Thriftlady's wartime experiment

thriftlady_2

the_cat wrote: »

A quick question if I may? My family consists of 2 adults, plus a 16 and a 13 year old boy. Would I just double up the above allowances or did children of different ages have different rations? Also not sure at what age kids became considered as an adult
many thanks

I'm sure adolescents got 3 and half pints of milk a week rather than 3 but I can't remember offhand exactly what ages that included and I can't find where I got that information from -sorry!

As for aeverything else, yes it would have been the same as an adult ration -unless you're preggers:D

thriftlady_2

nicki wrote: »

I was going on the amount quoted somewhere (can't remember where now) and it said it was about 6p per person per week

I keep reading that as well, particularly in books designed for schoolkids. It drives me mad because it is meaningless. All it means is that after decimalisation a shilling was 5 pennies and not 12. The 2 pence is a sixth of shilling which can't be done when a shilling is 5p -now it's just getting complicated:rotfl:

Useful site Measuring Worth

hartcjhart

kat79 wrote: »

Just found this on google (why didn't i think of that before!!!!:rolleyes: )

Rock Cakes (Hurrah!!!!:T )

Ingredients:
8ozs [250g] flour,
3ozs [75g] sugar,
1/2 teaspoon spice, a little milk,
1 reconstituted egg,
4ozs [125g] mixed dripping,
cooking fat and margarine,
3 or 4ozs [75-125g] fruit,
1 teaspoon [1x15ml spoon] baking powder and a pinch of salt. Sieve all dry ingredients together and then rub in the fat until the mixture is like very fine breadcrumbs. Then add the egg blended with the milk and not with water, so as to make a very stiff mixture. Lastly the fruit. Put in rough heaps on a greased baking tin and cook in a rather quick oven for 20-25 minutes with the dial at 6 or 425-450ºF [225ºC gas mark 7].


Wonder if they taste like nanny's????:rolleyes:

I wonder if this recipe without the spice and fruit is the same as a cake my gran used to make in the 60s/70s. calle rough dough(duff).


what a wonderfull thread this is:T

aussiemum

I have just spent the last few days reading this thread. I just wanted to say thanks to everyone for sharing their experiences and recipes.
I tried the syrup cake recipe mine tasted like bicarb??? not sure what I did there. And over the weekend I think I will try the raised pork pie, it looks delish.

metherer

Evening all.

Thrifylady, can I ask a question? What year did you base your meat costs on?

The reason I ask is that my husband and I are considering starting this way of eating next weekend, initially just for a week but I'd like to do at least a month ideally. Most of the rationing info we have found is based on rations in 1945, so I think we'll go with those allowances. Going by the measuring worth site, that gives us £1.88 worth of meat a week each. Does that sound right?

Also, some of the info states that invalids got more milk and possibly eggs. Can anyone advise on the classification of invalids? My husband is disabled, but not confined to bed most of the time. Would he have had the usual 3 pints, or some more?

We keep hens so I guess we'd not have used the egg ration.

Cheers,

Metherer

thriftlady_2

I stumbled upon this blog today - The 1940s Experiment by a lady called Carolyn Ekins. I might have mentioned her original experiment to live on wartime rations in an attempt to lose weight which she started a few years ago. I was so pleased to discover she'd taken it up again with renewed gusto and success.

The blog has lots of recipes with photographs plus loads of other info.

nicki_2

Thank you for that link! She has about the same amount of weight as me to loose, one of the reasons I'm going to try and do rations.... will sit and read with great interest properly when I've finished doing jobs

Ches

Thanks Thriftlady I have bookmarked that blog and will read with interest.

BTW did you find that portion sizes sorted themselves out when you were living on rations? Its the area I struggle with the most.

lizzyshep

I know there was someone on here who tried this out by looking at the rations during WW2 and doing the same with their family (it was quite a long thread). They didn't ration coffee and wine though, or fruit juice I think.

I can't find this and would love to read it, could someone help me please? I think it was a while ago, and it may have been by Thrifylady but may have not!

thriftlady_2

It was me And no I didn't ration wine (are you mad??) or coffee. Neither were rationed in the war, but they were obviously pretty scarce. I didn't ration fruit juice either although have since realised we can manage without and now don't buy it at all.

Here you go.

Thriftlady's Wartime Experiment