I Cooked 100 Years of School Lunch

Grilled Cheese with a slice of bread on the side is crazy😂

I would've loved 1910...bringing my own five course lunch to school

Honestly, I love dried beef. And when you make the gravy right, I think its awesome. My dad said in Vietnam they called it Sh** on a shingle. And I am from the 80s but never had any kind of soda in school. Always milk.

Missing some of the classics for the 90s: you had the 'turkey dinner' lunch which was usually reheated from frozen pre-sliced turkey almagamation served with instant mashed potatoes, instant gravy, frozen vegetables maybe a roll with butter pat and cranberry sauce. We also had "chinese" style lunch, which consisted of wet instant rice, cold chicken nuggets with expired sweet and sour sauce served with 1/2 of a microwaved egg roll and a bag of baby carrots. Then we had "pasta" which was either overcooked spagetti noodles with plain tomato sauce and way too much oregano or "butter noodles" made with margarine or flavored oil and a sprinkling of freeze dried parm all served with a slice of burnt cheesy bread and fruit cocktail. Came out to 3 bucks a meal and if you didn't have the money, your only option was the 'sad station' which was making your own Peanut butter sandwich with old and sometimes moldy bread and a dixie cup of water from the fountain. Wonderful stuff 😢

Growing up in the 2000's I don't think any of my meals looked like that. I feel like mine were more remenecent of what they showed for like the 60's and 80's. The things I remember most were the square pizza slices, the pb and j crustables, there was always milk that I'd blow into with a straw to get fun bubbles, and the chicken nuggets. Chicken nugget day was undoubtedly the best day for school lunches.

In the 70s and 80s, none of the public schools served coca-cola or any other carbonated drinks. You had a choice between white or chocolate milk. They also included apple or orange juice during breakfast. Also, cheese pizza with fries or tater-tots were a daily option, the other main dishes were offered on specific days.

7:04 My school actually served little circular pan pizzas sometimes, and also served pepperoni, which they could get away with because they would put a pork warning above it on a sign.

Every time I see a video similar to this, it makes me realize how healthy my school was and this is coming from a 90s kid. We never had McDonalds and desserts were maybe twice a month. There was always fruits and veggies and we were expected to eat them, unless there were allergies. Also HIgh School in the 2000's were not as boring at least.

I like how the 1910 lunch is infinitely healthier than the school lunches of today.

My Mom and grandmother cooked in the schools for years 1950s and 1960s and they always got compliments about how good their food was.

I am glad than i am an indian and my government always know the importance of nutritional food for students. Eventhough the country was developing and facing severe economic crisis our government didnt compromised on kids

lol!!! I was eating school food in the 80’s! The whole made fresh rolls were the best! They served them with spaghetti and with the turkey 🦃 thanksgiving meal and with the fried chicken 🍗 too!

My school meals in the 1960s were superb. A thick stew followed by chocolate sponge in a white sauce were just one of my favourites.

I went to school throughout the 2010s and tbh, what you got is michelin star worthy compared to what we got. Everything had been frozen, burgers warmed with water (not sous vide, just straight in the water) with fake grill marks, chicken patties with cartilage in it and some red spots, burnt pizza with soggy crust and probably more oregano than sauce, soggy fried chicken wing with a flat side, half decent nuggets and oddly good mac and cheese (very rare tho). The worst of it was that my school constantly tried to convince us the food was good. They had "ads" for their food depicting people being so lucky to have "such good food". No one was buying it. I'm so glad to be out of high school.

what i love about this is how they share the food like there brothers lol

That creamed chipped beef looks delicious. Had that a lot growing up in the 60's. I didn't realize it at the time but that's poor people food.

Schools eliminate processed food (proceeds to give processed baloney and cheese)

In fact:1900s people are more healthy than nowadays people.

You guys are crazy, I was born in 1975 and I never got any kind of soda with my school lunch!!! You guys are making this stuff up!

Canadian from the prairies here. Back in the 60's when I was in grade school, there was zero school cafeteria food, and you were only allowed to bring your lunch if you lived over a mile away from the school. Otherwise, you were expected to go home for lunch. In really cold snaps, you could bring a lunch from home, but you ate at your desk in the classroom, since the lunchroom really could only accommodate the kids who brought lunch on a regular basis. In high school in the 70s, I got lucky. Our high school was a combination school, where you could take regular classes or learn a trade - or both if you wanted to put the time in. This meant that we had a group of students taking "food preparation and food sciences", so the students enrolled in that course (which was a half day every day for three years) would make and serve the lunches for the cafeteria - so we had fresh food prepared and served daily - homemade soups, salads, sandwiches; plus hot meals that included pasta, casseroles, fish, chicken, beef, pork - and yes, pizza day was still a special day for us. We could get coffee, tea, milk or juice in the cafeteria, but there were vending machines scattered around the school if you wanted a soda. I honestly have no idea what the lunches cost - it was a long time ago - but I know it was relatively inexpensive. Sadly, Canada still does not have a national school lunch program.