Thriftlady's wartime experiment

Errata wrote: »

Just remember, people - there was no test for cholesterol during the war
Some of the recipes and meal plans people used are real artery blockers :eek:

that could be true but remember people did a lot more physical work then and most likely burned up all the excess fats in their blood
i am enjoying reading this thread very much too, i can still remember the rabbit gran used to cook in the big cast iron pan, lovely it was

My parents were born during the war and they both lived in fairly rural areas. I think both had evacuees with them at some point. My dad has really funny stories. The rationing didnt really affect them the same way as they had a farm, they had a milking cow and his dad grew various crops. My mum would have been more affected but my grandma was a true wartime mother and when she used to cook for me would get every spare bit of meat off the bone. She would often make desserts and used the fruit that grew in the garden in her cookery.

One of my favorites was lent pie, does anyone know how you make this? I know you stick pastry round the edges, its semolina or something and it has sultanas in it I think. Gorgeous with golden syrup!

Thought you might like this letter from my Dad (Lofty) in London to my Ma, evacuated with me in Leicester, in the summer of 1944. The spelling is typical of my Dad, and the letter shows how important growing vegetables was, but also a reminder of life before the NHS. For those who don't remember 5/6d equals about 26p.

summer 44
O my Pschweetest, Gnicest, Llusciousest. Here are a pair of cheques - one for £3 and tother in case of knecessity, amount to be filled in by you and don't be too damn optimistic.

The rain is streaming down, this Saturday afternoon on old Islington. This morning I was on duty with Miss Lee (cashier, you should recall her, big, fat fair girl) and Rene Fisher. I have put another coat of paint on the tray. Bill writes to say he is going on leave soon to Kashmir - Darjeeling I suppose. I think it is in Kashmir. The beans are 9" long, but the tomatoes are reluctant to ripen. I bought myself some socks (2 prs blue-grey 5/6d all told) at Bentalls, the sock situation being to coin a phrase acute.

I think the varicose vein doctor stung you. Write to me a full account of the whole business, and try to find another doc:- if you can't, write to Preston and tell them you can't get fixed up. That is a NORDER. I'll send you later a short note from Tina urging us to go back to Liverpool, and when I've closed this I'll write back, relieving her mind.

The news from France keeps good - flying bombs are rarer and soon, maybe!….AH
Lofty

Hi all

I haven't read through the whole thread yet (sorry, I am embarrassed and I WILL read it soon!), but it did occur to me that in terms of food and consumption evolvement then perhaps there are countries around the world which have a normal diet similar to that maintained in the UK during the war. Take a look at this thread, which sparked this thought: http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=479417. It is so interesting to see what families elsewhere eat. We don't know how lucky we are - but then our rates for heart attacks, strokes and so on a so forth aren't exactly reflective of a healthy society. Have we really evolved? Are so called developing countries actually eating more healthy than us?

I work in a supermarket and the amount of processed food for main meals, and the amount of snacks, cakes, biscuits and fizzy drinks which goes through the checkout per customer sometimes makes my chin drop!