It was, however, a trip down Memory Lane as I came across family favourites. Food is such a huge part of life that it's easy to associate it with different times of your life.
I had to laugh at how many recipes I had collected involving chickpeas. There was curried chickpea loaf, chickpea salad, chickpea casserole . . . on and on it went. I like chickpeas but I don't recall making any of the recipes.
Some favourites that reminded me of cooking for my children were instant pudding biscuits, tan square, moussaka, sausage and kumara slice, sweet-and-sour beef and beans and a firm family favourite called Stuffed Chicken which involved boiling the chicken, taking it from the bone, making a sauce with the stock, putting bacon on top of it then making a topping with breadcrumbs and herbs.
My daughters make it for their children.
Then, of course, there was the good old apricot chicken, although the recipe I had was called Jazzy Apricot Chicken - that went in the bin.
There were dozens of Food in a Minute recipe cards by AllysonGofton - they also went out.
I remember making the mulled wine recipe in among the pile - I kept that one. I also kept the exercise book with caramel dumplings, self-saucing chocolate pudding, banana cake and rice bubble cake among the many recipes I would make for dessert or school lunches.
I also came across a booklet titled Tasty Treats For School Lunch Boxes.
I don't recall making anything out of this - I'm afraid my children didn't get anything fancy in their lunch boxes. It was sandwiches, home baking while it lasted and when I had time to make it, and fruit. Lucky for them their nana Janice was the best cook in town and she used to bring us delicious home baking, including shortbread - yum.
There's long been debate about whether schools should provide lunches. Some do, others provide breakfast.
It's common practice in many countries.
In America it began as long ago as 1899, when principal Arthur Burch of South Division High School in Milwaukee, Wisconsin asked if he could open a lunch room - he wanted to provide a hot lunch so his students could perform better in the afternoon.
In our schools it would go a long way in the fight against child poverty but the money would have to come from the Government. After all, it has made huge promises about the fight against poverty.
There is no point increasing school fees to cover costs. That would, of course, defeat the purpose.
There's also been a lot of chatter about school uniforms as children headed back to school this year, especially for primary school children who grow so fast.
Why are they so expensive? You can buy children's shorts, tops, skirts at any number of places for under $10.
I understand that school uniforms look smart and schools don't want children arriving dressed in rags or glitter but perhaps there could be some flexibility. Shorts, tops and skirts (and the girls can wear shorts if they want and vice versa) in two chosen colours - blue and red or green and white - there are any number of combinations that would look nice.
There would have to be rules, of course. No writing, motifs or pictures, just plain clothes.
It would save parents a lot of money and anxiety.
*Linda Hall is assistant editor of Hawke's Bay Today.
