School lunches - a pleasant memory?

I have very fond memories of school meals, and I remember how we used to be seated 8 to a table. Water in coloured metal jugs, and the food came in large dishes from which you were 'served' by the 2 at the head of the table. Very often we could have 'seconds'. Delicious food and a daily lesson in table manners. Of course this was at the junior school, once in secondary education you queued with your tray and sat where you liked. I know which I preferred.

I always enjoyed my school dinner .My favourites were best stew and dumplings. Meat and veg pie.
Savoury mince and veg with mash.
Favourite puds were the good old fashioned favourites of Spotted dick. Jam suet pud. Prunes and custard.
It's a shame they don't do this sort of food now but too many children just like finger food now .
Glad my gc are good eaters and will eat anything put in front of them and that the schools they attend have good choices as well as finger food stuff. Nuggets .pizza. Cakes for pud .

I loved school meals and have happy memories of Irish stew, baked cod in parsley sauce, mushy peas, mashed carrots and swede, delicious quiche and salad, prunes and custard (yes, really!). The absolute favourite at primary school, a once-a-term treat, was deep fried spam fritters with mash and mushy peas ... Oh, I'm drooling now just thinking of it.

There were a few things I loathed, too: over-cooked leeks in watery white sauce, flapjacks, dead baby (suet pudding with red jam). We were made to clear our plates, too; no good saying you didn't like it - that is, until I chucked up the horrible leeks all over the head teacher's elegant shoes after which that policy was quietly forgotten.

I loved the sausage roll made on a tray a large long roll and the dinner ladies would cut off a slice on your plate and add scoops of mash and veg then gravy . I loved the pastry mashed in the gravy and if you got the end of the roll there was extra pastry ?
Hated the tapioca/frogs spawn with a dollop of red jam ?

Chicken casserole? We were never so lucky!

I remember the day of my eleven plus in 1965 - it was a Friday and we were all at the town's Secondary Modern School. They served a choice of two dishes: A meat pie and a cheese flan for the Catholics who weren't allowed to eat meat on a Friday.

There wasn't much I wouldn't eat - I particularly have fond memories of three different chocolate puddings - one soft sponge, one crunchy, and one sort of in-between. Eaten, of course, with custard.

At my primary school, it was always salad on a Wednesday.

Yes I remember with pleasure delicious meaty stews, also the various baked puddings were scrumptious. The meals were cooked on site.
However to this day I really don't like rice pudding, no matter how nicely cooked.
I have to say though, that by the time my children were having school meals the quality wasn't anything like as good as mine had been.