Food shortages in the 70's recession

A._Badger

woodbine wrote: »

Many of the financial problems were caused by the heath govt in 1973 and his chancellor tony barbers"dash for growth" he allowed money supply to rise by 30% in just one year,fuelling inflation in what were already difficult times

Heath was a disaster, true. What followed was even worse.

vivatifosi

Ah the seventies... As a kid I remember Dairylea cheese triangles being in short supply (oh the horror) and an exotic meal was a Vesta Chow Mein (mmmmmm crispy noodles). I never missed ciabatta bread, sun-dried tomatoes, balsamic vinegar or spaghetti that didn't come in tins, because I didn't have the first idea that they existed.

Vibrant

I enjoyed the seventies, I don't really remember any food shortages, but mum was an enthusiastic gardener, so she grew a lot of what we ate. And we were always being roped into picking wild blackberries, rosehips etc.

The power cuts were fun, we had a big paraffin heater in the lounge, it used to smell very strongly, it's a wonder we didn't get asphyxiated.

I used to work in a garage in those days, serving petrol (this was before self service). Because of the shortages we mixed half and half, two and four star and sold it as four star.
No one ever complained that their car didn't run very well. But this was in the days of British Leyland, when you were lucky if your rust bucket would even start.
I rode an MZ, ring, ding, ding.

oystercatcher

I remember the sugar shortages. My parents kept bees which had to be fed sugar to make up for the honey we took from them. We used to have to go shopping seperately as mentioned the sugar was used for the bees and then my mother used honey for cooking with !

I also remember toilet roll shortages, we had a stash of them. There were stories of people cutting kitchen rolls in half and using that but then the plumbing would get blocked as the paper was so much thicker and wouldn't break down!

Word would go round that the ironmongers had got candles in and my mum would be off up the road like a shot to stock up.
I remember bathing by the light of an old miners lamp it must have had parafin or oil in it. It all seemed fun at the time. Luckily we had a solid fuel boiler so could keep nice and warm!

There was a time when the bin men went on strike, I think we had instructions to take our rubbish up to a car park in town. I have vivid memories of a huge stinking stack of rubbish there. Must have been awful to clear up.

Oystercatcher

lostinrates

oystercatcher wrote: »

I remember the sugar shortages. My parents kept bees which had to be fed sugar to make up for the honey we took from them. We used to have to go shopping seperately as mentioned the sugar was used for the bees and then my mother used honey for cooking with !

I also remember toilet roll shortages, we had a stash of them. There were stories of people cutting kitchen rolls in half and using that but then the plumbing would get blocked as the paper was so much thicker and wouldn't break down!

Word would go round that the ironmongers had got candles in and my mum would be off up the road like a shot to stock up.
I remember bathing by the light of an old miners lamp it must have had parafin or oil in it. It all seemed fun at the time. Luckily we had a solid fuel boiler so could keep nice and warm!

There was a time when the bin men went on strike, I think we had instructions to take our rubbish up to a car park in town. I have vivid memories of a huge stinking stack of rubbish there. Must have been awful to clear up.

Oystercatcher

Could your mother not have made candles from the beeswax? I don't know that much about bee keeping, DH and I are planning going on a day course this year. All things melifluous are a joy to DH.

Generali

lostinrates wrote: »

mellifluous

Good word lostinrates! Literally means flows like honey (as I'm sure you knew).

oystercatcher

lostinrates wrote: »

Could your mother not have made candles from the beeswax? I don't know that much about bee keeping, DH and I are planning going on a day course this year. All things melifluous are a joy to DH.

I think she might have tried this actually. Have vauge memories of all sorts of crafty stuff going on.

Oystercatcher

bo_drinker

oystercatcher wrote: »

I remember the sugar shortages. My parents kept bees which had to be fed sugar to make up for the honey we took from them. We used to have to go shopping seperately as mentioned the sugar was used for the bees and then my mother used honey for cooking with !

I also remember toilet roll shortages, we had a stash of them. There were stories of people cutting kitchen rolls in half and using that but then the plumbing would get blocked as the paper was so much thicker and wouldn't break down!

Word would go round that the ironmongers had got candles in and my mum would be off up the road like a shot to stock up.
I remember bathing by the light of an old miners lamp it must have had parafin or oil in it. It all seemed fun at the time. Luckily we had a solid fuel boiler so could keep nice and warm!

There was a time when the bin men went on strike, I think we had instructions to take our rubbish up to a car park in town. I have vivid memories of a huge stinking stack of rubbish there. Must have been awful to clear up.

Oystercatcher

I remember wiping my a rse with newspaper. :rotfl:

Mr_Falling_Star

I remember eating Crackers at school because the bakers (or millers?) were on strike.

zarazara

when I were a lad we ad to mek a shillin stretch a fortneet. we ad boiled shoe leather soup fer dinner every wednesday n ad to stay in bed all saturday whilst cloaths were being washed.