiffon dresses. Maybe a ribbon in their hair.
I don't think Rosette lives here on the islands. But maybe she's been to Hawaii. Rosette?
We're you tall for your age? Maybe that's why you got to work there.
And you still get yelled at by the cafeteria lady! j/k
You know, roach - I do recall the ugly green round plates. Just a few weeks ago we were standing outside of Golden Duck after dinner and I was talking to my brother-in-law about this very topic and as I look back into the restaurant, I see the very same ugly green round plate! I pointed to it and yelled out "That's the one! That's the kind of plate I was talking about!". I think they serve their lunch special on it.
Pig-in-the-Blanket! Ho, first time we had that - was in heaven. Hot dog for lunch! Even though no more ketchup and mustard, still tasted good.
Did Sekiya's have the special section just for students back then? If was now days, you could go to Grace's too right across the street. What about Bea's (Donald Duck drive in for all you seasoned MLCers).
Ooh yeah - baked spaghetti. Each square that was served was one whole slice of cheese. Too bad back then I hated cheese. Now days when someone sees baked spaghetti, they say "ooo, just like school kine".
We had full-on, 100% brown rice. It looked dirty, so we didn't want to eat it. I remember the first time we had pizza - was hot dog pizza. In fact, that's the only kind pizza we ever had in school. Sliced up hot dog on a square pizza. But we still ate um.
Simpler time... well said, OL.
Yeah, I remember the cinnamon toast! Was so ono.
Hmmm, good point zzzzzz. Maybe if the kids work cafeteria or clean classrooms - they going have to join the union first.
Okay, next time we go party, Kage -if we're at Kaimuki Grill, we'll have to order some Shoyu Hotdog - just for you.
Keep focusing on it, anklebiters. It'll come back to you. I promise.
Ahh, the ol' "I'll trade you my hambuger patty for your cookie".
But there goes your Monday - Thursday lunch money.
Yup, special times indeed. Anklebiters is working on remembering the hamburger stew dish's name
I knew you could do it!
Oh yeah, the apple sauce! I remember that. Never did eat it.
You da guy used to jack the nerds, eh?
Yeah, kids now days...
Jeans Bakery, LOL. I remember that place. On Uluniu street across the small Ben Franklin parking lot (with the incinerator in the corner).
We'll be waiting Popoman2. You know, I do allow for guest entries too. I'd be more than happy to share your story with all of us. So far from what I've read, you'd lived an interesting life and have crossed many paths along the way. Email me if you think you'd like to give it a shot. (click on my name next to my picture for my email address).
July 15th, 2009 at 5:35 pm
Hey Rodney: I remember hanging out in the cafeteria more than the food. When we had modular scheduling our first year there it was a fun place to hang out. But I do remember those shortbread cookies. They were so hard you could kill someone with them but boy where they good. I also remember the pineapple spears. Kailua had a lot of good things going on back in the day but I don't remember the lunches being one of them:)
July 15th, 2009 at 7:59 pm
School lunches? Yes, I remember those. I vaguely remember elem. school lunches being 25 cents, later 45 cents. I remember the kids that qualified for free lunches were given these metal coin-like tokens that resembled a quarter and two dimes to pay for their lunches.
I also remember working in the cafeteria as an elem. sch. kid. It never occurred to me until years later that there might have been some kids that were lactose intolerant, which was why they got juice with their lunch instead of milk, like the majority of us did.
As far as the food itself, I don't think there was anything especially memorable (in a good way). Most of the stuff was edible, like the burgers, Sloppy Joes, and the baked teri chicken. The thing that stuck in my mind as being especially bad, was the pizza. The cheese on the pizza always seemed to resemble melted candle wax to me. I think they would have done better to simply buy the cheapest frozen pizzas and serve that. Looking back, I think they could have used the pizza as a visual display, like the fake bowls of ramen and other foods you see in the display case of a Japanese restaurant.
Intermediate/Junior High/Middle School (call it what you want) had better lunches. Not much to say about that experience. If you were lucky, and had some extra cash saved up, you either showed up early (before school) and grabbed breakfast at a restaurant across the street, or snuck across at lunch for a burger, fries, and a soda.
