Thriftlady's wartime experiment

Penelope_Penguin

ceridwen wrote: »

I do find it difficult to see things "the other way round" - ie of "letting Life happen to me" - being a great believer myself in "I happen to Life and wouldnt dream of letting Mother Nature doing its thing disrupt my life"..now I really will get my coat on....

You must be the only person on this planet whose life is exact and not subject to the vagueries of weather, illness, natural disaster, and the other complex randomness of life that the rest of us have to contend with.

Maybe you could share your wisdom, but not on this thread, and probably not on this board - Discussion Time is an ideal place for such topics

Can we please get this thread back on track, thanks. x

Hi, Martin’s asked me to post this in these circumstances: While it’s easy to wander off-topic that often prevents newbies finding the information they want quickly and easily (please see this rule). Please keep this thread on topic. If you’d like to discuss non-MoneySaving related topics please continue your discussion in The MoneySavers Arms or Discussion Time. If you have any questions about this policy please email [EMAIL="%20abuse@moneysavingexpert.com"]abuse@moneysavingexpert.com[/EMAIL].

looby-loo_2

what an interesting thread, thank to all those who have contributed.

oldtractor

Great thread, it would do a lot of us a lot of good to have to manage with war time rations. No microwaves or ready meals and having to bake,cook,make do and mend.

Fredula

Ooh, I'm glad someone dug up this old thread! I've never seen it before and I'm contemplating giving it a go! I love the war, and everything about it (well, not the bombing/lives lost).

mardatha

I wonder how we would cope, seriously. Think of the queues they had to stand in for hours.. Shortage of coal, shortage of soap, hardly any hot water...must've been pure misery sometimes.

EstherH

I spent all day yesterday reading this thread. Fantastic. Someone later than thriftlady was trying the challenge, sorry, can't remember who but they suddenly disappeared. I would love to know how they got on.
I have written down some recipes to try out. Not brave enough to go the whole hog, but then again it may come to that the way things are going. Things are a lot worse for us now than they were even last year.

cheerfulness4

EstherH wrote: »

Not brave enough to go the whole hog, but then again it may come to that the way things are going. Things are a lot worse for us now than they were even last year.

Sorry to hear that Esther. If you haven't already read them and have a little time the Nella Last books based on her wartime diaries are really useful for getting cheaper ideas for managing.

It really helped last year when things were so bleak for us (had to sell up ) and I've now adapted a lot of her ideas.

They were - Nella Last's War, Nella Last's Peace and Nellla Last in the 1950's. Brilliant books! She cheered me up no end with her no nonsense way of coping and inovative ideas on cooking and household management.
She truly could make meals out of anything!

Anyway, you might find them helpful and I requested mine from local library free.

[Deleted User]

mardatha wrote: »

I wonder how we would cope, seriously. Think of the queues they had to stand in for hours.. Shortage of coal, shortage of soap, hardly any hot water...must've been pure misery sometimes.

It probably was for my Mum with three permanantly hungry kids to feed on rations but what you don't have you don't miss and as one who was brought up until I was 12 on rationing I can't say it was that bad.Some of the food was a bit boring compared to today's food as we never had the delicious spicy things that we can get now and pasta or curries were unheard of.But you did have a choice 'eat it or go hungry' which concentrates your palate quite a bit :) I ate stuff then that I wouldn't think of eating now because I don't have to. Snoek to name but one and tripe to name another.I also hated Woolton Pie but needs must when there isn't a choice.I had a brilliant feisty tiny little Scots Mum who could make a meal out of virtually anything bless her and at times I am sure she went without to make sure her kids got fed.She would usually be fussing around dishing it all out and would always say I'll have mine later.No wonder she rarely went more than 7 stone.But we survived it all,It was often a bit bland and stodgy but it filled you up which was the important thing.I was 22 before I tasted a curry and thought it was the most delicious food I ever had tasted.:D No I don't think I could stomach a war time menu much some of it was good but most of the time it was nessesity over taste.One bath a week and as tail-end-charlie I was the last in the tin bath:eek: No central heating just freezing cold beds with Dads army great coat over your feet to keep you warm.Endless queueing for almost anything at all

mardatha

I had a granny like that Jackie. I don't like anything foreign or spicy, think I'd have done ok. But I'm terrible with queues, I just walk away and get it later. My kids would've starved LOL
I mind the freezing cold house and bed with the hot water bottle, for some reason we didnt seem to mind cold beds then.

Broomstick

I can find links to WW2 food rationing which say vague things about veggies being allowed more cheese, but does anyone know of a link to a more complete list of what was allowed?

It was interesting in my searches to take a look at clothes rationing and realise that if I were to take the last four or five years into account, I have actually bought far,far less in terms of clothes than would have been allocated rations during the war. I (probably like most parents) would have ended up spending my coupons on my children.

B x