Taste Testing Retro School Dinners

[@chipsthedog1]

My school did a banging Cheese & potato pie, 20 years later and I've still never had better

[@darryl2304]

I loved school dinners. Chocolate sponge and chocolate custard. Yum!

[@gazinessex2]

We had proper school dinners until about 1978 onwards. From then it was just burgers and chips. I loved my free school meals.

[@anthoantho1989]

We had a mixture of meals like this in the 90s in my school, but also potato smiley faces, jetas, fish fingers, etc... The deserts were pretty much the same as this. Chocolate crunch with strawberry custard being my favourite.

[@mickstaplehurst8471]

I find it difficult to understand how ANYBODY cannot love a decent Rice Pudding! It's awesome, thick, creamy, warm and sweet LOVE IT!

[@mothmagic1]

Or a posh rice pudding (Grated nutmeg on top). You did say a decent one though. Not all school dinners had a decent rice pudding.

[@rogerrabbit3524]

I ate too much rice pudding at school once upon a time and threw it all up over another student, I cant eat it anymore as it just reminds me of that.

[@wayne7521]

Depends who made it ... home made ...ohhhhhhhhh the skin you can get .. 😋 😋 😋

[@wayne7521]

Thought we'd realise now ...Alanna is a girly girl... give her a jar of pickled cockles and mussels ...😂😂😂😂😂😂 Shed be alright in I'm a celebrity ,get me out if here 😂😂😂😂😂😂

[@colingregory7464]

Tapioca may come up later in the video and the "nickname" for tapioca is Frog Spawn, guess why (it looks like white frog spawn) For my era of school meals that veg was way too competently cooked, veg at school for me was cooked till it was falling apart and all the useful vitamins had been removed and washed away, largely thanks to school meals the only cooked veg I can stand is potato, all other veg that I eat are uncooked

[@scottpeters5959]

Gypsy tart is the thing that lingers in my mind....i never was sure if i liked it or not, but it turned up often. (I was South London's only male dinner lady for a while back in the day. I made a lot of giant pans of custard, with about a squillion eggs in it)

[@watchtheskies]

I was at school in England in the 70s and 80s and we had all of those examples, school dinners were great, my absolute favourite was Cod in breadcrumbs with mashed potato, vegetables and parsley sauce, yum 🙃

[@andalltheangelssay212]

Do you remember the circular discs of ice cream with paper wrapped round and served with hot green mint custard or chocolate custard?

[@golach420]

I remember a fruit slice with currants and shortcrust pastry we'd call fly cemetery because it looked like a layer of squashed fruit flies. Always came with a watery custard of varying flavours.

[@garethley66]

We used to call it dead fly pie. It put my sister off currants for life 🙂. Our custard was often pink for some reason!

[@mikelang58]

Definitely a part 2. Loved this; a fantastic trip down memory lane. Don’t let anyone tell you that nostalgia isn’t what it used to be😉😀

[@AdventuresAndNaps]

Thanks so much for watching!

[@jamesbeeching6138]

These are "home made" school dinners so will be a bit nicer than the mass cooked usual food!

[@oblomovtheunknown]

I am older - now officially an OAP this year and I can tell you that the school meals in Britain in the 1960's were industrial. I mean at home we had Bird's custard but in school it was something really different. There was of course government diet regulations so we had pretty sound meals. Personal favourite was roast - rather than boiled potatoes. Chips were part of a revolution! I found the puddings were like ballast. Pies were great. Curry was mince meat with sultanas & curry powder. A good thing about school meals was if you liked something there were seconds and even thirds. Do you know what a Hawaiian sandwich is? Toast, spam, cheese with a pineapple on top. Spam!!! But I did like it.

[@barryhopwood6172]

I just about remember primary school dinners from the 60's (yes I'm that old) ... things like mince beef pie, mash and veg with gravy and apple crumble with custard for pud. We all looked forward to the days there was chocolate sponge and pink custard ... mmmm.

[@brentwoodbay]

I had school dinners in the 50s in Harrogate Yorkshire. I will never forget that. We had to finish the meal before we could leave. Mostly it was OK, but sometimes we had beef steak gristle and kidney gristle pie! It was &^%^&%$ horrible. I can eat steak and kidney pie now, but I really miss S&K pudding which I have never seen in Canada! I do prefer the S & K in the UK though as here they use bigger chunks of kidney.

[@tiggerwood8899]

I loved school dinners, prunes were the exception. Everything was cooked fresh in the school kitchens. Fresh veg too none of the frozen stuff. Fridays were everyone's favourite, fish and chips

[@brentwoodbay]

@@tiggerwood8899 Yes I remember the prunes! Was never a fan!

[@sarkybugger5009]

@@tiggerwood8899 You were lucky to get chips. It was always mash and mushy peas at my school. And the batter was _always_ soggy. It was probably the worst thing on the menu, and it was _every_ Friday. Gypsy Tart was my favourite pud, but I think it's a Kent thing.

