After working for years in real restaurants, I was pretty much burnt out on the hours and pay of the industry and decided to make the switch to school nutrition. It's actually a pretty good gig! Union job, great benefits, pension plan, and no having to scramble for childcare because I have all the same random days off as my children.
We serve around 1,000 kids in 2 hours so you get that rush of service and there's the high stakes of having everything perfectly ordered and prepped. (God forbid you have to tell a bunch of hungry 11 year olds we're out of mac and cheese!)
The food quality in my district at least is actually surprisingly good. A far cry from the school lunch of my youth, that's for sure.
by gwendiesel
23 Comments
Happy holidays ladies! And may you be blessed with happiness and great bounty in the new year!!!! God bless the lunch ladies of the world. You are true blue heros!
Respect. ❤️
The true hero’s of the industry!
love it ! i just recently switched from fine dining work to working at my kids school ! it’s different but the same , and with better benefits ! happy holidays !
School meal crews are amazing! Congrats!
My grandmother was a lunch lady! She was known for going all out for Halloween including dyeing her hair blue and spiking it up during the punk era late 70s 😂
Yep they work their asses off and get indifference or complaints. Heavy lifting, delivery delays, prep,for snow days etc. RESPECT
Happy holidays friends! ♥️
Respect!!
Yesterdays meatloaf is todays sloppy joes…
Dream job
Awww!!! Happy holidays!!! Wishing you all the best, 🩷🩷🩷🩷
Love it. Happy Holidays!
Happy Holidays!! Thank you for all that you do!!
What a fine group of cooks!! Happy holidays for you ladies! <3
Happy holidays!
I love it!
I also left the line and became a substitute cafeteria helper at the school in my town when my son started kindergarten. That was 2009 and I am now the head cook/assistant manager at the elementary school.
On a popular day, we serve about 425. Average count is around 330 each day.
Our crew made it into the SNA magazine last year with our pirate outfits during school lunch week. I absolutely love my job even with its ups and downs.
I made the switch to lunch lady myself last march. I had no idea I just landed my dream job! Hard heavy fast paced work but so rewarding with the benefits and holiday breaks, and of course the kids! The crew I work with now has such a good family vibe to it. We all just celebrated our last day before winter break yesterday. I feel like for the first time in a long time I’m exactly where I’m supposed to be. Cheers fellow lunch lady! Happy Holidays, your crew looks great!
https://youtu.be/VY14zcUM9SI?si=NxRICOrPGhtv6-1F
Lunch lady land song
Happy holidays lunch heros 💗
Happiest of holiday seasons to you all! Thank you for your work for the kids 🙂
My grandmother was a lunch lady. Thank you for what you do for the kids and your district. Happy holidays! ☃️
Our school lunch ladies made the BEST chocolate chip cookies, and eggplant parm. I recently went to a wedding of a friend (we’re in our 40s), and reconnected with a few friends from high school. We were just reminiscing about how good those cookies were, literally wondering what would happen if we tried to walk into the high school cafeteria just to buy a cookie. Came to the conclusion that unfortunately with all the school shootings and safety protocols these days, it’s highly unlikely they’ll just let us walk into the cafeteria.
All that is to say, hell yeah to the lunch ladies!
I worked in a community kitchen over COVID, a free meal program for the poor, etc.
At some point, when I had shaved off my beard (for the mask) and used my beard trimmer to cut my hair down, wearing an apron and mask, I thought of myself as a “Lunch Lady of the Apocalypse”