July 15th, 2009 at 8:52 pm
@Nkhea: Yup, I was a 'dog. Rather be referred to as a puppy... mo' cute. I still can't figure out where the money came from. I used to work at Zippys McCully Jr & Sr years and made a whopping $70 every 2 weeks. I was rich!
@M: $1 chili? Remember when was "75 chili" cuz was 75cents?
@Masako: Ching Ching Purse HAHAHAHA!!! neva hear that one in a lonnnnng time!
Speak of Zips, when I first started there, plate lunches were 90cents. I remember when it went up to $1, I thought "who going spend dat kine money?" Zip Pac was killer expensive at $2.45 or something. When I quit right after graduation, min wage went up to $2/hr. Charley Higa pulled me on the side trying to make me not quit and told me "if you stay, you'll be making $2.10" cuz I got 5cents raise each year starting from $1.60/hr. Ho man, was hard to turn down LOL.
Sally>>> still cracking up about ching ching purse
July 15th, 2009 at 9:30 pm
@Rodney: Sekiya's wasn't so much a lunch place as it was the place to run to when you cut out. But any Blue Blooded Bulldog will tell you the hell you pay if caught by Mr Jules Cambra. Dat fat bruddah could RUN! And he would chase you till he caught you, he would not be beaten. I was scared of him so I rarely went to Sekiya's. I took cut out route #2... the canal side. Walk under the bridge and end up on the other side of Date St then catch the bus to anyplace but school.
Bea's wasn't safe, the street was too big and obvious to see us crossing.
July 15th, 2009 at 10:09 pm
Two vienna sausages and little bit rice. That's it? No wonder our days didn't have childhood obesity, eh?
When I worked for KSBE, we used to have an awards program up on campus during the summer. Then we'd all walk down to the cafeteria and have Hawaiian food. Live Hawaiian music would be playing too. I could just image the school lunches.
Ah, nothing like home made lumpia.
You telling me! I guess the thinking is that have kids drink chocolate or strawberry milk is better than them not drinking milk at all. Ha! Suck it up like we did and drink the white milk!
25¢ for one manapua?! Ho, and I bet the juice cost maybe another quarter. I can see how that would be better than a school lunch.
Man! In high school, that's when we took the most advantage of school lunches. Sometimes we'd eat 2 of them.
If the lunch choice was junk, the option was 2 tacos and a milk for a quarter. Only thing was that they gave only 1 taco sauce packet. Had to ration it.
Yup, even at 75¢, can't complain.
ZX6R - I remember those soggy french fries. First time we had them, Ho! French Fries! But not quite the same as the drive in kine. I agree, lunch was just a prelude to "long recess"
Okay, Banana Fysh also mentioned it. What's a ching-ching purse?
btw, thanks for the great blog topic idea, Masako. Over 50 replies!
Yeah, I always wondered why they served turkey the day before Thanksgiving when you knew you were going to eat it the next day. But didn't matter - tasted good anyway. Plus, we knew that a 4 day weekend was coming up, but more importantly, it was the kick-off until CHRISTMAS!
Wow Steve, that's some memory! Thanks! I remember the sugar and cinnamon topping on the biscuit - a special treat indeed. And sloppy joe! How could we forget that. Thanks for the memories.
July 15th, 2009 at 10:28 pm
@Rodney: "what's a ching ching purse" ? Think hard. Visualize. You'll get it.
@Masako: I'm still laughing!
July 15th, 2009 at 10:31 pm
Hey, I had modular scheduling my first year at Kailua too. Classmate? 51 year old mini reunion coming up in Oct. Join us? Oh and welcome to Midlife Crisis! Thanks for posting.
Modular scheduling was something else, wasn't it. Hanging out in the cafe or close by waiting for the lunch line to open up. Cool days indeed!
Only thing was, at Kailua anyway - the closest eatery was a mile away in Kailua town. It was school lunch or candy and soda from the school clubs selling snacks. The 2 tacos were always the fall back. On the days that the school lunch was really bad, you could tell because they'd be sold out of tacos. LOL.
There it is again - ching ching purse. Should I search the Odds and Ends blog for ching ching?
In elementary school, I had a little bear head coin purse that I wore around my neck with one of those ball chains. It had a zipper on the top that went between the 2 ears of the bear's face. And had those kine eyes that roll around when you moved it. OMG, is that why I wear a lanyard at work to this day?! Old habits are hard to break. Lol
Ho Sally, you was one of the naughty Kaimuki girls. LOL.
