Thriftlady's wartime experiment

thriftlady_2

Errata wrote: »

Bread and dripping was totally wonderful. The reason it's no longer eaten is because it's very, very, very bad for you !

I was wondering when this would come up:)

It's curious, that since we all stopped eating animal fats, as a nation we have become fatter than ever. Also strange is, that the first case of heart disease was recorded in 1912 after thousands of years of animal fat consumption. I wonder if the growth of industrial fats such as margarine and refined vegetable oils (not olive) hasn't got more to do with modern diet related diseases -along with lack of exercise of course Trans fats in hydrogenated vegetable oil are much worse for you than a natural fats like butter and dripping

Interesting stuff about fats
http://www.westonaprice.org/knowyourfats/index.html
http://www.ninaplanck.com/

dianadors

Bread and Dripping may be very very bad for you, but it was my grandads staple diet for most of his life - especially his younger life. (The big lads got the meat because they worked and the younger ones got the dripping). He enjoyed it right up to his deat aged 93!!! He also used to fry bacon in a pan and eat with potatoes and he used to pour the fat onto his potatoes. He was always a big chap, but not fat, just very muscley. He never owned a car and used to cycle and walk every where. (He rode his bike until Mum stopped him aged 86!!) He was always very fit and active - he was only sick once (he had flu) and he thought he was dying!!!! He never smoked, only had 1 whisky on a Sunday(bath night!!) and grew all his own veg. He had a wicked sense of humour and was always very independant. He never had central heating. Bread and mucky dripping is delicious.

tranquil_2

Have just sat and read through the entire thread. It has been fasinating reading people's memories of rationing. Well done Thrift lady on keeping up with it and not cheating!

Now to trawl back through noting down recipes!

Justamum

redmandarin wrote: »

. . . coffee watered down with chicory . . .

A lot of the brands of granulated coffee in South Africa have chicory in them. The more chicory they have the worse they taste!

lil_me

Those letters are wonderful. Thank you for sharing them, so precious.

taplady

lil_me wrote: »

Those letters are wonderful. Thank you for sharing them, so precious.

I have to agree, I found them very moving.Thankyou.

rosieben

thriftlady wrote: »

It's curious, that since we all stopped eating animal fats, as a nation we have become fatter than ever. Also strange is, that the first case of heart disease was recorded in 1912 after thousands of years of animal fat consumption. I wonder if the growth of industrial fats such as margarine and refined vegetable oils (not olive) hasn't got more to do with modern diet related diseases -along with lack of exercise of course Trans fats in hydrogenated vegetable oil are much worse for you than a natural fats like butter and dripping

Very true, and we're positively encouraged to eat larger portions now - think half pounder instead of quarter pounder and similar marketing ploys.

The animals we eat these days are fed on a very different diet than the ones in wartime and earlier would have been - I suspect that the meat (and fat) from a natural grazing animal would not be so harmful as that from a cow thats fed on chemical cocktails

And of course, as you say, we are so inactive. Too easy to take the car even for short trips (guilty!! ) and the increase in sedentary occupations - all these things must play a large part in the rise of body sizes and correlated ill health.

My aunt (83) loved bread and dripping when she was younger but she says you cant get decent dripping these days because the meat is poorer quality. Mind you, she was a country girl and used to 'home grown' meat!

Linda32

Thriftylady,

I just wanted to say that I mentioned your experiment to my in-laws last night (age mid 70's) and they are very impressed with your thoughts and efforts.

They imagine that it must be very very difficult for you because of temptation that is obviously there.

They want me to tell them more of this experiment and in turn M-I-L says she will notice and appreciate whats available now.

She oftern mentions about going into the bathroom, inside the house, and switching on an electric light.

thriftlady_2

Thanks for the continued interest everyone

It's interesting to hear that people who lived through rationing are interested too. My mum who's 67 was very interested. When I showed her the list of rations she looked at the sweet ration and said 'well sweets are good for children, they give them energy' :rolleyes: Funny I don't remember her thinking that when I was a child, she used to berate my gran (her mum) for giving us sweets and we had a lot of fillings:rotfl:

Tea tonight -just had a lovely vegetable curry with rice. Have quite a lot left though. No problem when you have a freezer but I suppose in the war we'd be eating it again tomorrow. I think having a fridge and freezer is one of the biggest 'cheats' of this experiment. I know people would have bottled fruit and veg and used other ways to preserve them, but they involve a lot of labour, whereas opening the freezer is easy.

Pudding -We had the rest of the choc pud from yesterday- in ramekins so it didn't look too mean. I'll make my orange and rhubarb jelly tomorrow.

snacking less
I'm definitely snacking less -well not at all. This is because there isn't anything in the cake and biscuit tins. Normally when I bake I make at least a double batch and quite often a triple one. This is because it saves time and there's always something for snacks. Trouble is I can't resist my own baking, and while I'm strict with the children I'm not with myself.

Now, I'm doing a bit of baking for the lunch boxes but the batches are small. 12 biscuits last 2 lunches if I put 2 each in the kid's lunchboxes. I can't do a large batch even if I wanted to because I don't have enough butter and sugar Before war broke out, I would always have plenty of butter in the fridge (and freezer for back up). I'm not sure how the no snacks will affect my weight because I'm still having a few glasses of wine A very big cheat I know -sorry.

The kids were thrilled with their sweets which amounted to 6 boiled sweets plus 7 little chewy ones each. I bought OH and I a 150 g bar of Green and Blacks -within our ration (6 oz = 170g) but I doubt such good chocolate was availble in the war. Our Friday night treat

fizzel81

Wow what i thread enjoyed reading through it all and some of the recipies sound very nice

well done for trying this, you are alot braver as such than i am