25 FORGOTTEN School Lunches Every 1980s Kid Remembers

In 1980, the federal school lunch program fed twenty six million children a day. In October 1981, Washington cut a billion dollars from it, and the cafeteria menu that came out of that budget is the one an entire generation still remembers by heart. These are the 25 forgotten school lunches every 1980s kid remembers, from the fruit cocktail with the single cherry to the rectangle pizza that a whole generation still calls the best pizza they ever had. A real look at what cafeteria trays actually carried in the 1980s: government cheese blocks with no brand on the wrapper, chicken nuggets the year McDonald's took them nationwide, chili with a cinnamon roll on the side across the Midwest, and the steel five-compartment tray that fed six hundred kids in ninety minutes on a budget that had just been slashed. Grounded in real dates, real prices, and real history, no reenactments, just the forgotten menu of the American school cafeteria. ⏱ Chapters: 0:00 Intro 0:45 #25 Fruit Cocktail With The Single Cherry 1:28 #24 Sloppy Joe 2:12 #23 Corn Dog 2:53 #22 Chili With A Cinnamon Roll 3:38 #21 Hamburger Gravy Over Mashed Potatoes 4:21 #20 Taco Day 5:09 #19 Chicken Fried Steak 5:50 #18 Peanut Butter And Jelly 6:32 #17 Tater Tots 7:18 #16 Beef And Bean Burrito 7:57 #15 Spaghetti And Garlic Bread 8:40 #14 Grilled Cheese From The Government Block 9:36 #13 Salisbury Steak 10:24 #12 Macaroni And Cheese From The Steam Pan 11:08 #11 Pigs In A Blanket 11:47 #10 Chicken Patty On A Bun 12:27 #9 Hot Dog Day 13:06 #8 Pinto Beans And Cornbread 13:50 #7 Chocolate Milk In The Half Pint Carton 14:37 #6 The Peanut Butter Cookie 15:18 #5 Ice Cream Cup With The Wooden Spoon 16:02 #4 Turkey And Gravy Over Bread 16:45 #3 Chicken Nuggets 17:37 #2 The Thanksgiving Lunch 18:22 #1 Rectangle Pizza If you can still picture your own tray with five compartments, you know exactly what this list is. Subscribe to Vanishing Americana, new forgotten history every week, before it's gone. #forgottenhistory #americanhistory #schoollunch #1980s #nostalgia #vintagerecipes #cafeteriafood