Back when I was in school they cooked everything in the school kitchen as well. It was not great, wasn't even good. 99 percent of the time I brought lunch from home, usually a tuna sandwich packed with peppers and lettuce, and sometimes a small bag of chips or piece of fruit. I only bought when they served something I liked, maybe fried chicken or the once in 2 years pastrami sandwich.Back when I was in school the lunch ladies actually cooked our meals in the school...
My brother bought lunch every single day, from maybe 4th grade through med school. He loved the hot soup, terrible entrees, fruit, desserts, all of it. Heck, he still eats institution food now, when he gets hungry at work.
I remember complaining about the horrible lunches, why did they serve pizza with potato puffs instead of salad? Why so many starches? I just checked my hometown's school menus, they still serve pizza & potato puffs! Although they do finally have better & healthier menu choices like salads every day, brown rice, more steamed or baked fish.