Proper old style! Living on WW2 rations

[Deleted User]

I had a dripping jar for years when my children were small, and my late OH used to delve into the bottom to get the jellied bits out which he spread on thick slices of brown bread which were then salt and peppered he absolutely loved it.

There used to be a country pub in Kent that we would drive to on a cold winter's Saturday night. The landlords 'special' was thick slices of HM toasted bread and dripping which he would devour while we sat in front of the open fire.To him it was heaven on earth

I remember camp coffee and I have drunk it reluctantly, but its not too bad if you use it in cakes as a flavouring.

As I no longer eat bread, I rarely eat butter either I use it in block form for shortbread on baking. I only eat crispbread or rice cakes and use cream cheese as a spread instead of butter. Years ago there used to be a margarine called Summer County which claimed to have 10% butter, but to me it still tasted of marg.

Definitely no bread,butter AND jam, it was always one or t'other never both

My DD has Flora buttery which she swears tastes the same as butter.

suki1964

caronc wrote: »

I still have one :rotfl:, though not for cooking, I save up any hard fat and every so often use it to make fat balls for the birds:)

I have one as well. Mines because we have a septic tank. The soak away on that gets blocked and it's bloody messy sorting it out :eek:

tessie_bear

such an interesting thread love the war time cook books I have a few of margerites if that's how you spell it....I was reading a blog earlier with someone who claims to be giving living on rations ago that said she seems to be twisting it to suit so much I'm sure at the end it will be declared the best thing ever ...as I understand it you got what you could in wartime and made the best of it xxx

love the lard v spam tale....I think I would have had the day off sick

mardatha

Another one loving this thread, thank you for starting it
I hate cooking and am useless at it, but when MrsLurcherwalker introduced me to the joys of wartime cookbooks, things got a lot better. I can actually turn out food that tastes like food, using these books. And it's food that we recognise, not strange weird things that I neither know nor ever want to
I have a few books written during the war, Nella Last of course but also a fabulous book called "Bettys Wartime Diary" (I think).She lived in a very rural part of England and wow, the food they ate made my teeth water! Game pie, pheasants by the dozen, fish by the bucketload. Obviously some good poachers in her village
I can't add anything to the discussion as I'm not a good cook or quite old enough to remember rationing, but I am following with interest.

sillyvixen

My mum had a dripping bowl, in a Pyrex bowl, my nan had a matching Pyrex bowl. I never remember my doing anything with the dripping, but when nan visited she would take the dripping bowl and leave the empty one in its place.

YorksLass

I remember Camp coffee from my childhood in the 50s (there was always a bottle in the pantry) but I don't think we ever used it as a drink - I recall it had a rather bitter taste to it . DM and DGM using it in baking to flavour cakes and it was fine for that. I think it was a blend of water, sugar, chicory essence and a little (very little) bit of coffee essence and it's still available in some sms for those who have a yearning for it.

Ah, fond memories of the dripping bowl, especially if it was pork dripping to spread on bread or toast. We can't manage the pork crackling so well nowadays but still enjoy the dripping.

Another vote here for the half lard/half marg for pastry.

A definite No to cod liver oil but used to love the malt extract & cod liver oil in the big brown glass jars. A daily tablespoon either on its own or spread on bread/toast was supposed to be good for children. Lucky I liked it!

mardatha

Husband still drools over the memory of malt on a spoon, can't have it now as diabetic. I liked Camp coffee. Is it still possible nowadays to save proper dripping in a bowl? I remember the taste of chops fried in it and they taste nothing like that now..

caronc

mardatha wrote: »

I remember the taste of chops fried in it and they taste nothing like that now..

I don't see why not - I have a stash of "hard fat" that I use for the birds but also one (in a lidded "tupperware") of duck fat that I save for roast spuds. Keeps for ages & ages...... (in the fridge though not tried it just in a covered bowl on the counter):)

suki1964

Along with the spoon of malt and cod liver oil, was the spoonful of Rose hip syrup. Oh I loved that

Then Ribena came along and it was a glass of that every morning, hot in the winter, cold in the summer

Another spoonful that was dished out was Syrup of Figs if you hadn't been to the loo for a few days. I must be weird because I loved that

bouicca21

I loved rose hip and syrup of figs too. Fortunately no cod liver oil in our house.