[@Elwaves2925]

I come from a 70's primary school but you may also remember dumplings for the main meal and semolina for dessert. High school was a little better and grammar school was actually quite good.

[@Katieawfc15]

I haven’t had pink custard since my school days and now I’m going to craving it. 😋

[@BedsitBob]

The best custard is Birds custard.

[@nigecracknell8139]

My mum was the cook at my school so I loved school dinners and she was a great cook! Many people would queue for seconds!

[@peterfinn6098]

I was always picked for seconds because they didn’t have to wash the hot metallic taurine trays

[@andymcgarty3099]

Could this be the best ever video. Love the meals, love the reaction, love the enthusiasm. Its a winner Ms Naps. Brought back lots of memories of liver and bacon and butterscotch tart for pudding.

[@AdventuresAndNaps]

Thanks so much!!

[@Arnie10101]

Anyone remember that 1960s staple, Spam fritters? I could eat one right now!

[@DruncanUK]

I remember them, very tasty. I remember Arne Saknussemm too. Seeing that bought back a few memories. Lol

[@weedle30]

@@DruncanUK spam fritters beans and chips!! Heaven on a school dinner plate!😄

[@michaelwant8501]

Followed by tapioca pudding aka frog spawn!! That's sent me back to the 1950s!

[@weedle30]

@@michaelwant8501 🤢🤢🤢🤢🤢 semolina was no better - just smaller spawn! 😵‍💫😂

[@tubeWyrme]

And they were still going in the 80s (at least in my school!). Darn tasty too

[@scotstrucker127]

Yes to part 2, the rice pudding and jam should be mixed together, and the pink custard is a must

[@briangriffiths1285]

Sago pudding, much like rice pudding but with appearance of frog spawn. And semolina, another milk pudding with jam! But liver was often served with bacon. Small amounts of bacon added a saltiness to the mix. Chocolate sponge with chocolate custard/sauce, upside down pineapple sponge and custard. Prunes and custard. Cottage pie, steak pie… but lasagne not in my day,

[@grantparman4705]

I appreciate the school uniform to add to this video's authenticity!

[@AdventuresAndNaps]

🙏🏻

[@adrianmcgrath1984]

I’m not sure that she realised that schoolgirl dress is pretty much a kink in the UK, but she wears it well

[@stuartgooding7295]

​@@adrianmcgrath1984 no I think that's Japan!! .were not nonces !!

[@adrianmcgrath1984]

@@stuartgooding7295 unless things have changed drastically since I left? I was born there and lived there for 27 years.

[@keancv]

@@adrianmcgrath1984 looks the part most convincing, just needs a bit of acne

[@peterbann4759]

We used to have sponge pudding with day-glow pink icing covered with pink custard, it was wonderful!

[@sjnm4944]

I remember my primary school's dinners quite fondly. We had a decent variety of meals and most of them were at least OK. We'd have battered fish with mash, roast dinners and other traditional favourites. Everything changed at secondary school where the quality of food was way worse. The only constant was that the meal would be served with chips - pale, soggy, skinny chips that were invariably served cold. I remember skipping school meals most days and using my dinner money to get something from the chippy on the way home. If only we'd had the Butler cooking for us at school! Thanks for the vid and school dinner memories!

[@AdventuresAndNaps]

Ahh thanks so much for sharing!! 🙏🏻

[@LowGrav1ty]

Until one day, I remember it fondly, celebrity chef Jamie Oliver knocked on the door of the British government and changed the standard for better quality school meals nationwide ... forever 👌 from Turkey Twizlers and burgers for break to spaghetti bolognese, curries and much more actual edible food for for human consumption....bravo! 😊

[@tonys1636]

School meals in the 50's and 60's were good, the quality and nutrition went down the toilet from the 70's onwards until, as mentioned, Jamie stepped in to raise awareness and quality.

[@naitchb16]

Omg you look like a cast member of Grange Hill 😝 I remember we had cheesecake with a biscuit base like cement and it whiffed like it had been kept in the bogs overnight. I loved sponge cake with extra helpings of pink custard 😅 Thanks for the memories, Alanna!

[@paulguise698]

Hiya Naitch, I hated school meals also

[@alanhilton7336caradventure]

I actually loved school dinners and usually would go up for seconds.

[@nevillemason6791]

Seconds? That's a good joke. That would have been on a par with 'Oliver Twist' at my school. Everything was carefully counted out and there never was any surplus. You'd have been laughed out of school for asking such a thing.

[@alanhilton7336caradventure]

@@nevillemason6791 no that's how we asked for a second helping....what planet are you from ?.

[@johnbancroft5242]

I used the help clear tables at the end, and the dinner ladies would always save me a second meal, as a very athletic teenager I could eat like a horse.