July 15th, 2009 at 10:33 pm
Okay, I had a hunch. Must be one of those flat oval things with a slit down the middle and when you squeeze the 2 ends, it opens up.
My dad used to carry one of those. LOL.
July 15th, 2009 at 10:36 pm
@Rodney, There ya go! (my you're graphic) LOL I think everybody's daddy had one. I always wondered how come money never fell out of it.
July 15th, 2009 at 10:37 pm
I remember at intermediate school, there were 2 lunch bells - for crowd control. One bell went off at 10 minutes until 12 and the other one at 12 noon. Our fourth period class would alternate between first and second lunch bell depending on the semester.
I remember when we had first lunch bell and when the bell rang, a bunch of kids - usually the surf rats - would run to the cafe to be first. Reminds me of when you turn on the kitchen light and see all the cockroaches scrambling.
July 15th, 2009 at 10:38 pm
@Rodney: again: No, I wasn't naughty. However it is quite amazing that I even graduated. I pulled some pretty ingenious stunts to pass my classes.
July 15th, 2009 at 10:40 pm
I still see those for sell - I think at the Marukai 99¢ store. I'm tempted to buy one. No, I'm not a sicko. Just for old time's sake. LOL
July 15th, 2009 at 10:42 pm
I think most of us Baby Boomers wonder how we graduated back then. LOL
July 15th, 2009 at 10:43 pm
Rodney, if memory serves, those things also had a place where you could hang it from a ball chain.
July 15th, 2009 at 10:46 pm
Yes, there were 2 holes in them for the chain.
What am I saying, of course there where holes in them - after all, it is a "ching ching" purse.
Okay, that's more of an O&E comment. Must be getting late.
July 15th, 2009 at 10:47 pm
Gosh, when you get it you really get it dontcha? LOL
July 15th, 2009 at 10:51 pm
The memories~~ They're all coming back to me now.
July 15th, 2009 at 10:55 pm
In elementary school, only the 6th graders got to eat in the cafe. All the other grades had to march - single file - to the cafe to get their lunch and take it back to the classroom to eat.
At the end of each wing, the janitors had a big flat wagon with garbage cans on them - one for slop and one for milk cartons.
We must've had room monitors that had to carry out the plates to the janitors. I used to talk story with them - Perry and Francis. But never "buzzard". LOL
July 16th, 2009 at 3:52 am
most of growing up in diff Cat-lick schools wit' no caf, just bag lunches.. anuddah top-ick fo' anuddah day..
the only time had caf lunch was the one year went to pub-lick school in Al-a-ba-ma.. don't remember anyhting we had, except the cherry pie.. not the bright red, the dark red with a crumbly crust.. ken still see that tray with lunch on it, but all that's visible is dat cherry pie.. wuz guuuud..
opso mad me laff wit' his soun' effex of eating da applesauce..
July 16th, 2009 at 7:28 am
I used to brown-bag it most of the time, so don't really have many recollections of school lunch. Except for baked spaghetti and hot dogs (both shoyu, and pig in a blanket), and that awful, awful spinach. Those cans of spinach had to be left over from the war years or something. Maybe even the first WW.
I was happy to find that there is such a thing as Stouffer's baked spaghetti a couple of years ago, but it is really not that much like school lunch baked spaghetti.
I still make shoyu hot dogs for the dogs, but not for myself in a long time.
July 16th, 2009 at 7:35 am
Morning all you old F*rts
sally; what year you grad and what intermediate school you went
NKHEA....goin now be back
July 16th, 2009 at 7:39 am
If we did eat lunch on campus, we'd take the tray to our Japanese teacher's room and eat and play trumps.
We never did eat at McD's, don't remember any J-N-Box or Burger Kings (might not have existed back then), no Zippy's nearby, but there was Tastie Treat. Sometimes we'd go to my friends house on Mokulele Drive and his mom would make us lunch
July 16th, 2009 at 7:46 am
Ankles, Tastee Treet wasn't near any school (well, kinda near Ben Parker, but I'm assuming you weren't going to elementary school then, and you're not old enough to have gone to Ben Parker when it was Kane`ohe's high school). Are you talking about after school? Tastee Treet was right by my gramma's house, so I remember it fondly.
