Turkey twizzlers and mint custard - Your memories of school dinners

Packaged, processed and full of nostalgia – school dinners in the 1970s and 1980s.

Things have changed when it comes to eating lunch – or is it dinner? – at school.

This week is national school meals week – a whole week dedicated to the canteen food on offer to children at lunchtimes across the UK.

Gone are the days of turkey twizzlers and lumpy mash followed by sponge pudding and custard every day.

Sometimes the custard was pink and tasted of strawberry or it was bright green and tasted of mint!

Youngsters can now enjoy tasty and nutritious meals that are prepared fresh each day with mouth-watering options like chicken korma, spaghetti bolognaise and roast dinner on the menu.

Chicken tikka with rice is a tasty option on the menu

They’re prepared by dedicated kitchen and canteen staff across Northwich and Winsford courtesy of catering company Edsential, which provides 20,000 meals a day and around five million meals every year across the country.

The menus run on a three-week cycle and support sugar swap and juice free days as well as meat free Fridays and there is always freshly baked bread, seasonal vegetables and salad followed by fresh fruit and organic yogurt available.

They’re a real hit with hungry children taking a break from the classroom with youngsters in Early Years and Key Stage One entitled to free school meals every day.

Beef pie with creamy mashed potato and fresh vegetables

But what were school dinners like in days gone by? What do you remember about midday meals when you were growing up?

We asked and you told us – in your hundreds!

Here are some of the meals – good and bad - that you remember from your childhood:

• Carole Myhan: Gypsy tart.

• Julie Oleszczuk: The salad cream was amazing and it always came in a polka dot beaker.

• Saffy Blackmore: The rise pudding and the cheese and onion pie were both yummy.

• Claire Lee: Chocolate crunch.

• Chris Williams: That unique call when the custard came out: “Can I have the skin?”

• Sarah Thompson: Turkey burgers all the way.

• Judy Phoenix: The rice pudding with a dollop of jam in the middle.

• Faye Michelle: Cheese flan, mash and beans.

• Becky Marsh: Manchester tart, chocolate crunch and melted moments.

• Paul Pollard: Hanging round outside the kitchen door and being given leftover dessert.

• Elinor Felton: Back in the 1950s and 1960s, school lunches were pretty good. I especially liked the shredded chicken sandwiches and parsley butter potatoes.

• Shelley Bly: Flapjacks and it was always a race to get the middle slice.

• Vicky Birch: Chips and cheese and gravy.

• Alasdair Robinson: Bright green mint custard with chocolate sponge.

• Louise Miller: Chocolate concrete which would always fly across the dinner hall when someone’s fork went into it.

• Sophie Ralph: Turkey dinosaurs.

A half bottle of milk was a regular playtime staple

• Jean Patterson: The cheese and onion pie. Not many people liked it but me and my friends did so we got as many pieces as we could eat!

• Pauline Dolton: Jam coconut sponge and custard.

• Gordon Derrick Smith: Liver and bacon, spuds and veg.

• Tracy Dean: At primary school it was the cheese and onion pie and the sponge with pink custard. At high school it was the chips, potato cakes and gravy.

• Anni Knight: Milkshake on a Friday out of a copper jug.

• Barbara Garwell: The dinner ladies would save the skin from the top of the rice pudding. To me, that’s the best bit!

• Lucy Holroyd: Chocolate crunch with mint custard.

• Deborah McMeo: Has to be the cheese and onion pie followed by rhubarb crumble and custard.

• Rachel Louise Hughes: Turkey twizzlers.

• Laura Comley: Chocolate crunch and sponge cake with sprinkles and strawberry custard.

• Mattie Reynolds: Sausage, chips and beans.

• Joanne O’Neill: Cheese and onion batch with chips and gravy and a dark red fizzy drink.

• Katie Garcia: The chocolate sponge with mint custard was a triumph!