[@rosiebottom3870]

I was born in 1963 and would go up for second- funny cos I was a fussy eater but loved school dinners.

[@watchonjar]

@@nevillemason6791ur showing ur age with this comment, they charge kids now m8. You can get 2nds you just have to pay.

[@mothermaclean]

Yes part 2 would be great

[@simonwatson5299]

YES FOR PART TWO!!!. And I never understood those parents that made their kids eat a packed lunch, poor sods. We had good food at our schools in the 70's and 80's. Great video Alaina, can't wait for the next one. xx

[@roysanderson7870]

I Remember school dinners with great fondness, pink custard, freshly cooked food. One of your best videos, more of the same please.

[@arlenearmstrong8270]

Coconut and jam cake and custard !!!!!! I guessed you'd have that ! My favourite at school in Northern Ireland ! Requesting part 2? You should already be planning parts 5 and 6 . So many comments to make but will save for further School dinner updates.

[@AdventuresAndNaps]

Thanks so much for watching!!

[@iangascoigne8231]

In Australia the coconut and jam cake would be called a Lamington.

[@RushfanUK]

I was in school from the 60's into the 70's, bangers and mash along with mince and dumplings were the favourites, puddings were spotted dick, jam roly poly, a variety of sponges including the jam and coconut one, apple crumble all with custard and yes they were proper meals.

[@robertkirk4387]

Don't forget the lumpy pink Blancmange

[@AdventuresAndNaps]

What a selection!

[@simonmorris4226]

Did you get chocolate hedgehogs with mint custard?

[@jonathanmaybury5698]

I agree, same here 60s and 70s They always boiled the cabbage to death though, because the kids did not like the bitter taste but I loved the bitterness, Savoy was my favourite. I would pester my mum for the outside leaves, and would stop her throwing the tatty ones in the bin so that I could have more strong tasting veg with plenty of pepper but not too much.

[@daniellatheczarina2u915]

@@jonathanmaybury5698 Ha, ha you remind me of the lads that took the wretched cabbage from my plate, on the sly, as there was a Mrs Job's worth telling me to eat it. I think it was probably the dreaded 'greens' not a cabbage as such.

[@seanchris8290]

Dinner was always the main meal of the day, no matter what time of day. If we had school dinners we would have just a snack maybe a sandwich, soup or something like beans on toast for our tea at home. At the weekend we had a dinner around the table with our family on Saturday and of course always a big roast meal on Sunday. Breakfast was always cerial usually Cornflakes or Weetabix. (with hot milk and sugar) Our Mom was Irish and was an amazing cook. I grew up in the 70's.

[@GemDotThirteen]

I feel like the butlers cooking might be making these meals better than they were in schools hahaha I rarely had school dinners, packed lunch was much nicer. Although "proper" meals was more of a thing in primary school, my secondary school mainly did food like you got in Canada - burgers, pizzas, chips, sausage rolls etc. Can't wait to see the Thursday & Friday meals!

[@AdventuresAndNaps]

Thanks so much Gem!!! 🙏🏻

[@howardkey1639]

Maybe Butler has a future career as a school Diner Lady. 🤔

[@richardhall6034]

Dinner's were like that in the 1960s all freshly cooked into the school kitchen however as per usual its all been privatised by government's soldiers off to the cheapest operators

[@MeFreeBee]

In my school they set Monday's cabbage on to boil straight after washing up on Friday.

[@dave_h_8742]

Deffinately a better cook ! my school dinners were appalling that's why Jamie Oliver had that campaign

[@susanashcroft2674]

Pink custard, mint custard and chocolate custard too at my school. Rainbow sponge was a favourite, Lemon Meringue and Calypso tart were some more 70's puddings. Semolina was also a milk pudding which looked like wallpaper paste, with a blob of jam. We would also have dinners such as cheese pie (pastry base, cheese and egg with tomato on top) with salad, Spam fritters and mash, Irish stew with grey boiled potatoes, Scouse and red cabbage, fish in white sauce mashed potato and cress (to give the bland colour palate some colour).Sometimes a pink milkshake or a warm milky coffee served in a thick drinking glass instead of water. No special diets, or intolerances options catered for or to bring a lunch box from home just school dinner and that was it. No lasagne where i'm from as this would have either been considered as 'foreign muck' or' exotic' back then!

[@gazinessex2]

That reminds me. Loved gypsy tart. Don't see it around anymore.

[@nigelgould7859]

Yes Alana they are all legit school dinners. I was at secondry school 80-85 and had all them. No idea what kids have now. Joined Army at 16 and similar choices just even better! I know for a fact that Friday was fish day!

[@nickbrough8335]

Yes it was always boiled cod with parsley sauce and mash or fried cod fillets with chips.

[@lydiavisitor1712]

The dreaded boiled cod portion in sauce with new potatoes and greens every Friday followed by treacle tart and custard. That was primary school in the 80s. Then I hit secondary school and nothing but chips was on the menu.