I remember when Mickey-Ds first came to Kane`ohe in Windward City. That was a BIG DEAL. Originally it wasn't an enclosed restaurant - seating was covered but when it rained (duh, it's Kane`ohe), 3/4 of the seats and tables were soaked.
July 16th, 2009 at 7:55 am
Lunch was everyone fav subject in school. Bread pudding and short bread cookies were the best.
July 16th, 2009 at 8:43 am
KAN:
We were allowed to leave campus for lunch at Castle so whoever had a car that day, we'd all pile in and head to Tastee Treat or points beyond.
Wednesdays were the best...EARLY RELEASE
BTW, SM is not sure when she'll be in Vancouver. No definite dates yet.
July 16th, 2009 at 9:32 am
@Largo -- Yup, you got what the "ching ching purse" is.
Gotta give a *fist bump* to bamboohouse for coining that name.
I remember using that thing as a kini for some games. It had good "sticking power" for games like hopscotch.
July 16th, 2009 at 9:46 am
Good morning all!
Is this subject still going on? Day off and I just woke up. Wow, I don't usually sleep this late.
@anklez: I said awready, KHS 74. Go Bulldogs! Born 'n bred in Kaimuki, now in Kapahulu. LOL Earned training wheels at Kaimuki Inter. Where you?
July 16th, 2009 at 9:51 am
Good Morning Rodney! I have an idea...
We'll all buy ching ching purses and write "MLC" and username on the flat side and hang 'um around our necks with ball chain. This will be our Secret I.D. Like we speshul dats why.
hahahaha!
July 16th, 2009 at 10:28 am
Sorry so late with my comments ... I remember lunch costing $0.25 in elem school and somewhere along the line changing to $0.45. Can't remember when that was exactly?!
I used to like the tacos, pizza, spaghetti, baked chicken, and chicken patty with gravy. There's not much I didn't like. But, I absolutely hated the turkey roll. I think it was 1st grade when one of those mean "cafeteria ladies" forced me to finish eating it and I got sick! After that, I just couldn't stand the taste or smell of it! Blech!
Yup, I agree, the shortbread cookies were the best. KAN mentioned the fork pukas in the shortbread cookies. I also liked the peanut butter cookies with the fork lines (from the batter being smooshed down). I guess a lot of people liked the cookies because now they sell "school-kine" cookies for fundraisers, yeah? (I think I saw them at Costco too).
The change from whole to 2% milk and white to brown rice were hard transitions for me. Took awhile to get adjusted!
July 16th, 2009 at 10:34 am
@Rodney and @sally - I remember wearing those "ball chains" around my neck and my hair getting caught between the beads. I could never get my hair untangled so would end up yanking and breaking my hair strands. Ouch!!
July 16th, 2009 at 11:06 am
@NeedaHobby: oh yah, you're right. I forgot about that. LOL k-den, I going hang the ching ching purse from my bag.
July 16th, 2009 at 11:56 am
Being da youngin' of da MLC Hui, we nevah have "plastic green" trays only da dingy yellow or white cardboard ones. If you had cafeteria duty.... da kitchen area ALWAYS had da same smell no mattah wat was being served.
In elementary, I was on da cashier so EVERYDAY I got off "early" plus free lunch. Good trade eh?
Intermediate/High school was good cause had da wiki-wiki lunch then regular. Plus in high school had da snack booth too!
But then again.... nothing was ovah a $1.... I tink.
July 16th, 2009 at 12:02 pm
sally:
That was NKHEA that asked about your schools
Just look for the BEEG "C" as you drive down from Pali/Wilson/H3....there are several of us on MLC who graduated from there.
July 16th, 2009 at 12:10 pm
@anklez: oh, so sorry, I was still waking up. LOL K-den, what year you guys?
July 16th, 2009 at 12:19 pm
Kailua Surfriders - bicentennial year (1976)
10th grade - modular scheduling (like college kine)
11th & 12 grade - traditional scheduling (like kid kine)
Social club - Pacific Vibrations
July 16th, 2009 at 12:25 pm
I just want to take this moment to thank sally for proving that "ching ching purse" was an actual name for those coin purses.
