Lurkers' week: memories of school dinners

Sponge pudding with jam and coconut on top with custard was my favourite. Macaroni was awful - yet I love it now.

Awful - our school had the reputation for having the worst school dinners in the town. I've never eaten gravy since. The dinner ladies didn't let us leave until we'd eaten it all up. Frogspawn, pink custard and liver which I hated.

never liked when there was mash for dinner I'm sure they used wonder mash most of the time and you could smell it all over the school like it had sat in the hot trays for too long -awful stuff!
I loved all the jam tarts & sponges with various custards especially when it was syrup sponge as they were generous with the syrup & there was always plenty of seconds!
chicken fricasee with fried bread was another favourite of mine, it was delicious and perfect to put a heat in you when you'd just come in from swimming lessons

Loved school dinners. The boys used to throw their gravy at us girls!

I hated primary school dinners and I think they have scarred me for life.
Lumpy watery mash, frog spawn and rice puddings, skin on custard, gristly meat pies and boiled to death grey vegetables.
And all this after walking up the hill and waiting near one of those hot tar cauldrons whilst they built an extension to the new school. If I smell hot tar now it always brings back horrible memories of school dinners.
Can't stand anything warm and milky to this day.

Like callgirl1 I too loved the meat and potato pie, it was the only school dinner worth eating. Lumpy mash and soggy cabbage etc eventually drove me to start take a sandwich for lunch instead of suffer any more school dinners. But I had spare "dinner tickets" for if pie was on the menu.

The bullet like balls of mashed potato which we used to flick under another table if we could.

Loved school dinners especially the puddings, jam rolly polly, bakewell slice, apple pie, always seemed to have pink custard with them !

I loathed the round scoop of lumpy mashed potatoes! One mouthful would make me heave, but we were made to eat at least a few mouthfuls of everything on our plates. Luckily for me my mum was a dinner lady, and although I had to have mash served onto my plate, mum would come around and steathily slide my mashed potato into her overall pocket! (It must have made a right mess of her uniform!)

During the long summer school holidays I had to take two buses to a different school where the canteen stayed open to serve us 'very poor' children. The meals were really awful and although I usually loved the puddings I hated the watery custard there.

My sister was two years older than me and after the first week she refused to go again because the food was so awful.

I used to bunk off school dinners as young as 9y.
I was scared of the strong arm tactics of the 'eat it up' dinner ladies.
Scared of the bullies who tormented me in the dinner hall
And scared of the teachers who allowed even more bullying in the playground
Just couldn't wait to get out.

Potato hash followed by jam rolypoly!

Once a week we had pie. It was advertised as meat & potato or chicken and veg but the description was irrelevant because it all looked and tasted exactly the same. It was served from enormous stainless steel tins and then hacked into squares. The pie crust was so thick that gravy couldn't permeate it and it was like eating wood.

The very thought of a milk pudding turns my stomach Cari and don't even get me started on the skin (always known as the rabbit). Gross.

I loved school Manchester Tart, Cheese pie and the curry. Yum

Liver - ugh. Also small bottles of milk at break that had got warm sitting outside in the
sun. It’s put me off milk ever since!

Lumpy mash, beef like shoe leather, soggy cabbage, tapioca that was like frog spawn and many other things I disliked but the chocolate sponge and custard was always good !

I remember gypsy tart - I hated it, but we had to clear our plates. However, on a Friday we had sausage, beans and chips, which I loved. Then at secondary school we had a hunger lunch once a month - tomato soup and a roll. I looked forward to that!

There are many things I remember about school dinners. There was the delicious chocolate sponge with chocolate custard. I also remember tapioca, semolina and rice puddings with rose hip syrup. Oh yes, the cornflake tart was delicious too.
Also, the crusty stuff that was Yorkshire pudding until Shrove Tuesday when it was served with sugar and lemon in the guise of pancake.
Finally, I remember eating heart with veggies and gravy!

Large Pilchards complete with heads swimming in tomato sauce. Known as fish in nose bleed. Even now I cannot eat Pilchards.
We were forced to clear our plates!

I could never understand fish fingers of a Friday served with shredded beetroot!

Spam fritters, lovely!

Wormcast pie - minced meat really with a pastry lid, always served with lumpy mash and boiled cabbage - grey, chewy, full of gristle and hideous! My first ever school dinner at grammar school and never forgotten!

Also thick round pink slices of spam with salad. Everybody hated this except me!

I loved the meat and potato pie, served with beetroot, lovely. Hated most of the other meals we were served up, particularly "stewed ants", stewed apricots with umpteen ants floating on the surface, YUCK!

Prunes and custard....we used to put the stones from the prunes around the edge of the dish then recite.

Tinker... tailor..soldier...spy.