What you wished was in your lunchbox — and what you probably got instead

MOST of us got a vegemite sanger, a cheese stick, some Ovalteenies on a good day. How we longed for a lunch order or the milk bar on the way home to grab a Chiko roll.

The never-ending ice block of our summers.

HOW jealous were you of those kids who got to buy Chiko rolls and Sunnyboys at the tuck shop?

Or those whose mums threw a bag of Toobs or a Wagon Wheel into their lunchbox?

For many the standard Aussie school lunchbox comprised a vegemite sandwich (white bread), an apple, a cheese stick and maybe a Tic Toc or some Ovalteenies. If you were lucky.

Here’s what we got, and what the canteen had to offer for lunch orders — and the treats 80s and 90s schoolkids had to wait for until they got to the milkbar after school.

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What we got in our lunchboxes

What was in yours?

CHEESESTIKS

These cheddar cheese sticks have been a lunch box staple for decades.

Back in the day you’d have to turn the wrapper inside out so as to ensure every last morsel of creamy cheese goodness was removed from beneath the metal ring at the end.

STRINGERS

The Rolls Royce of the lunchbox cheese stick, the Stringer offers the bonus of being able to play with your food before you eat it.

Peel back those edges like a banana, or go for a palm tree effect.

LE SNAK

The key to making the most of this long-life soft cheese varietal was getting the right dip-to-cracker ratio.

Of course any residual dip must be extracted by hand.

If you didn’t have these in your lunch box, did you even grow up in Australia?

Still going strong.

KRAFT SINGLES

Speaking of cheese. And we have a lot.

The Kraft Single, such a versatile lunchbox staple. It can be folded, torn, rolled, placed between Saladas.

And nothing quite as satisfying as chucking one at a window and watching it stick.

ROLL-UPS

The stretchy, chewy goodness that stuck to the roof of your mouth for 20 minutes.

There is a fruit aura about them but no hard parts — they’re made of puree.

Three flavours ... Triple the fun.

Treats you got on a good day

OVALTEENIES

Teeny discs of compressed choc malt-flavoured hot drink powder?

Don’t mind if we do. But why so few in a packet?

SHAPES

Remember back when you knew what BBQ Shapes stood for, before crazy recipe changes that nobody wanted?

Simpler times.

TIC TOCS

Time is not up for these icing-topped treats.

The pink, the white and the yellow. It’s one of the great mysteries ... Are they in fact different flavours?

Ponder that.

Time for a delicious snack.

SNOW BALLS

You’d end up with a lunchbox full of stray coconut when the Glad Wrap started to unravel.

But what kid would be unhappy with chocolate-coated giant marshmallow?

We really had a thing for marshmallow driven-treats during this era ...

Snowballs

WAGON WHEELS

More satisfying and filling than a snowball, the Wagon Wheel adds a biscuity base and touch of jam to a marshmallow centre.

All encased in chocolate. What a day if you found one of those alongside your Granny Smith.

TINY TEDDIES

So tiny. So cute. So delicious.

And still what every kid wants in their lunchbox.

Dunkaroos

DUNKAROOS

To go one better than the Tiny Teddy, you go the little kangaroo biscuit that you DIP IN CHOCOLATE.

Well not exactly chocolate, Nutella-like hazelnut-based chocolate dip. Good enough.

DORITOS & CCs

Hail the corn chip, each coated in the cheese-flavoured equivalent of a day’s worth of sodium.

Just had to watch the manner of storage, as you didn’t want to end up with CC breadcrumbs at recess.

Lunch orders from the tuck shop/canteen

CHIKO ROLLS

Not even science can unlock the mystery of the Chiko roll filling.

Is there meat? Is it vegetables posing as meat?

And does anyone care when it tastes so damn good?

Yeah you don’t need a plate or a fork for that.

CALIPPOS

It was crucial that the end of the wrapper not be allowed to become overdamp.

This resulted in a mouth full of soggy paper along with your sweet lemony icypole.

Still a favourite.

SAUSAGE ROLL IN A ROLL

It’s just as it sounds.

You really needed to get the sauce ratio right. And probably a Passiona or Big M to wash it down.

Carb heaven.

TOOBS

If you didn’t put these on the ends of your fingers, then eat them one by one (making sure to lick your fingers afterwards) — you were doing it wrong.

Hard to believe they stopped making these tangy, tasty treats due to bad sales.

Farewell our friend.

SUNNYBOYS

They’re great until you’ve zapped every last bit of flavour from the top, which then becomes a hard and tasteless iceberg.

Not easy to complete within a standard school lunch break.

And just try opening one of these suckers without scissors.

FIZZOES

What is a kid to do when you’ve spent all bar 25 cents of your $3 lunch order?

I’ll take 25 cents worth of fizzoes thanks.

Sneaky buy from the milk bar on the way home

WARHEADS

You never felt more alive than that moment you felt the burn of malic acid on tastebuds.

Get through the first ten seconds of lemon-in-eye sour and you were rewarded with a perfectly nice hard lolly.

Pucker up.

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CURLY WURLY

Otherwise known as the king of chewy chocolate-covered caramel candy.

A bargain-priced choc bar option on your way home.

Curly Wurly ... not actually curly.

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The the festival of sugar begin.

NERDS

Artificially flavoured rocks of sugar coated with more sugar.

It got tricky when they get stuck in the opening then make their way down to a spot underneath in the box where you can hear them, but you can’t reach them.

The original crack for kids.

BUBBLE O’BILL

Owing to the no-chewy rule at most schools, this was of course a post-school treat only.

Had be careful on a hot day — that gumball nose could slip right off before you had a chance to stow it somewhere for after the ice cream bit was done.

Push Pops

PUSH POPS

These guys just last and last.

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