[@gazinessex2]

Loved school dinners. And pudding. And seconds.

[@terrytartu]

My favourite school meal from the 1956 time was definitely mash potato smoked haddock cooked in milk (or plain haddock cooked in milk) with green shredded boiled cabbage together a was lovely meal and I used to request any "seconds". When I went to secondary school the menu changed into much as you presented.

[@sarkybugger5009]

Oooohh, smoked haddock poached in milk is still a favourite fish dish for me, and I haven't had it for ages. That's another addition for tomorrow's shopping list. Cheers! 👍

[@BillCameronWC]

I had many of those dishes when I was at school (a long time ago - 1956 until late 1970), I attended 2 different primary schools & 2 different secondary schools in widely-separated parts of the country, because of my father’s job taking us to different areas. Lunches at some schools were better than others (in general in the 1950s it wasn’t so good, basically I think the after-effects of the war and rationing, which only ended in 1952 or 1953, around the time I was born). However we always had proper 2 or 3 course meals and soup was an option quite often. We never had burgers of any kind at school, and I think if we ever had chips it must have been extremely rare. We often had mashed potato, but we often had boiled whole potatoes too, with new potatoes with skins on in late-spring or early-summer, which I love. Yes, pink custard was a feature quite often, with either stewed fruit or jams with a square of sponge or other kind of cake a regular feature. We didn’t often have creamed rice (I like it), instead more often semolina (which I love). Occasionally we would have tapioca instead of custard or semolina, and although it was OK I didn’t really like it much. Water, milk or orange juice was regularly available. When I hear about kids now (in the UK or North America) being fed on a diet of burgers or pizzas it makes me very sad, but that’s probably what many get at home anyway as many parents (mums and dads) probably don’t now cook much at home anyway and perhaps rely too much on takeaway food far too often. Although my mother did most of the cooking (she was a good cook & an excellent baker), my father also took over cooking duties at home quite frequently- he enjoyed it and was a good cook, in particular his Yorkshire Pudding was always excellent and he always sliced the roast beef we often had on Sundays, as even if mother had actually roasted the beef beautifully, she mostly always cut it the wrong way, with the grain instead of against the grain, making it tough to eat. Our school lunches were pretty traditional when I was at school, but from what I hear a lot healthier overall than much of what is served up to kids now.

[@clivebrealey6795]

Part 2? - We're gonna need a bigger uniform.😄

[@paulfeist]

Maybe a shorter skirt.... *looks at the floor* I'm a bad, bad, man...

[@contenau22]

this is the best video i have ever watched

[@matc6221]

Wow Mr Naps! Well done mate. I am most impressed with your cooking skills 🎊👍👍👍👍👍👏👏👏👏👏

[@MrChelseauk1]

as a school kid in Kent you would definitely had eaten gipsy tart its a real love/hate dessert

[@aricbidwell434]

I think it's terrible how little effort we put on school lunches in the US. This was super interesting to me.

[@AdventuresAndNaps]

I was so surprised!!

[@vanessagherardini2885]

I agree! Not healthy by any standard.

[@hallefranklin2646]

Is it really all sloppy joes and pizza over there?

[@utubenoobie01]

Liver is really good for you, full of nutrients. You mix the jam into the rice pudding, that way it all goes pink/red and the jam is evenly distributed. Chocolate cake and pink custard/green mint custard was my favourite. I would mix the cake in with the custard. Lancashire Hot Pot and Stews are the best!!! Arctic Roll is Godlike!!! The ice cream is wrapped in cake. American/Canadian school 'dinners' sound terrible! I guess that's why diabetes is rife in North America.

[@adfe8921]

Great video! Love to see part II. The dinner/lunch thing is a bit of a classist thing. For many working-class families, the midday meal was the main one (hot food on the table), and therefore "dinner". Less was served later in the day. (I'm talking historically here) So the name stuck over time. That's what my understanding of it is anyhow. Hope that helps.

[@petemarshall3512]

I think the definitions change from person to person! To me, dinner is the main meal of the day, whenever you have it. For a lighter meal, if it's at midday then it's lunch, whereas if it's in the evening then it's tea (though of course that's mainly a Northern thing, and for some people tea can mean the main meal too).

[@petemarshall3512]

One of my clearest memories of going to New York as a teenager isn't the Empire State Building or the UN or anything like that. It's when my dad went into a supermarket and asked for help finding a tin of custard (in a broad Yorkshire accent). Several staff were drafted in to attempt to translate what on earth 'cuss-turd' was (saying tin rather than can didn't help either). That's how I learned that North America is not overly familiar with the joys of custard.

[@anyone4acupoftea]

This was a fun watch, love the commitment!