The Odds and Ends peeps think I made up that name because it sounds naughty. What would give them that idea??
btw. I still use one today. Black. No chain. I get comments on it all the time from cashiers. I don't tell them it's a "ching ching purse" though.
July 16th, 2009 at 12:34 pm
@Rodney: sorry, I didn't know too many people younger than me. My Jr & Sr years I was hardly in school. Signed up for DECA. To this day I have no idea what that was. All I knew was you work part time and it's credit to your grade... that's why Zippys. I don't recall doing any projects, papers, or tests. I barely passed my other classes, hence my amazement that I even graduated. I think they just wanted to get rid of me.
But I wasn't naughty!!! I simply wasn't there. LOL
@BBH808: I'm gonna go buy one for myself. Even if you guys don't wanna use the ching ching purse as I.D., I will put it on the handle of my bag and you can come meet me if you ever see it in public. hahaha
Da Secret Society of Da Ching Ching Purse Club
July 16th, 2009 at 1:02 pm
ching ching purse evolved !
http://www.magic.org/store/images/Mr_Mouth.jpg
... I'll just leave it at that...
July 16th, 2009 at 1:09 pm
EEEK! That was kinda scary.
July 16th, 2009 at 1:10 pm
BBH808 -you carry a ching ching in your pocket? I guess that's better than wearing around your neck on a chain.
I considered getting one. I mean the loose coins in my pocket banging against my cell phone can't be good.
Nah. I'll continue to use the small coin pocket for my loose change.
July 16th, 2009 at 1:11 pm
@sally - you can make Mr. Mouth talk and watch him barf out coins. LOL
July 16th, 2009 at 1:17 pm
The ching ching purse will go nicely with your murse
July 16th, 2009 at 1:33 pm
You mean the murse that carries your guyliner and manscara?
July 16th, 2009 at 2:02 pm
Eh, what blog I stay on anyway
ching ching purse 
sally; can tell you grad Kaimuki
IKHEA grad same as you 
NKHEA....be back
July 16th, 2009 at 2:08 pm
school lunch! okay, i'm a little late on this one (is that a surprize?
)... but i remember lunch being 25 cents until i graduated from high school. i have memories of eating shoyu chicken for lunch in the elementary school cafeteria and one of the little titas stealing the skin off the chicken while i was talking to someone! i was grossed out and didn't want to eat my chicken after that... who knew what her dirty hands had touched?!
anyway, i still liked the shoyu chicken, beef fritters, spanish rice, turkey corn scallop and, of course, the cookies and the peanut butter bar thing (i still want the recipe for that!). hmmm... i think someone we know needs to bake some school kine cookies for us!! hee hee...
i hated working in the cafeteria... mostly because it had that sour smell and you had to wear the dreaded hairnet!! aisus!! 
it was so embarassing to have to serve food to a cute boy wearing a hairnet!! thankfully, the high school i went to had a "class" for food service so we didn't have to work in the cafeteria then... but the class members were rather scary looking so you never asked questions when they served you your food! 
as far as i know, my son still has cafeteria duty so the some kids still get to have that "experience." lucky them...
July 16th, 2009 at 2:17 pm
OMG! I have been laffing at these comments...but I do miss school lunch. i wasn't a part of the 25 cent lunch group but of the 45 cent lunch group. but in elementary we had those ugly mint green plates, had to work in the cafe (but we got ice cups after we were done), in intermediate we "graduated" to paper plates and same for high school. I miss the teri burgers and tater tots, the chicken sandwiches and the pig in a blanket days. those were the best. even the turkey pastrami sandwhiches were good. in high school we had 2 different hot lunches, a salad bar line and a sandwhich line. on wednesdays we had different kinds of pies you could get with your salad. in the sandwhich line, they had different kinds of sandwhiches and a thing of carrots. but you could choose any of them and still get milk. BUT if u got lucky you could get a soda from the student council class. or if you just came to school early enuff you could buy stuff from the DECA class. Now days, my kids come home and tell me they had kalua pig and cabbage for lunch. or nachos or chili cheese fries or something we never could have imagined getting. And they can choose from white or chocolate milk! they are lucky...but if you think about it, thats a reasonable lunch for $1.25. And if you are a big eater like Mikey, then your 2nd lunch will cost you $4.00 cash only! I make him wait to come home and have a snack or have him take snacks for after lunch. but i did buy all the boys a ching ching purse for their coins and what is the first thing the boys did??? Make Mr. Mouth and watch him barf out coins...boys. gotta love them. Makes me wonder how grandma survived the four of you.
