Kids today may have iphones, unlimited internet access and more followers than us on Twitter, but we had one thing the kids today could only dream of: Epic packed lunches. So grab your Action Man lunch box and line up quietly (fingers on lips) and I’ll take you back to the lunch room…
Mini Jaffa Cakes
Like an after dinner mint, Mini Jaffa Cakes were the sophisticated way to end your lunch. With almost as much luminous orange plastic packaging as there was actual food, this snack came in packs of 6 – perfect to bribe your way out of sitting next to the smelly kid or to butter up friends coming round for dinner that night.
The beauty of Mini Jaffa Cakes was that they looked enough like biscuits to get through school’s ‘no cake’ rule, but we all knew it was a cake – it said it in the name!
BNs
No one could open a packet of BNs without 1) being mobbed for one and 2) leading a table wide chorus of the song from the advert – the one we later realised they stole from The Muppets (“BN, BN…”). BNs were 2 plain crackers sandwiching a layer of flavoured filling (usually chocolate or strawberry) which is enough to get any kid excited at lunch time, but there’s more. The crackers had eye and mouth holes and would smile and wink at you! Tasty and friendly!
Pringle Cases
Even though we were content with our Pom Bears and Space Invaders, Pringles came in and took lunch times to the next level with the season’s must have accessory: The Pringles case. If you were really lucky, Mum would get you a glittery one. Some of us would even have the latest flavour (paprika) but mostly we were happy with putting two in our mouth and pretending to be a duck.
Capri Sun
A pouch of perfect fruity thirst quenching power – if you could get into the thing! Getting into the high security cellophane straw protector felt like a scene from Mission: Impossible and piercing the pouch with the straw required a little more dexterity than our little hands could manage. But shame on you if you asked the dinner lady (who was inexplicably also someone’s mum) for help. Though tricky to get into, Capri Suns were a step up from just having juice in the flask that came with your Spice World: The Movie lunch box. You know, the one that would always leak and start debates like ‘How soggy does my sandwich have to get before I’m allowed to throw it away and skips straight to my BN BNs?’ (Do doo, do, do do…)
- Subscribe to The Student Pocket Guide for exclusive competitions, deals, discounts, tips and advice!
- Read The Student Pocket Guide.
