It is tough NOW. So how are we coping

Genuisscuffy

I started doing my family tree with Mum and before she got too poorly would tell me all about being hungry when she was a child (my nan had 5 children under 5, husband committed suicide and the last two were twins -one of whom was my Mum!!) no benefits etc and she was in and out of childrens homes which were not very nice. We used to go shopping and my step father would tear his hair out at the amount of food she would bring home when there was only the two of them but she just used to say she knew what it was like to be hungry!! (although since shes died he spends almost the same on food as i do and I've got two boys!!)
I think its very easy to look back and say I would have hoarded food etc but i'm sure I read that this wasnt allowed and people would go to prison if they were found doing it.

ceridwen

Points I've noted:

- snoek was whalemeat I believe:eek:

- hoarding of food was illegal. Not sure if that only applied to stuff acquired subsequent to the outbreak of war or would have applied to stuff one already had (from having seen that another war was going to start soon). MY suspicion is that even food one had stocked up with before the War started (when everything was still freely available) might have been deemed to be "hoarded" (hence the loft for storage...). Hardly fair to penalise people for being farsighted - though understandable to do so for anything that actually WAS "hoarding" (ie done after supplies started to get short/rationing was introduced).

maryb

I've never been convinced that the diet based on rations was as healthy as lazy journalists all like to repeat like parrots.

I'm sure the average diet of the average family WAS much better than it had been before the war when 7 out of 10 children in London County Council schools showed signs of malnutrition - but that is because the war eliminated poverty by eliminating unemployment.

That is not the same as saying it was an optimum diet.

There was a lot of concern at the end of the war about how generally run down people were and how small infections were taking a long time to heal. That doesn't suggest that people were getting the food they needed for really good health.

I read a piece in the times years ago by Dr Stuttaford (the Times doctor who wrote a column) His father was a country GP in a poor agricultural area. They all had large gardens and he said that the diet of the agricultural labourer's family would tick a lot of boxes for a 'healthy' diet - based on cereals with lots of fresh veg, very little fat, some eggs for protein and a little meat occasionally (although the biggest part of it usually went to the man of the family as he was the breadwinner). But they were all lacking in vitality and struggled to throw off coughs and colds. His father kept a cow and when he was treating poor patients he used to give them rich full fat milk to build them up - and it made a huge difference.

dubgirl

I have been following this thread with great interest and can remember my Nan being able to make a meal out of the most random of items, stating that she had learnt to do this during the war and she was quite inventive at times! I also remember my Mum telling me that my Nan would often go without so that her two daughters could eat, I'm sure many parents did this during the war. I was wondering what people think as to the likely rise in VAT, I am convinced it is going to be increased, what will happen to the food prices then, let alone anything else!

ginnyknit

This is very interesting, I will have a word with my Mum tomorrow as she grew up in Manchester during the war. I know my Granny Mac kept chickens and rabbits for food during the war cos my Mum says I take after her, although my rabbits are rescues and not for food. My Dh's aunt told us a story how she bought a big bottle of olive oil from the chemist to make her family and the neighbours some chips because they missed them so much, but they were horrible. Maybe its a fact thats kept quiet by the government that people did die of starvation?

nuttybabe

not a war story but i remember when i was growing up, sunday morning my dad used to go out in the garden and dig up the potatoes for lunch, runner beans or broad beans (yuk) or corn on the cob!!! and if we were having lamb i used to pick the mint leaves and chop them in the 'special chopper' and make the mint sauce. I would love to be able to do that now but sadly everything i plant except salad leaves seems to die!!! i hunt around for the veg on offer but i think my kids would eat more if they helped grow it, maybe one day!!! :P

charlies-aunt

mardatha wrote: »

Have you found any actual evidence or proof that people died of hunger ? I have never heard this before ..?

Will reread that bit! I didn't mean that 100's died but that there were some cases of involuntary starvation . . . . . the thing with everyone growing all their own fruit and veg, I find this a bit difficult to believe everyone did this. Both my own parents grew up 'working class' areas of industrial steel towns - one in a back-to-back and the other in a tiny terrace that was straight onto the street at the front and had a tiny yard at the back..so they had no garden to start with - all veg came off a barrow boy who used to come round everyday with his handcart.

Within my memory these types of housing still existed for a good percentage of the population into the 1960's - certainly in this area a large group of desperate families (and indeed members of my own family) took possession of the POW camp when it was emptied after the war and lived there in the tin huts as squatters for several years pending the building of sufficient housing.The conditions were very basic - no mains drainage - latrines were dug, no electricity or gas - they relied on Tilley lamps and candles for light, they had paraffin and small stoves for heating and cooking . Water came from a communual tap - they survived and lived to a ripe old age to tell the tale too

There is still a small estate of prefabs here the owners won't give them up for demolition - very cosy they look too

mardatha

My OH grew up in a prefab and said it was lovely. I think maybe people died of illnesses that they normally wouldnt have - because their resistance was low. Probably due to a lot of things like not enough vitamins, not enough sun, not enough sleep, and too much stress. All combined with not enough rich nourishing food..

ceridwen

maryb wrote: »

I've never been convinced that the diet based on rations was as healthy as lazy journalists all like to repeat like parrots.

I'm sure the average diet of the average family WAS much better than it had been before the war when 7 out of 10 children in London County Council schools showed signs of malnutrition - but that is because the war eliminated poverty by eliminating unemployment.

That is not the same as saying it was an optimum diet.

There was a lot of concern at the end of the war about how generally run down people were and how small infections were taking a long time to heal. That doesn't suggest that people were getting the food they needed for really good health.

I read a piece in the times years ago by Dr Stuttaford (the Times doctor who wrote a column) His father was a country GP in a poor agricultural area. They all had large gardens and he said that the diet of the agricultural labourer's family would tick a lot of boxes for a 'healthy' diet - based on cereals with lots of fresh veg, very little fat, some eggs for protein and a little meat occasionally (although the biggest part of it usually went to the man of the family as he was the breadwinner). But they were all lacking in vitality and struggled to throw off coughs and colds. His father kept a cow and when he was treating poor patients he used to give them rich full fat milk to build them up - and it made a huge difference.

Thanks for that - thats more in accordance with what I had read. We do have to bear in mind that the Government would have "rewritten history" to some extent to make it appear that things werent as bad as they actually were.

I think the stress of living in a country at war obviously played a part as well - and would have for some people more than others (those with relatives fighting, those in areas most likely to be targeted and pacifists) - so obviously that would have "dragged people down" as well if they were in one or more of those 3 categories.

ceridwen

ginnyknit wrote: »

Maybe its a fact thats kept quiet by the government that people did die of starvation?

That would have been quite easy to do - I've read of doctors in recent times putting a more "politically convenient" cause down on a death certificate - rather than the real cause of death. Hence I'm sure this would have happened to an even greater extent in wartime and shortly thereafter. All they would have had to do is put down an illness that the person had at the time of death anyway and that could POSSIBLY kill someone - knowing very well that the person would have probably survived this illness if they had had a good diet in the first place. Easy to cover up and no need for the Government to get involved in lying at all - all done for them.