July 16th, 2009 at 2:41 pm
Uncle Rodney - That IS a ching ching purse in my pocket and I'm NOT happy to see you!!
Actually, I don't carry it around all the time. Only when I know I'm gonna buy something with cash. Otherwise, I keep my CCP at home or make my wife hold it in her purse.
July 16th, 2009 at 3:43 pm
Wow, brings back a lot of memories! Oh and howzit to Rodney and everyone cause this is my first post.
My favorites were the hawaiian plate (I think Steve mentioned it was served on May Day), baked chicken, and the turkey corn scallop. I also remember getting ice cake (frozen juice) for 5 cents during recess.
July 16th, 2009 at 3:52 pm
@Uncle Rod's Neice - you mean that the first lunch you buy costs $1.25, but if you want a second lunch, it'll cost $4.00? So a kid that isn't hungry can buy a lunch for $1.25, then sell it for $3.00 to a kid who wants a second lunch? The second kid would save $1 while the first kid would make $1.75.
July 16th, 2009 at 4:05 pm
@NKHEA: so who is IKHEA? Gimme either a first name or a last name. So she was my classmate? You do realize there was 700 of us? Does she go to reunions? Did she go to the last one at Natsunoya? Is she on the mailing list? Does she know we're planning another outing to go see Richard? Why am I talking in questions again?
July 16th, 2009 at 4:07 pm
Waimeadad - howzit right back at cha! Welcome to MLC and thanks for joining in.
What is this turkey corn scallop? I have no recollection of that.
Just for old times sake, one day I hope to stop by my old elementary school and revisit it. Take some pictures too. I'm sure the place it going to be a lot smaller than I remembered it being.
July 16th, 2009 at 4:15 pm
sally; Her initials were CS
What yours 
Don't think she went to the last couple reunions 
Which Richard you talking about Natto 
Go ask UR for my e-mail address can pass info ova to IKHEA 
Rod; ok to give sally my e-mail address
July 16th, 2009 at 4:16 pm
I volunteer for our Kaimuki HS Foundation and our annual fundraiser is held in the school cafeteria. The first year I was like "oh yah, this is what it looks like".
As opposed to the library where we hold mtgs it was like "oh, so this is what this place looks like".
Anyway, back to subject... the first couple of yrs the dinner was school kine meal. Shoyu chix, bun, veggies, dessert, salad, was so ono and brought back memories.
July 16th, 2009 at 4:29 pm
100
July 16th, 2009 at 4:29 pm
Things have changed over the years. Schools no longer can serve peanut butter because of allergies. Cookies are not served very often because the new Wellness Act does not allow sweets to be served. Rice is required to be "hapa" 50/50 brown/white. When it first came out some of my students told me they thought it was shoyu. The baked good are still made from scratch and are also 50/50 whole wheat. Kids these days are funny, whenever pig in the blanket is served I'm told the kids pretend it is something else. One day when refried beans was served my students told me they had doo doo on thier plate.
Turkey corn scallop is this thing where they mix corn and turkey into the gravy and serve it like a stew.
July 16th, 2009 at 4:33 pm
@NKHEA: At first I was gonna say "are you Wayne?" but cannot be cuz CS came to the reunions. And you'd know about the KHS Foundation. And yes, it is Richard Natto, poor thing he always missing out cuz he gotta work so we said we bringing the party to him.
Cheryl? Is IKHEA Cheryl?
Did she go to Vegas for our 50th BDay Bash? We had a big article in the MidWeek for it. Google: That is so 1974 to see the article.
OK Rodney, pls email his info to me so I can get this party info to the Mrs.
July 16th, 2009 at 5:20 pm
sally; rodaga on all counts
IKHEA ran in to Richard couple years back, he still remembered her 
go e-mail me 
NKHEA....gatta get ready for go "Stage" for dinna
July 16th, 2009 at 5:21 pm
rodga
July 16th, 2009 at 7:21 pm
@Sally - you got mail.
