Cafeteria to Your Kitchen

Whether it was taco Tuesday, pizza Friday, or some other dedicated food day, we all remember our high school food experience. Any of the meals you know and probably don’t love can easily be recreated in your own home! The following meals will be discussed throughout this post: chicken nuggets, salad, and french toast!

Now I know it is hard to believe these wonderful meals can be so simply recreated, however, it is the truth. The first step would be to attend your local grocery store. All of the products needed can be found in the refrigerated and/or frozen isles. First step is to gather all of the ingredients. To create the chicken nugget meal you will need a bag of the frozen generic brand chicken nuggets, a bag of the frozen generic bag french fries, as well as a bag of frozen vegetables! Next gather the materials for the salad which include, a bag of pre-made salad mix, a container of generic brand deli ham, as well as the cheapest/blandest apple sauce you can find. Last, but certainly not least, is the french toast. Needed for this lunch-time favorite is a bag of frozen french toast sticks, a bag of already cooked, frozen sausage patties, as well as a box of individually cupped frozen strawberries.

Cooking and assembling these meals will take a bulk of the time. To create the nugget meal, place the desired amount of chicken nuggets (schools usually provide 4 or 5) and about a handful of french fries on a cooking pan and place them in the oven for the instructed amount of time on the bag. The vegetables to go with this meal can be thawed out as easily as sticking them in the microwave on high in a microwave-safe container until they are thawed. Next is the salad, which is by far the easiest to create. Simply take out about a cup of the pre-made salad mix and place it on the tray. Next take about two or so slices of deli ham and just place it right on top, no need to cut it. Next take a scoop of the apple sauce and place it right on the tray and if you really want to spice it up you can throw on a nice soft apple that has been sitting in your fridge for a few days. Last, but certainly not least, is the french toast sticks! Like with the nuggets, place the desired amount of french toast sticks (about 4 or 5 is common) on a cooking pan, as well as one sausage patty. Place these in the oven for the instructed amount of time, and while these are cooking just simply take a cup of the frozen strawberries out and place them on the counter to thaw for the ten minutes that the meal is cooking. It is alright if they are still frozen when the meal is complete, that’s part of the delicacy! Hopefully this tutorial was helpful in recreating some of your adolescent lunch time favorites!