Contents of a school lunch varied with the period of history, time of year, location, and cultural background. Economic status of the family and community also affected what could be included. Some families had to sell all of their milk and could not afford to provide butter for bread; flour for bread was not always available.

Laura Ingalls Wilder wrote about a lunch which she and her sister carried. "At noon all the other children and Teacher went home to dinner. Laura and Mary took their dinner-pail and sat in the grass against the shady side of the empty schoolhouse. They ate their bread and butter and talked. (On the Banks of Plum Creek, p. 152)

Gulliford describes school lunches that can be prepared for a field trip to a country school.

Lunches for the schoolhouse visit should be prepared with historical accuracy; no soft drinks, canned foods, milk cartons, thermoses, plastic wrap or paper bags should be allowed. Country school students carried their lunches in a variety of tin containers or in baskets covered with a large piece of cloth knotted at the corners; the cloth was then made into a tablecloth to protect the desks. Traditional school lunches included cold sliced porridge, a hard boiled egg (when chickens were laying), a cold baked potato (if left over from dinner), a chunk of cheese, a piece of bread or bun, sandwiches spread with lard, bacon fat, molasses, syrup or jam, a cookie or a piece of cake and fruit (in season). (America's Country Schools, p. 253)

Amanda Janke Kuse recalled taking bread spread with lard and lots of apples. Cores were collected in a pail and fed to a cow belonging to someone living near the school.

Years later, Amanda's daughter remembers taking lots of apples, too. There was also a small glass jar for milk. Sometimes the warm milk did not appeal and was carried home again. The shaking of the milk, which resulted from swinging the lunch bucket for several miles, turned the cream into tiny grains of butter. In these later years, children from wealthy families had a variety of purchased items. When hot lunches became available in consolidated or city schools, those who could afford it ate in the cafeteria.

How do these statements about school lunches compare with the food children eat at school today? Are there still differences which reflect cultural and economic backgrounds?

Wilder, L. (1981). On the banks of plum creek. New York: Harper and Row, Publishers.