THE RURAL SCHOOL LUNCH
The best method of approach to Household Science in the rural school is through the medium of the hot noon-day lunch or the preparation of one or two hot dishes to supplement the lunch brought from home. Owing to the fact that many pupils live far from the school, it is impossible for them to go home for the mid-day meal, and they are thus dependent upon lunches which they bring with them. Very frequently the pupils are allowed to eat their lunches where and how they please, and the method chosen is conducive neither to comfort nor to health. In fine weather they do not wish to lose any time from their games, and so they eat their food while playing, or they bolt it, in order that they may get to their play more quickly. In severe weather they crowd round the steps or the stove and do not hesitate to scatter crumbs and crusts. In one case even a teacher has been seen holding a sandwich in one hand and writing on the black-board with the other.
In many cases the lunch does not attract the pupil. It is often carried, without proper wrapping, in a tin pail, and it then absorbs the taste of the tin; again, it is often wrapped in a newspaper and is flavoured with printer's ink; occasionally, it is wrapped in cloth not too clean. Conditions such as these are not fair to the pupils. They come a long way to school, often over poor roads; and it is necessary, for both their physical and their mental development, that they should receive adequate nourishment served as attractively as possible. Many of the defects found among school children can be traced, to a greater or less extent, to lack of nutrition. The United States militarydraft shows that the number of those physically defective is from seven to twenty per cent. higher in rural districts than in towns and cities, and this difference is not peculiar to that country. May we not reasonably suppose that many of these defects are caused by mal-nutrition, and that this mal-nutrition is in part due to the poor noon-day lunch? As these defects hinder mental as well as physical development, the question of proper nutrition through the medium of the school lunch becomes an educational one.
With proper care in the selection of food, the packing of the lunch box, and rational methods of consumption, there is no reason why the box lunch should not be nourishing, attractive, and possess an educational value.
It may be laid down as an axiom that every school lunch should be supervised by the teacher and hap-hazard methods of eating the lunch should be prohibited. Those schools that are fortunate enough to possess a large table can approximate somewhat to the best home conditions, and have the table set in the proper manner, as shown in Lesson VI, page 18. The pupils should sit round the table, at the head of which is the teacher, and the lunch may be made to partake of the nature of a family party. If rightly managed, the meal, even under the unusual difficulties presented in the rural school, may offer the most favourable opportunities to inculcate habits of cleanliness and neatness and to cultivate good manners. The pupils will learn something about the proper selection of food and the importance of thorough mastication. Clean hands and faces and tidy hair should be insisted upon, and individual drinking cups should be encouraged. As amanual training exercise, each pupil may be taught to make his own drinking cup from heavy waxed paper. Grace may be said by the older pupils in turn.
The table should be made to look as attractive as possible. The pupils, in turn, might undertake to have the table-cloth washed at home or, in place of a linen cloth, a covering of white oil-cloth may be used. In some cases the school garden will be able to supply flowers or a growing plant for a centrepiece. Three or four of the larger pupils, either boys or girls, may set the table in ten minutes, while the others are washing their hands and faces and tidying their hair. Some such plan as this will add palatability and cheer to the monotony of the everyday cold and often unattractive lunch and will create a spirit of true and healthy sociability among the pupils.
In schools that do not possess tables large enough to be used as suggested above, each pupil should be required to set one place at his own desk, as shown in the illustration on page 20. A paper napkin may be used for a table-cloth, if a small piece of white oil-cloth is not procurable. Each pupil retains his place until all have finished; he should then dispose of the crumbs and leave his desk tidy. From twenty minutes to half an hour is generally found sufficient for the meal. There should be cheerful conversation and restrained laughter throughout the meal, and acts of courtesy and generosity should be encouraged. At seasons when there are no flies, and on days when the weather is favourable, it is a pleasant change to serve lunch out-of-doors.
The lunch is provided by the home, but the teacher may give some useful lessons in Household Science by talks on the contents of the lunch box and the proper methods of packing the same, so that the food will keep ingood condition until the time for its consumption arrives. It is the duty of the school authorities to provide a suitable storage place for the lunch boxes. These boxes should be kept free from dust or flies and in a place where the food will not freeze in winter. Open shelves, so often seen, are not suitable and a properly ventilated cupboard in the school-room should be provided.
The whole question of the box lunch presents a serious problem, when we consider the large number of children who must depend upon it for their noon-day meal. This meal should be so constituted as to make it a real meal and not a makeshift. The same principles which govern the preparation of the meal should govern the preparation of the lunch box. It is said that the school lunch should consist of "something starchy and something meaty, something fat and something fibrous, something sweet and something savoury".
