Favourite school food

You very taken my thoughts back H1954 ?

I loved some of the puddings - though certainly not semolina or tapioca - and my favourite was this one: pastry with red jam (prob. raspberry) and lemon curd in squares divided by strips of pastry on top. I think it was called Manchester Tart?
Although I stand to be corrected if anyone knows any other name?

With lashings of custard.

I can’t recall any savoury delights other than occasional fishnchips but I do remember gagging over sago....

Chocolate crunch with mock cream. Yum yum.

Gypsy Tart

As I have said before we did have an awful lot of suet or pastry in endless forms.

I suppose it depends when you went to school, mainly in the '60s for me, when Britain was probably still in the "brown gravy and lots of lumps in white food time warp" I hated most of what they served up with a few exceptions. The things I liked were few and far between, I remember we all loved the chipolata sausages, ruined by the accompanying lumpy mash. I also remember a lemon cakey thing served along with what we all described as "shaving cream", a foamy fake cream, that was a favourite. Jam tart and jam puddings good, ruined by being smothered in the obligatory lumpy custard. There was a prevailing smell of over cooked cabbage hanging about our canteen that wasn't very nice. Broccoli, where was that hiding back in time? nevertheless as al dente, as far as green vegetables were concerned was a concept yet to be discovered back then, even if it had been around, it would have no doubt been ruined by the "boil the guts out of it" school of cuisine

Ugh yes the sago was disgusting I remember Pantglas

During the winter we had cocoa and Chelsea buns at break time, yummy.

Hated school dinners, they were cooked elsewhere and transported to school so the food was almost cold!

The only thing I liked was the chocolate shortbread with mint custard. This was late 50's early 60's

I remember sitting at the lunch table looking at the metal water jug and the awful plastic beakers with bite marks all over them.
I was filled with dread, I gipped on all the food and often had a vicious nun or dinner lady stood over me to make me eat.
There is nothing I enjoyed.

Hated school dinners. (all school actually!)

I have vivid memories of being made to spend all lunch break including play time crying over cold liver etc and not allowed out till lessons started again.

Horrible witch called Mrs Wilson

I think I was one of the very few that actually loved school salad.

Puzzler 61 sorry to say I don't think your pud was Manchester tart as that is a pastry base with jam then a thick layer of creme patisserie/custard sprinkled with dessicated coconut and sometimes finished off with a glace cherry if you were lucky! I think maybe yours was jam tart?

It was all pretty grim most people have already described them need l say more ?

I started school in mid 1960s and meals were very well cooked. On Fridays after swimming-fish and chips and a jam doughnut and hot chocolate♥️. Never did like Spam fritters though!

Chicken Marengo - so exotic. However, virtually no chicken, just an orange sauce.

I loved all school dinners as home cooking was really awful

I loved school dinners. Am I weird? On Fridays if it wasn’t fish and chips it would be cheese soufflé with mash and tomatoes. It was delicious. I occasionally make it to this day. My favourite pudding was butterscotch tart. If only I could find a recipe.

Late 1950s - early 60s at Grammar School: Butterscotch tart - yum!

I hated school dinners and never had a favourite!

Nothing stands out for me which must say it all., but we are a very healthy(most of us) generation and are living longer so they got something right I suppose

I used to love the pudding it was like chocolate rice crispie cake with pink custard the good old days when you ate it or did without!!

Oh Juliet27 Gypsy Tart that was the VERY worst, I would have swapped you for my mashed potatoes every day - as I did with Susan (better not say her full name) my first girl friend (we were nine!)

I was at school in the forties and fifties. Many of the main courses were horrible, but I loved all the puddings - prunes and rice, any milk pudding, and especially what we called stodge, with custard. Could be chocolate or jam, suet or sponge pudding.

When I was ten I refused to eat some particularly gristly meat, and was made to sit all afternoon over the congealing plateful “until I ate it”. I still refused to eat it. They never did manage to make me. I won! I wonder if the teachers secretly sympathised?

My mother was a terrible cook and I loved school dinners too. A frequent baked pudding was called stodge by us girls and the one with dried fruit was called 'rabbit dropping' stodge, but always came with custard!