[@billmayor8567]

Yes please can we have part 2. This brings back memories of my school lunches. It was always 2 dollops of mash. We also had quiche,meat and potato pie, bake well tart and custard, cheese and onion pie,semolina and also various sandwiches. Looking back now there was a lot on offer

[@mauricecasey866]

Top marks for the jam and coconut sponge, that was top draw! 😀Apple crumble and custard also chocolate sponge and chocolate custard my favorites.

[@AdventuresAndNaps]

Oooh sounds lovely!!

[@dianaphillips9114]

And you mash the sponge flat, which was normally really soft, then eat it 😀

[@DjNaseeb]

Coconut custard pie as an adult is the only time I have ever had custard.

[@Alan_Mac]

That was an Alanna masterclass and really made me smile. Yes to Part 2! BTW I still cook all of these main courses. Rice pudding with jam can go in the bin, though.

[@AdventuresAndNaps]

Ahhh thank you so much!!! ☺️

[@brentwoodbay]

I still put jam in my rice pud!

[@Alan_Mac]

@@brentwoodbay Just put my portion straight into the dog's bowl, please!

[@lottie2525]

Rice pudding is horrible texture, I prefer ground rice pudding or semolina, without the lumps. And you should mix the jam in to make it a pink pud.

[@tonys1636]

Still love Rice Pud and 'Frogspawn', Tapioca pudding.

[@markthomas2577]

I loved school dinners in the 1950s and 60s ........ they were substantial meals, usually the biggest meal of the day and you'd just have a snack for 'tea'. Back in those days parents would be having their big meal in factory or works canteens at 'dinnertime' ...... it was part of the communal living that we've largely lost now. Most people were getting a decent healthy and substantial meal care of school, factory or office and usually subsidised and fairly cheap. I do remember that lots of out 'puddings' or desserts were variations of various things cooked in milk with sugar .... rice, tapioca, sago, blancmange .... all white blobs served with a spoon of jam !

[@johnmassey55]

The school lunches I had in jr. and sr. high school when I went to school back in the dark ages here in the states were diabolical . That liver and onions actually looked good ! That school uniform brings me back to my parochial school days (grades 1thru6). Thank you Alanna for the fun and nostalgic stroll .😀👍Never had proper custard . 😢 Good on the Butler for all his efforts !👍 and yes to a part 2 if you want to do it .

[@karenblackadder1183]

Depends on the decade your referring to. In 1960s school had their own kitchens and everything was cooked on site. These days most are cooked in a central kitchen and taxis used to ferry them to various schools.

[@foreverhungry84]

liver is so underrated, when cooked right it is delicious. loving the school uniform, you look very cute.

[@donmurray3638]

Admiring your left-handed fork skills!

[@garymatthews4323]

For a lot of kids , the school dinner was the only hot food they would get, in some places it still is, and in some cases the only proper food they would get.

[@archiebald4717]

I know this is repeated again and again. I never met such a family.

[@Alcogod]

Aye well that's what happens when you have people popping out kids to get their council houses and benefit money without actually thinking ahead to having to bring the kids up.

[@Stand663]

Nonsense

[@scottjustice8543]

Nonsense. Maybe for a tiny number of kids whose parents were derelicts. It certainly wasn't common.

[@archiebald4717]

@@scottjustice8543 To those few households, I have some suggestions about how they could stretch their money so that their children could eat better.

[@JohnSmith-ki2eq]

Liver onion and bacon, is great winter food. Pink sponge cake with pink custard was a treat, also jam rolly polly with custard made your day better, in the summer they served shortbread biscuits with yogurt for afters.

[@PeteWylieRC]

I think that these are pretty authentic 70's, 80's school dinners. What happened to Spam fritters though! 🙂

[@ruk2023--]

I don’t remember liver, but lasagne, various types of pies, fries, vegetables and various desserts were on offer. Pink custard was definitely a thing.

[@TheLondonLass]

The Butler's cooking is considerably better than my old school dinner ladies!

[@velvetwings]

Where I am we tend to use "lunch" for a midday snack (so a lighter meal like a sandwich) and "dinner" for a larger cooked meal like what you were eating. The evening meal is called tea... not to be confused with the drink. :P Some people do call the evening meal dinner though. I've seen it used for whichever is the larger meal, though its usage may vary from place to place. My favourite puddings were either lemon meringue pie or apple crumble+custard.

[@TusharPankaj]

These school meals look far healthier than what they serve in the US. We just got plastic-wrapped food that looked like it came from a factory and popped in the microwave!

[@AdventuresAndNaps]

Right?? I was shocked they're actually meals lol

[@terrym3837]

@@AdventuresAndNaps And different meals everyday fish on Friday

[@HootMaRoot]

@@terrym3837 fish on Friday was a religious(Catholic) thing so only schools in certain areas would get fish every Friday

[@jillhobson6128]

@@AdventuresAndNaps For some children from poor families, school dinners were the best meal they could have.

