As students return to school, it’s time to think about how to make packed lunches that are fun and healthy. Families have been packing school lunches for a long time. Here are some menus for cold packed lunches in a hundred-year-old cookbook:
A hundred years ago many children went to one-room school houses, and had to always take their lunch to school. These schools were typically for students in grades 1- 8. Children in larger towns attended larger elementary schools and may have had the option of getting a hot lunch. Those students who continued their education by attending a high school may have been able to get a school lunch made by students in home economics classes. Back then it was considered good training for students to plan, prepare, and serve school lunches.
Looks like children’s taste in lunch sandwiches hasn’t changed very much.
Some things don’t change much across time. Many children today probably also have bags of chips or other snacks.
Date & Nut sandwiches, doesn’t That bring back memories!!
Can’t say that I’ve ever had a date and nut sandwich. 🙂
Date/nut bread with creamy cream cheese… um
I’ll have to give it a try. I should look for a hundred-year-old recipe for date/nut bread.
That would be awesome!
I think I could only get my kids to eat a peanut butter sandwich. Tastes were very different back then.
Agree – my children generally wanted foods other than sandwiches when I packed their lunch.
Lots of options, but my kids always wanted the same things day after day!
So did mine – though each child wanted different foods from their siblings. Did I ever hear about it when I accidently mixed up the packed lunches and put the wrong lunches in their backpacks. 🙂
lol! Kids are quite predictable!
Quite a few of those looks like my lunch bag… But I do not believe I have ever had a cottage cheese sandwich. Salmon was never on the menu but tuna salad and chicken salad were part of the rotation.
When I was a child, tuna sandwiches were my personal favorite. I have vague memories of occasionally having sandwiches made with canned salmon.
my home ec class was a waste of time. I think making lunch for the school would have been nifty.
Same with me. I never liked home ec classes. It seems like they would have been more purposeful if the students made lunch for the school, though I’m sure that there were also some drawbacks to having students prepare lunches, and it’s probably a reason the practice faded away many years ago.
you’d probably have to get everyone a servsafe certification, which wouldn’t necessarily be a bad thing.
Make sense.
Number 3 and 4 would not be my choice. I don’t know how our ancestors did not die of food poisoning with the primitive methods they had for storing food. My grandparents stories always made me feel lucky.
Not sure why, but it seems like people worried less years ago about food in a packed lunch possibly spoiling between the time a child left home and the time they ate it. I can remember packed lunches just sitting on a shelf in my elementary school classrooms.
Maybe.
I can’t see jam (jelly) or marmalade sandwiches making the healthy eating list now!
Probably not – though they might still be one of the more popular options.
Funnily enugh, British children no longer seem to go for jam sandwiches much. And marmalade – usually only liked by adults – is strictly for breakfast, and it has to be toast, not bread!
It might be the same here. I’m not sure. I’ve noticed that stores around here generally only carry a few flavors of jelly and jam (grape, apple, strawberry and a few others). I like some of the more tart flavors like currant, and they are really difficult to find.
Whereas the tart ones like blackcurrant, raspberry and so on are common here. I’ve never come across either apple or grape. Strawberry is the big favourite (though not with me!)
I’m amazed that you’ve never seen apple or grape jelly on your side of the Atlantic. Peanutbutter and jelly sandwiches are a stereotypical food here that is popular with children – and when making that sandwich, grape jelly is usual choice.
Hmm. I made plum jam yesterday. I’ll settle for that instead!
I have to say that the cottage cheese and raisin sandwich sounds horrible!
It’s different. 🙂 I guess that tastes have changed across the years.