School Lunches,the Divided Tray and the "Kitchen Ladies"

School hot lunches sure have changed since I went to school.  We just moved from a city with a population of 250,000+ to a small town with a population of 8,000+.  My son never liked the hot lunches before as they were prepared in a central kitchen and brought to all the schools.  The trays were prepared in advance and everything was disposable.  Needless to say, the food was often unappetizing, difficult to identify, sometimes over/under cooked and usually stuck to the wrapping materials.  Lunches at his new school are now prepared on site and they have improved but still could use improvement.  He came home the other day and opted out of the breakfast burrito selection as he said it was dripping yellow liquid - yuck!

So, I started to remember my hot lunch school days - I won't even tell how much less expensive they were compared to the cost of my son's lunch.  I went to a small school and the hot lunches were always cooked on site by the "kitchen ladies".  They wore white with long aprons, hair nets and plastic gloves.  In middle school, a pair of girls were selected every week to leave class a little early to go help out in the kitchen.  We got to eat early and then we had to help set up the lunch tables and then clean up between the lunch shifts.  The elementary grades ate separate from the middle school kids.  There was no separate cafeteria - we pulled out the tables in the gym.  There were no choices - one menu and that was it.  Nothing was disposable except for the napkin and the milk carton.  You picked up a trap and silverware and walked in front of the windows handing your tray to the ladies to serve you up a hot lunch from the huge shiny pans.  Afterwards, the kids had to dispose and separate everything in the proper containers.  It felt like such an honor to be able to help out.  In High School, the  "kitchen ladies" brought the steaming trays of food into the gym and set up a line for the kids to pass through getting served their lunch.  Again, there were no choices and everything was good.  Pizza days were always the best and the desserts were yummy!

Green Toys makes a divided tray reminiscent of an old-fashioned school hot lunch tray.  Green Toys Green Eats is a line of kids tableware that is eco-friendly.  They are made of recycled plastic milk jugs right here in the USA.  They do not contain BPA, phthalates or PVC and are dishwasher safe.  Check out the line of Green Toys Green Eats at

http://www.cowandlizard.com/brands/Green-Toys.html

These are great for keeping food separated - you don't want the veggies touching the fruits.  Toddlers and preschoolers will love eating lunch like the big kids at school.  A perfect pretend play opportunity - set up a school cafeteria on a kids picnic table and enjoy!