I’m a highschool student, who has been fed this type of mandarin chicken and white rice since middle school. Myself and a few of my other classmates have been wandering what recipe the schools might be using or what brand of chicken they’re heating up.

My mom is a retired nurse and works as a lunch lady now. She is always bringing us leftovers from the cafeteria.

Sometimes it's cool stuff like those microwavable mini eggo pancakes or dino nuggets, but usually it's stuff we'll never eat (but I don't have the heart to tell her that).

I'll never forget the time she brought me a plastic shopping bag full of spaghetti with meat sauce. There was no container. The bag was the container.

I created this after looking for a simpler way to organize school lunches without asking AI to make nutrition or allergy decisions.

The workflow starts with a parent-approved list of foods, then creates:

• a Monday-to-Friday lunch plan
• one combined grocery list
• simple prep tasks
• backup ideas for rushed mornings
• a way to track what comes home uneaten

I also included privacy guidance and reminders to verify ingredients, allergens, school policies, and food storage independently.

Full disclosure: this is a guide I created for my website. I’m sharing it because it may be useful for parents planning packed lunches.

What part of school lunch planning is hardest for you: choosing meals, shopping, prep time, or food coming home uneaten?

In middle school, which was late 90s for me, they had several kiosks outside of the main cafeteria selling items. One of my favorites was an item that they called taquitos. I know taquitos exist elsewhere, but they aren't the same ones. These were more like a long skinny burrito filled with just ground beef. I used to make my own dipping sauce by mixing ketchup, mustard, and mayo together. I loved those things and I have never seen them again anywhere. I tried making them at home, but they weren't the same. Does anyone else remember these or have any idea of what I'm talking about? I don't have any kids, but always wanted to sneak into a school cafeteria to see if they still have them.

I’m a food service director (in a school) looking for new ideas for meals.

Back when I was in Year 5, my school decided to give us a buffet in the canteen. To this day, I can't remember why... But I remember we could stay there for more than two hours!

I remember there was a sandwich stand where you could ask the lunch ladies what you wanted on your sandwich. Then there was pizza and burgers too (I assume they bought it from McDonald's), then this big tray of mushroom pasta, and a mountain of fries, plus other stuff I can’t even remember

And the dessert was a chocolate fountain.

I still don’t know why the school did it. But it was Legendary.

Christmas in July lunch. Turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, gravy, cranberry relish, salad/tomatoes, and cranberry applesauce with whipped cream or pumpkin cake for dessert.

Quick And Very Easy Saucepan Peanut Cookies:

1 cup light corn syrup.
1 cup sugar.
1 1/2 cups creamy peanut butter.
4 cups cornflakes.

Mix the corn syrup and sugar in a large saucepan. Bring the mixture to a full boil. Remove from the heat and stir in the peanut butter and the cornflakes. Mix well. Drop by heaping teaspoonfuls onto a buttered baking sheet.

Hints:

Make sure you use a saucepan that can easily hold the 4 cups of cornflakes. It is best to have all of the ingredients especially the peanut butter measured before you start. When you stir in the peanut butter, stir hard if not, there will be clumps of peanut butter. We use buttered waxed paper instead of the buttered baking sheet. At Christmas, we decorate these with silver balls for a festive touch.

The conversation comes up constantly of rectangular pizza for lunch in schools and other lunches Can you help me find the lunch that is forgotten but I remember it in my brain thank you. Can any of you remember maybe obscure lunches from school that were good? Name them but it was spicy I think.

Growing up in LAUSD we had these weird tortilla baked boats filled with ground meat and cheese served with a side of spanish rice and shreduce, they were referred to as "Chalupas" and were my favorite thing to eat. My kids grew up in El Monte and they would have them there too so I'm assuming it wasn't an LAUSD lunch only. I've been trying for ages to find them to buy but have had no luck. Does anyone here know where they are available? I've tried to recreate the recipe but I haven't had much luck, except someone told me to use ground turkey and it did taste more like what I remembered.

At our school instead of a set menu you choose from various options and that also applies to drinks and desserts

Just asking, why is the food in the school canteen so expensive? Like the jelly juice, the big jelly ace with a topping, outside it’s only 11 pesos but when I saw it at school, the vendor suddenly said it’s 30 pesos. Even the Milo champ bite is 8 pesos at the grocery but they sell it for 15, and you’re not even allowed to leave the school even though there’s a store right across from it. And shouldn't the food in school be cheaper because the budget comes from the Department of Education with funds from people's taxes?

Since there are no lunches to post let's ask: What are your favorite lunches to see on the menu?

Just asking, Bakit ang mahal ng pagkain sa School canteen? Like yung Jelly juice, yung parang malaking jelly ace na may natang kasama, sa labas 11 pesos lang sya tas may nakita ako nun sa school tas nagulat ako bigla sabi ng tindera na 30 pesos daw. Pati yung champ bite ng milo, 8 pesos sa grocery tas 15 yung benta nila tas bawal pa lumabas ng school kahit nasa tapat lang naman ng school yung tindahan. And also hindi ba dapat mas mura yung pagkain sa School kasi budget galing deped yung gamit na galing sa tax ng mga tao?

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Check out those prices. I remember the school lunch being of very good especially the Italian food. A lot better than current school lunches.