In this note I'll tell about where and how students in Poděbrady can have a very cheap lunch (only 59 crowns). We're talking about the canteen located in the local secondary school.
You can also look at the school's website, though everything is in Czech there.
The school is located quite close to the castle, about 10 minutes walk, so students will have time to have lunch during the 45-minute break. Next I'll tell in more detail about lunches and how to get them.
I personally learned about the possibility of having lunch at school even on the mini-tour on the very first day of classes from teachers. Although we only briefly walked around the school, teachers noted that this year Poděbrady students have the opportunity to have cheap lunches there.
I didn't go there right away, I was afraid that my level of Czech wouldn't be enough there. So a couple of weeks later we came to school for the first time, it turned out to be quite simple.
But first I'll describe the lunches themselves.
For 59 crowns you get:
first course (soup)
It's absolutely different, most often either some kind of cream soup, or just vegetable. You have to pour it yourself, so you determine the portion size yourself. Extremists can take seconds, though there's already a lot of food, so often you don't want to. Personally, I really liked the local borscht.
second course
Different every day. On the canteen website you need to choose in advance (a week ahead) what you'll eat on this or that day. Usually there's something like a vegetarian menu and a menu with meat. Portions are usually very large and nutritious, sometimes even too much. Quality compared to Russian canteens is definitely higher. The side dish is usually accompanied by something meaty. I'm crazy about local dumplings with spinach.
very often there's also dessert
This is either fruits and berries in juice, or baked goods. You can also take as much as fits. The other day they gave an analog of the Russian "Prague" cake, though it was called "Viennese", it was very tasty.
drinks
In the canteen there are several containers with various drinks, you need to pour them yourself. There's always simple cool water and fruit tea (too sweet, but this is a school), as well as, usually, something third - cocoa, juice, etc.
A typical lunch looks something like this:
I apologize for the quality right away, I photographed on a plate. Maybe someday I'll come to school with a camera and post better. But, as you can see in the picture, portions are quite large and tasty.
The schoolchildren themselves rarely take a full lunch, usually only the second course. It's pleasing that at any moment a student can go down to the canteen and drink some water. Unfortunately, my school nor university technology reached this level.
The cuisine is the most diverse, from typical Czech (dumplings) to homemade. Usually it's very tasty, you need to look at the menu in advance on the website, if you didn't like anything - you can not eat that day. We had such cases. By the way, the only minus - sometimes dishes look unappetizing, let's say - this is a canteen, and they don't think much about the appearance of the dish here🙃 This is not a problem at all, you can eat delicious and beautiful food in one of many restaurants in Poděbrady.
I don't know if I convinced anyone to try going to have lunch at school, but still it's worth telling about how to actually do this. Unfortunately, the lunch system is not that easy. You can, of course, just come and pay, but I'm too lazy to do this procedure every day.
The first time coming to school, you'll encounter the first problem - the school has a magnetic lock. You'll have to wait until someone enters or exits, but schoolchildren often do this, so this is not a problem.
To not do this every time, you need to buy a magnetic chip.
It looks like an ordinary green plastic key chain.
Firstly, it will be used as a key for the front door, secondly - with it you'll have to identify yourself in the canteen.
Before getting lunch, you'll need to swipe on the magnetic surface - this way employees will know that you paid for lunch, and also which of the two menus you chose.
Subsequently, it's on this chip that money is put for lunches, so the thing is indispensable. I won't be surprised if in a student's life it plays an important role - most likely, it's also a key to the locker, etc.
You can buy it on the 2nd floor of the school, right by the stairs. It costs 50 crowns, this amount, it seems, can be returned when you stop having lunch.
Then with this chip we go down to the canteen itself and look for an employee, the main one for technical matters. First, she'll create an account in the canteen system and issue us the necessary passwords. She'll record information in our chip (it will become personally ours).
Next, having attached the chip, you need to make a prepayment from her. A standard lunch costs 59 crowns, you can for a test deposit, for example, 200. You can use them even tomorrow, even in a year, the main thing is to order lunch on a certain day on the website. Unused funds can always be returned.
Next we go home and log in via the link that Mrs. Secretary gave us.
The site is quite understandable, albeit in Czech. There we'll have to choose lunch for certain dates by checking boxes. It all looks something like this:
Having chosen the dates we need, you need to click the "send" button. You can order lunch at least a week in advance, cancel - 2 days in advance.
If you forgot to order, you can just come to school and ask Mrs. Secretary to have lunch - usually both types of menu are available, sometimes only one.
By the way, you can order everything right at school - there's a terminal, you'll need to swipe the chip on it, then the process is similar. The system is easy, you just need to get used to it.
pros of canteen lunches
➕ price: for 59 crowns, which is about 100 rubles, you'll get a full lunch, which, in my experience in educational institutions, I saw rarely. Actually didn't see. By the way, foreigners eat more expensive than everyone - schoolchildren, pensioners, teachers - eat the same for 20-25 crowns. That's how it is.
➕ food quality: it's unlikely they'll feed schoolchildren with something bad, food is usually tasty and healthy
➕ portion sizes: they're big, huge even, without exaggeration, and for extremists - you can ask for seconds, though I've never seen anyone leave school hungry
➕ variety: food is really different, and besides, you can choose from at least two types of menu
➕ silence: at the time when students come to have lunch, the canteen, and the school, is silent - classes are going on
➕ you can practice beloved Czech language, employees are all Czechs
Canteen minuses
➖location: about 7 minutes walk from the castle, sometimes you have to hurry a bit
➖food appearance: many are scared that food in the canteen is without culinary delights. Yes, most likely after lunch in the canteen, you won't get much aesthetic pleasure. Although it happens
➖smell in canteen: many are repelled by the fact that the canteen often smells of food - unfortunately, like in any canteen you know, there's a smell of food that's being cooked, reheated, because there are a lot of people at school
➖lack of prestige: at a young age, canteen lunches are like public transportation - not prestigious, everyone will laugh. But for experienced seasoned guys - they'll like going against the system
➖no beer :)
Summing up, I hope everyone will conclude whether such savings are needed. In general, this is a good chance to eat well for little money. In principle, food in cafes is not much more expensive, but usually there's less of it.
PS in Prague I also found a good canteen