[@richardhall6034]

That's exactly what is now served up here in the UK now because the school meals have been privatised sold off to the cheapest possible bidder for maximum profit rather than freshly cooked like in the 1960s in the school kitchen by the dinner ladies

[@EASYTIGER10]

Minced-meat topped with pastry and cooked in a big metal tin, then divided into 2 inch by 2 inch squares, served with mash potatoes and cabbage, followed by semolina with rose hip syrup.

[@zeb3144]

Great retro video. You've fulfilled a typical male fantasy dressed like that!

[@bobblebardsley]

I'm not vegetarian but I will never forget the day (aged 9-10) when the school dinner for the veggie kids was a bowl full of grated cheese with half a boiled egg on top. That was it. Dry cheese and half a hard-boiled egg. Eat it with a spoon.

[@TukikoTroy]

Just two words... Manchester Tart. (Also, the school uniform and 'playground hair' make it sooooo real)

[@lizzieburgess674]

I was at school in the 50s and 60s; liver and onions served with mashed potatoes and green cabbage was one of my favourites meals! I'm now (mainly) a vege/pesca-tarian - I say 'mainly' as I'll occasionally buy liver to cook at home. I LOVE the gravy that results from the long, slow cooking of ox liver, but I also enjoy lambs or calf liver thinly sliced and flash fried. My favourite pudding was jam roly-poly (with custard of course) which had been steamed for a long time, then put into the oven for a short time to crisp up the edges. YUM! ETA The importance of school meals has been recognised for a long time; there was a short time in the 80s or 90s when junk food became the overwhelming presence in school dinners, and individual school kitchens were closing all over the country but that was - fortunately - a fairly short period in the greater scheme of things. Of course nowadays there's a lot more choice both in flavours and in dietary requirements than there was when I was a child - I have a younger friend who is head of catering in a large school and she cooks/organises the cooking of breakfasts, snacks and lunches for a thousand people of ages from 10 - 70, with many different religious, cultural and medical dietary requirements, _every. single. day._ I have tasted the food she makes and it is DELICIOUS. Served under different conditions (soft lights, fine china, white linen etc) and with some 'trimmings', it would certainly be of good restaurant standard. She is a qualified chef with environmental health and nutrition qualifications, and has large budgetary responsibilities, yet people think she is 'just a school cook'.

[@docostler]

Alanna: "Do you guys want to see a part two?" Mr Naps in the kitchen: "Noooo!"

[@AdventuresAndNaps]

😂

[@juliapigworthy]

If there's one thing I miss about going to school in 80s England it's the school dinners, which were proper dinners and we could go back for seconds and even thirds, fourths and fifths if we waited to see if there were any leftovers. Good value for money and proper fuel for kids.

[@rogeroneill1539]

Hope you get Manchester Tart on Friday, (that's a pastry base covered with raspberry jam and then blancmange on the top) -perfect to go with the fish'n'chips.

[@alanshave8010]

Great fun Alanna , if you think pink custard is strange i dont know what you would make of Chocolate sponge with Atomic green mint flavoured custard, yes, thats what i said, it was just about bearable until you got to the lumps, ooh, i just shivered thinking about it.

[@rklrkl64]

Primary school dinners were pretty good when I had them in the 70s here in the UK, but grammar school dinners were surprisingly worse, so I ended up switching to bringing in packed lunches (and buying the odd snack from the on-premises "tuck shop").

[@sangfroidian5451]

Along with rice pudding, if that option bothers you, we also had semolina, tapioca and sago as other texture options on the same theme. ☺

[@MarkARhodie]

lol

[@baronthorsteinn]

To this day I've never had sago and Ambrosia stopped making their version somewhere between 20 and 30 years ago. Was there any noticeable difference between sago and tapioca?

[@sangfroidian5451]

@@baronthorsteinn I remember one being a fraction firmer and nuttier? than the other, but given the mists of time, I couldn't tell you which was which to be honest. I usually think of it as variations to the dish based on local geography and plants, Rice pudding in Asia, Tapioca from cassava in Africa and Sago from palms in Caribbean. Semolina being the European version? I'm not sure, just guessing. 😆

[@robinholland1136]

@@baronthorsteinn They're the same thing, apparently, though there is a version which uses flaked sago, rather than the tapioca pearls and which is smoother in texture.

[@mdx7460]

I’m 30, we deffo never had semolina 🥴 I only learnt about it for the first time whilst working in a care home last year 😅 I was baffled, didn’t have a clue what it was. Definitely a food being lost in time..

[@Bodneyblue]

Breakfast, Dinner, Tea.......I'm from Portsmouth.

[@davidrhodes5245]

Can’t really remember specific meal combos, but i will always remember having choc cake with mint custard for dessert 😛😛

[@AdventuresAndNaps]

So good!

[@10pmixupuk65]

Mint custard? That just doesn't sound right! 😁

[@andalltheangelssay212]

Do you remember ice cream wrapped in paper and green mint custard, we used to have to peel the paper off?

