During the 1960s and 1970 school lunches meant more than just eating food. School lunches meant trading and making deals while eating. Lunchboxes were not just containers for food but rather treasure chests filled with the best trading deals. Let us take a look back at the trades that could boost your social standings at lunch.
Table of Contents
- 1 1. Hostess Twinkies for Anything
- 2 2. Mom’s Homemade Chocolate Chip Cookies
- 3 3. PB&J for Bologna and Cheese
- 4 4. Trading Up to a Thermos of Soup
- 5 5. The Coveted Fruit Roll-Ups
- 6 6. Little Debbie Snacks
- 7 7. The Rare Chocolate Pudding Cup
- 8 8. The Lunchables Revolution
- 9 9. The Legendary Ding Dong
- 10 10. Trading for Milk Money
- 11 11. The Potato Chip Gambit
- 12 12. The Banana for Cookies Swap
1. Hostess Twinkies for Anything
A lunchbox with a Twinkie inside instantly put you in charge of trading. A kid with a Twinkie could easily get four other items from other lunch boxes and sell them. Traders waited until the end of lunch to increase the value of the Twinkies.
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2. Mom’s Homemade Chocolate Chip Cookies
Kids with homemade chocolate chip cookies had the wining lunch box. Before the lunch box was even fully opened a bidding war would start for the cookies.
3. PB&J for Bologna and Cheese
The sandwich trade was the most common trade. Everyone hated the loathe the peanut butter and jelly sandwich while others did not want to eat bologna. This trade was the start of many new lunchtime friendships and alliances.
4. Trading Up to a Thermos of Soup
Cold winter days meant hot soup days. Soup was the gold standard of lunches. Other kids would pay big money for the thermos-holder’s lunchtime soup trade. That kid would buy lunch and trading soup crakers and chicken noodle soup would make you a millionaire.
5. The Coveted Fruit Roll-Ups
The market for lunch trades had its caviar, the first rollup. One kid could dictate how many trades could be made by possesing one. Everyone else had no idea what they were getting but the clear wrapper with the candy inside stood as a beacon for trade potential.
6. Little Debbie Snacks
The smart kids would save their rolls for the end of lunch trading the same way that traders do with stocks when they believe that the price is only heading up from there. Grade stock treat trading commodities were the swamp’s creme pie and the cake roll. Beginning of lunch emargency trades were always in demand. Every kid took one as they all had the same trading value.
7. The Rare Chocolate Pudding Cup
Pudding was the gold standard of Jello and any kid that owned a pudding cup literally ruled the lunch table. Everyone was trading for one of those.
8. The Lunchables Revolution
Trading had found its monopoly when lunchables found the market. With all their segmented foods, any kid who owned one was instantly in control of the lunch table trading game.
9. The Legendary Ding Dong
The foil wrapping of a Ding Dong was a guaranteed way of getting lunch box envy. They were so sought after that they went for multiple snacks in trading. The best traders would wait to be offered a steep deal for theirs, while the wrappers acted as negotiating tables.
10. Trading for Milk Money
The milk money trade took lunchroom deals to the next level, as it required both parent permission and a custom-financed commodity, a.k.a. the milk money. It was like elementary school futures trading.
11. The Potato Chip Gambit
Elementary school lunchroom branding focused especially on the value of name brand ‘snack food’ items. Always a prized possession were the small individual bags of name brand ‘snack food’ items like Doritos and Fritos, and trading specialists would often be seen negotiating three-way or even four-way trades to get just the right combination of different flavored chips.
12. The Banana for Cookies Swap
The trade of a healthy for a sweet was probably the most common. Parents packing a healthy lunch of a banana surely did not know that their child would be trading it with their friends for a cookie. This trade was the foundation of many long-lasting friendships, and it taught kids how to negotiate win-win deals in a trade.