With so many varieties of breads, meats, cheese, jams, etc., innumerable kinds of sandwiches may be made. For example, there are brown, graham, rye, raisin, nut, and date breads, and equally many kinds of meat. Such variety makes it quite unnecessary to have an egg sandwich or hard-boiled eggs in the lunch box each day. While eggs are very valuable in the diet, a lunch with hard-boiled eggs five times each week becomes monotonous, and the appetite of the consumer flags. With skill and thought one can make little scraps of meat or other "left-overs" into attractive sandwiches. Ends of meat, ground and mixed with salad dressing or cream, make delicious sandwich fillings.
The bread should be cut evenly.
The thickness of the slice should vary with the appetite of the consumer.
The crust should not be removed.
The butter should be creamed for spreading.
Both slices should be buttered, in order to prevent the absorption of the filling.
The filling should be carefully placed between the slices.
The sandwiches should be wrapped in waxed paper, to prevent drying.
Three eggs hard boiled and chopped fine or ground
An equal amount of chopped or boiled ham
Salad dressing
Mix and spread.
2. Raisin filling:
One cup of raisins ground or chopped
One half-cup of water
One half-cup of sugar
One tablespoonful of flour into the same quantity of vinegar
Juice and grated rind of one lemon
Cook in a double boiler until thick.
Remove the stems and chop the figs fine.
Add a small quantity of water.
Cook in a double boiler until a paste is formed.
Add a few drops of lemon juice.
Chopped peanuts may be added.
Chop a hard-cooked egg.
Mix with salad dressing or melted butter, to a spreading consistency.
5. Equal parts of finely-cut nuts and grated cheese, with salad dressing
6. Equal parts of grated cheese and chopped olives
7. Sardines with lemon juice or a little dressing
8. Chopped dates with a little cream. Nuts may be added.
9. Thinly sliced tomatoes (seasonal)
10. Sliced cucumbers
11. Marmalade. Chopped nuts may be added.
In selecting the food the following suggestions may prove helpful:
Protein—Sandwiches of fish, meat, egg, cheese, nuts, dish of cottage cheese
For the older pupils, baked beans
Carbohydrates—Bread, cake, cookies, jam, honey, dates, figs, raisins, prunes, candy
Fats—Butter, cream, peanut-butter
Note.—When possible, a bottle of clean sweet milk should form part of every lunch.
Cup custards of various flavours
Cookies with nuts and fruits
Cakes—not too rich
Pies well made and with good filling
Candy—plain home-made
Preserves
Fresh fruits
As often as possible, a surprise should be included, generally in the form of a dessert of which the pupil is fond. A surprise adds to the pupil's pleasure in eating and, indirectly, aids digestion.
Much of the attractiveness of a lunch depends upon the manner of packing. We must consider the fact that the foods must be packed together closely and must remain so packed for several hours. This makes careful packing a necessity.
1. Be sure that the box is absolutely clean.
2. Line it with fresh paper every time it is used.
3. Wrap each article of food in wax paper.
4. Place in the box neatly, the food that is to be used last in the bottom of the box, unless it is easily crushed.
5. Lay a neatly folded napkin on the top.
Lunch box
Waxed paper
Paper napkin
Drinking cup
Knife, fork, and spoon
Thermos bottle or jar for milk or other liquid
The box itself should be of odourless material, permanent, and light in weight, admitting of safe means of ventilation. Paper bags should never be used for food containers, as it is impossible to pack the lunch in them firmly and well and there is danger of their being torn or of insects or flies creeping into them. Boxes of fibre, tin, basket weave, or other material, may be used. The box will require scrubbing, and should be frequently dried and aired well. Many types of lunch boxes have compartments provided for the various kinds of food.
Waxed paper and paper napkins, or the somewhat heavier paper towels of much the same size, are very useful for packing lunches, and may be obtained at a low price, particularly if bought in large quantities. An extra napkin, either of paper or cloth, should be put in the basket, to be spread over the school desk when the lunch is eaten. Napkins can be made out of cotton crêpe at a cost of a very few cents each. The crêpe may be bought by the yard and should be cut into squares and fringed. Such napkins have the advantage of not needing to be ironed.
Paper cups, jelly tumblers with covers which can now be bought in several sizes, and bottles with screw tops, such as those in which candy and other foods are sold, mayall be used for packing jellies, jams, honey, etc. The thermos bottle may be used for carrying milk, or, if this is too expensive, a glass jar with a tight cover may be substituted. If the thermos bottle is used, hot drinks may also be carried.