[@samlague4409]

yes the jam coconut sponge and custard is a staple and still served at the school i work at now

[@organisedchaosxo]

I think the butler did a good job on the cooking! I'm also intrigued if that's an actual school tie or just a random tie of the butlers?

[@AdventuresAndNaps]

He worked so hard on the cooking! And yes, it's a real school tie!

[@brianwhittington5086]

The tie looks more like something you only got to wear in your final year, or if you stayed on into 6th form. Our secondary school tie had strlpes that looked like a stick of seaside rock for the lower years, then less stripes for the middle two years. It was so the staff could instantly tell if you were in any areas that were off limits to your year.

[@wycliffeb]

Cherry Bakewell tart with Custard was one of my favourites at school

[@georgeharold6197]

You could try those famous English meatballs (made by Brains with mash and cabbage followed by Jam Rolly Poly.

[@alancrane4693]

Proper stuff 👍

[@2opler]

Liver and onions is my favourite.

[@RoyCousins]

The liver we got for school dinners could have been used to re-sole your shoes! And the veg was boiled for several days.

[@AdventuresAndNaps]

😂 Oh no!!

[@matchmade44]

I used to like liver bacon and onion with gravy and mash, but sometimes the liver was really disgusting - full of chewy "pipes" that you just had to spit out. Spotted dick, apple turnover, lemon sponge, all with custard - and virtually impossible to find outside school canteens, so very nostalgic.

[@michaeldillon3113]

Lunch and dinner was a class thing . Dinner in the evening - bourgeoisie; dinner at midday - the noble working classes.

[@mikegerrish3459]

We had chocolate sponge and pink custard!

[@AaronTheHipHopGuy]

This is such a good idea for a video! Sorry you’ve been having a hard time with KZbin recently! Your videos are great and Adventures and Naps is one of the only channels I look forward to the video and watch it as soon as it comes out! Your videos and video ideas are still as good as they’ve always been too so don’t lose hope with KZbin! Your videos are great and help a lot of people get through their week!

[@AdventuresAndNaps]

Thank you so much!!

[@andrewholland990]

School dinners. The thing I remember is we sat square tables of 8, each day a different one of us had to be waiter. Boys sat separate from Girls even though it was a mixed school. The table had to have mixed ages from all 5 year groups. Once a week you had to entertain a teacher. I think this was a very civilizing method of teaching us to live and communicate with those who were not in our class/peer group. The closest thing I have come to it since leaving school 50 years ago was when working in Germany when I was at the site where everyone (management, office staff, shop floor, overhead wire gangs, cleaners) sat down to dinner/lunch together at long tables and were served good wholesome food. No eating at the desk or having different times for dinner/lunch, everyone on site together. I thought it was a brilliant piece of team building. As for school food, jam rolly polly and custard. The only school food that was bad was "Prunes and Custard" I don't know what they did to them but that could have been just our kitchen. Many thanks for a wonderful video.

[@steveaga4683]

When I was a kid in Wales in the '50's and '60's we had....breakfast, dinner, tea and supper. Lunch was when you had a sandwich when you were away from home....a packed lunch!

[@fionagregory9147]

Lunch is at noon or 1.00 pm and middle class people have breakfast, lunch and dinner or supper.

[@dragonmac1234]

This takes me back to my 1970's school days, my favourites were liver and onion with chocolate sponge and chocolate custard for pudding. The chocolate sponge and custard were so popular the lovely ladies in the kitchen always made enough for us to have more 🤗

[@terrym3837]

Blimey takes me back

[@alancrane4693]

Dinner time was dinner time back in the 70s. Whole hour for dinner time and two 15 minutes of play time. Dinners was more seasonal as well.

[@terrym3837]

@@alancrane4693 Yes they were we had the same break times the school then got rid of afternoon break and let us home 15 mins early which we all preferred

[@shaunw9270]

🚂 All aboard Alanna's Custard Train 🚃😅

[@AdventuresAndNaps]

🚂🚂 😂

[@Rjhs001]

Hi Alanna, entertaining as usual. My mum whom we lost a couple of years ago was a head cook at a nursery school and she made freshly cooked beautiful meals for 50 kids plus staff. If they were having a picnic day in the summer, she would bake her own bread for the sarnies. If the school budget didn't stretch to a special ingredient, she would buy it herself. When she retired the whole school lost someone who made it her mission to give those kids tasty, nutritious and fresh food every day.

[@paulharrison8379]

More cooking and more Alanna dressing up please

[@zacharytaylor8104]

The best desert I can remember eating at school was chocolate crunch with chocolate custard. Usually always on a Friday.

[@Alex_9652]

lol you always put lots of effort into your content and do the unexpected 😂

[@AdventuresAndNaps]

Thank you!!

