In my youth, we were allowed to pick one day per week where we could buy lunch from the school cafeteria. At the beginning of the month, the lunch schedule for that month would be distributed, and we would go through and mark down one "B" per week. Pizza was every Friday, so that was a good default if there was nothing else good. (I am pretty sure I was the only student who liked Mexican pizza.) The rest of the time I packed.
I assume this was for financial reasons. The main thing I remember is that my rotation of meals involved a lot of peanut butter: peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, peanut butter and banana sandwiches, peanut butter and marshmallow sandwiches. Plus a thermos full of milk. A man could get sick of peanut butter you know. (By the time my sister was in grade school, I am pretty sure she got to buy over 50% of the time. I assume this was for laziness reasons.)
In high school, I was informed I was responsible for my own lunches. This mean packing them myself, or buying them myself. Given that if I packed, the food came out of the pantry, and that if I bought, the money came out of my pocket, I was an even more dedicated packer than I had been in grade school. I think I could count the number of meals I purchased in four years in the high school cafeteria on one hand. (Well, maybe not that infrequently. But it sure didn't happen very much.)
I was a big aficionado of these things that came with a can of tuna fish, squeeze packets of mayo and relish, and crackers. You'd mix up the tuna, mayo, and relish to taste, and spread on the crackers. Sometimes I'd switch it up and eat chicken salad ones.
I have a dim memory that after eating these things every day for like a year, they began to taste repulsive to me, and I had to take a year off tuna. I'm not sure what I ate after that, though.
I was one of the only members of my high school crowd who packed, though; most everyone else bought lunch. I remain impressed with the Mollmann thriftiness to this day. I mean, I guess in college it was all dining hall all the way (I worked there after all), but upon entering the work force, it became a combination of sandwiches and reheated leftovers that would form the basis for 90% of my lunches.
At UConn, the consequences for forgetting to pack (or being too lazy to pack) were bad: the closest place to my office, you had to pay over $10 for a sandwich, soup, and pop, and sometimes they had the Dagwood, but not often enough. These days at UT, though, I'm right across from "Ultimate Dining," where for $8.50, faculty can get all the food they want! It's too tempting, I've banned myself from doing. Gotta keep packing.
#558: What do you eat during the school day?
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