The serving of a hot lunch or of one hot dish need be neither an elaborate nor an expensive matter. Many rural schools in the United States, some of them working under conditions worse than any of ours, are serving at least one hot dish to supplement the lunch brought from home. The advantages of this plan are:
1. It enables the pupils to do better work in the afternoon.
2. It adds interest to the school work and makes the pupils more ready to go to school in bad weather.
3. It gives some practical training and paves the way toward definite instruction in Household Science.
4. It gives a better balance to meals, and as compared with a cold lunch it aids digestion.
5. It teaches neatness.
6. It gives opportunity to teach table manners.
7. It strengthens the relationship between the home and the school.
The teacher should have a meeting of the school trustees and of the mothers of the pupils and outline the method of procedure. It is only in this way that the co-operation of all can be secured, and without this co-operation there can be no success. This meeting should be addressed by the Public School Inspector; and afterthe consent of the parents and the trustees has been secured, the scheme may be put into operation. Some thought will have to be given to the organization, in order that the plan may work smoothly. If properly organized, there need be little or no interruption to the ordinary routine of the school.
The pupils, both boys and girls, should be arranged in groups, each group taking the work in turn. Even the smallest pupils should be allowed to take part, as there are many duties which they can perform successfully. If each group is composed of five or six pupils, the work may be arranged as follows: two will prepare the dish, two will get the table or the desks ready (or each pupil may prepare his own desk), and the others will wash the dishes.
The furnishing of supplies is a problem which each teacher will have to solve for herself, according to the conditions which exist in the community. Supplies which can be stored are best purchased by the school trustees; while the mothers of the pupils should furnish the perishable articles, such as milk and butter. As often as possible, the pupils may be asked to bring various articles, such as a potato, an apple, a carrot, an egg, etc. These may be combined and prepared in quantities. The school garden should be relied upon to supply many vegetables in season, thus adding interest and life to both the garden work and the lunch. In some districts the neighbourhood is canvassed for subscriptions in order to provide funds to purchase supplies for the term lunches. Some schools give a concert or entertainment in order to raise funds for this purpose, and in others all the supplies have been purchased by the school trustees.
The pupils who are to prepare the hot dish may make the necessary preparations before school or at recess, andthey must so time the cooking that the dish will be ready when required. They should be allowed to leave their desks during school hours to give it attention if necessary. In schools where this method is adopted, it has been found that the privilege has never been abused, nor have the other pupils been less attentive on account of it. However, most of the recipes suggested later require little or no attention while cooking.
At twelve o'clock the assigned pupils get the dish ready for serving and set the table. The others wash their hands, tidy their hair, and get their lunch boxes. All pass to their places. The pupils who have prepared the dish may serve it, using trays to carry each pupil's supply, or the pupils may pass in line before the serving table and to their places, time being thus saved. When the meal is finished, the pupils rise and bring their dishes to the serving table and stack them with the other dishes. Two remain behind to clear up and wash the dishes, while the others go to play. If the desks are used, each pupil is responsible for leaving his own desk clean.
The pupils may be required to keep an account of the cost of the food and to calculate the cost per head per day or per week. A schedule of the market prices of food should be posted in a conspicuous place, and the pupils may take turns in keeping these prices up to date. A separate black-board may be used for this purpose.
The dish chosen should be as simple as possible—a vegetable or cream soup, cocoa, baked potatoes, baked apples, white sauce with potatoes or other vegetables, apple sauce, rice pudding, etc. It may be well, in some cases, to have plans made on Friday for the following week. As a rule, each day a little before or after four o'clock, the recipe for the following day should be discussed, the quantitiesworked out to suit the number of pupils, and the supplies arranged for. The element of surprise should be made use of occasionally, the pupils not being allowed to know the dish until they take their places.
The following are some suggested menus in which the food brought from home is supplemented by one hot dish. (The name of the hot dish is printed in italics.)