[@TheEulerID]

I have never, ever heard of liver being used in a pie. Kidney yes, liver no. Liver is, of course, used in a lot of pates though. I do love liver and onion, but there also ought to be bacon too Nb. The quality of those meals are a lot higher than they were in my school days.

[@greyman3515]

School dinners are one of the memories I still have from living in England. I was a fussy eater as a kid so I had a few discussions with teachers about eating it all up. Dropping it on the floor became my resort as a 6 or 7 year old who really didn’t want to comply.

[@Elwaves2925]

I was considerd fussy but I actually liked most things back then, it was some of the combos I had trouble with - namely custard. It makes me sick (still does) and however many times I asked for it not to be put on my crumble, it went unheard. One day a teacher got fed up of me not eating it, threatening me with long term detention. So I ate it and was promptly sick over the floor. I never got custard again and the best thing was the head dinner lady made the teacher clean up the mess.

[@andrewcoates6641]

@@Elwaves2925 I had a similar experience at my junior school. We were given one of the earlist attempts at making a curry with plain rice and it wasn’t any kind of a culinary success. I didn’t even have an alternative choice as the school ran a 3 sitting system and I was on the third sitting, there had been an egg salad available for the first two sittings but that had run out halfway through the 2nd sitting. Even though I protested/ objected to being served the curry I was forced by a teacher to eat the whole plateful by him standing at my shoulder and threatening to give me the cane if I didn’t eat it all(mid 1960’s, caning was still the common punishment). As I slid the last of it into my mouth, the teacher leant closer to me and said “There that wasn’t so bad was it “. I turned to face him and promptly vomited all of my stomach contents all over his jacket and trousers and satisfyingly it even filled his shoes. My mother worked in the infant’s school attached to the junior school and was soon called to come through to meet with the teacher and the headteacher and me as the teacher was demanding that she or the school should pay to replace his shoes and clothing. When she learnt the whole story and asked me why I “hadn’t said that I didn’t like or want the meal” and I told her that I had complained right at the start and that the teacher had been the one that had forced me to eat it, Mum turned to the head and said that she would not only refuse to pay for the clothes replacement but as a member of the PTA(Parents and Teachers Association) she would make sure that the bill for either cleaning or replacement of the clothes would not be paid for from the schools budget, because “ he was an idiot who should’ve listened to what I had been telling him. Then she grabbed my hand and walked me home to change and feed me beans on toast!!

[@seanscanlon9067]

Until the 1970s, catering was usually done in house under control of the local education authority but when Margaret Thatcher became Conservative prime minister in the UK in 1979 and the first thing the Tories often do when regaining power is to cut back on everything and penny-pinch. So she implemented putting things like hospital and school catering and cleaning services out to tender for private companies to bid for the contract and more often than not, whoever put in the lowest bid won the contract. Then once they did, decent, healthy and nutritious school dinners became a thing of the past in order to cut costs and allow more wriggle room for the lowest bidding contract winner to turn a profit and that was when all the cheap junk food came in, or scrotum burgers as Jamie Oliver labelled it.

[@ozelhassan8576]

I would love to a part 2. That would be cool. This video is a memory fest for me.

[@Lynxfan2]

Hi there Alanna, for your first meal, it is actually Liver & Bacon. One of my favourite school meals was Egg & Bacon Flan/Quiche with Mash Potatoes and Carrots. On Fridays we used to have either Fish & Chips or Hot Dog & Chips. My favourite dessert was Golden Syrup Sponge with Vanilla Custard or Chocolate Sponge with Chocolate Sauce (Chocolate Custard).

[@robertkoons7881]

Alanna's partner is now on permanent chef duty at home.

[@lottie2525]

I remember having three banana custards one time cos we were last in the queue.

[@ripvanwincle2258]

That Liver and onions looks exactly what they force fed me at school in the 70's.If you didn't eat it you didn't leave the table.They were so kind back then.I haven't eaten liver to this day won't even eat a steak and kidney pie because it reminds me of liver.🤣Have a lovely day Alanna great vid.

[@simon2k4]

I’m from the UK and I was at school during the 1990s. Milk never came with the actual dinner, it was consumed in a morning and was handed out in the classroom by the milk monitor! Water in a metal jug was in the middle of the table to go with your school dinner and each person had a small glass to pour it in. My 3 favourite school meals were corned beef pie, cheese flan and golden drummers and my 3 favourite desserts were Manchester Tart, Butterscotch Tart & jam and coconut sponge with pink custard. You can buy pink custard from the supermarket, Ambrosia do it in a little pot 😂

[@jauld360]

If you do a part two, try chocolate cake with chocolate custard. That's a good one. P.S. Your facial expressions with the rice pudding were priceless!

[@Grychon]

That was a great video, and a trip down memory lane. I'm from the north of England and we called our main meals breakfast, dinner and the evening meal was called tea. When I moved to the south of England, dinner became lunch and tea became dinner.