Redartz: One of everyone's favorite hours at school was, of course, lunch hour. A chance to refresh, visit with friends, trade ballcards, discuss television shows, and so much more. Today let's remember what made those hours (or half hours, if such was the case) so memorable.
I never ate the 'school lunch', my mom always packed mine. And it always included some favorites, such as pbj (peanut butter and jelly, for those unfamiliar), Indian Corn Chips, a Pop-Tart, a cookie or any number of other treats. One particular favorite was "Space Food Sticks", a snack from Pillsbury advertised as astronaut fare. I don't know if the Apollo crews ever ate them, but I sure did.
Martinex1: Hi Red. I just had to jump in on this topic. My school did not have a cafeteria, so we always had to bag it. Typically, I had a lunchmeat sandwich and an apple or banana. Once in a while, my mom would pop popcorn and put it in my lunch. I could trade that popcorn for almost anything... it was lunchtime gold!
That is pretty cool. My lunchbox looked like something Ralph Kramden from "The Honeymooners" would carry. Just a metal box with a curved top. I envied all of the Six Million Dollar Man, Emergency!, and Scooby-Doo boxes others had. I always wanted a thermos too.
Our elementary school lunches were held in what they called the "multipurpose room" , a combination gym, lunchroom and auditorium. It was usually packed with kids, at least for the first fifteen minutes. I, like many others, tried to hurry through the eating part in order to have some free time outside (the school playground was just outside the door). It was easy to burn off some energy on the swings or monkey bars...
We had to eat at our desks. They would bring in little cartons of milk to go with our lunch. Every so often there was a mix-up and we would get chocolate milk. The way we reacted you would think we won the lottery. When I was in first grade, a kid broke his arm in the playground so they dismantled all of the park equipment. Back then, there were just swings, slides, and dangerous metal spinning things on a concrete lot - not a good recipe for the modern safety conscious crowd.
I just remembered that once per semester, we would have "Hot Dog Day" and the school would prepare hot dogs, a bag of Jays potato chips, and some kind of Hostess cake. That was like a gift from the gods after weeks of bologna and chicken loaf!
Okay, we've spilled the contents of our bags. What were your lunchbox contents? Did you have the 'hot lunch', or brown bag it? How else did you spend your recess time? Pull up a seat and share!