1.Potato soup, meat sandwiches, orange, sponge cake
2.Cream of tomato soup, bread and butter sandwiches, stuffed egg, pear, oatmeal cookies
3.Apple cooked with bacon, bread and butter sandwiches, gingerbread, milk
4.Cocoa, date sandwiches, celery, graham crackers, apple
5.Stewed apples, egg sandwiches, plain cake, prunes stuffed with cottage cheese
6.Custard, brown bread sandwiches, apple, raisins, sauce, molasses cookies
7.Baked beans, bread and butter sandwiches, fruit, sauce, molasses cookies
RECIPES SUITABLE FOR THE RURAL SCHOOL LUNCH
All the recipes given have been used with success in preparing rural school lunches. The number that the recipe will serve is generally stated and, where this number does not coincide with the number of pupils in any particular school, the quantities required may be obtained by division or multiplication. The recipes given in the lessons on cooking may also be used in preparing the school lunch, as each recipe states the number it will serve.
White Sauce
1 c. milk
½ tbsp. butter
2 tbsp. flour
¼ tsp. salt
Reserve one quarter of the milk and scald the remainder in a double boiler. Mix the flour to a smooth paste with an equal quantity of the cold milk and thin it with the remainder. Stir this gradually into the hot milk and keep stirring until it thickens. Add the butter, salt, and pepper, and cover closely until required, stirring occasionally. This recipe makes a sauce of medium consistency. To make a thick white sauce, use 3 or 4 tablespoonfuls of flour to one cup of milk.
Cocoa
6 tbsp. (18 tsp.) cocoa
6 c. milk
6 tbsp. (18 tsp.) sugar
6 c. boiling water
Scald the milk in a double boiler. Mix the cocoa, sugar, and salt, then stir in the boiling water and boil for 3 minutes. Add this mixture to the scalded milk. If a scum forms, beat with a Dover egg-beater for one minute. The preparation should begin at half-past eleven, to have the cocoa ready at twelve o'clock. (Will serve eighteen.)
Potato Soup
1 qt. peeled potatoes cut in thin slices
4 tbsp. flour
3 qt. milk
⅛ tsp. black pepper
2 tsp. salt
1 small onion
4 tsp. butter
½ tsp. celery seed or a stock of celery
Before the opening of school, the potatoes should be pared and put into cold water; and the butter, flour, salt, and pepper should be thoroughly mixed. At eleven o'clock, the potatoes, onion, and celery should be put on to boil gently and the milk put into a double boiler to heat. When the vegetables are tender, they should be strained with the cooking liquid into the hot milk and the mixture bound with the flour. The soup should be closely covered until required. (Will serve ten.)
Cream of Pea Soup
1 can peas or 1 qt. fresh peas
2 tbsp. flour
1 pt. milk
1 tsp. salt
2 tbsp. butter
¼ tsp. pepper
Heat the peas in their own water, or cook them in boiling salted water until tender. Put the milk to heat in a double boiler. When the peas are tender, rub them, with the cooking liquid, through a strainer into the scalded milk. Add the butter and flour rubbed to a smooth paste and stir until thickened. Season and cover until required. (Will serve six pupils generously.)
Cream of Tomato Soup
1 pt. or 1 can tomatoes
1 qt. milk
2 tbsp. butter
Sprig of parsley
3 tbsp. flour
¼ tsp. white pepper
1 tsp. sugar
½ tsp. soda
Cook the tomatoes slowly with the seasonings for ten minutes and rub through a strainer. Scald the milk, thicken with the flour and butter rubbed to a paste, re-heat the tomatoes, and add the soda, mix with the milk, and serve at once. (Will serve six pupils generously.)
Cream of Corn Soup
2 pt. cans corn
2 slices onion
1 pt. cold water
2 qt. of thin white sauce
The process is that used in making Cream of Pea Soup. When making the thin white sauce, place the onion in the milk and leave it until the milk is scalded. Then remove the onion to the other mixture and make the sauce. This gives sufficient onion flavour. (Will serve eighteen.)
Lima-bean Soup
1 c. Lima beans
3 tbsp. butter
2 qt. water
2 tbsp. flour
2 whole cloves
3 tbsp. minced onion
1 bay leaf
1 tbsp. " carrot
1 tsp. salt
1 tbsp. " celery
Soak the beans overnight in soft water or in hard water which has been boiled and cooled. If cold, hard water is used, add ¼ tsp. baking-soda to 1 qt. of water. In the morning, drain and put on to cook in 2 qt. of water. Simmer until tender. It takes 2 hours. Cook the minced vegetables in the butter for 20 minutes, being careful not to brown them. Drain out the vegetables and put them into the soup. Put the flour and butter into a pan and stir until smooth. Add this mixture to the soup. Add the cloves, bay leaf, and seasonings, and simmer for 1 hour. Rub through a sieve. One cup of milk may be added. Bring to the simmering point and serve. (Will serve eighteen.)Note.—If desired, the vegetables may be used without browning and the cloves and bay leaf omitted.
