Thriftlady's wartime experiment

Sarahsaver

Just been on the phone to Mum and strangely this topic came up!
She says her friends were the envy of her 'sweet treat' of a stick of rhubarb dipped in sugar. She is sure people ate better and were more creative and healthy then.
Mum told me that Nanna used to make sort of biscuit a bit like a less fancy eccles cake, plain pastry with a few dried fruits and sugar sprinkled on it then folded over and baked. Also she kept orange peel, boiled it up and used the mashed boiled peel to make orange flavoured cakes/puddings.
They had battered corned beef on a Friday as Nanna was bought up a Catholic but 'married out' the corned beef was a compromise instead of fish

recovering_spendaholic

I think your tea tonight sounds really nice Thriftlady! I was wondering-did they get dried peas and lentils and stuff in the War, and were they on or off the ration? I was thinking that you could make loads of stuff if they were "allowed" as it were. Sarahsaver - I love rhubarb dipped in sugar and had it alot when growing up -I still like it!

Sarahsaver

They had dried peas because Mum remembers having dried green peas and she still likes a can of marrowfat peas as a treat :eek:
Same here love the rhubarb in sugar and so do my kids;)

thriftlady_2

Yes, as Sarahsaver says dried peas and lentils were available. Also haricot beans (the kind that make baked beans), butterbeans and I've got a wartime recipe using pinto beans. I'm pretty sure they were on the points system.

Someone already mentioned that you got 16 points a month to spend on various dried and tinned goods. Things like cereal and biscuits were on points too.

The amount of points things 'cost' varied according to what was available and also what the govt wanted to keep back or get rid of IYSWIM.

A BBC Good Food magazine article in 1998 says that 4 points (at least I think it means 4 it isn't clear and it could refer to family of 4's weekly points which would be 16) could buy you:
4 oz biscuits (not a good selection)
2 helpings a week of cornflakes
2 mugs a week Ovaltine or Horlicks
8 oz rice
7oz can of salmon
2 fl oz honey
6 pints beer
6 measures gin -probably not my measures :rotfl:
1 litre orange juice
the article doesn't make it clear if all of the above could be bought in one week or just one item
other food on points included baked beans, salt, gravy browning, malt vinegar, dried fruit and dried vegetables

As you can see it means I'm not being accurate in the way I'm doing things. But I'm doing my best;)

D&DD

I have spent the last day reading this thread right the way through it's absolutely fascinating TL :T
I was telling my mum about it today and ended up sharing the laptop between us so she could read it too :rotfl:

PJ1

Hi everyone,
This thread is one of the best! I've just made the "Wartime Mintoes" and they really are nice, not exactly like Mintoes but still very good! Thanks to everyone for all their memories and ideas. P.:T

Errata

As you can see it means I'm not being accurate in the way I'm doing things. But I'm doing my best;)

That's exactly how families managed in the war. Keep it up.

wannasavemoney

Fascinating thread and well done for starting it, have just spent the past two days reading through it and one thing that i remember when i was a little girl (not during the war tho) was having bread dipped in milky coffee for a meal. Used to love it as a little girl but probably wouldn't be able to stomach it now (cant stand milky coffee now). Brilliant thread shall keep up with it and enjoy its progress.

anonymousie

margaretclare wrote: »

So many of the 'make-do-and-mend' ideas that have been described were maybe not only due to wartime conditions, but to poverty. People were used to making and mending things. Maybe that was why they adapted so well to harsher conditions - food on 'points' etc - because they didn't expect much in the first place. At least when food was rationed everyone got the basic essentials of life, and food suppliers were prevented from profiteering by putting up prices.
IMargaret

My mum was born in 1928 and would agree totally with you- she feels that during rationing people were actually better fed because they got a balanced diet, all be it in limited amounts, whereas before the war you were limited to what you could afford which may have been very seasonal and limited.

Mums grandparents I think were reasonably well off in the 30s and kept her mum and dad going (they were funeral directors, but Mums dad was a miner). She still recalls eating the swedes put out for the horses though when she was hungry (the horses pulled the hearses of course!).

sproggi

Finally managed to get nan & grandads wedding photo from 1945 scanned:rolleyes:

Photo is rather battered but shows the dresses and head dresses that nan made with net curtains and parachute silk.
The cake was a fruit cake made with ration donations from family, it was a small cake covered in cardboard to make it look bigger with the card then being iced.
Under the circumstances, I think they did pretty well (even managed a few jam tarts by the look of it:D ):T :T





Sproggi