July 17th, 2009 at 8:21 am
yep...at the boys school they have a food account for breakfast and lunch. but if you still hungry then you can't use your lunch account for a 2nd lunch but have to pay the $4...go figure. and it would be u to think of selling ur lunch and not eating it. I wish my kids would think more like that instead of always being so hungry!!! oh, btw, my oldest stepson came home from boys and girls club and was asking me to make shoyu hotdogs since i haven't made in a while. he told his friend how good shoyu hot dogs are but none of them ever ate it! go figure?!
July 17th, 2009 at 2:15 pm
Rodney,
Yup, like Masako stated, it had turkey and corn in addition to carrots and celery I believe, in a white sauce. Kinda like the inside of a pot pie.
July 17th, 2009 at 4:49 pm
I guess I am the last one- been busy, now I am on vacation! yes I remembered those quarter lunches. I hated spinach ( mushy) and beets ew... The pizza was cardboard, but I liked the pig in a blanket and the hamburger stew with shortbread cookie. Better yet- the apple or cheery cobbler. How about the ring of pineapple with cottage cheese in the middle? That was gross. Yeah, those green plastic trays and with better technology.. the paper beige ones that were thrown away. Didn't all that slop go to the pig farm? lol In elementary school, there was also a teacher that made you eat everything on your plate and all the kids hated that. Not to mention we were all scared of her- Mrs. Young was her name. Everybody was scared of the cafeteria ladies- they always called you "girlie".
I think the lunches are much better now, not to mention the cost.
July 18th, 2009 at 12:13 am
Hehe.. no I think I'm the lastest! I was in the "end" of the quarter lunch era.... it changed to 45cts while in elem school, we had those mintish green plastic plates with the compartments at our school. Man, breakfast used to be a dime too! We had rice krispies with a spoon of sugar.. or the cinnamon toast.. ohhhhh yum. I loved having to work cafeteria duty! After we helped serve or heck just "passed da plates", we had to wipe down the tables. My faves were the pizza, tacos, and sloppy joes! I hated fish day, bleh! I always went to the okazuya before school and had stuff like chow funn on those days!
By the time I got to intermediate, I didn't eat school lunches. I had braces by then and didn't want to eat and have it get stuck in my teeth, much less go in the cafeteria. By high school, there were more food choices, but I still didn't want to eat in there. By that time I was afraid of what could have been uhmm put into the food, or touched by other students, hahha plus I still had braces.
We weren't lucky enough to be able to leave campus for lunch.... McD's would have made a killing! Besides after school that is! haha..
Man, lunch was a bargain! I should have took advantage even with the braces! bahahah. I cannot believe they don't have plain 'ole white milk... chocolate? Are you kidding me? No cafeteria duty? Room cleaning duty?? geeeez no wonder the "kids" now are soo much more spoiled!
July 18th, 2009 at 7:53 am
Thanks for jogging the one brain cell! Late to da discussion but Wow, I miss da 25 cents lunch!
Neva had too much food at home so kaukau at school baby. Always try go last in line in elementary and beg da cafeteria ladies for "extras."
Intermediate can buy more then one lunch, wow-wen go nuts especially wen get shoyu chicken, yeah baby-I spent a whole dollar, i usually buy da braddas lunch after i make money gambling in da bathrooms or hijack/search take hehe. Wen school with brudda Iz, guess how much lunches he was grinding?, gotta cover you plate or else he going confiskate haha...
High school used to have hamburgers and tacos fo snacks, it was the only reason for go skool...gotta get energies when pau body surf at sandys.
Thanks to all da cafeteria ladies (kanes too) and to all the braddas and sistas who gave me "extra" in my plate...I miss those times...as Beamer braddas song said "only the good times"...if you know what I'm talkin about u know how lucky you are! GOD Bless and Aloha!
July 18th, 2009 at 3:14 pm
Wow Rod, I never saw a ching ching purse like that. That's funny. Lucky they didn't make the lips bigger. Otherwise it would be a ching ching purse with chocho lips!!
July 19th, 2009 at 8:52 pm
@volleymom2 - Thanks for sharing your memories.
@H2L - Ha, I didn't get my braces until I was in my 40's.
@Dk - Hi, welcome to Midlife Crisis (MLC). Thanks for posting. Only thing about going late to lunch - sometimes they run out and we ended up with P&J sandwich.
@David In Oregon - ching ching with cho cho. Eww! LOL.