Milk and Cheese Soup
4 c. milk
1⅓ c. grated cheese
2 tbsp. flour
Salt and pepper to taste
Thicken the milk with flour, cooking thoroughly. This is best done in a double boiler, stirring occasionally. When ready to serve, add cheese and seasoning. (Will serve six.)
Cream of Rice Soup
4 tbsp. rice
½ small onion
4 c. milk
4 stalks celery
3 tbsp. butter
½ bay leaf
Scald the milk, add the well-washed rice, and cook for 30 minutes in a closely covered double boiler. Melt the butter and cook the sliced onion and celery in it until tender, but not brown. Add these, with the bay leaf, to the contents of the double boiler, cover, and let it stand on the back of the stove for 15 minutes. Strain, season with salt and pepper, re-heat, and serve. Note that the bay leaf is added and allowed to stand, to increase the flavour, and may be omitted if desired. (Will serve six.)
Rice Pudding
3 c. rice
2 c. sugar
6 c. water
4 eggs
6 c. milk
2 tsp. salt
Wash the rice in a strainer placed over a bowl of cold water, by rubbing the rice between the fingers. Lift the strainer from the bowl and change the water. Repeat until the water is clear. Put the water in the upper part of a double boiler directly over the fire, and when it boils rapidly, gradually add the rice to it. Boil rapidly for 5 minutes, then add the milk, to which has been added the sugar, salt, and eggs slightly beaten. Cover, place in the lower part of the double boiler, and cook until kernels are tender—from 45 minutes to 1 hour. If raisins are used, add them before putting the rice in the double boiler. Serve with milk and sugar as desired. (Will serve eighteen.)
Rice Pudding
2 c. rice
4 qt. milk
1 c. raisins
1 c. sugar
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
Prepare the rice and raisins and put them, with the other ingredients, in a buttered pan. Bake all forenoon, stirringoccasionally during the first hour. Serve with milk or cream. (Will serve ten.)
Cream of Wheat
1½ c. cream of wheat
1½ tsp. salt
10 c. boiling water
1½ c. dates (chopped)
Put the boiling water and salt in the upper part of the double boiler directly over the heat. When boiling, add the cereal slowly. Stir constantly until the mixture thickens. Add the dates and cook for 5 minutes. Place in the lower part of the double boiler and cook at least 1 hour. Serve with milk and sugar. (Will serve eighteen.)
Scrambled Eggs
9 eggs
2 tbsp. butter
1 c. milk
1 tsp. salt
Beat the eggs until the yolks and whites are well mixed. Add the seasonings and milk. Heat the frying-pan, melt the butter in it, and turn in the egg mixture. Cook slowly, scraping the mixture from the bottom of the pan as it cooks. As soon as a jelly-like consistency is formed, remove at once to a hot dish or serve on toast. (Will serve nine.)
Creamed Eggs
6 hard-cooked eggs
2 c. milk
4 tbsp. butter
4 tbsp. flour
Melt the butter, add the flour, and stir in the milk gradually. Cook well and season with salt and pepper. Cut hard-cooked eggs in small pieces and add them to the white sauce. It may be served on toast. (Will serve six.)
Egg Broth
6 eggs
1 c. hot milk
6 tbsp. sugar
Few grains salt
Beat the eggs and add the sugar and salt. Stir in the hot milk gradually, so that the eggs will cook smoothly. Flavour as desired. (Will serve six.)Soft-cooked EggsWash the eggs and put in a sauce-pan, cover with boiling water, remove to the back of the stove or where the water will keep hot, but not boil. Let them stand, covered, from 7 to 10 minutes, according to the consistency desired.Baked Shirred EggsButter small earthen cups. Break an egg in each and sprinkle with a few grains of salt and pepper and bits of butter. Bake in a moderate oven until the white is set. For Shirred Eggs proceed as above, but to cook, place in a pan of hot water on the back of the stove, until the white is set.
Soft-cooked Eggs
Baked Shirred Eggs
Creamed Potatoes
White sauce (medium consistency)
3 tbsp. butter
3 tbsp. flour
1½ c. milk
Make a white sauce of the butter, flour, milk, and seasonings. Cut cold potatoes (about eight) into cubes or slices and heat in the sauce. Serve hot. (Will serve nine.)Mashed PotatoesBoil the potatoes, drain, and mash in the kettle in which they were boiled. When free from lumps, add to each cup of mashed potatoes:
Mashed Potatoes